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Products
By
Karan Sheth
May-June, 2011
Monitoring & Enhancing Sale of Amul ice-cream and deep-freezers and extensive Market Research on Amul's Pro-Biotic Food Products
By
Certificate of Approval
We approve this Summer Project Report titled "Monitoring & Enhancing sales of Amul Icecream and Deep-freezers and extensive Market Research on Amuls Probiotic food products" as a certified study in management carried out and presented in a manner satisfactory to warrant its acceptance as a prerequisite for the award of Masters in Management Studies for which it has been submitted. It is understood that by this approval we do not necessarily endorse or approve any statement made, opinion expressed or conclusion drawn therein but approve the Summer Project Report only for the purpose it is submitted.
Summer Project Report Examination Committee for evaluation of Summer Project Report
Name
Signature
1. Faculty Examiner
This is to certify that Mr. Karan Sheth, a student of the Master in Management Studies at K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, has worked under our guidance and supervision. This Summer Project Report titled Monitoring & Enhancing sales of Amul Ice-creams & Deep freezers & Extensive Market Research on pro-biotic food products has the requisite standard and to the best of our knowledge has no part of it been reproduced from any other summer project, monograph, report or book.
Faculty Guide Monica Khanna Professor K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research
July, 2011
Organizational Guide Sameer Nagle Sales Manager Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. Rampart House, 22A-26A, K.D. Marg, Mumbai 400 023 India
July, 2011
Declaration
I hereby declare, to the best of my knowledge and ability that my work on the Summer Internship project titled Monitoring & Enhancing sales of Amul Ice-creams & Deep freezers &
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who made the completion of this project possible. I want to thank Mr. Sameer Nagle for giving me permission to commence this thesis in the first instance, to do the necessary research work and to use the departmental data of Amul. I would also like to thank Prof. Monica Khanna for her endless guidance throughout the project. Her thoughtful insights and priceless inputs helped me make the project more meaningful and informative. The project wouldnt have seen the light of day if not for her guidance. I would like to thank Mr. Borge and at Amul who were influential in imparting us with knowledge about working on field and doing sales. I would like to thank the members of the group that I worked with during the entire duration of the project for the wonderful coordination, cooperation and encouragement. I would also like to thank my parents, friends and colleagues who always encouraged me
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Thank You. Karan Sheth 56 MMS (Batch 2010-2012) K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 7
Type chapter title (level 2) .............................................................................................................................. 2 Type chapter title (level 3) ................................................................................................................................ 3
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Executive Summary
The first phase of the project aimed at enhancing sales of Ice-cream and deep freezers for Amul. In order to execute the same, initial activities included visiting the outlets, recording the existing volume of sales & analyzing the emerging patterns in ice-cream consumption. This helped in arriving at important conclusions regarding which flavours were popular, problems faced by the
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retailers, points of contention between the retailers & Distributors, issues encountered by the consumers and which outlets were the most popular. Following this, strategies were devised in order to carry out the first part of the project. The key areas that were identified were as follows Increasing the sales at the existing outlets by implementing extensive branding and promotion. Converting the competitors outlets to start stocking & selling Amul products. Increasing the popularity and improving service at Amul ice-cream parlours. Increasing & promoting the sales of Amul Deep freezers. Once these problem areas were analyzed, the next step was to execute the strategies for addressing the problems. 1. In order to enhance the sales at the existing outlets, the activities undertaken included promoting the brand Amul by putting up banners, advertisements, pops, placing brochures, print ads, price lists & pamphlets for introducing new flavours of ice-cream. 2. Following this, the emphasis was on converting competitors outlets to start selling Amul ice-creams. This was done by making them aware of the brand equity of Amul and informing them about the rising demand of the new and existing product line offered by Amul. Also, the fact that Amul offers more margins to the retailers. 3. To enhance the popularity of the ice-cream parlours, various schemes and plans were suggested. One of them that was implemented was the buffet scheme where one could have unlimited ice-cream for Rs. 50 only. This scheme ran for 2 days over a weekend on 11th & 12th June. The offer was a big hit and served the purpose of trial of the new flavours. 4. The sale of deep freezers ranging from Rs. 18000 to Rs. 26000 proved to be a challenge
