Here’s how much e-commerce is contributing to sales of large FMCG companies

New Delhi: The pandemic has spurred demand for online groceries—helping fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) makers expand their share of sales coming via online sales channels over the past year.

While for some companies the share of e-commerce still remains sub 5%, for Mumbai-based Marico Ltd, sales via e-commerce contributed to 8% of revenues for the quarter ended 31 March 2021, analysts at ICICI Securities said in a note on the company released Sunday.

The report compared salience of e-commerce for other companies as well.

Dabur India and Tata Consumer Products Ltd draw upwards of 5% of their sales from e-commerce.

While for Hindustan Unilever Ltd, the contribution of e-commerce to the company’s sales is in the range of between 5% to 6%. “E-commerce has become the channel of choice for many consumers. A strong focus on building a portfolio fit for this channel, building capabilities and driving everyday great execution resulted in doubling of the growth rate and contribution from this channel on a year -on-year basis,” the company’s top management said in a March quarter earnings call. This is for the period ended 31 March 2021.

Meanwhile—for ITC—sales through the e-commerce channel more than doubled during the last year, taking its salience to over 5% of segment revenue (FMCG-others), the company said in its annual report for last fiscal. Its brands include Aashirvaad flour, Bingo! chips, YiPPee! noodles, Sunfeast biscuits and Savlon.

Dabur said e-commerce continues to be out-performer with growth via the channel doubling. “This channel now contributes around 5% to 6% of our sales,” the company’s top management said in March quarter earnings call.

Mumbai-based Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, draws slightly over 4% of its sales via e-commerce. The maker of Cinthol soaps said the channel is going to be an "important" one not just in current times, but also for many years to come ahead.

Meanwhile, Britannia Industries and Jyothy Labs Ltd, see significantly lower salience of sales via online commerce, drawing between 1 to 2% of sales via online marketplaces and e-grocery sites.

For Emami Ltd and Colgate Palmolive India, e-commerce sales remain less than 3%—as a contribution to overall sales.

In the March quarter, Nestle India said e-commerce continued to deliver strong performance and grew by 66% for the maker of Maggi noodles. By the end of the March, the contribution of e-commerce to domestic business stood at 3.8%, the company said then.