How will Bisleri Benefit from Acquistion by Tata Consumer

The benefits of Bisleri acquisition to Tata Consumer is obvious the primary being the leadership of USD 2.5 Billion packaged water market with 13% CAGR.

So what will be Benefits to Bisleri as a Business ?

What will be the impact of the acquisition on the dynamics of packaged drinking market in India? How will it enable Bisleri to give tougher competition for other players?

Liquid Beverages has been identified by Tata Consumer as one of the key engines of growth which includes Tata Sampann, Value Added Salt, Coffee & Liquid Beverages  (water, instant energy and RTD wellness brands )

Tata wants to establish leadership in the categories they are present in like Tata Salt & Tata Tea. Bisleri with more than 30% market share will catapult Tata Consumer  to leadership in packaged water.

Bisleri will fit nicely at the ‘Economy’ end of the Tata Consumer packaged water portfolio with premium brands like Himalayan brand, Tata Copper Plus Water and Tata Gluco+ This gives Tatas the ability to confront competition with almost a complete portfolio of products at different price points & differing value propositions. 

The portfolio of Tata Consumer in liquid beverages and otherwise, provide opportunities for bundling, cross-promotions  of Bisleri with other Tata Consumer products both for retailer as well as consumer promotions. This will enable Bisleri to push its packaged water better in the channel when compared to the competition. 

What would the Tata’s bring to the already established brand of Bisleri?

Tata has wonderful brand equity in consumers minds. It is not just synonymous with Trust but also evokes pride with its global presence and progress . They are considered good people with ethical practices across manufacturing, logistics and distribution. The brand perception of Bisleri is also anchored in ‘Indian’, ‘trust’ and ‘leader’. All the Bisleri values integrate well with TATA values and provide a more sound platform for global growth.

Tata Consumer’s ability to provide a portfolio of products to the channel  gives it higher channel power than standalone Bisleri in the distribution channel .The increased influence of Bisleri (as a Tata Consumer brand) in both the traditional retail channel and the modern retail will ensure that the ‘Top of Mind’ Bisleri brand is supported by ‘Top of Shelves’ placement.

Besides Bisleri’s D2C initiative like  Bisleri@Doorstep  can be augmented by Tata Digital’s D2C channels like BigBasket, a Tata Company with 15+ million orders  per month.  It is very difficult to do a stand alone packaged water D2C business on account of low margins. However channels like BigBasket can give Bisleri’s D2C ambitions a big boost. Since packaged water lends itself well to Quick Commerce, being a quick & emergency purchase, BBExpress  can be a good sales channel in D2C space for Bisleri.

Like Tata Consumer has extended the premium Himalayan water brand into honey, it is also possible to extend Bisleri’s  premium Vedica Himalayan spring water into adjacent categories targeting a premium customer base. Similarly Bisleri can be extended into other adjacent Value for Money innovations like flavored bottled water. 

How will the acquisition help to fight the counterfeit and fake Bisleri products that are being readily sold in the market? 

Tata Group is no stranger to counterfeiting, having fought the challenge in its various group companies right from Steel To Salt. The Tata Consumer team is currently running a ‘Har Narangi Pack Tata Namak Nahi Hota’ anti counterfeit campaign for Tata Salt. So Bisleri can take advantage of some of the best practices of other Tata brands in fighting counterfeiting for many decades.

A lot of counterfeiting has to be fought at the local & state level and Tata Group’s great equity and relationships with local & state governments will augment Bisleri’s fight. Tata’s legal muscle and resources will also aid in this fight.

Also, Direct to Consumer online distribution of Bisleri through Tata Group companies like BigBasket will reduce incidents of fake products.