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as the competitors were giving the same for rent free of cost. Therefore, it was necessary to make them aware of the fact that the freezer would be an asset for them as also they were designed to save electricity to the tune of Rs. 7000 per year and were also offered 2 years free after sales service. Thus, they were positioned with the line HADF- Humara Apna Deep Freezer. On implementing these strategies, 3 Deep freezers were sold and 8 new outlets were converted to sell Amul ice-creams. The Second phase of the project was to conduct extensive Market Research to understand and identify the viability & popularity of Probiotic Yogurt & Ice-creams. The research was conducted among 200 retailers and 200 consumers to gauge the overall reaction, awareness & acceptance of the product line. The questionnaires (retailers & consumers) were designed to extract information about the following Awareness about Probiotic food products Retailers influence on promotion of Probiotic food products Amuls standing in the Probiotic market Viability between yogurt and Ice-cream Competitors analysis Distributors Service Visits from Company representative, Pilot salesman and Salesman Awareness about buffet Ice-cream concept Based on the work accomplished as stated above, the recommendations about the problem area identified were
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Introducing Amul tri-cycles all over the city Tie ups with different establishments like Railways/Airlines/Malls/Multiplexes Promotion of Sugar Free & Probiotic range of Ice creams Introduction of new flavors on the basis of extensive Market Research Promoting your brand through Electronic Media like Social Media, SMS etc Having a better packaging system so that the ice-cream does not get destroyed Ensuring regular visits from the company person to all the retail outlets for better communication of satisfaction and grudges
Chapter 1
Introduction
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GCMMF: An Overview
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) is India's largest food products marketing organization. It is a state level apex body of milk cooperatives in Gujarat which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve the interest of consumers by providing quality products which are good value for money. Members: 13 district cooperative milk producers' Union No. of Producer Members: No. of Village Societies: Total Milk handling capacity: Milk collection (Total - 20103.03 million 15,712 13.67 million litres per day 3.45 billion litres
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Milk collection (Daily Average 2010-11): Milk Drying Capacity: Cattle feed manufacturing Capacity: Sales Turnover (2010-11)
Source www.amul.com Every day Amul collects 447,000 litres of milk from 2.12 million farmers (many illiterate), converts the milk into branded, packaged products, and delivers goods worth Rs 6 crores (Rs 60 million) to over 5,00,000 retail outlets across the city. CRISIL, Indias leading Rating, Research, Risk and Policy Advisory company, has assigned its highest ratings of AAA/Stable/P1+ to the various bank facilities of GCMMF. Its supply chain is easily one of the most complicated in the world. Amul, the flagship for a host of dairy products marketed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), has become Asias largest milk brand and now aims to become the No 1 in the world soon. Something that is substantiated by facts: It is clearly a market leader in the milk category in Gujarat and Kolkata. It has 38% of the ice cream market, 88% of butter, 65% of milk powder, 70% of condensed milk and around 50% of Shrikhand. Despite its co-operative status, it is neither a marketing minnow nor a laggard in terms of promotion campaigns. With 47 sales offices, more than 3,000 dealers and 5 lakh retailers, GCMMFs marketing network allows it to easily flood the market creating a strong entry
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barrier. In August 2001, when Nestle wanted to introduce its brand of butter, it found countrywide refrigerators stocked with Amul butter. Amul is among the top five FMCG companies in India standing firmly at the 4 th position. It is considered to be a giant in the FMCG sector.
b) Rajbhog + Same c) Fresh Litchi + Same d) Shahi Anjir + Same e) Kesar Pista Royale + Same f) Fresh Pineapple + Same g) Fruit Bonanza + Same h) Chocolate + Same i) Alphonso Mango + Same j) Tutti Fruti + Same k) Green Pista + Same l) Prolife Vanilla + Butter Scotch m) Vanilla Royale + Same n) Butter Scotch + Same 12) Couple Pack (250ml) Vanilla Royale, Strawberry, Butter Scotch, Chocolate
To check the awareness as well as level of satisfaction of retailers with distributors & the company for Probiotic & other products
The time taken to interview each consumer was a lot as every consumer had to be first explained everything and had to be dealt with patience
The consumers opinion at times was very biased due to existence of Amul in the market since many years
The time frame given to us was not enough to cover a larger of sample size
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Chapter 2
Literature Review
The FMCG industry, or alternatively named CPG, abbreviation for Consumer Packaged Goods, deals mainly with the production, distribution as well as marketing of packaged goods for all consumers. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) has to do with those consumables which are regularly being consumed. Among the first activities of the FMCG industry there is selling, marketing, financing, purchasing, and so on. Recently this industry has also launched in operations, supply chain, production, general management, etc. The wide range of consumable goods provided by the FMCG industry turns over a large amount of money, while competition among FMCG manufacturers is become more and more fierce. Investors are putting more and more into the FMCG industry, especially in India, where the FMCG industry is the fourth largest sector, having a total market size of more than US$13 billion, and still estimated to reach 20 billion by 2012. The FMCG industry is set to grow 20-30 per cent in 2011-12, up from 10-20 per cent in 2010-11. The growth would be driven by the launch of new products and increasing rural consumption, according to industry experts.
