Elephant House launches new line of ice creams

By Kinita Shenoy

Following the extensive rebranding effort in July of this year, the consumer foods giant Elephant House released its newest line of ice creams on Tuesday.

With its frozen confectionaries holding a market share of 65% in Sri Lanka, the company is the forerunner in sales and innovation in the country.

The recent rebranding included a complete makeover of the brand’s logo, packaging, and advertisements – “an entirely new look and feel,” as stated by Jit Gunaratne, President of John Keells Holdings’ Consumer Foods Group.

The new campaign was accompanied by an entirely new processing and manufacturing plant, which it has now put to use through its newest confectionery product.

Elephant House’s new additions include two new categories of products, ‘Mini Jumbo Jolly’ and ‘2 Bar’ – which is the first jelly-based ice cream in the country. It has also added a total of nine new flavours to its range, all of which are made of completely natural ingredients. The company insists its new plant and products are up to the highest standards, which are in keeping with its policy of high quality and ethical production.

Gunaratne added that along with the brand makeover, the group had also invested in research and development into the existing market and customers, to create innovative products and use product pricing techniques to sustain and further expand their consumer base.

He went on to stress the importance of “preserving the integrity of the product” through effective techniques of manufacture, transport and storage. This is made apparent by the fact that Elephant House owns Sri Lanka’s largest distribution network, which includes cold storage trucks, vans and deep freezers throughout the country.

The Company Head reaffirmed his firm belief that the expansion of the business would be beneficial to the community, through locally-sourced ingredients and labour, which consists of farmers and dairy producers. These partnerships are encouraged through significant investment, which is meant to help the farmers grow sufficient produce required to fulfil the Elephant House supply chain.

Elephant House’s Head of Frozen Confectionary Neil Samarasinghe added that the expansion move was made at a strategically opportune time, as the season strengthens the impulse purchase market. The company plans to reinforce their penetration in the existing market, although it views all competition as being healthy and even necessary to a growing economy.

The product pricing strategy too plays a vital role in the release of the new range of ice creams. Each item is now available at between Rs. 10 to Rs. 20, a price that is affordable despite the high quality upheld in standards of taste and production. The pricing supports its aim to capture the impulse purchase category of consumers and reach as much of the populace as possible, including rural markets which have scope for purchase growth.