India Catapults To Second Biggest Asian Market For Cutty Sark

Bhisham Mansukhani - Mumbai

International scotch majors Berry Brothers have increased their portfolio of Cutty Sark Scots Whisky brand compendium, up from Cutty Sark Original by introducing their premium end range featuring the Cutty Sark aged 18 years and 25 years as well as The Glenrothes 1987, 1992 and 1973 vintages respectively. The company sees a 20 to 25 per cent growth in consumption volumes going forward and plans to drive brand awareness through a series of tastings and trainings.

Chris Burns, regional sales director, Cutty Sark Original Scots Whisky on the occasion of the launch said, "We foresee a 20 to 25 per cent growth going forward. Bringing in the 25-year old is indication of optimism towards India. The objective is simply to be a leading player really but we haven't put numbers on it. The Indian market is rapidly catching up with South Korea to be the joint second largest market, the first being Japan. We still haven't entered the Chinese market."

Regarding the company's promotional activities in India, Burns said, "The market is a new one. We do educational programmes for food and beverage staff to inform them of the product and its distinct taste profile. Word of mouth is our key tool of advertisement in India. This is our first visit to India and the market has received us well. It is getting closer to the critical mass. We do not know what the threshold is as we don't know how much the economy will open up but we are here for the long term. We are looking to be a leading player with a premium offering, developing appropriate level of business. In a developing market, typically you have a lot of people moving from blends to malt and that puts us in a good position to tap this market," Burns said.

In response to the increasing prominence of wine in the Indian market, Burns said, "The company that created Cutty Sark was traditionally a wine merchant and had developed blends that were consumed before dinner, setting the tone for wine later on. So the scotch is well positioned for the gathering phenomenon."

Brian Senior, director, Indian Sub-Continent and Lower Gulf, emphasised the importance and viability of the institutional market in India for international brands like Cutty Sark, proferring, "For long, institutions have been frustrated by the artificial inflation of price. Now it has helped us initiate a larger audience because their cost to actually sample the product has plummeted quite a bit." Senior defined the profile of the Cutty Sark drinker as one who is sociable, adventurous and fun loving.

The Berry Brothers, one of the oldest spirit merchant established in 1698, sold all kinds of quality goods to the Court of Saint James and until today family members are on the company board and it is still very much a family run company.

V Ramesh Mani, director business development, Indian Sub-Continent and Lower Gulf is extremely bullish about the prospects for Cutty Sark and Glenrothes. "The growth has been tremendous. Typically in India, people consume scotch along with their food. Our key areas of thrust are all of the major metros. Following Mumbai, other cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore are on the radar for consolidation. We are looking at a doubling of sales in 2005. Duty free is another point of sales, besides institutional, that has performed well. Hotel occupancies has proportionately driven up our volumes. Institutional volumes account for 75 per cent of Cutty Sark sales in India. The Cutty Sark Original priced at Rs 1400 will target a larger audience," Mani said.

The company opened its portfolio in India in 2004 with Cutty Sark Original following the successful establishment of a distribution network. For the past two years, the company has also held a number of high profile events and tastings. The brand's target market in India was initially western India while expansions into other metros remains firmly on the anvil given the increasing demand for Bottled In Origin (BIO) products.