The ITC estore would not be available at some places yet. However it provides the glimpse of spread for FMCG products available. I personally did not know the Daal offerings under ‘Aashirvad’ brand. The super stores in Pune does not seem to be stocking it yet.
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On a lighter note, I spent some time on weekend browsing ITC eportal. Prices were less in Amazon for the same ITC product Nimyle…etc. I had to order from Amazon finally
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Not much to comment on e-store as it’s just started…but initial look and feel and the variety and range of offerings gave me a glimpse of what Tatas would and can do when they start their super app!! ITC is actually trying to do the same thing and doing it well for their FMCG. Potential is huge as offerings are diverse. Some sticky customers are very much possible and membership routes can also be taken…
All depends on how this plays out…what I can see is that they have all stuff right from a morning bath and breakfast to lunch, snacks, hygiene, study, dinner and a sweet indulgence as well…a complete package…how they leverage it is yet to be seen…
Ecommerce & platforms were nothing globally couple decades back and just few years back in India…the same way brand/company online fronts are nothing today…
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It’s not about design. I’m a big fan of Fabelle chocolates, especially Ganache. It’s been out of stock everywhere. Tried ordering from eStore. It’s not about designs or visuals. It asks you to select the delivery slots with no availability indicator and fails when trying to pay with error to select different delivery slot. I tried selecting 10 different delivery dates to no avail.
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I think estore should be more directed towards dealers, retailers kind of B2B than B2C. Direct online selling should not be something they should get into. This is my personal view I may be wrong
Again I am taking this as not focusing on core like branding , sales and marketing of their fmcg products
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I am unable to understand the rationale for creating the e-store. Isn’t it better to leverage the established channels like Amazon and Flipkart to sell ITC products? Maybe I am missing something - can someone explain the thinking behind starting e-store?
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May be this gives them the online visitor behaviour data which otherwise will only be available with Amazon etc. And such data, if studied effectively, can bring great insights.
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They just squander money experimenting several different things rather than focusing on few things to create value. The management of this company is one among the best, when it comes to getting paid. So they need to show they are doing something to create value. They have unlimited cash from cigarette, which they have been milking since long and are not seriously bothered about anything than their own paychecks.
Been invested for a decade.
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I agree with your thoughts as a long term shareholder. I also used to see ITC with similar lens and infact sometimes even today. Now imagine, if you were a Tata Son’s shareholder (hypothetically), what would you feel about their burning cash on Tata digital with apps, bigbasket acquisition etc. (Not to mention Indian hotels/Taj).
Point is I see some traction in digital as a good step specially considering current scenario. If you need to progress as a brand or company or conglomerate, a sensible investment in digital is welcome. Benefits may or may not come, but direction is right (unlike maybe hotels)
Disc. Invested & biased
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I don’t understand the huge skepticism about ITC having its own online presence even when some of the competitors also have their presence digitally. It also acts as good consolidation for a long variety of products which may not be commonly available. I think it has decent potential especially when there are a lot of products which are not available in certain areas, this can also plug in some of the gaps there.
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What was your thesis in investing in ITC? What was your expectation at that time? Did you look at this as a tobacco company or did you also look at it as an FMCG company? Cigarette sales grew at 3% YoY in these 10 years but FMCG sales have quadrupled. Are you not satisfied with the FMCG growth in these 10 years? What major positive changes did you see in these 10 years that made you stay invested, or do you feel they under delivered?
I don’t remember anyone else invested in ITC for 10 years, so these questions. Hope I am not too demanding.
Invested and will add more if it falls considering the MoS.
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I am eager to understand how much of ITC Infotech’s expertise is used in building this eStore platform.
In the footer of the website, the support contact email is support.itcstore@technobubble.co.in .
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While appreciate every members view point and efforts one make to write down thought on forum and take in meaningful discussion forward, post related to Estore launch by ITC, most messages are giving general comment on nature, at least not adding any value to discussion from investment perspective in my opinion. I find multiple messages flood my inbox when any member contribute to thread. In 1 year, we got 655 message. Just try to put myself in shoes of new member visiting forum and reading on ITC thread. I would get lost without getting any insight and leave reading in between.