Hindustan Lever. Pepsi is at number three followed by Thumps Up. Britannia takes the fifth place, followed by Colgate (6), Nirma (7), Coca-Cola (8) and Parle (9). These are figures the soft drink and cigarette companies have always shied away from revealing. Personal care, cigarettes, and soft drinks are the three biggest categories in FMCG. Between them, they account for 35 of the top 100 brands
Companies
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1. Focus on Health Companies are widening their health food portfolio to cash in on the rich, urban, health conscious Indian. In recent times, we have seen a flurry of products in this segment. Lets look at some of them: 1.1) Sugar free Chawanprash 1.2) Organic spices/ pulses 1.3) Multi grain pastas/ Biscuits 1.4) Processed foods particularly juices 1.5) Probiotic Ice Creams 1.6) Butter Lite (Nutralite) 1.7) Corn Flakes/ Oats 1.8) Lays (40% less saturated fats) Snack Smart 1.9) Low Calorie Sweeteners
2. Impact of Inflation: The expenditure of FMCG in the consumer's wallet is coming down year on year. This is leading to low sensitivity with price increases. Almost a decade ago, people used to down trade from expensive brands to value-for-money ones. But now the trend is changing. The consumer is not switching to cheaper substitutes. Rather companies have come with lower quantity SKUs and make consumers switch from higher to lower SKUs and not from premium to popular brands (like Dove to Lux International). Just to give you an example, Henkel instead of increasing the price of their Henkel detergent from Rs. 46 to Rs. 50, they have launched a new SKU of 400gms for Rs. 40. During the time of inflation, people shift to sachets of their brands. Sales numbers of FMCG companies are quite robust. FMCG spend now comprises a smaller share of consumers wallet.
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3. Micro Segmentation/ Niches: It is interesting and funny to see that companies are not leaving any opportunity to micro segment the market. I can foresee that we are yet to see further segments in different categories. Here are some examples: Age a) Junior Horlicks b) Junior Chawanprash c) Pepsodent Barbie for Kids/ Colgate Strawberry Sex a) Womens Horlicks b) Male fairness cream Specialized Household Cleaners a) Kitchen Cleaner: Mr. Muscle b) Power Cleaner (Rust): Easy Off Bang
4. Low value SKUs - Sachetization: You name the category it has a sachet!! We all know that it all started in 1980's with shampoos. I think Nano is an interesting example of an automobile sachet. Here is a small list of sachets: 4.1) Shampoos 4.2) Butter (Munna Pack) 4.3) Hair Oils (Navratan Thanda Thanda Cool Cool) 4.4) Noodles (Chotu Maggi) 4.5) Ketchup (Pichko) 4.6) Toilet Cleaner (Harpic) 5. Low Per Capita Consumption: Currently we are nowhere near other developing countries in terms of per capita consumption. Be it laundry, skin care, shampoos or deodorants. Marketers have put in efforts to increase the consumption frequency or quantum of consumption per occasion. Colgate started the "twice a day" campaign few years back. Recently we have Good Night coming up with Double power pack. Per Re1 increase in per capita consumption of a category will lead to growth of more than 100 crores (with a population base of more than 1 Billion)
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Industry Snapshot
The total market is Rs 2000 crores, of which the branded market at present is 100 million liters per annum valued at Rs 800 crores. Ice Cream market is growing at 10 to 12% Ice creams traditionally are low volume business players.
1. Amul - Market Leader with share of 38% 2. HLL - Kwality Walls - 2nd biggest player 10% 3. Mother Diary 4. Arun - Chennai Based Hat sun Agro Product 5. Metro Daily - Kolkata based 6. Aavin - Tamil Nadu based 7 `Havmor
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Production area
In rural areas, kulfi / ice creams made by small / cottage industry are popular. The market for organized sector is restricted to large metropolitan cities. In small towns and villages, there are thousands of small players who produce ice- creams / kulfis in their home backyard and cater to the local market. Almost 40% of the ice creams sold in the country are consumed in the western region with Mumbai being the main market, followed by 30% in the north and 20% in the south.
Types
Indian Ice Cream market can be segmented in three different ways, namely on the basis of flavors; on the basis of stock keeping units / packaging and on the basis of consumer segments. On the basis of flavors the market today has a number of flavors like vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, mango, butterscotch and a number of fruit flavors, dry fruit flavors traditional flavors like Kesar Pista, Kaju Draksh etc. The market is totally dominated by Vanilla,
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Strawberry and chocolate, which together account for more than 70% of the market followed by butterscotch and other fruit flavors.
prefer to buy ice creams during different times of the day as it is visible upfront and feel like spending Rs. 50 for that tasty chocolate swirl with cake and nuts. As marketers are understanding the different needs of consumers, be it health conscious people, kids, youngsters, young etc, and coming up with products specific for them... with portfolio of flavors, consumer today has plethora of options at hand to choose from and therefore high probability of buying one more scoop of ice cream. Also with increasing wallet size and innovative modern retail formats, it has definitely given a Philip to the ice cream industry in India.
