Nearly two years after Patanjali first reported a slowdown in its revenue growth rate, its struggles with managing the distribution continue. ET Prime’s conversations with its current and former distributors reveal that the company is losing ground to rivals in its staple segments — facewashes, ghee, honey, and even toothpastes.
Nearly two years after Patanjali first reported a slowdown in its revenue growth rate, its struggles with managing the distribution continue. ET Prime’s conversations with its current and former distributors reveal that the company is losing ground to rivals in its staple segments — facewashes, ghee, honey, and even toothpastes.
To assess the state of India’s consumer economy, ET Prime partnered with peel-works, which works closely with corner stores. In the first part of the survey, we assessed how sales of basic consumer goods grew during the festive season. The bottom line: Certain geographical pockets and product categories have stayed resilient amid a slowdown, but there’s also increased pressure on working capital.
Is the slowdown severe enough for people to cut down on toothpaste, hair oil, noodles, or biscuits? Not yet. But the distributor has been hit hard, with credit channels drying up.
Soon after its fabulous listing in 2017, Prataap Snacks began to slip on the bourses. A struggle to break consumer preferences, lack of pricing power, and distribution battles have made growth elusive in a fickle business with wafer-thin margins.
The stock-market darling has seen a sharp correction in valuations of late. While analysts and investors say they had foreseen this and more is to come, the company’s distributors are unhappy about its aggressive expansion and growth plans, which are eating into their margins.
