Procter & Gamble Enters India Ecommerce Market With PGShop.in

Global consumer goods brand Procter & Gamble (P&G) has started testing an ecommerce store in India. The company is reportedly following a ‘test and learn’ approach for the same.

Inc42 found pgshop.in is available in beta version with products Oral B and Herbal Essences products available on the platform.

An ET report said that the company is currently testing the beta version of the site and the products are sold and the supply chain is managed by its Kolkata-based distributor BG Distributor. Further, it added that BG Distributor is running the website “end to end.” The company is expecting to use the learning from the exercise the “distributor has undertaken.” According to the report, the website will go live by early next year.

Considering India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) rules pgshop.in will be owned and operated by the Kolkata distributor and P&G will only supply products. Hence, it would avoid having any financial investment in the venture. This is important considering FDI rules allow global companies to sell only made in India goods on online platforms.

P&G India was established in 1964 and currently operates under three entities in India – Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Limited, Gillette India Limited and Procter & Gamble Home Products.

The company also claims to be present in India through its five plants and over nine contract manufacturing sites and is now serving 650 Mn consumers in the country.

A recent United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Ecommerce Index 2019 showed that FMCG ecommerce industry is booming. The report, affirming the unprecedented growth of the online FMCG market, estimates that the FMCG sales coming from the ecommerce channel are expected to grow to $4 Bn by 2022 in the country.

Amongst all the FMCG items, online grocery order leads the sales with 44% contribution, followed by personal care which accounts for 40% of such orders. Household care came third in the list with a share of 13% of all online FMCG orders. P&G joins the club of companies such as Ikea, Amway which are exploring online sales for their next phase of growth.