Sumit Aggarwal

Key Highlights of HUL’s SQ’25 Results Today, we announced the SQ’25 results for Hindustan Unilever Limited. #HUL delivered a competitive performance in SQ’25 with Underlying Sales Growth (USG) of 2%, an EBITDA of 23.2% and PAT growth of 4%. The GST reforms by the Government are a positive step to drive consumption and improve consumer sentiment. However, the quarter witnessed a transitory impact of the GST rate reforms as the market adjusted to the changes. During the quarter, Home Care delivered mid-single digit UVG and flat USG, with double-digit growth in the liquids portfolio. At 5% USG, Beauty & Wellbeing performance was led out of the skin care and health & wellbeing portfolio. Foods delivered 3% USG, with beverages (tea & coffee) growing in double-digits. Personal Care delivered flat USG, with double-digit growth in premium soaps. We remain committed to driving volume-led growth with a sharp focus on radical consumer segmentation, being bolder in transforming our core brands to make them more modern & desirable, future proofing our marketing & sales capabilities and investing disproportionately to scale high-growth demand spaces. For more, visit our website: https://lnkd.in/eSMJ7n_h

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If i have to sum up building new age consumer brands in a paragraph, it will sound something like this Have a product proposition which is both relevant to the category and differentiated vis a vis other players. Use that to create a brand proposition which is again relevant to the category and differentiated vis a vis other players. Use bottom funnel performance marketing to acquire initial customers. Make the brand widely available across channels and easy to buy. Create distinctive brand assets and remain consistent with your core proposition. Continue spending on high reach and impactful top funnel media to build brand salience and reduce dependency on performance marketing. Once you reach a certain scale in a category, enter other categories keeping the brand proposition true. Keep at it for 15-20 years No rocket science. But incredibly difficult to execute

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🧵 Building digital brands — A Wrap of 6 posts Here was my attempt at a reflect out loud series while still deep in the trenches on digital first brand building. We’re not done not even remotely so. We haven’t figured it all out. But 4+ years into building Koparo, we’ve earned a few hard-won truths. This series was about sharing those, without gloss. 1. Positioning isn’t a slide. It’s survival.  Say one sharp, memorable thing — and say it often. We chose: Powerful cleaning. Zero toxins. That line became our moat. Even today, it outsells every clever campaign. 2. Performance is brand. Every reel, every PDP, every Meta ad builds memory or breaks it. There’s no “we’ll do brand later.” Later is already too late. 3. Go deep before you go wide. Hero SKUs drive retention. Specialty SKUs don’t build behaviour. Dishwash was our foot in the door — and our gateway to AOV. 4. Content is not a task. It’s infrastructure. Creative velocity matters as much as logistics. 35 videos/month, 80+ statics to now about 100 videos/month and 200 statics — built by a team of 1. Tools exist. Excuses don’t. 5. Data doesn’t flatter. It keeps you honest. Blended ROAS can lie. Repeat rates don’t. When you know what really drives growth, you stop chasing noise. 6. Challenger brands don’t apologise. They provoke. We’re not here to blend in. We’re here to question why “cleaning” still includes bleach. It’s not always comfortable. But it builds trust — and that’s the only game worth playing. Posts in comments. Let’s keep building. Kshitij Ranjan Samni Dhiman Vishal Singh Anoop Singh Rawat Saurabh Nidar #Koparo #DTCIndia #FounderInTheTrenches #ChallengerMindset #DigitalFirst #BrandBuilding

