One of largest baby care brands
A part of the Italy based multinational company Artsana Group, Chicco is one of the largest baby care brands in the world. The brand takes care of multiple needs of babies through its innovative products in nursing, baby toiletries, toys, travel and fashion categories. Rajesh Vohra, CEO of Artasana India, spoke to Fibre2Fashion on the brand’s conceptualisation, the major domestic and export markets it caters to and long-term sustainability goals.
What is the story behind founding of the brand?
Founder of the brand Pietro Catelli’s deep insight and constant observation of children’s and parents’ behaviours nurtured a transversal know-how about the different tensions related to parenting. Thus, our brand Chicco took a ‘problem solving’ approach that can tackle parents’ needs.
When was the brand founded originally and when was it launched in India?
The brand was founded in 1946 and launched in 2010 in India.
What categories is the brand into?
Baby care products that include nursing, cosmetics, travel, toys and fashion.
Who are your target audience?
First time parents.
Which are the brands stocked across each category?
Parent company Artsana has many brands, but in India Chicco has launched 2 brands ie Chicco and Boppy.
Which category sells the most?
Nursing and cosmetics.
What is the retail and web presence of your brand like?
We have an omni-channel approach and Chicco gets sold from all channels such as Chicco Exclusive Business Outlets (EBOs: total 11), specialty baby stores, online partners, and distribution. We also sell through online platforms like Amazon, First Cry, Myntra, Flipkart and many more.
Which are your major markets?
We sell across India; North has our strong presence.
What is your market positioning?
We are in the mass premium segment in nursing and cosmetics categories. We are in affordable luxury segment in segments like fashion, travel, and toys range.
What is the breakup of your product categories (salewise) for the export market?
We export to few countries like Nepal from India. All products are exported from Italy.
What are your brand building strategies?
We keep on actively promoting Chicco products across the media. For us, digital marketing is very important where we reach out to our target audience in a more precise manner.
What has been your growth story in the last three years (excluding 2020)?
We are growing at a healthy double-digit pace in the last few years.
What has been the impact of Covid in terms of sales, staff cutdown, rentals etc?
There was sales drop but we still recovered and monthly sales are almost at pre-covid levels now. We did not layoff any of our staff.
If you are looking for vendors, what are the top 3 qualities are you looking at beyond the givens of quality, lead time, compliances etc.
1. Long term view 2. Great Consumer experience orientation 3. Eagerness for business growth
Where are your manufacturing facilities based at?
Our products are manufactured in different parts of the world such as Europe, China and India.
How is the supply chain expected to change with increasing digitisation, AI, VR etc? And how is this going to impact the business of sourcing?
It is expected to be quicker and more efficient.
Sustainability and circularity are the buzz words today. How do you incorporate them into your product lines?
Artsana Sustainable Parenting is the commitment to act responsibly, respecting people and the environment, with an outlook to the future and next generations. We integrate sustainability along all its processes and activities, and promotes a comprehensive culture of sustainability, adopting environmental, social and governance sustainable principles in our own organisation and through dialogue with our stakeholders.
What are your long-term sustainability goals?
Artsana, participating as signatory since 2017 to United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), has aligned its goals with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). In particular, the group’s contribution is focused around three specific SDGs, which are closest to the group’s mission: good health and wellbeing, quality education, responsible consumption and production.
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