India's good old Parle-G recorded its best sales since in origin eight decades ago as lakhs of migrants took the treacherous journey back to their hometowns from cities due to the coronavirus-induced two-month lockdown. Amid hunger pangs, the humble Parle-G biscuit packets, bought for Rs 5 per pack, were perhaps their only saviours. Or that is what one can conclude from recent reports on its sales figures.
At a time when businesses are struggling to survive, Parle-G achieved the unique milestone of selling the maximum number of biscuits during the lockdown. The company Parle Products, the makers of Parle-G brand, confirmed to The Economic Times that March, April and May have been their best months in over eight decades. “We’ve grown our overall market share by nearly 5 per cent... And 80–90 per cent of this growth has come from the Parle-G sales. This is unprecedented,” the report quoted Mayank Shah, category head at Parle Products, as saying.
Shah added that Parle-G was the comfort food for many during the lockdown, while for several others, it was the only food they had on them. "This is a common man’s biscuit; people who cannot afford bread – buy Parle-G,” he said adding that the company had "several state governments requisitioning us for biscuits… they were in constant touch with us, asking about our stock positions. Several NGOs bought humongous quantities from us."
What helped Parle-G was, perhaps, its long-sightedness. "We were lucky to have restarted production from March 25 onwards,” Shah added. The company focused on producing brands that drove maximum sales.
According to various media reports, the business of biscuits and cookies saw a massive surge in sales volumes over the past three months as these emerged as the best option for cheap and mass distribution.