As Q-comm turns ice cream into an impulse buy, Havmor is rethinking its traditional strategy

Rupesh Jajal used to ride with his father on a scooter to go buy and enjoy a Havmor ice cream. Sushmita Saha would make silly excuses to her grandfather to make him buy her one. These are just some of the memories of loyal Havmor customers that have made it to the brand’s campaign as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations. 

Last week, Havmor Ice Cream, part of South Korean company LOTTE Wellfood Co., unveiled a six-month-long campaign titled 80 Years of Happy Memories. The campaign encourages consumers to share their cherished memories, which will be featured across various platforms. To amplify this celebration, Havmor is launching an OOH campaign across 25+ towns in Gujarat, including key cities such as Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, and Vapi. As part of the campaign, the brand also launched a limited-edition special vintage pack with an offer for consumers on American Nuts & Chocolate Cone.

Komal Anand, managing director of Havmor Ice Cream, says the brand plans to commemorate this year with several new product launches. 

“Our strategy involves introducing different products tailored to various occasions. All our innovations for the rest of the year will be occasion-specific. For example, we'll release a unique product for Janmashtami, a major event in Gujarat. We'll also introduce new flavours in our cakes portfolio around Christmas, New Year, and Diwali. Additionally, Havmor will enhance its celebrations for Garba and Navratri, partnering with more Navratri Pandals and scaling up our involvement to make it bigger and better than ever,” he says.

Why focus on Gujarat?

The brand Havmor was built in Ahmedabad. Satish Chona, the founder of Havmor, opened an ice cream shop in Karachi in 1944. However, Chona and his family had to migrate to India after the partition. After trying to establish a presence in several Indian cities, he chose to start his ice cream business in Ahmedabad with just Rs 200, operating from a handcart at the railway station. In 2017, the family sold the brand to South Korean food conglomerate Lotte for Rs 1,020 crore. Since the acquisition, the brand's turnover has doubled to more than Rs 1,200 crore, and profit has also increased by 50%.

Today Gujarat contributes the highest revenue to the brand amongst the 24 states and union territories where it is present. But it is not the sole reason why Havmor invests heavily in advertising in the state. Gujarat has the highest per capita ice cream consumption in India and Havmor claims to be the market leader in the state. The brand continually over-invests in the state to keep growing the business. The partnership with the IPL team Gujarat Titans is part of this strategy.

“As market leaders, it's our responsibility to grow the ice cream category in Gujarat, not just gain market share from competitors. We are aggressively working to expand our reach to more consumers. Our goal is to get more people to eat ice cream,” says Anand, who has \worked with Reckitt Benckiser, PepsiCo, and McCain in the past.

Expansion strategy

The brand has distinct strategies for different regions. While in Gujarat, the focus is on growing consumption, in the South, it is to gain market share from existing players by driving penetration and encouraging trials. As part of the strategy, the brand has invested heavily in its Havfunn ice cream parlours. In Tamil Nadu it has more than doubled its parlours—from 15-20 parlours to over 50 —in just 16 months. 

A standout example is its parlour in Anna Nagar, Chennai, which ranks among its top five in sales nationwide, even surpassing some locations in Gujarat. This has encouraged the brand to expand rapidly beyond its strongholds in the West—Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan—and into Delhi NCR and the South.

“Despite not investing in advertising in Tamil Nadu, the high product quality and variety have driven success purely through consumer appreciation. Although we're relatively small in the South, the throughput from our deep freezers is much higher than that of the market leaders. This means that wherever we have a presence, our deep freezers generate more sales per month than our competitors' do. This indicates the inherent strength of our brand. The key challenge is how quickly we can expand our availability,” Anand says.

Channel Strategy

Apart from its parlours, Havmor is quickly scaling its quick commerce business. While general trade and HORECA (hotels, restaurants, and cafes) remain the largest contributors, accounting for 95% of the business, quick commerce is virtually doubling every month compared to last year. For instance, June 2024 saw a 100% increase over June 2023, making it the fastest-growing segment.

“Quick commerce is one of the fastest ways to generate brand awareness and trial, and it's an easy way to expand distribution,” Anand says.

Anand says the evolution of online channels is significantly changing consumer habits. Today, ice cream, like many other products, is more accessible thanks to platforms like Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit, and Zepto. This shift has transformed ice cream into an impulse purchase. This change has prompted Havmor to rethink its traditional go-to-market strategy and is actively learning and adapting to ensure its products are available to consumers nationwide through online platforms.

Brand Havmor

In the midst of the changing ice cream category, the brand has managed to keep its ethos and core values unchanged. Anand says he wants the brand to embody happiness at every moment, driven by great taste and quality, particularly the creaminess of its products.

“We maintain a traditional range of flavours, including Rajbhog, Falooda, and Kesar, preserving our core Indianness. At the same time, we introduce contemporary flavours like Chocolate Brownie Fudge, Mocha Fudge, and Blueberry Cheesecake to cater to evolving consumer tastes. This balance allows us to stay true to our roots while progressing with changing consumer preferences,” he says.

However, Anand notes that as the brand grows, the methods for building brand equity have evolved.

“To become a strong national player, leveraging popular properties like cricket is essential. That's why we were one of the first ice cream brands in the country to associate with the IPL,” he says. 

In its 80th year, Havmor has two main goals. First, to complete its new factory in Talegaon near Pune by November, which will enhance the production capacity by 4 lakh litres per day from its existing 3 lakh litres per day. Currently, it has plants in Ahmedabad and Faridabad. Second, to launch its second Lotte brand in India, following World Cone. Planned for Q4 this year, this new sub-brand under the Lotte name will be part of the ice cream candy segment. 

Catering to new-age consumers

Consumers today are seeking for more healthier options, and though ice cream is an indulgence, many brands offering low-calorie desserts have emerged. These include Go Zero, NOTO-Healthy Ice Creams, and Get-a-Whey.

Anand says the low-calorie ice cream segment is a different and relatively small market in India, still not mature. 

“For example, in Korea, where consumers are highly health-conscious, there's a demand for low-calorie options like Lotte's Natuur range. However, even in Korea, a very health-focused country with top-tier skincare and grooming, only about 10% of ice cream consumption is for low-calorie options. The majority, about 90%, still prefers traditional, non-sugar-free products,” he explains. 

At the same time, consumers are seeking new experiences and are eager to try new flavours. From Lemongrass Ginger to Rosemary Citrus, ice cream lovers are open to experimenting. To cater to these tastes, Havmor has introduced popular new flavours like Bubble Tea, Matcha, and Biscoff.

However, if a new flavour doesn’t perform well, they are quick to pull it from the market. For example, they recently launched a Rolled Oats and Cranberry ice cream. Despite being healthy and tasty, it didn’t resonate with consumers in Gujarat. Feedback indicated that the name was too complicated, so Havmor shortened it. Yet, it still didn’t work, and it was soon discontinued. As its Talegaon plant comes to life, these experimentations are going to be tougher.

“We focus on innovation by listening to consumer preferences and trends. We evaluate a new product’s success based on sales volume. With our new high-speed automated lines in Pune, which include automated packaging, we can’t afford to produce small quantities of low-selling items. The scale and efficiency required by these systems mean we focus on products with mass appeal,” he says.