Deepak's Musings #120: Super Returns madness in Singapore 🇸🇬🇸🇬

Over 1,000 people are attending SR Asia 2023 right after the F1 weekend. Expect to meet fellow GPs and LPs in town.

September 18, 2023

All things consumer & insurgent brands. What I am currently reading, thinking about, and reflecting upon. You can follow me on Twitter at @dishahdadpuri or follow DSGCP at @dsgcp.

🥧🧁 JM Smucker bets on Twinkies in the snack race

More M&A in the CPG world as brands look to acquire brands addressing fast-growing categories like snacking and seeking out new occasions.

JM Smucker to buy Twinkies manufacturer Hostess Brands for $5.6B

The purchase will deepen the jam and peanut butter maker’s presence in growing categories and consumer occasions focused on convenience.

☕️🧃 Doubling down on innovation and premiumisation

Keurig Dr Pepper, like many other incumbents I speak to, is focusing on innovation and premiumisation for growth. A large part of their M&A strategy is to look for new brands that bring this dimension into the fold. The company’s investment last year in Nutrabolt, the maker of C4 Energy and Xtend Energy, was driven by both of these reasons.

Keurig Dr Pepper leans into premiumization, innovation as recession fears mount

Keurig Dr Pepper executives sees significant potential for innovation and more premiumization across hot and cold beverage categories to drive sales, volume and consumer engagement in the coming year – brushing off mounting rumors about a potential recession hitting the US in the back half of the year.

🇮🇳🛕 India - the World’s Next Great Economic Power?

A well-balanced piece in Harvard Business Review by Bhaskar Chakravorti and Gaurav Dalmia. We have been through similar surges of Indo-optimism before. What’s different now?

Is India the World’s Next Great Economic Power?

Is India’s economic rise inevitable? There’s good reason to think that this latest round of Indo-optimism might be different than previous iterations, but the country still has major challenges to address to make good on this promise. In terms of drivers, demand — in the form of a consumer boom, context-appropriate innovation, and a green transition — and supply — in the form of a demographic dividend, access to finance, and major infrastructure upgrades — are helping to push the country forward. This is facilitated by policy reforms, geopolitical positioning, and a diaspora dividend. Even so, the country faces barriers to success, including unbalanced growth, unrealized demographic potential, and unrealized ease-of-business and innovation potential.

🇮🇳🇳🇱☕️ The Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte drops in for a cup of chai

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte was in Bangalore to meet with Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka D K Shivakumar. Guess where he stopped on the way? ☕☕ For a cup of tea at Chai Point!

🇸🇬🇻🇳🇮🇩🇵🇭 Southeast Asia is positioned to be one of the vital consumption engines in the world

DSG Consumer Partners’ Sameer Mehta moderated a panel at the recent Deal Street Asia Summit 2023 on the opportunity to build local consumer brands.

Asia PE-VC Summit 2023: SE Asia is a red-hot market for consumer business

Consumer business needs to implement omnichannel strategy to cater to different customers.

🍷🍷 With wine consumption accounting for only 1% by volume of all alcobev in India, the future brings for the Indian wine industry

Rajeev Samant, referring to Sula's growth in second-tier cities: "If a Black Label bottle is available in a store in any city, our premium wines should be there too - that's a straightforward diktat to our sales force."

Indian winemaker Sula not losing sleep over foreign rivals, CEO says

India's largest winemaker, Sula Vineyards , is expanding its production capacity and counting on a pricing sweet spot to fend off foreign rivals in its home turf.

👦🏻🧒🏽 Are Gen Z shoppers more likely to buy products recommended by friends or family members than by celebrities or influencers?

Well, that is one of the messages from the story below.

Photo search, pop themes, designs of the week: how brands and retail platforms are chasing Gen Z

The youth has always been a key demographic for fashion and beauty brands. But Gen Z has some key defining characteristics. Hence, retailers and brands are having to realign their marketing and branding strategy to catch their attention.

🩲🩲 India’s innerwear market: premium brands continue to grow

DSG Consumer Partners innerwear portfolio company XYXX continues to show strong growth in contrast to the market leaders who focus on the value segment. Yogesh Kabra, founder of XYXX, speaks to the Economic Times and shares his perspective.

Jockey, Rupa, Dollar sales slip: Why Indians are buying clothes but not enough innerwear

Contrary to most categories, the pandemic was a good period for hosiery product makers in India. The jump in sales was strong, and visible, across their market performances. However, the first quarter of the current fiscal has witnessed a drastic decline in sales. Is this just a temporary correction or an onset of a new trend?

👂🏽📢 You know what they say: Listen to your customer

How startups are letting followers dictate brand decisions: ‘They're an extension of the team’

More startups are passing crucial brand-building decisions on to shoppers, such as product development, distribution and marketing.

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