India Volume 12

32 SUPERBRANDS 2020 Market The Indian school system with over 260 million primary and secondary students (K 12), spread across 1.5 lakh schools is the largest in the world and comprises both public and private institutions. While private schools cater to 43% of the enrolled students and form only 25% of the total number of schools, public schools cater to 57% and contribute to 75% of the total number of schools. The current per capita (PPP basis) spend on education is about US$ 500, which is about four times less than the average per capita spend of upper middle-income countries. The stationery industry in the country is estimated at over H 17,000 crore in consumer spends. Of this, notebooks is the largest segment accounting for over 50% of the industry value. The potential of the stationery industry has keenly caught the eye of international players in the last decade, who have since started operations in the country through the buy-out/joint venture route, increasing the competitive complexity in this industry. Prior to the launch of Classmate, the notebook industry was highly fragmented, non-standardised and commoditised, flooded with a plethora of local brands, characterised by low-quality, similar looking products. This also impacted consumer expectation and lowered their involvement in purchase, in this category. Achievements Classmate has steadfastly grown year-on-year since its launch. The brand had not only become the market leader in the notebook segment by the end of 2007, a mere five years since its launch, it had displaced large regional and local brands, which had been in existence far longer and enjoyed high recall amongst customers. closest competitor in sales. Classmate enjoys a mind share of over 60% which is nearly ten times that of the next competitive brand. All in all, Classmate remains an unchallenged leader in the notebooks segment. The brand has helped the Education and Stationery Product Business (ESPB) of ITC become one of the largest and fastest growing stationery companies in the country. History The Education and Stationery Product business was started by ITC towards the end of 2001. It brought together understanding of paper and board from its Paper Boards division, printing knowledge from its packaging business and branding, trade marketing and distribution practices from the FMCG business. The combination of these helped ITC create a winning business proposition and Classmate was born in 2003 marking ITC’s entry into the school and college notebooks category. Over the years, Classmate has transformed itself from being just a notebook brand. It now offers a complete stationery range including high-quality writing instruments (ball, gel & roller pens and mechanical pencils), mathematical instruments (geometry boxes), scholastic products (erasers, sharpeners and rulers), art stationery products (wax crayons, plastic crayons, sketch pens and oil pastels) and early learning products (puzzles). As the product portfolio of Classmate spread, millions of Indian school children gained access to educational products of global standards. Product The Classmate notebook is a manifestation of the environmental capital built by ITC in its paper business. The paper and board used in the notebook is sourced from ITC’s Paper and Speciality Boards business, a pioneer in environment-friendly The brand did not stop to bask in these early laurels but continued its journey to gain a lion’s share in the notebook industry. The task Classmate laid out for itself was to change the entire consumer product experience, thereby increasing involvement in the category and creating an indelible mark in the consumer’s mind for the brand. The core pillars in achieving this task were building a strong brand proposition, developing superior products based on deeper understanding of the customer and a pan-India distribution network to make the product available across every nook and corner of the country. This had not been achieved in the notebook industry. The efforts in building strong foundations showed results when Classmate catapulted to the stationery industry’s first H 1,000 crore (consumer spends) brand in 2013. It has since then consolidated its leadership in the notebook segment further while outpacing competition across regions. Today, Classmate stands as a truly national brand with an unmatched distribution network making the product available across the country. The brand has built a sizeable lead in market share and is nearly three times the The notebook industry has evolved in the last two decades, the pace of which has hastened since the launch of Classmate in 2003. Armed with superior products and an unmatched distribution reach, Classmate has changed the contours of the notebook industry, enhancing the entire consumer experience and has become a benchmark for both the consumer and competition alike.