B2B ecommerce platform, Udaan, has partnered with Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL) to distribute Campa Cola products across India. Reliance Retail’s subsidiary, RCPL, acquired the iconic beverage brand for INR 22 Cr in August 2022 and relaunched it in March this year.
The distribution partnership will allow Udaan to reach over 50,000 retailers and kirana stores initially, eventually increasing to one lakh stores in two months. The three new Campa Cola flavors, including Cola, Orange, and Clear Lime in sizes of 200 ml, 500 ml, and 2,000 ml, will be distributed by Udaan.
Vinay Shrivastava, head of FMCG Business at Udaan, stated that the B2B ecommerce unicorn’s vast retailer base and cost-effective distribution network put them in a unique position to assist RCPL in achieving deeper market penetration for the Campa brand across Bharat.
Founded by former Flipkart employees Sujeet Kumar, Vaibhav Gupta, and Amod Malviya in 2016, Udaan boasts a network of over three million retailers and 30,000+ sellers across India. The startup offers products from more than 500,000 categories across 1,000+ Indian cities. Udaan’s revenue from operations or contracts increased 1.7 times to INR 9,943.8 Cr in FY22 from INR 5,919 Cr in FY21, while its total expenses surged 1.5 times to INR 12,997.90 Cr from INR 8,449.10 Cr in FY21.
The partnership with RCPL for Campa Cola is part of Udaan’s ‘Project Vistaar,’ an initiative to expand FMCG and food categories to rural areas. Udaan has claimed that it reaches every rural market up to a population of 3,000 under this project. Udaan is currently implementing this project in rural Uttar Pradesh.
Campa Cola was a market leader in the sparkling beverage category in India during the 70s and 80s when there were no foreign brands in this category. However, following Manmohan Singh’s economic reforms, these brands returned, and Campa was almost defunct by the end of the 2010s.
