Dabur eyes festive season boom with experimental marketing, rural expansion, and quick commerce

Ankush Jain, CFO, Dabur India

FMCG major Dabur is gearing up to capitalise on the heightened demand in the festive season by leveraging experimental marketing, rural expansion and the fast-growing urban channel of quick commerce, the company's Chief Financial Officer, Ankush Jain told Moneycontrol.

According to Jain, this festive season, Dabur plans to maintain a strong presence in both traditional and digital media, promoting key brands across various platforms.

“We are focusing on experiential marketing and consumer engagement through initiatives like melas, haats, festive and religious gatherings, and trade activations.” Such initiatives are designed to provide consumers with direct experiences of Dabur’s products, thereby driving demand and boosting consumption.

Tapping rural demand

Dabur is also expanding its rural footprints by 22,000 villages to 1,22,000 villages. Jain said, “...we have seen demand from the hinterland outpace urban demand for three quarters now. This is a result of the several initiatives that we have rolled out to seed demand in the hinterland. We have been investing in expanding our rural footprint, which has expanded by 22,000 villages to 1,22,000 villages.”

Rebound in rural growth has also led Dabur to expand its product basket in the rural market with new packs that are affordable and “rural-specific” across categories to feed markets and push demand growth.

“We have also invested in consumer activations (motivating customers to understand benefits of product and purchase) in rural India to better reach out to consumers in the hinterland, giving them an opportunity to touch, feel and experience our products,” he said.

Quick Commerce 

In the urban market, this year, the company is tapping into quick commerce and other new-age business drivers to enhance its reach more effectively. The company is betting on the fast-emerging channel like quick commerce (Qcommerce), calling it a “major growth driver in the FMCG sector”, “which offers convenience and speed—resonating well with consumers, making it a key focus for us,” he explained.

Especially with the gift category on the qcommerce platform the festive season will see products like ‘Real Juice Diwali Gift packs’ from Dabur India, a high-demand product from the October to December quarter, as per Jain.

Dabur India highlighted that it expects a 70 percent year-on-year growth in qcommerce. The company also mentioned that qcommerce is almost 30 percent to 35 percent of their overall e-commerce in the first quarter FY25 post-results earnings call.

Dabur India remains confident about its strategic marketing investments, innovative consumer engagement, and a strong push towards rural markets. As the festive season progresses, spanning over the October-December quarter, Dabur is expected to witness high demand for its winter-specific brands like Dabur Chyawanprash and Dabur Honey too, the CFO said.