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Weaknesses
1) Advertising is low profile, as the results of the survey show. Majority of the respondents have hardly seen any ad of Amul ice cream. However Kwality Walls on the other hand is into heavy advertising and consequently, is popular. 2) Shortage of stock during season. 3) As per the survey, retailers list a credible replacement policy as a factor very high on their wish list. They would be willing to make future investments only for that brand which offers replacement facilities. Amul has no replacement policy.
Opportunities
1) Internet promotions are a good means of awareness which should be tapped. 2) Amul can use the Umbrella strategy for its new SKUs. 3) It is a high growth segment as the population is every increasing with never- ending demands. 4) Distribution coverage(Amul butter)
Threats
1) Amul is currently facing stiff competition from Havmor and may face more threat from the local manufactures in the low priced segment ice creams. 2) The customers have very well received the Kwality Walls product differentiation strategy and Mother Dairy is also pushing up its advertising pitch.
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3) Also the low per capita income low per capita consumption of the people is a threat to Amul. 4) Free entry to the markets.
Kwality Walls
Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) recently launched Luv Reels, targeted at younger generation. Apart from this, the company has introduced the Kwality Walls Selections range along with more flavors under the Cornetto brand. The range is launched in four flavors. With a market share of 10% currently, HLL is the second largest player in the branded ice-cream segment after Amul, which enjoys a whopping 38% market share
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HLL has also extended Unilever's retail brand 'Kwality Walls Swirls' parlours in accordance with the growing number of shopping malls in India. Currently, HLL has over 30 Walls Swirls parlours across the country. The Ek Din Ka Raja promo entitled up to 10 lucky consumers to spend Rs 10, 00,000 in a day's shopping with their family in Mumbai. They could choose to spend on consumer goods like cars, home appliances and furnishings but all within 24 hours. Consumers had to buy Kwality Wall's range of products with every pack printed with a certain number of points. Consumers had to collect wrappers / lids up to 150 points to be eligible to participate in the Ek Din Ka Raja promo. A scratch card entitled a million consumers to prizes, the grandest of which was the EDKR bumper draw. Hindustan Levers' Ek Din Ka Raja (EDKR) contest for its Kwality Walls brand of ice cream has bagged the 'Best Promotion Campaign in India' award at the Promotion Marketing Awards of Asia (PMAA) in Singapore, after having logged in one million participants for the contest. The Teen Vardaan Contest' gave the winners of the `grand prize' (ten families) an opportunity to "choose prizes from three categories, amounting to Rs 10 lakh each".
Mother dairy
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Mother Dairy, too, has come up with two new flavors - O'Blast, an orange-based Ice-cream dessert and Toffee Twist, which tastes like toffee. Its ice-cream brand Chillz targeted at the entire family has got its first TV commercial with a new tagline of 'goodness inside,' Mother Dairy would also launch premium offerings in the takeaway ice-cream category. Mother Dairy has a range of ice-creams targeted at children like Lic Lolleez, Cool buddies. It also arranged a media blitzkrieg in the summer months primarily targeted at children. It has plans to increase the number of carts outside schools and also to hold contests and promotions offering goodies to the children. Mother Dairy is also planning a presence in malls and other retail outlets.
Havmor
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Small Beginning, Big Vision, Great Ambitions Havmor Ice Cream began its branded life in 1944 in Karachi, in undivided India. By 1947, it was a popular local brand there. But in 1947, in the wake of the Partition, its founder Satish Chona had to join the exodus into India, with virtually no moveable assets. Searching for a new turf, he tried out Dehra Dun and Indore, and finally, settled down in Ahmadabad. No, it was not a case of Brand Relocation, or anything else as fanciful. He had to start the venture from scratch again. In fact, he had to begin from a hand-cart at the Ahmadabad Railway Station, churning out the Ice Cream manually. He called this fledgling brand Havmor - a neologism for Have More - which meant the customer got more value for money, and more taste to relish, from his Ice Creams. Perhaps he didnt know it then, but he had laid the foundation for one of Western Indias most enduring market legends. And good quality, like good character, wins over the situation sooner or later. Today, Havmor Ice Cream is a delicious facet of Western Indias daily life, and part of its market lore. It reaches hundreds of thousands of consumers through 8 main outlets and 3800 plus dealers.
