Dole Sunshine Company, a leading packaged fruits firm is launching its fruit-based salubrious snacks in India and anticipates that this will contribute more than 10% to its Asia business in the coming three years and 25% in the coming five years.
Aashim Malhotra, VP and MD APAC, Food and Beverage Group, Dole Sunshine Company stated- “We expect that India should drive our Asia business by 2030.
Dole Sunshine, which is owned by Japanese trading house Itochu, intends to ramp up its footprints in the nation and is looking forward at diversifying its sourcing and manufacturing from India for its Asia Pacific business. It has teamed up with Mala’s fruits and for exporting to several ASEAN countries.
As the pandemic has shifted consumer preference towards healthy and immunity-boosting food, the company expects this trend to continue and aid in its growth.
Despite the infuriating pandemic, the company unveiled its fruit bowl in India at the end of last year which was a propitious time since consumers were in search of health-giving snacks.
The company declared its entry into the Indian market in 2019 and joined forces with Kishore Biyani permitting Future Group to sell its products. Anyway, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic decelerated the growth plans.
Presently, it is in negotiations with several brick-and-mortar retailers to broaden its network. It is also available on all major e-marketing platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.
In 2019, the company had partnered with retail major Future Group and is in talks with some other large retail chains as it hopes to expand its retail network. Dole’s product portfolio includes healthy snacks such as fruit bowls, jellies, soft dried products, and healthy beverages and contains no added sugar and preservatives. The company is of the plan to have economical pricing for the Indian market to battle competition and is also expecting to launch products suited for the local palate.
It will also be trying to expand to other businesses like Horeca and industrial segments at a later stage in the coming future. Earlier this year, Dole roped in Wondrlab as its advertising agency to aid in launching of the brand India, and offer strategic and innovative direction for its marketing activities in the future. It intends to continue its Above The Line (ATL) and Below The Line (BTL) initiatives in the top five to seven cities across the nation.
Globally, Dole is a giant in growing, gathering, distributing, and marketing fruit and healthy snacks. It vends a full line of packaged shelf stable fruit, frozen fruit, dried fruit, and juices. The company mainly aims on four areas of sustainability in all its operations: carbon footprint, water management, soil conservation, and waste reduction.