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Taking a cue from Ahana Gautam's posts / podcasts on "Unjunking India" and Nielsen IQ report on "Premiumisation in FMCG" especially led by Q-commerce, I tried to deep dive into: "Will General trade and Modern trade aisles really look different in 2030 due to premiumisation and un-junking? And what might FMCG brands need to do to achieve scale in these segments?"   Key sub-categories driving the premiumisation and unjunking journey: 1. Healthy snacking - Led by brands such as The Whole Truth Foods, ITC Yogabars, Open Secret etc. 2. Cold pressed oils - Led by brands such as Anveshan and large players like Jivo Wellness, Tata Simply Better from Tata Consumer Products etc. 3. Flours and pulses - Led by brands like ORGANIC INDIA, Better Nutrition 4. Dairy - A2 Ghee, vegan milk alternatives, products from Country Delight   However, if we look at the categories they operate in, it's a long way to go if we compare the market sizes of Biscuits & Snacks (Led by Britannia, Parle , ITC), Edible Oils (Led by Marico and Adani Wilmar), Staples (Largely unbranded still, many private labels, fragmented)   In a value-conscious country, the main deterrent for large-scale adoption of premium, healthier alternatives will be the Avg. selling price vs incumbents. Even on quick commerce, each platform has many OPP brands and private labels; the share of premium brands is ~25-30%   To replace incumbents in GT and MT aisles (where premium brands <10%) by 2030, brands will need to make premiumization more accessible while maintaining profitability, through: 1. Localized Sourcing & Backward Integration 2. Smaller & Affordable Pack Sizes 3. Education & category-building initiatives   Currently, the TAM for premium, healthy products is limited (~10-15% of India's population); if the middle class doesn't grow in the next 5 years, then this will be a huge risk to scale premiumisation. However, with the increasing focus on healthy alternatives, smaller pack sizes would still ensure that customers may choose these over incumbent brands.   It will be interesting to see how Premiumisation & Unjunking plays out over the next few years. Would love to discuss. Please comment / DM. P.S., Another trend I am curious about is the growing 'ready-to-eat / 'frozen food' segment for the Convenience-seekers. More on that in another post! #fmcgtrends #premiumisation #healthandnutrition

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The Monday-est Monday to Start 2025 Two corporate lessons from week 1. 1. Buying vs Building: Reliance's exit from Dunzo and HUL's acquisition of Minimalist remind us: Buying a business is easy. Building a brand? That’s the hard part. Acquisitions may make headlines, but only brand-building creates legacies. 2. The Work Week Debate: L&T Chairman: “90 hours a week is the key to success.” Anand Mahindra: “Quality of work matters more than quantity” Takeaway? Burnout isn’t a badge of honor, and real impact comes from working smart, not just hard. Corporate India, the year's off to a thought-provoking start ! #corporateindia #worklifebalance #indiainc #brandbuilding #acquisitions

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Great insights from a conversation with the Dyson sales rep for 40 minutes straight, while my sister had a 'Tell me you're an MBA, without telling me you're an MBA' moment in the mall last week :P It was intriguing to learn the innovation behind their products, sales trends across regions, products, and time of the year, etc. When Dyson entered India in 2018, they launched with just one product: a ₹35K+ vacuum cleaner. This was at a time when vacuum penetration was <10% in Indian households. But Dyson didn’t chase the masses. They went where few dared: 🚀 Category creation > market share 💡 Education > aggressive pricing 🏗️ Infrastructure-first D2C strategy 📊 R&D vs Marketing: Dyson flips the playbook. Dyson invests ~30% of its profits into R&D. £500M. This is nearly 10x higher than traditional consumer appliance players like Philips or Panasonic, who typically allocate 3–5%. That R&D obsession has led to: → Over 14,000 patents across product categories → Proprietary motors and filtration systems that enable premium pricing → Clear technical defensibility: a rare moat in D2C hardware 🛒 A genius GTM: Vertical integration + high-touch sales model Unlike most consumer brands in India that depend heavily on e-commerce and retail partners, Dyson chose a D2C-first approach with: → Company-owned experience stores (vs multi-brand retail) → Engineers as sales reps, trained to demo product tech vs push sales → Controlled pricing with no discounting: a bold move in a deal-hunting market 💰 Margins > Mass Adoption By focusing on high-AOV, high-margin SKUs, Dyson could afford elevated CACs and longer payback periods, a model most early-stage Indian D2C brands can’t replicate. 🧭 Strategic patience > blitzscaling In contrast to VC-funded D2C brands that often chase top-line growth through discounting, Dyson followed a slow-burn strategy: Build credibility → Control customer experience → Educate the market → Expand product lines Now, they own a niche category that never existed before in India and can cross-sell haircare and air purifiers to the same premium segment. The right GTM + high AOV + long-term brand play clearly has potential. This is not just the case with Dyson, but also Wakefit, Tata CLiQ Luxury, Lenskart.com, etc. Which other Indian or global D2C brands do you think are playing this game right? #NotASponsoredPost(yet) #ConsumerTech #GoToMarket

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