WokTok to generate 8-9% of VRB's overall revenue by FY27, says Veeba's Viraj Bahl
"We are planning to spend over Rs 40-50 crore on the marketing brand WokTok alone by next year."
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VRB Consumer Products has forayed into the category of popular Chinese, pan-Asian sauces and dressings with the launch of its new brand WokTok, powered by Veeba. The company has introduced a line-up of five instant cup noodles under the brand along with some sauces. "We are launching WokTok majorly targeting two groups. Firstly, the mothers of children between the age bracket of 10-16 years and secondly, young adults, who are also the largest consumers. Young adults in the age group of 18-35, who are living in alone in hostels or PGs," Viraj Bhal told StoryBoard18.
Edited excerpts from the interview with Viraj Bahl, Founder and Managing Director of VRB Consumer Products:
Q. What distribution channel are you eyeing for the launch of new brand WokTok?
70% of our revenue comes from general trade, 21-22% comes from modern trade and the remaining 6-8% comes from ecomm. The new brand WokTok will primarily focus on general trade, ecommerce and quick commerce to begin with and we will then get into modern trade. Ecommerce and Quick are the main entry point for the launch of new brand.
Q. What are plans for festive season? How much are you planning to spend on advertising and marketing?
For us, festive season is business as usual. We are not into gift hampers, if some retailer puts in our product in some hamper, that different. We are planning to spend over Rs 40-50 crore on the marketing brand WokTok alone by next year. For Veeba, we have not yet finalized the ad budgets, that will be clear in next two months or so.
Q. How much revenue are you expecting from the new brand by FY26?
Honestly, we are not expecting any revenue. We are not putting any revenue pressure on WokTok as our main brand Veeba and another brand Tasty Pixel are both doing well for VRB. So, we don't need to put pressure. As of now, we want to build it properly and don't want to take any shortcuts for faster growth.
If I need to put a number, by FY27, we would expect WokTok to be 8-9% of VRB's overall revenue.
FMCG had a tough 18 months. Thus, as an organization, we have not taken any revenue targets for FY25 but our aim is to grow 5% more than the market. If the markets grows at 10%, we should do 15% or if the market does 8%, we should do 13%. Our company's philosophy on revenue and growth is simply 5 years targets. For instance, 2018-23 and 2020-25, any five years of growth should be 25%, which includes bad years as well.
Q. Which product lines bring you the major chunk of the revenue?
Mayonnaise and ketchups brings us our major chunk of the revenue. But in percentage terms, it would be 10-15% because we have about 80 SKUs.
Q. Tell us about your advertising and marketing strategy?
We are into every channel of advertising, be it TV, print, outdoor, among others. In fact, last year we were the presenting partners for MasterChef India, it is a very big property for us. Roughly, we spend 50% of our advertising budget towards TV, 30% for online and 20% for print.
Q. Tier-1 or metro cities market versus the smaller cities, what market works best for you?
Metros works the best for us. If I had to put a split, I would say, top 50 towns brings us 50% of the revenue while the bottom 700 town bring us the rest 50% of the revenue.
