eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
The emergence of new products on supermarket shelves — rivalling known traditional brands — could provide positive outcomes such as innovation that will lead to lower prices.
In the past few years, several local firm companies, particularly the fast-moving consumer goods, also known as FMCGs, and beverages have made substantial investments in new product lines proving to be reasonable alternatives to existing brands.
While Pepsi could probably be the most notable product that has managed to gain traction over the market leader Coca-Cola in recent years, potential rival products have emerged in cereals, margarine, cooking oil, rice, dairy and flour market segments.
“The visibility of rival products is becoming more pronounced and the growing competition is already biting big brands,” said Patience Nyaradzo, a shop manager with a leading retail chain.
“Initially, it was the issue of the price but we can now see an element of quality appreciation as well; customers favouring emerging brands.”
According to a report from the Ministry and Industry and Commerce, many companies have invested in areas that have been traditionally dominated by a few players.
These include Mount Meru, which commissioned a US$20 million edible oil processing plant.
Blue Ribbon Foods is in the process of commissioning a US$27 million plant in Harare and has since diversified into cereals, an area, which has for years been dominated by Nestlé’s popular Cerevita brand.
Mutare-based FCMG Willoton cereal brand is also proving to be popular with consumers. The company, which produces the D’lite cooking oil brand is investing US$5 million in a new margarine plant.
Zimgold’s margarine brand is also making traction in a segment previously dominated by Unilever’s stock margarine brand and Olivine Industries’ buttercup.
Early this year, Innscor launched its traditional beer, Nyathi, a potential rival to Delta’s Super and Chibuku brands. But it has not made much of a dent in Delta’s offerings.
Delta, which has the Zimbabwe beer market leader controls 86 percent of the traditional beer market and 95 percent of lager sales. Last week, the company commissioned three production lines including, Chibuku to boost output and keep market share.
“We have seen companies coming up either expanding their capacities or introducing new products challenging the traditional brands which is important because it produces innovation, it’s good for competition and good for import substitution, Industry and Commerce Dr Sekai Nzenza said in an interview last week.
An official with one of the leading cereal makers confirmed that the “competition was that stiff before” and the crowding of rival products was giving them a bit of a “headache.”
“We are now competing with products produced by fairly new technology and that will obviously come with a lot of efficiencies,” the official said.
People who spoke to this publication have expressed satisfaction with a wider range of products saying that will go a long way in keeping the price low, encouraging innovations and reducing their exposure to cheap and substandard imports.
“With a variety of offerings, we have wider choices,” Tecla Mugura, a nurse at a private hospital in Harare.
“Barring occasional economic shocks, it is a situation that brings competition and also innovation as companies are forced to offer the best quality to stay in business.”
A Harare-based marketing executive, who declined to be named said the main challenge for business was to consistently do market research to keep abreast with customer preferences.
“We are likely to see more re-branding for companies to remain relevant and to distinguish their products from rival products or imitation.”