The Indian ice-cream market is still dominated by a large number of small local manufacturers and regional players. For instance, players like Pastonji in Maharashtra, Dinshaw's in Maharashtra, Vadilal in Gujarat, Arun Ice-creams in south India are enjoying a dominant position in their respective regional markets. With products like Real Matka Kulfi, Magic Roll, Chowpatti Kulfi and Golden Fantasy pastonji will introduce special scheme, where customers are supposed to collect fixed number of mascot and in turn they will receive surprise gifts from the company. Pastonji has already launched new items in special shape and well decorated containers like magic swirl, sundae tubs, mini sandwich, mini sundae/swirl, (little friend) etc. With products like Real Matka Kulfi, Magic Roll, Chowpatti Kulfi and Golden Fantasy the company will introduce special scheme, where customers are supposed to collect fixed number of mascot and in turn they will receive surprise gifts from the company. Though like Pastonji, Natural's does not have any promotional plans for summer but it agree to have a rise in demand by 15-20% during the summer months. Established two decades ago, Natural's ice-cream has positioned itself separately among the commercial ice-cream manufactures. It provides a range of fruit based ice-creams like custard apple, litchi, strawberry and mango which are prepared without any added additives and preservatives. In the last two years, Mumbai has been fortunate to experience the Gelato- an Italian brother of ice-cream, with a number of gelato serving parlours mushrooming in the city. These parlours are also ready to make competition fierce with their unique and innovative flavours which are launched during summer. Amore, started just one year ago, has successfully established itself as far as quality and innovation goes. So this summer consumer can look forward to a variety of new flavours and exciting offers to beat the heat with ice-creams.
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CHAPTER 3
Phase 1 Monitoring & Enhancing sales
DSR Report
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MT Management Trainee DIST Distributors name DF Deep Freezer OL Outlet POP Point of purchase material The above figure shows Daily Sales Report (DSR) used during the initial phase of the project.
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As can be seen, the information was filled in the report after visiting each outlet and monitoring the sales. The factors considered were Number of units of Ice-cream sold Whether the outlet required any POP, Price list, Banners etc Whether the outlet had purchased a new Deep Freezer Other observations like friendliness of retailer, knowledge about new flavors etc
The information from the DSR reports & from the interaction with the retailers, helped to arrive at & identify key problem areas geographically as well as operationally. This was followed by implementation of strategies to increase sales of Amul Ice-cream and deep Freezers. This was carried out by 1. Branding and increasing sales of existing outlets of Amul by putting up their point of purchase materials like Price list, banners, posters of new flavors at all the popular outlets of Amul. This facilitated higher visibility of the brand and thereby led to a possible increase in sales at existing Amul outlets. It also increased the awareness among consumers regarding the new offers, schemes, flavours and new products launched by Amul. Following were some of the popular POPs put up at outlets -
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Price List
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2. Branding and increasing sales of existing Amul Ice-cream parlours (Scooping parlours). To facilitate this, various schemes were suggested. One of these that implemented was buffet Ice-creams. Under this scheme, for a particular weekend, for Rs.50, unlimited ice-cream could be purchased by the customers. This initiated trials of new flavours thereby leading to increase in sales later on. Also, various strategies were suggested for providing better service and developing a more likeable and pleasant ambience.
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3. The increase of sales in Deep freezers was done in two ways Telling retailers that by buying deep freezers, they can have their own assets against buying deep freezers from competitors who give them on rent By giving the retailers the knowledge about the advantages of buying an Amul Deep Freezer (HADF) like they can save electricity of at least Rs 7500 in a year
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HADF Pamphlet
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4. Converting new outlets for Amul (outlets selling competitors Ice-cream) by making them understand advantage of selling Amul Ice-cream like the brand equity of Amul is better than any other brand in the market which would automatically help the retailers increase their margin. Secondly they get more margin by selling Amul Ice-cream than any other brand.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design used Research Design
Exploratory Research
Conclusive Research
Descriptive
Causal
Define a hypothesis
Exploratory Research: The research work was Exploratory in nature and was meant to
provide the basic information required by research objectives. A preliminary study and findings can be further consolidated after detailed conclusion study has been carried out.
Primary Data
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Survey
Observation
Experiment
Personal Interview.
Mail Survey
Telephone Interview.
The personal interview method of data collection was used for our survey.
Sampling Plan
# Consumers, Retailers
Sampling Unit
Geographic al Region Areas Ghatkopar, Matunga, Mulund, Dadar, Byculla Bandra, Malad, Andheri, Mahim Central Mumbai Western Mumbai
Quota Snowball The sampling procedure used in the survey we conducted was Simple random sampling as the sample for conducting the survey was picked up at random.