Please note that by no means, I want to curtail healthy discussion. However, just putting one two line/para and putting personal experience does not add any value from investment perspective particularly when FMCG company products which are used by Lakhs of household. The sample size is too minuscule to make any meaningful understanding and insight.
The supreme test for me to write on forum it to place myself in reader shoes. If as reader, after 6 months, I find message add value, then only I would suggest members to contribute. I would request all member to take that responsibility and try to contribute more in insights/analysis. That would improve all thread and assist all us to make VP forum productive.
Thanks everyone for contributing to forum. My apology for being harsh, but realise it would be important to keep thread meaningful.
Discl: among my top 2 holding, bought small quantity in last months. Not a SEBI-registered analyst, Not recommending investment.
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Hi,
ITC partners with Linde India to Air Freight much needed Oxygen
However in this deal what ITC will have or is a CSR activity, that needs to be seen.
Also its paper unit Board has commenced supply of oxygen.
Thanks,
Deb
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Just found a link on An interview with ITC Infotech CEO and their forecast.
Important points to note.
- Mr. Sanjiv Puri is pushing the Infotech business and it’s growing fast.
- consolidated total income grew 12% year-on-year to Rs 2,268.63 crore, while net profit doubled to Rs 209.47 crore.
- A global delivery center is opening up soon in Johannesburg SA (next year).
On another note, I also found that ITC is working on opening Hospitals.
ITC: ITC plans to set up multi-specialty hospitals, Health News, ET HealthWorld update has been available on this interesting development since 2019.
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This is rather annoying.
They’ve got plenty of businesses to focus on and they want to enter Healthcare - and even within healthcare - opening hospitals. This article is like from 2017.
From the article:
‘The move is in the context of the company’s vision to ‘sub-serve national priorities which has driven the company’s operations, diversification initiatives and CSR policies and practices’, it added.
Such initiative would leverage the company’s repertoire of knowledge and experience in the hospitality and tourism sector and can be used for medical tourism for the country using the multi-specialty world class facilities’
They’ve got a simple task ahead of them.
Milk the Cash Cow - the Cigarette business - reinvest in the remaining solid high ROCE businesses (Paper, Agri, FMCG) (sorry, Infotech is insignificant) and return all excess cash (alongside the balance sheet hoard) to the shareholders.
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ITC is acting more like a Mature company with no room to grow. I think it’s more due to the composition of the board (Too old to take risks) which is unlikely to change. Another hungry management would have found a large runway for growth. My guess is ITC will continue to find ways to invest in sub-par industries or return most of the money as dividend while they just need to aggressively invest in FMCG, agri and supply chain where there is a huge requirement for a hungry and growing nation like India.
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Can someone having access to ET Prime provide a summary of the above article?
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One more risk to be considered for the company…
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Summary of ET Prime article on ITC
- Compares ITC with American Express and RJR Nabisco
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Amex - on how wrong the board was by persisting with the then CEO James Robinson for a 16-year long period (1977-1993) despite poor allocation skills. The stock didn’t reward investors at all during this period
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RJR Nabisco - co was broken up into multiple divisions. Cigarette to Phillip Morris, Mondelez (manufactures Cadbury) and Kraft-Heinz. The report claims that this is an optimum capital allocation
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Few points are made on ITCs falling ROCE (48% in 2014 to 33% in 2021); ITCs FMCG division is clocking 7% EBITDA margins vs 25%ish in Nestle and HUL. They also point out that 30% of the FMCG revenues are coming from atta segment where margins are in single-digits
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Also, there are a few points on the regular ESG thing on how FII ownership has reduced from 20% to 13%
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Capital allocation - since 2003, ITC has invested 7800 crores in FMCG, 7100 crores in hotels and 1600 crores in Agri. However, the cumulative free cash flow from these divisions is negative 81000 crores vs 88000 crores for Cigarettes
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There has been 14% tax expense CAGR for Cigarettes from 2010-2019 compared to 7% in the earlier decade. This low affordability has lead to a meagre 6% EBIT growth for the last five years
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They conclude by saying that if the co is serious on creating shareholder value, they would have to split tobacco and non-tobacco business. They are also of the opinion that the market is valuing the company fairly
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