The grocery store shelves near your home are changing fast. Shops that were ruled by a few legacy companies for years are now being replaced by new-age brands. The latest data from retail intelligence platform Bizom sheds light on this changing market picture. According to Bizom, which tracks 1 crore grocery stores in the country, the market share of new consumer brands increased to 21.7 percent in the first half of fiscal 2027. Just a year ago this figure was only 14.8 percent. On the other hand, the share of old FMCG companies that ruled the market for years has decreased from 85.2 percent to 78.3 percent.

The old market was shaken by changing consumer preferences

Commenting on this change in the market, Tarun Arora, CEO, Zydus Wellness, says that this is the first time in a long time that new players are showing the power to change the structure of the market. From online shopping to the convenience of big stores, this has paved the way for these new brands. Arora believes that it is no longer appropriate for old established companies to rely on their old strengths, rather they have to understand the changing preferences of consumers.

According to Shankar Prasad, CEO of beauty brand Plum Goodness, the change in consumer behavior was earlier visible online, but is now evident in the offline market as well. Plum, which started as a digital brand, now earns 30 percent of its revenue from offline stores. Around 35,000 physical touchpoints of this brand have been created across the country. Consumers are now demanding products that are scientifically effective. This is the reason why shopkeepers who were previously shy to stock expensive items have started to accommodate them in their shops in the last two-three years seeing the demand of the customers.

Easy to get into shops, hard to survive

Online to direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands increased their grocery reach from urban to rural markets by 200 basis points in the September quarter alone. During this period, the older firms lost 1.9 percent of their urban grocery outlets, although their number of stores in villages increased by 2.3 percent. New startups have changed the math of brand building. These companies target the premium customers of the city who are willing to pay more. They launch new products quickly, even if some of them fail.

However, this path is not so easy. Partha Sethi, growth officer at Bizom, says the real test for new brands has begun. Sustaining such a large distribution against the deep offline networks of older companies is a major challenge. Tarun Arora also believes that it is easy to deliver the goods to the shops, but it is a difficult task to maintain the sales for a long time. Shop shelves can’t be occupied just by giving more profit to shoppers. For digital companies, expanding into the general market is still a very expensive and time-consuming task.

Big companies took the route of acquisitions

Seeing the growing power of new brands, even the big companies of the country have changed their strategy. Big companies like Hindustan Unilever, Marico, Godrej Consumer, ITC have bought many famous new brands. They include names like Minimalist, Oziwa, Birdo, Yoga Bar, Mother Sparsh, Plix, True Elements, Cosmix, 4700BC. Partha Sethi explains that Bizom’s current figures do not include digital brands that big FMCG companies have bought and merged into their businesses. If the figures of these brands are also added, the share of new age brands in the grocery market would appear to be much larger.