Strong brands.

Sustained and clever advertising over the years has led to the highest recall for Asian
Paints brands, which in turn has translated into strong volume growth. The company spends around
4 per cent of its sales (amounting to around Rs288 crore) annually on advertising, which is way
ahead of its competitors ad spends. The company dominates different market segments because it
has been proactive in launching and establishing its brands across segments. In both enamel and
emulsion paints, it offers economy to premium range products. So even when customers upgrade,
they are able to move from one Asian Paints brand to another. In fact, such upgradation has helped
the company improve its margins in recent times.

Strong dealer network. Within the Indian paint industry, Asian Paints has the biggest network of
dealers (especially in semi-urban and rural areas) with access to over 15,000 outlets. The company
plans to add 1,500 to 2,000 dealers every year.
In an industry that was traditionally dominated by multinationals, Asian Paints dominance is largely
the result of distribution excellence. When it entered the field, paint distribution was dominated by
wholesale distributors who distributed the products of multinational players and would not allow a
toehold to new entrants. Asian Paints chose to bypass this network and went directly to retailers. It
also decided to create a much larger distribution infrastructure than the competition (which was
confined to the bigger towns), even though this would be a challenging proposition. Not only did this
strategy win it market leadership, it has also helped the company sustain it till date.