Marico is one of the well-known FMCG companies in India that have successfully

created brands in the largely commoditized business of hair oil and edible oil

A Brief History-

Marico is a leading company with business interest in manufacturing and

retailing personal consumer products as well as providing services in beauty
space. The company’s history can be traced back to 1948 when the Mumbai-
based Mariwala family having a presence in the trading business set up Bombay
Oil Industries Ltd.(BOIL). The manufacturing of BOIL comprised of a coconut oil
extraction plant, vegetable oil refinery and chemical plant. In the year 1971 Harsh
Mariwala, a young graduate joins the family business Bombay Oil Industries. In
1974 Mr.Harsh Mariwala envisions a branded FMCG market for coconut oil in
small consumer packs and sets up a national distribution network for Parachute.
In 1980 the ubiquitous Parachute blue bottle makes its first appearance in Harsh’s
first innovation. Traditional tin packs are replaced by plastic pack, pioneering an
industry wide shift. Marico is born on 2nd April 1990. In 1991 Marico leadership
co-creates its first Corporate Mission and Values document in the 3Ps of Marico
(People, Product and Profit). In the same year Marico launches Hair & Care non-
sticky hair oil repositioning the market leader through contemporary packaging
.Sweekar sunflower oil goes national. In 1992 Marico shifts headquarters from the
Masjid Bundar bazaar to upscale Bandra . In 1993 Marico goes from being an
exporter to international marketer-sets up its first oversea office in Dubai. In 1994
Revive cold water was launched for starching cottons more convenient for Indian
consumer. March 21st 1996 Marico lists on the Indian stock exchanges. In 2002
Kaya skin clinic India’s first unisex top-of-the line dermatology led clinics was
launched. Marico ventures into skin care solution from FMCG. In 2003 Marico
launched Propagating Innovation: Marico Innovation Foundation. In 2006 Nihar
enters Marico’s fold. In 2007 Marico casts its footprint in Africa acquires Fiancee
and Hair Code on Egypt and Caivil , Black Chic & Hercules in South Africa. In 2009
Marico makes a public offering of equity in Bangladesh a first for one of its
oversea subsidiaries. In 2010 the South East Asia journey commences with
Code10 male grooming in Malaysia and Derma Rx skin care solution in Singapore.
In 2011 Parachute Advanced entered the skin-care category with the launch of
Parachute Advanced Body Lotion (PABL), another innovation of Marico. In 2012
India’s Gen Next gets styled by Marico with products like Livon and Setwet Deo. In
2013 Kaya Skin Care business demerged Marico and established itself as a
separate entity. In 2014 Marico Group turnover crosses Rs 5000 crore.

Marico has eight factories in India located at Pondicherry, Perunduria,

Kanjikode, Jalgaon, Paldhi, Dehradun, Baddi and Paonta Sahib. In Bangladesh
Marico operates through Marico Bangladesh Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary.
Its manufacturing facility is located at Shirirchal , in Dhaka.

The organization holds a number of renowned brands like Parachute, Saffola,

Hair&Care , Nihar, Mediker, Revive, Livon, Setwet, Fiancee, HairCode, Caivil,
Code10 and Black Chic.

Parachute is the flagship brand of Marico, is a market leader in its category and
stands for purity and quality. Over the years, the brand has seen a lot of
innovations in packaging, sizing and tamper-proofing. Parachute enjoys enormous
loyalty in urban, semi-urban and rural market. It is a coconut based hair oil and
has popular line extensions Parachute Advansed , Parachute Advansed Hair Oil,
Parachute Advansed Jasmine , Parachute Advansed Ayurvedic Gold . It also has
brand extensions like Parachute Body lotions of four different variants, Parachute
Advansed Men Classic Hair Cream . It was launched in 2017 as the second pillar of
male grooming segment. It has other popular brand like Saffola which is a health
care brand which brings a range of everyday Heart Healthy Foods and Services
that are easy, effective and enjoyable so that they easily integrate into our
lifestyle. For the last years, Saffola life has been creating awareness about heart
health and inspiring people to heave a healthy lifestyle for a healthy heart.
Saffola has popular line extentions like Saffola Tasty, Saffola Gold , Saffola Active
and Saffola Total. It has popular brand extention like Saffola Oats, Saffola Salt
Plus , Saffola Active Slimming Nutri Shake, Saffola Aura.

