Paper Boat, recently has evolved as one of India's favourite drinks which is from the Hector Beverages stable. They have been instrumental in introducing various regional and season specific drinks, allowing consumers to easily experience the rich culinary culture of our country through their flavours. Nabamita Chatterjee chats up with Parvesh Debuka, Marketing Head - Paper Boat, to know about the retail supply chain process, the benefits and challenges of how it works within a start-up.

Share with us briefly your journey so far and how are you planning to carve out a niche especially in such a competitive market?

It has been exhilarating, to say the least! It would always be a slow setting process for a startup with limited resources. But, with the help of a great collaborative partnership with Indo Nissin Foods Ltd., we have been able to see markets which were impossible to reach. The challenge is always about communication along with visibility. While these are huge challenges, we are excited to taken them on. We are currently present in over 100 cities with expanding distribution at a rapid speed.

What is the basic retail design strategy followed by the brand for modern trade? Are you planning any new concept for better connectivity with your shoppers?

Apart from the product, the proposition of having easy access to recipes which have evolved over generations in a ready-to-eat format, with absolutely no preservatives, is what our USP is. In this delicious mix, we throw in a quarter of beautiful memories and another quarter of love… that is Paper Boat for you. Whether it is retail design strategy for GT or MT, we believe in telling stories about the product and that remains constant. We are always on the hunt for great design and ideas that talk to our consumers. If some of your readers would like to send in some ideas (paperboat@hectorbeverages.com), we would be happy to execute them.

What is your plan for modern trade and general trade?

We have worked really hard to establish and expand our distribution. You can pick up Paper Boat at an airport, a flight, GT (across major metros), MT to restaurants. The only plan that we hear our sales head telling our team is keep expanding. We have a long way to go, because we are available in a small fraction as of now.

How much of your efforts towards capturing the shoppers happen at the store? Tell us about your in-store communication plans.

Recently, I entered our office and I saw a medium sized (table-top) black board with a pack of Paper Boat meticulously placed on the extreme left of the board. It read: No Preservatives, No Added Colours. Just good old goodness; which was neatly handwritten with chalk. That was a great design and I loved it. This is one of the key collaterals for our POSM and this is how we intend to tell our story.
 
Any new trends that you are seeing in terms of consumer behaviour/buying pattern in this category?

People are migrating across the country and they are taking their food habits with them. If you see the golgappa stalls in Bangalore, it will boggle your mind. They are available everywhere and where were they 7 years ago? This allows us to take drinks from different parts of the country the other parts of the country.

How encouraging is the market growth for a brand like yours in India?

It has been a good two years journey for this brand. Every single day we wake up surprised on the kind of love we get from people. We hope it is only going to grow from here onwards.