CHAPTER 3
Phase 2 Extensive Market Research on
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The above graph shows how the consumer responded when they were asked about their monthly consumption of ice-cream. As we can see most of the customers consume either 1-2 times or 3-4 times a week .Only a handful consume more than 4 times a week. So we have to make sure that Amul has the highest recall whenever a consumer has a craving for Ice-cream.
The above graph shows the response of consumers when they were asked how much health
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conscious they are. As we can see the graph is evenly distributed with few of them take extra care about their health and a few of them do not bother about it.
The above graph shows result of actions taken by consumer to remain fit. As we can see, almost 40-45% of them eat healthy food to remain fit. These are our target audience for the pro-biotic food products. An awareness of the advantages of consuming pro-biotic food products is to be created amongst them
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When the consumers were asked whether they are aware of the pro-biotic food products available in market, 58% said yes and the rest said no. The aim is to make these 42% people aware of the products. Also proper information is to be passed to all of them so that a clear understanding on probiotic food products is achieved.
The consumers were also asked about their preference for taste for a healthier food product and
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as we can see from the graph that for a huge chunk of them taste is extremely or somewhat important and a very few have a lower preference for taste. Hence we understand that the existing pro-biotic products like Ice-cream and any future products should have a very likeable taste to the consumers.
When the consumers were asked whether they were ready to give an extra penny for a healthier food product then a majority of 53% said yes and 25% said maybe. It means that a pro-biotic food product should be brought into market with a likeable taste even if the price to be charged are high,
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The above pie-chart shows the results when the consumers where asked about the concept of buffet Ice-cream. An astonishing 85% of the consumers said they were not aware about the concept and only 15% told they knew. This means that the concept needs to be advertised properly in all media and the frequency of schemes needs to be increased to create awareness.
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When the consumers were asked about the brands whose pro-biotic food products they have consumed then 27% of them had Amul products while the closest competitor is Mother Dairy and Nestle with 12 & 10% resp. Also it can be seen that 44% of the consumers have not tried pro-biotic food products of any of the brands which means that there is a lot of scope if the value of the product is conveyed properly.
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The above pie-chart shows the response of the retailers across Mumbai when they were asked whether they were aware of probiotic food products and 73% of them said they were aware of pro-biotic food products but after being asked hardly any of them knew its advantages.
As we can see more than 40% of the retailers feel the preference for Dahi as a pro-biotic food
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product is increasing and less then 15% feel the trend for Ice-cream is increasing. This is because Dahi is a product which is normally not consumed alone and there is not much of a difference in taste then a normal dahi. Whereas in Ice-cream, the consumer has it whenever there is a craving for it and hence taste plays a major role.
The retailers feel that the strongest competitors to Amul in pro-biotic segment are Mother Dairy with a whooping 61% and Nestle with 39%. These are the 2 competitors which Amul needs to be cautious about and have to ensure they do not dominate the market in this segment.
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The major point of contention from the retailers was the packaging of Amul Ice-creams which lead to damage of almost 10% of pieces in every box. Also problems like lesser quantity of pieces, supply of expiry date passed stock, bad delivery condition were few of others point of contention.
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When the retailers where asked whether the damaged pieces were replaced then less than 15% said yes and almost 85% said no. As the pieces are not been replaced, the loss have to be suffered by the retailers. This was the biggest concern in all the retail outlets in Mumbai.
When the retailers were asked about the visits from the FFR, PSM and WDSM, as we can see the visits from FFR i.e. company person and pilot salesman is almost nil. This has lead to a high level of dissatisfaction amongst retailers. A regular visit to all outlets will help build a good relation with them.
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The above graph tells us about the level of satisfaction of retailers for Amul and Distributor. It can be seen that less than 50% of them are satisfied with Amul because of reasons like lesser supply of stock during season, lesser number of pieces of Ice-cream in box, no regular visits from any company person and pilot salesman and their stock not getting replaced. Because of all this, many of them have already shifted to selling of different brands. Also almost 80% of the retailers are not satisfied with the distributor because of various reasons like bad behavior, stocking and selling of Ice-creams with expiry dates, no credit period to pay money. This too is a major concern for Amul as distributors are point of contact to all retailers.