The other brands of Marico include well know house hold products like Nihar,
Hair & Care , Mediker Shampoo and Oil, Revive Starch. Marico is also gaining
popularity with Youth Profolio’s like Livon Serum, Livon Hair Gain, Bio-Oil, Set Wet
Hair Gel, Set Wet Deo.
 Journey of the Products

Factory

Depot

PRIMARY

DD(Direct Distributor) MT(Modern Trade SD(Super Distributor)

Distributor)

SECONDARY

Stockist
Wholesale Retail Modern Trade

SECONDARY

Small Outlets Retail

TERTIARY
TERTIARY

Customer Customer Customer


The work flow

 The journey of the products starts from the factory, from where it is
transported to the Depot at respective states and from there the products
reach the distributors.
 From the depot the products are transported to the distributor according
to the quantity of order placed of each SKU(Stock keeping Unit) .This
movement of products is Known as Primary Sales.
 There are eight distributors in Kolkata for Marico. Each distributor has a
TSO or TSE (Territory Sales Executives) taking care of the product
movement to the retailer and thus generating the secondary sale for the
organization.
 Under each distributor there are a number of DSR(Daily Sales
Representative) who are responsible for driving the secondary sales .
 The DSR’s work in beat or patches for six days a week . They have a list of
retailers or outlet where they visit once every week to take orders in there
PDA which is connected to the billing software MIDAS.
 Once the orders are punched at the end of the day the billing operator at
the distributor’s house bill’s each order uploaded by the DSR retailer wise.
 MIDAS is connected to the software of distributor which also helps in stock
updating.
 The billing is done and a DO is generated for each retailer who has placed
an order.
 The entire DO is then taken to the warehouse where the products are
stocked according to the products and their SKU’s.
 The next morning then the products is transported to retailer .
  All the retailer are given a credit period of maximum of fourteen days,
which may vary according to the business amount and time period of
business connection with the distributor.
 In the next visit of the DSR a copy of the bill is given against which the
payment is to be collected and the fresh order is to be punched.

A sales report is generated every day distributor wise to track the sale of
individual DSR .This report contains
 DSR’s name
 Portfolio Brand
 SKU
 Beat Name
 Channel Name
 Sub Channel Name
 Program
 Target BPM
 Achievement BPM
 Target Volume
 Achieved Volume

To maintain a healthy competition among the DSR’s, they are updated about their
daily performance at the end of the day and the next morning a new agenda is
given to them in the gate meeting, which will further help them to drive the sales.
Distributor wise the DSR’s are ranked to make them aware of their daily
achievements and areas of improvement. To keep the DSR’s updated with the
product knowledge the organization provides them with training module which
they can access from their PDA’s it also encourages e-learning. To ensure regular
movement of each SKU’s in the market Marico comes out with different TO
(Trade offer) only for the retailer and CO (Consumer Offer). The TO is to
encourage the retailer to increase their purchase for different SKU’s as they get
those SKU’s at a lower price or with added benefits like some SKU is free , this
offers help in driving the secondary sales . The CO (Consumer Offer) is for the
consumer to ensure regular purchase of products by offering some benefit of
price or quantity.
Merchandising

In FMCG one of the important aspects along with product quality is product
visibility .Merchandising is important because maintaining the shelves where the
products are kept and making sure they are easily reachable by the consumers
influence the purchase.

Why merchandising is essential?

 Label Facing- Every details matters in merchandising. Small things like the
products label facing towards the front is a must. . It looks better and grabs
peoples’ attention better.
 Dusting- If there is dust on the product it might create illusion that it has been
there for too long, therefore no one wants to buy it. The consumer will come
to the conclusion “if no one wants to buy it, it must be because it is not a good
product”. If it is not a good product, I won’t buy it either. This whole
conclusion comes from something that is actually not true, because the
product might have been on the shelf for just a week for example.
 The first in, first out (FIFO) rule- If the products are not arranged in that
order then the products might stay in the shelf for a long time and might
reach near expiry or expire in that shelf only.
 Shelf Space- This is arguably the most important job a merchandiser has to do
regarding the maintenance of their products. The reason for this is that
people tend to see certain spots on the shelves better than others.
 Marico has a dedicated team only for merchandising. In Kolkata it has a
merchandising team consisting of eight members. The merchandising team also
reports to the distributor point. From where they receive inputs send by the
organization to improve the product visibility. On a monthly basis they receive
posters, danglers, banners, display kits, scissors, cello tape and other stationary
needed for merchandising. A special payout system is there for the retailers who
allow merchandising at their counters. There are four type of merchandising
offers

1. Rishta CC (Chemist Cosmetic) - It is only for the chemist and cosmetic outlet
where 2 shelf space are taken to increase the product visibility.
2. Rishat SS(Self Service) - It is only for Self Service outlet and it is for five
displays.
3. Anmol- It is for grocery shops, modi khana and small size outlets
4. . Disha- It can be used for any channels.

