MUMBAI, FEB.

7: Hindustan Unilever is looking at ways to provide finance to rural and small town FMCG retailers who are strapped for cash while buying goods and replenishing stocks. While HUL has a thriving microfinance programme through Project Shakti for rural women, it is now making sure that the rural FMCG retailers have enough cash to buy their goods. Speaking to Business Line, Mr Anshul Asawa, Vice-President, Marketing Operations, HPC & Foods (South Asia), said, Today our biggest challenge in the rural markets is how to provide additional finance to FMCG retailers to whom we supply our goods on cash. We are looking at means to help them in generating finances, as credit is not always acceptable. Considering that rural FMCG retailers do not always have the means to access finance from banks, there could be a possibility that HUL might help them in getting easy finance to give them access to working capital. As Mr Asawa said, We are evaluating finance options for rural FMCG retailers but have yet to decide on how this will be possible. According to Ms Nandini Chopra, Executive Director, Corporate Finance, KPMG India, Raising finance may work well for the big modern retailers but smaller retailers have no fixed assets and tend to raise money by mortgaging their current assets. Such FMCG retailers feel the pinch in terms of constraints in working capital and do not always have the money to replenish their stocks. Typically HUL and other FMCG companies sell personal care products in the rural markets where the gross margins are generally higher than the foods category. There has been dramatic increase in the sale of beauty and skin care brands in rural India. Today rural consumers tend to use the same brands as urban consumers, added Mr Asawa. HUL has adopted a direct distribution model for the rural markets and also employs advertising agencies such as Ogilvy and Lowe Lintas (Linterland) to sell brands such as Fair & Lovely, Lux and Lifebuoy. Apart from distribution we have activation models to create demand in the rural markets. There are agencies like Ogilvy and Linterland who are helping us in accessing these markets, said Mr Asawa. At the recently concluded CII organised special session for FMCG, Mr Nitin Paranjpe, MD, HUL, said, To succeed in India you have to succeed in Bharat. Bharat and India can no longer be differentiated. HUL expects the rural markets to contribute half of its Rs 18,000 crore turnover in the next five years. Keywords: FMCG, retailing, Project Shakti, rural markets

21/03/2012 : Hindustan Unilevers unique multi-brand rural marketing initiative Khushiyon Ki Doli, which was launched in 2010 in three states Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra was an outstanding success. Through this initiative more than one crore (10 million) consumers were contacted directly in more than 28,000 villages across these three states

in 2010. Through this initiative about 170,000 retailers were also contacted in these villages in 2010.

In 2011, HUL extended this initiative to five states West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, thereby covering around 70K villages, 25 million consumers and 4 lakh retailers.

Reaching media dark villages

The main objective of the campaign is to reach out to media dark villages and connect with the direct users (women), with HUL brand messages and to engage with consumers deeply to rapidly change brand adoption metrics. The main aim is to change attitudes of the rural masses by inculcating good personal hygiene and through this create greater preference for the company brands by association to daily hygiene habits. This multi brand campaign branded as Khushiyon ki Doli also helped to create a cost efficient rural brand activation module. It involved various personal care and home care brands of HUL including Wheel, Surf Excel, FAL, Sunsilk, Vim, Lifebuoy and Closeup,

Three stages of the programme

The module follows a three-step process, starting with awareness, moving on to consumer engagement and finally retail contact. The first step of spreading awareness is achieved through a team of promoters who head to each village and invite the villagers to a point what is known as Mohallas. At the meeting point Mohallas make them aware of the company, its products, their benefits & healthy & hygiene habits. In every village, there are about 4-5 teams who conduct these events in local language / dialect for small focused groups so that it allows for greater engagement and involvement for the consumers. During this activity, brands are introduced with the help of TVCs & short AV's that are played continuously. The promoters by way of live demonstrations bring alive the hygiene benefits of using such brands, which in turn shall improving the quality of their daily life. To increase the fun element and enhance involvement, promoters also conduct simple quizzes and games around the brands and daily hygiene habits. As part of this activation, we offer schemes both for the participating consumers and also local retailers for generating trial among consumers,this helped in enhancing availability at village retail point. Post the mohalla activity, the promotes go from home to home and conduct consumer home visits to generate trial where they offer attractive promotions / purchase schemes to the consumers. Similarly, there is another team which visits all the shops in the village which ensures improved availability and visibility of our brands.

Combining technology with tradition

One of the unique aspects of this initiative is the use of technology to bring alive the benefits of our brands in a simple and compelling manner. The other unique characteristic feature of this initiative is the effective use of popular traditional symbols with technology to create more acceptance. For example, the brand films and hygiene messages are shown to the consumers through the use of Palki. Palki is symbol of new happiness as this was traditionally used to newly wed bride to her new home for rest of life, husbands home.