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Chapter 4
RECOMMENDATIONS & OTHER FINDINGS
commencement
Amuls promotional campaigns like the recent celebration of World ice cream day where on purchase of ice cream worth Rs.50 at any Amul parlor ,one scoop would be given free should be promoted and communicated to the customers well in advance by showing advertisements or hoardings so that it helps in increasing the sales by greater numbers. During the above campaign customers entering the parlor did not have any idea about the scheme till they were told. If it would have been publicized before then many customers would have visited parlors for the scheme.
large customer base Amul must tie up with railways (irctc.co.in) in order to promote ice creams at railway stations and also there are many trains which serve lunch as well as dinner so Amul ice creams must cater to customers in those segments too.
Airlines: Similar to the railways, airlines also cater to a large number of consumers and tie ups with different airline will help cater to a large consumer base and in turn increase the sales and visibility of Amul ice creams.
Single screen theatres: Ice cream companies like Baskin Robins & Gelato have tied up with different Multiplex chains and are providing ice creams at majority of Multiplexes in Mumbai as well as other cities. However there are still a large number of single screen theatres which are untapped and provide ice creams in the deep freezers that ice cream companies provide. Tie ups with single screen theatre will help increase the sales of Amul Ice creams
Malls: Increasing number of Indian consumer prefer buying from Malls. Some malls like Inorbit (Malad), Big Bazaar (Phoenix), etc are one of the malls with very high number of footfalls. People prefer eating while shopping which is the reason the food courts in these malls are extremely successful. This proves to be an opportunity as we can have tie ups with some of the most successful malls and promote our range of ice creams in these malls.
The sugar free and probiotic range of ice creams are quite popular in the market. The number of people having diabetes is increasing by the day and therefore the market for Sugar free ice creams is currently one of the most lucrative markets. The Sugar free & probiotic range of ice creams can be promoted on World Health Days also sponsoring events like Mumbai Marathon or Delhi Marathon by the name of Amul Sugar Free or Amul Probiotic would immensely help in increasing the awareness of these ranges of Ice creams.
6. Allotting relevant brand name to each product and promoting each one separately:
Amul must provide relevant brand name and tagline to every product to create
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differentiation and a unique identity for each and every range. This should be supported
by making ad and promotional campaigns for each product separately. This would help as it will give a distinct identity to every different product and it would stay on the consumers mind and induce better brand recall.
8 .Out-of-home Advertising:
Attractive stickers should be put on the BEST buses and local trains. This can make more people aware as lakhs of people use these modes of transport everyday. The sticker should include the benefits so that consumers will know the added benefit that the product is expected to deliver.This will not only increase the sales of the ice cream but would also increase its visibility.
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Benefits of having Probiotic ice cream: It improves the gut micro flora Helps in digestion Improves mineral & vitamin absorptions from diet Produces Vitamin B Assists in healthy liver functioning Supports cholesterol management IDF award winner
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Benefits of having Probiotic ice cream: It improves the gut micro flora Helps in digestion Improves mineral & vitamin absorptions from diet Produces Vitamin B Assists in healthy liver functioning Supports cholesterol management IDF award winner
a) Probiotic ice-cream advertisment could be printed on one side of Amul liquid product packets. b) Small stickers or pamphlets could be attached with the fast moving Amul products like panner and butter.
b) If a particular area have more than 1 distributor then the fear of losing a retail outlet will ensure a better service from distributor.
b) This leads to a high dissatisfaction in the minds of retailers. The retailers who are selling Amul Ice-cream from a long time should be given more credit period for bill payments.
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OTHER FINDINGS
Distribution related problems
Salesmen do not provide details about the various schemes proactively to the retailers. (Retailers have to ask the salesman for the same) Delivery not on time and some times during rush hours in the evening. Late order execution. Promotional materials not distributed properly by the distributors. Rude behavior of the Distributor. (Damage Complaints) Rude attitude of the delivery boy while handling retailer complaints. Delivery van is halted far from the destination shop leading to product temperature loss. Salesmen do not respond properly when contacted on the phone for damage claims or for promotional material requirement.
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Scarcity of manpower during seasons. Salesman doesnt open the HADF on every retailers point. He takes order by his own so there is no push for more items. Thats why retailers give less order in quantity.
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Very dirty Store room. Keeps frozen chicken in the store room along with Amul ice cream. Too much pressure on 1 salesman. So the salesman cannot promote all the products of Amul.
HADF to increase market share. Changed price POPs are not supplied regularly which is creating confusion among the customers and retailers. Items are not at round off MRP. Only one flavor Green Pista in combo pack is available at Rs.100 MRP. Area distribution for distributor is not proper. POPs demanded are not supplied properly. No range selling. Awareness about products is less. No incentive schemes are provided to the salesman so they only do postman call. If they receive incentives, they will be motivated towards work and put pressure on retailers to buy more of Amul ice cream products. Companies like Havmor give Rs 6000 pm to the sales man. Kwality Walls gives Rs 7000 pm to the salesman. But in Amul they receive only Rs 3000-4000 pm. PSM salary is also less in comparison to the other companies.
