Solnechnie pushes low-calorie mayo
mayonnaise has the potential to occupy seven per cent of the
domestically produced generic mayonnaise market in Russia and two
per cent of the mayonnaise market in general, writes Angela
Drujinina.
Solnechie believes that the brand's unique selling point - the taste of real mayonnaise with low calories - will enable Chudesnitsa to challenge locally produced non-branded products.
"Despite fierce competition in the segment, we are sure that Chudesnitsa mayonnaise will occupy a decent place on the shelves of food outlets," Elena Florova, marketing manager of Solnechnie Produkti holding told Cee-foodindustry.com.
The motto of Chudesnitsa is '100 per cent of the taste but four times less calories.' Solnechnie Produkti has already invested more that $1 million in promoting the product, but the marketing budget is likely to be much bigger in 2005.
"In our opinion there are no strong national brands in the base segment whereas the volume of this mayonnaise segment reaches 170 thousand tons a year, which is 34 per cent of the entire Russian mayonnaise market," said Florova.
The main players in the segment of inexpensive mayonnaise have always been local private producers whose capacities do not allow them to produce the product to high quality. In addition, such companies lack effective distribution networks outside their regions.
Consumers can currently buy Chudesnitsa product in more than 45 big Russian cities, but Solnechnie Produkti claims that by the end of 2005, Chudesnitsa could potentially be available in more than 100 cities.
This year has been a period of revision for Solnechnie Produkti. The company has overhauled its range of products, and removed items it felt were not fulfilling expectations. These include the margarine brands Slivochnoe Razdolie, Krestianskiy Slivochniy and Dobry Ruchenki.
The holding believes that this strategy will simplify the job of distributors and lead to a decrease in production costs. In summer 2004, the holding was producing 100 food products, but at the beginning of 2006 Solnechnie Produkti edible oils range will include only five nation-wide brands of margarine and four brands of mayonnaise.
The implementation of the reorganisation plan will be carried out for two years and some of the holding's brands will become national while some will remain regional.
Solnechnie Produkti reported an annual turnover of more than $250 million in 2003. The holding is among the top three companies within the Russian eatable oils market.