The merchandising team works along with the DSR which helps the DSR’s to
know the movement of products for which merchandising is done and the
involvement of the retailer to sell the products.
Channels
The channels which DSR’s cater to are-
1. Wholesale- is a kind of outlet which buys goods in large quantities
directly from the distributor.
Characteristics
 Large quantity of products.
 Purchase price is low as they receive higher discounts or price off.
 Break bulk orders into smaller quantity
 Shorter storage period of products
 Quicker rotation of investment.
 Purchase pattern are driven by consumer buying pattern.
 Are more attracted to the terms of the offer such as their minimum
ordering requirements, the price breaks for wholesale ordering and
how long they have to pay (invoice terms).
 Wholesale customers, on the other hand, can be easily divided into
tiers based on their ordering behavior. They can be assigned a
minimum ordering volume with a tiered rate of pricing.

2. Retail- are outlets which sell directly to consumers for the purpose of
consumption and not resale.
Characteristics
 Sell directly to the consumers.
 Sell in smaller quantities
 Sells product at MRP.
 Customer’s ordering can be swayed by marketing and sales tactics.
  Customer’s are choosy.
 Customers are hard to separate into groups beyond marketing
segments.
 Customers are more attracted to the appearance of an offer. It might
be the look of an item, what kind of discount they can get or the
reputation of a brand.

Types of Retail

1Grocery Store -is a retail shop that primarily sells food. A grocer is a bulk
seller of food. It also stores significant amounts of non-food products, such
as beauty and wellness products and other household items.
2.Convenience Store- is a small store that stocks a range of everyday items
such as groceries, snack foods, candy, soft drinks, tobacco products,
deodorants and perfumes.

3. Self Service- Is a store where customer helps themselves to purchase

products they need.
4. Cosmetics Outlet- is a shop which sells personal care product.

5. Chemist Outlet- is a shop where medicines are sold, but these days they
do have a range of cosmetic and daily use products.
GTM

A new concept of GTM(Go To Market) is introduced in 2018, where a special focus

will be given to some selected channels( Chemist, Cosmetic and Self Service
Outlets) which will help in assortment building of range of products. As new
products are being launched my Marico like Saffola Fitiffy, true root, Studio X. A
separate channel is being created which is CCD (Chemist, Cosmetic and Self
Service Outlets).

The reasons for this separations are-

1. Special importance given to this channel.
2. More stress given to products in the youth segment
3. Better catering of Self Service outlets.
4. Adding of new chemist, cosmetic and self service outlets.
5. Creating a smooth entry of new products in the chemist, cosmetic and self
service outlets.

Why these Channels?

 Chemist and cosmetic channels are growth drivers for FMCG in India , with
a CAGR of 11%.
 These channel contribute to 11% of the FMCG Traditional Trade business.
 These channel constitute ~15% of overall business of best class players like
HUL and L’oreal.
  GTM will drive both the core and new portfolio, enhanced by relevant
activation suitable for these channel.
 This help in achieving incremental business.

A sales report GTM(Go To Market) Tracker is send to the team the next day with
the update of the business . The report includes

1.BPM(Business Per Month) Summary- which includes distributor code ,

distributor name, DSR name, IndexBPMTarget, IndexBPMActual and %IndexBPM.

2.Volume Summary- which includes the brand wise volume target of few brands
selected by organization and their achievement by each distributor.

3.Outlet Wise- data is given to know the sale at each outlet in each beat and
outlet wise there is target and achievement.

4.Outlet Wise Brand Wise- at each outlet the movement of every SKU can be
tracked with the help of this data.

5.BPD (Brand Per Day)- the data provides

6.Mandays- One manday is 60% of outlets billed of amount above Rs400.

7.MIL EC Summary- it contains two tables

A.EC (Effective Coverage) Summary - It is the number of shops the DSR’s are
covering out of there whole list of shops.

B.Billed/Unbilled- It gives the total number of outlets billed at least once and the
outlets unbilled.

8 Unbilled Outlets- It provides the name of the outlet distributors wise, DSR wise
and beat wise and its target .