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Marketing Strategy
Retain Existing retailers. Enhance forward integration by putting up retail shops like the Array as it is a government body. Proper Market Segmentation for the dealer/stockist. Proper Cold Chain management training to wholesale distributors Incentive plan for the distributor salesman. More varieties of small SKUs costing Rs. 5.00, Rs.10 & Rs.15 thereby targeting the gen Y. Set KRAs for the Salesman.
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Other Recommendations
The company should take following steps: Amul is the leader in the ice cream industry so it should think about more innovative ideas compared to its competitors to increase its market share. Ice cream industry is a service oriented market, so among competitors, whoever puts their products 1st in the retailers freezer will be on profit side. Amul should come up with an incentive scheme for their salesmen to motivate them. In market, salesmen are already aware of the incentive schemes provided by other competitor companies, so they demand for incentive schemes like them. This will benefit the company in the end. Company can give gift hampers of their products or free dinner as an alternative, instead of cash as an incentive to motivate their salesman. Company should consider increasing the salary of salesmen and PSM as our competitors are giving more salary to their employees. PSM should train the salesmen and pressurize them to deal with retailers in suitable manners like describe all schemes properly, check POP properly, range selling etc. The company should also launch certain schemes for households. It has schemes for retailers but not for households. In order to enter into a new area such starting schemes can be very helpful. Schemes like discount on products through newspaper cuttings etc.
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There should at least be 2 visits in a month from PSM to all major retail outlets The company can advertise with POPs in local language. The company should take proper feedback from retailers from time to time. In case they are facing any problem it can be solved timely, without delays. Volume sale is increasing every season. Hence distributors cannot meet the increasing demand and cannot complete delivery because salesman, cold room are all limited. So they are not able to increase service as per demand. So company needs to increase the number of distributors. In order to meet the competition of Havmor of giving free machineries to the retailers, AMUL should 1st appoint an outsourced agency for the HADFs. Also the machinery should be given on installments with a minimum down payment of Rs.2000. In Mumbai, where there is a lot of problem of space, Amul should come up with Vertical HADF like the Coke & Pepsi. Currently the damage policy is 0.5% which should at least be 1% as given by Havmor (Given to the distributor on every bill irrespective of the damage) .For E.g. for the supply of 20lac stock, the distributor receives damage claim of only Rs.10,000 and hence it doesnt get transferred to the retailer. Amul should come up with regular scheme at least 6-7 times a year.
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Chapter 5
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Bibliography
www.exchange4media.com/.../newfullstory.asp
Books &Journals
Kotler P Marketing Management,13TH Edition The Marketing White book, 20010-11
Business Standard The Strategist: TUESDAY, 11TH August 2010
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Chapter 6
ANNEXURE
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1. Strongly agree 2. Moderately agree 3. Neither agree nor disagree 4. Moderately disagree 5. Strongly disagree
Q3. What activities do you undertake to remain fit?
1. Yes 2. No
Q5.
Which of these probiotic products have you consumed? (Can choose more than 1)
1. Amul probiotic dahi 2. Amul probiotic ice-cream 3. Amul probiotic sugar free ice-cream 4. None of these
Q6. For a healthy food product, rate your preference for taste (where 1 = extremely important and 5 = extremely unimportant)
1. 1 2. 2 3. 3 4. 4 5. 5
Q7. Are you ready to pay an additional price for a healthier option in ice-cream/dahi?
1. Yes
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2. No 3. Maybe
Q8. Which of the brands probiotic food products have you tried before? (Can choose more than 1)
1. Yes 2. No
Q10. If answer to Q9 is yes, from where have you heard?
Retailer Questionnaire
Name of establishment 84
Location Distributor Q1. Are you aware of the advantages of probiotic food products?
5. Yes 6. No
Q2. How often do the consumers seek your advice about brands of dahi/ice-creams?
5. Yes 6. No
Q4. If answer to Q3 is yes, then for which product is it growing?
1. 2.
Q6. Are you satisfied with your distributors service?
1. Yes
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2. No
Q7. What are the issues faced with the products of Amul? (Can choose more than 1)
1. Yes 2. No
Q9. Do you get regular visits from FFR/Company person?
1. Yes 2. No
Q10. Do you get regular visits from PSM?
1. Yes 2. No
Q11. Do you get regular visits from WDSM?
1. Yes 2. No
Q12. Are you satisfied with Amul?
1. Yes 2. No
Q13. With which representative of Amul do you normally communicate?
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Rubber stamp
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