Indomie retains crown as top FMCG brand in Indonesia, finds study

Indomie has been ranked seventh among the top 50 most chosen FMCG brands of 2020 and the top brand in Indonesia, according to Kantar's Brand Footprint 2021 study which ranks the most chosen consumer brands. Last year, the instant noodle brand was also ranked the top FMCG brand in Indonesia. The other Asian brand to join Indomie in the ranking is Japan's Ajinomoto, which slid seven spots to 39th.

In March this year, Indomie's parent company, Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur, reported a 10% growth in consolidated net sales for the year ended 31 December 2020 amounting to IDR46.64 trillion. Income from operations increased by 24% to IDR9.20 trillion and operating margin expanded to 19.7% from 17.5%, the brand said. Anthoni Salim, president director and CEO, said despite the pandemic-ridden year, Indofood was supported by its strong product brands, resilient integrated business model and robust distribution networks. These factors allowed the brand to deliver a good performance by adapting to the changing trends and consumer behaviours. Aside from Indomie, Indofood also owns Pop Mie, Sarimi, Indomilk, Milkuat, Chitato, and Doritos, among others.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola and Colgate remained the top two FMCG brands while Lifebuoy jumped two spots to third place. On the other hand, Maggi and Lay's dropped one spot to fourth and fifth place respectively. According to Kantar's global thought leadership director, worldpanel division, Benjamin Cawthray, said before COVID-19, the growth of global FMCG sales had slowed down just 2% to 3% reported in 2017, 2018 and 2019. This slowdown made it challenging for brands to find new growth. However, the events in 2020 allowed the FMCG industry to enjoy a 10% global growth and 53% saw an increase in their consumer reach points (CRPs), representing a +6% swing on the previous year.

Consumer reach points measures a brand’s strength in terms of the number of times brands are chosen by shoppers. According to Kantar, this is calculated by multiplying penetration, population and consumer choice.

Food brands saw the most significant swing (+9%) while health and beauty brands saw 5% fewer brands growing in 2020. At the same time, Kantar found that larger size brands made up a bigger proportion of growing brands increasing from 50% to 54%.

The performance of the top 50 is also heavily linked with the sectors which they operate in, with 22 of them coming from food and dairy. Also, 16 of these brands grew. Meanwhile, 15 of the brands in the top 50 liste operate in health and beauty, which Kantar said is a disproportionately high number and shows the potential global reach of brands in this sector.

Globally, India and the US accounted for 55% of top 50 brand growth in 2020, with India forming 31% and the US forming 24%. Western Europe formed 14% of the growth while the rest of Asia formed 12%. China on its own formed 3%. Kantar explained that despite a slowdown in FMCG growth last year, the strength of local brands is very strong in China, with 89% share compared to 63%. In fact, Kantar found that the highest placed global brand in China, Lay’s, was ranked 13^th while the other in the top 10 were local or regional brands.

To break into the top 50, Kantar said brands need to have a global penetration of at least 10% and be chosen five times or more per year. About 45 of the top 50 brands have reached a penetration of over 10% and those that do not are “unique with a high footprint in specific markets”, Kantar explained.   

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