MAM
SPAR’s Campbell identifies India as a potential market for expansion
MUMBAI: SPAR International managing director Dr Gordon R Campbell, on his inaugural visit to India identified India as one of the three growth driver destinations for SPAR in the coming years.
DR Campbell said SPAR planned to focus on India, China and Russia to drive growth through the utilisation of its unique cooperative model that had seen success across over 15,000 SPAR stores in 34 countries.
With a global turnover of Euro 26.8 billion in 2003, SPAR is one of the worldwide leaders in food retail and had begun its Indian foray with the opening of its first store in Mumbai in December last year. The global food retail brand has a license arrangement with Radhakrishna Foodland Pvt. Ltd., a leading Indian food distribution company, to introduce the SPAR brand.
Dr. Campbell said, “I am excited by the possibility of working with Radhakrishna Foodland chairman and managing director Raju Sheté on the development of SPAR in the Mumbai region, whilst aiding and facilitating in the development and transition to a modern distribution system.”
He added, “SPAR International has successfully supported independent retailers in Europe in competing against the multiple retailers and international chains for over 70 years. The SPAR partnership model has been successfully introduced in Eastern Europe and Africa. We are committed to supporting independent retailers to achieve best practice in international retailing, thereby enabling them to grow and develop. Our multi-format retail strategy enables us to tailor retail propositions to match individual locations and consumer needs.”
Sheté on the other hand said, “The introduction of the SPAR brand in India is, I believe, one of the most significant developments in the Indian retail industry in recent times. The license arrangement between SPAR and Radhakrishna Foodland leverages the SPAR brand’s experience of retail in diverse communities and geographies while Radhakrishna Foodland brings to the venture its expertise and experience as managers of a comprehensive range of food services in India. The levels of interest shown in the SPAR format by independent retailers in the first three months of our existence is have been very high and augurs well for SPAR International’s focus on India.”
Sharing details of SPAR’s global plans, Dr. Campbell said that ‘Towards 2008’ is SPAR International’s medium to long term strategy and sets out how SPAR will increase the value we deliver to our customers. “‘Towards 2008’ also sets out our competitive strategy, the six pillars of SPAR. The six pillars are the basis of our strategy in continuing to grow and build consumer trust in SPAR around the world. Building trust is the path to providing a compelling consumer offer which will ensure that SPAR continues to attract and retain customers and remain a leading global food retailer.”
“The conclusion for SPAR in our strategy ‘Towards 2008’, is that we will focus our expansion plans on the developing world. Our main target is Asia, especially China and India. We will also seek to expand in Africa. In Europe, our principal market for development is Russia.”
In conclusion, Campbell stated, “SPAR is well positioned to enjoy continued growth over the coming decade. We will consolidate our strong position in Europe while continuing to develop our business in the emerging markets.”
MAM
Early Summers, Early Campaigns: How Beverage Brands Are Rethinking Marketing Strategies for Weather-Led Demand
SLMG Beverages Private Limited joint managing director Paritosh Ladhani.
MUMBAI: As Sun climbs up the hemisphere, summer has clearly arrived in India. On 7th March 2026 Delhi registered a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius which is the highest reading logged for the first week of March in the last 50 years. Climate Change has been prolonging summers by causing earlier spring warming, delayed autumn cooling, and more frequent, intense heatwaves that persist for much longer periods.
In an endeavor to stay ahead of the curve, Beverage Brands are shifting from fixed seasonal marketing tactics to weather responsive strategies backed by data-driven insights, flexible campaigns, and diversified portfolios to capitalize on unruly temperature spike. In 2025, India’s beverage market experienced a massive, heat-triggered surge with carbonated drinks and ice cream volumes spiking 20–25 per cent in the March quarter itself on the back of hottest February in 125 years.
Clearly campaign timelines are being advanced to reap the seasonal shift in line with the jumping mercury. In the Indian context where Cricket is nothing short of religion, big ticket tournaments like T20 World Cup, Indian Premier League, ICC Champions Trophy provide plethora of opportunities to calibrate marketing campaign designs and associated business strategies to associate refreshment with community viewing both outdoor and indoors. A new trend that has taken the world by storm is that of booking the theatres for bonhomie viewing. It has also opened avenues for joint marketing initiatives by the Multiplex and Beverage Brands.
Price disrupting small potions and value packs tend to drive significantly higher volumes owing to volumetric flexibility and affordability to the consumers. Ramping up of cold supply chains for transit and at point of sales (POS) are strategic business imperatives that again define success of beverage brands.
In the era of AI and Big Data it is easy to track and calibrate messaging based on daily or weekly weather changes. Geo-targeted digital advertisement campaigns are also being run during heatwaves to make the business and marketing imperative very contextual. These pre-emptive strategies fueled by real time data and technology immensely help beverage brands to adjust supplies to the areas that are likely to generate more demand.
Novelty brings premium to the FMCG Sector and Beverage Brands are no exception. Newer SKUs build up excitement in consumers besides imparting the scope of frequent revitalization of brand marketing campaigns. Ensuring continuum of supply chain across material suppliers, logistics providers, distributors/wholesalers, and retailers become a strategic business strategy imperative for beverage brands during peak season.
Carbonated drinks among other beverages including packaged mineral water sell like hotcakes in summers, a period where holiday season gives big impetus to sales volumes. Tying up with air carriers railways, amusement parks, malls, convention centers for inclusion in the onboard beverage deck also holds a big window of opportunity for brands.
Limited period diversification into special summer categories entailing juices and functional beverages to capture the broader hydration market is also a business cum marketing imperative that beverage brands eye on. This also brings to fore the responsible side of the brand placing the compass on wellness of consumers.
Seasons are cyclic, hence summers are inevitable. Further, due to anthropogenic climate change, summers surely have been staging prolonged appearance that keep bringing beverage brands on to their drawing boards frequently for strategizing business and marketing campaigns that are agile, refreshment-focused, visually dominant in retail, affordable, and optimally promoted through seasonal campaigns in above and below the line media.
