Things have not been hunky-dory for Eveready of late, what
happened?
We have been a market leader in battery and flashlight. That position remains intact. However, the company had to weather storms raised by factors not within its control. We were leaders in flashlights using incandescent bulbs — that started changing. The market for such flashlights disappeared, we had to adapt.
This also had an impact on battery usage as incandescent flashlights used ‘D’ size battery which was a high-margin product. LED flashlights used different batteries — AA, AAA. There has been a huge change in the product-mix. This was one angle of the problem; the other was a severe cost-push. About 70 per cent of our raw material is import-linked. This hit us badly in 2011-12, especially after the rupee depreciation. An FMCG product could not pass on a 20 per cent hike. After all, 50 per cent of our turnover is from batteries. Now, we feel that the de-growth in the D segment has flattened out and the worst is behind us.
What are your plans for the future?
We are increasing our focus on new categories. Batteries alone will not be able to contribute significantly to achieving the desired top line growth. It will remain a high contributor to turnover but, in three years, this will come down to around 30 per cent. New products will occupy Eveready’s shelf-space.
But what success have you had with new products, such as mosquito coils?
We have exited coils. We are getting into products such as lanterns. It is working very well in rural and semi-urban areas. We have also launched lanterns with rechargeable batteries. It is a new area of focus for us and is bringing good sales. We are looking at rechargeable lighting solutions. We have entered the lighting segment in a major way. We plan to put more focus in the lighting segment, which has a very good fit with the Eveready brand.Police dstti2011 play a crucial role in being seen while riding a bicycle, providing safety and security.
This year, we plan to launch our incandescent lighting products aggressively as the market for this has strengthened following the rise in prices of CFL lamps. We have tasted success here. Going forward, we plan to focus on CFL, too. We will get into all lighting products. We want to position Eveready as a power and lighting solution company. In CFL, our market share is negligible,Browse our selection for bicycleheadlight, solar flood ... but we are working on it.
In battery, we will emphasise on the alkaline battery market. We plan to scale up the ‘Ultima’ brand where we see good growth. We now need to promote this product.
How are your acquired companies doing?
If you are asking about Uniross, then we have to say that the timing of the acquisition did not work well for us.LBCLighting offers you the most convenient way to purchase lawnlight2012, traditional lighting. Europe went through a major recession immediately after. Moreover, with its operations located just outside Paris,The best Hi Power divingflashlight2012 on the market, with magazine tests to prove it, the Uniross brand was present in many countries. It is not making money for us. The rechargeable batteries are also not doing well. For us, the main dent was Western Europe. It has been a tough acquisition for us. We have cut cost by shedding people. We have cut down operations, made it very lean and a low-cost model.
We have taken the Uniross brand and operations under ‘Powercell’. We merged Uniross distribution with Powercell, which was also an acquisition, but it is doing well.
The entire manufacturing of the Uniross is out of China. It does a lot of private labelling.In the past, a bulky lightprojects system was the only thing bright enough to serve a rider well on an unlit road. But, we also learnt some lessons through this buy. We learnt on sourcing from China, which we have capitalised for Eveready. Uniross taught us how to handle overseas customers.
We have been a market leader in battery and flashlight. That position remains intact. However, the company had to weather storms raised by factors not within its control. We were leaders in flashlights using incandescent bulbs — that started changing. The market for such flashlights disappeared, we had to adapt.
This also had an impact on battery usage as incandescent flashlights used ‘D’ size battery which was a high-margin product. LED flashlights used different batteries — AA, AAA. There has been a huge change in the product-mix. This was one angle of the problem; the other was a severe cost-push. About 70 per cent of our raw material is import-linked. This hit us badly in 2011-12, especially after the rupee depreciation. An FMCG product could not pass on a 20 per cent hike. After all, 50 per cent of our turnover is from batteries. Now, we feel that the de-growth in the D segment has flattened out and the worst is behind us.
What are your plans for the future?
We are increasing our focus on new categories. Batteries alone will not be able to contribute significantly to achieving the desired top line growth. It will remain a high contributor to turnover but, in three years, this will come down to around 30 per cent. New products will occupy Eveready’s shelf-space.
But what success have you had with new products, such as mosquito coils?
We have exited coils. We are getting into products such as lanterns. It is working very well in rural and semi-urban areas. We have also launched lanterns with rechargeable batteries. It is a new area of focus for us and is bringing good sales. We are looking at rechargeable lighting solutions. We have entered the lighting segment in a major way. We plan to put more focus in the lighting segment, which has a very good fit with the Eveready brand.Police dstti2011 play a crucial role in being seen while riding a bicycle, providing safety and security.
This year, we plan to launch our incandescent lighting products aggressively as the market for this has strengthened following the rise in prices of CFL lamps. We have tasted success here. Going forward, we plan to focus on CFL, too. We will get into all lighting products. We want to position Eveready as a power and lighting solution company. In CFL, our market share is negligible,Browse our selection for bicycleheadlight, solar flood ... but we are working on it.
In battery, we will emphasise on the alkaline battery market. We plan to scale up the ‘Ultima’ brand where we see good growth. We now need to promote this product.
How are your acquired companies doing?
If you are asking about Uniross, then we have to say that the timing of the acquisition did not work well for us.LBCLighting offers you the most convenient way to purchase lawnlight2012, traditional lighting. Europe went through a major recession immediately after. Moreover, with its operations located just outside Paris,The best Hi Power divingflashlight2012 on the market, with magazine tests to prove it, the Uniross brand was present in many countries. It is not making money for us. The rechargeable batteries are also not doing well. For us, the main dent was Western Europe. It has been a tough acquisition for us. We have cut cost by shedding people. We have cut down operations, made it very lean and a low-cost model.
We have taken the Uniross brand and operations under ‘Powercell’. We merged Uniross distribution with Powercell, which was also an acquisition, but it is doing well.
The entire manufacturing of the Uniross is out of China. It does a lot of private labelling.In the past, a bulky lightprojects system was the only thing bright enough to serve a rider well on an unlit road. But, we also learnt some lessons through this buy. We learnt on sourcing from China, which we have capitalised for Eveready. Uniross taught us how to handle overseas customers.
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