Wipro Consumer launches online-only brands from overseas portfolio in India

NEW DELHI: Wipro CEO Agrawal said consumer packaged goods major Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting may bring more online-only brands to India and shift products from its overseas portfolio to online sales channels in the country.

Vitress hair care products and Bio-Essence skin care cosmetics, sold mainly in East Asian markets, may be launched online in India, Agrawal said during a virtual roundtable on Thursday.

“We’ll see a lot more brands in e-commerce in the future. And we might just launch or consider launching brands that are just e-commerce,” Agrawal said.

Agrawal expressed confidence that e-commerce will become a viable channel, adding that the company may introduce Vitress, a hair care and refreshment product sold in the Philippines, to India through an e-commerce launch. “We have the Bio-Essence brand; it is the number one skincare brand in Malaysia and Singapore. We are evaluating whether we can launch it only on e-commerce with multiple categories,” Agrawal said.

The pandemic has helped consumers adopt online shopping. As a result, more FMCG companies like Marico Ltd, Nestle India and Dabur India are either building more direct-to-consumer brands or initiating online launches.

At the end of the December quarter, e-commerce’s share of total FMCG sales in India stood at 2.8%. In metro areas, it was much higher at 7.5%, according to data from NielsenIQ’s Retail Intelligence team.

For Wipro, e-commerce sales have more than doubled in the current fiscal compared to last year. “There are products which, for us, are now getting more than 10% from e-commerce. In the case of toilet soaps, the share is much lower because it is a low-value item and is easily available in convenience stores. But in the case of something like perfumes or lotion, the percentage coming out of e-commerce is much higher; it is in double digits,” Agrawal said.

Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting sells Santoor and Chandrika soaps, Glucovita energy drink, besides home care products such as Safewash liquid detergent, Softouch fabric softener and Yardley talc and deodorants. It also sells consumer packaged goods in 20 countries across Asia, Africa and West Asia. Sales revenue in 2019-20 stood at $1.09 billion.

Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting’s business comprises 46% in India, with the remaining coming from international markets.