FMCG firms partner with businesses to sell hygiene kits
For companies selling sanitizers, soaps and disinfectants, large orders are likely to firm up as businesses resume
Packaged goods companies are stitching up large commercial deals offering hygiene products at scale to businesses as covid fears heighten their usage outside of homes.
Last week, Unilever partnered with hospitality chain Oyo to provide hygiene kits comprising its Lifebuoy, Domex and other personal and home hygiene brand across its properties globally.
Mumbai-based fast moving consumer goods company Godrej Consumer products Ltd. (GCPL) that sells the Protekt brand of hygiene products said it is in talks for B-to-B tie-ups and ITC has started providing Savlon branded products to its hotels and some airlines.
While such B-to-B sales are a low margin business, companies are expecting orders to go up as and when more businesses open up going forward.
“Institutional business will be large segment as India opens up as offices, malls and hotels open, it will be a new segment which will become big,” Sunil Kataria, CEO, India and SAARC, GCPL told reporters last week.
The lockdown has impacted institutional business for several large companies—especially food companies—that provide bulk supplies to hotels and restaurants. But for companies selling sanitizers, soaps and surface disinfectants, large orders are likely to firm up as businesses resume, spurring demand for more cleaning products.
Last week, GCPL expanded Protekt to over a dozen new products extending the sanitization and hand-wash brand to multipurpose disinfectant solutions, air and surface disinfectant spray, and anti-bacterial wipes, among other such products.
The company, said a top executive at the firm, is in talks for large tie-ups.
“We have multiple contracts which our institutional teams keep doing. We are in talks with airlines as well as hotels. But apart from that—there are a few other chains in other sectors where we have got some kind of tie-up that has happened two weeks ago,” Kataria said without divulging details.
“Institutional sales for us has not been a big focus area, but now with this (covid), things could change,” he added.
“At the same time, I’d like to mention that institutional business is also a price sensitive business where, while there is a brand play, but there is also a very large competitive play.”
ITC has also provided Savlon sanitizers to some leading airlines, a company spokeswoman told Mint.
“As part of its WeAssure Programme, ITC Hotels has partnered with Savlon to ensure protection from a wide range of viruses and bacteria. Savlon’s trusted knowhow and its range of products in germ protection have been integrated into the WeAssure initiative,” the company spokeswoman added.
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