Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Distribution
Management
Project Report
on Water
Purifiers
SSubmitted to: Prof. Bhalendar Singh
Nayyar
Submitted by:
Group 10, SDM-E
Pratik Jain – 211099
Rahul Garg – 211107
Shreshtha Gupta – 211136
Shubham Jain – 211138
Varun Arora – 211158
Aanchal Mahajan – 211160
Lavi Aggarwal – 211170
Table of Contents
Part – I – Industry Scenario.............................................................................. 6
Industry Growth over last five years..................................................................................................6
Changing market share of different companies:................................................................................6
Industry growth for next three years.................................................................................................6
Method used.................................................................................................................................6
Environment Scan of the last two years:...........................................................................................7
Pestle Analysis:..............................................................................................................................7
Political and legal:..........................................................................................................................7
Economic:......................................................................................................................................7
Social:............................................................................................................................................7
Technology:...................................................................................................................................7
Environmental:..............................................................................................................................7
Porters Five Force for the industry:...................................................................................................7
Supplier Power:.............................................................................................................................8
Buyers Power:................................................................................................................................8
New Entrant:.................................................................................................................................8
Threat from substitute:..................................................................................................................8
Competitive rivalry:.......................................................................................................................8
Major changes in target market profile and consumer behaviour....................................................8
Target Market................................................................................................................................8
Shift in target market profile and consumer behaviour.................................................................9
Deprived:.......................................................................................................................................9
Major Changes:..............................................................................................................................9
Aspirers:.........................................................................................................................................9
Major Changes:..............................................................................................................................9
Seekers:.........................................................................................................................................9
Major Changes:..............................................................................................................................9
Strivers:..........................................................................................................................................9
Global Indians:...............................................................................................................................9
Overall Major Changes:.................................................................................................................9
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Sales force skill set Analysis.........................................................................................................11
Recruitment of EuroChamp.........................................................................................................12
Selection of EuroChamp..............................................................................................................12
Training & Development..............................................................................................................12
Training for Leaders.....................................................................................................................13
Other Trainings............................................................................................................................13
EFL Compensation Structure.......................................................................................................13
Prospecting, Reporting & Degree of sales force automation.......................................................14
ION Exchange (Zero B).....................................................................................................................15
Recruitment & Selection..............................................................................................................15
Training & Development..............................................................................................................16
Skill Set Analysis...........................................................................................................................16
HUL Pureit.......................................................................................................................................16
Sales Organization and Territory Design......................................................................................16
Sales Organization.......................................................................................................................17
Territory Design...........................................................................................................................17
Skill set required for front line sales people................................................................................18
Recruitment and Selection process of the sales people..............................................................18
Effectiveness of various training methods for the sales staff.......................................................19
Compensation Structure..............................................................................................................19
Method of prospecting and reporting with degree of sales force automation............................19
TATA SWACH...................................................................................................................................20
Sales organisation and Territory Design......................................................................................20
Sales Structure for Online Sales:..................................................................................................21
Sales Structure for Croma & other Modern Retail outlets:..........................................................22
Skill Sets required for Sales Staff by Supervisor:..........................................................................22
Skills set required for the Area Sales Manager by Zonal Manager:..............................................22
Recruitment and Selection Policy for sales people:.....................................................................22
Training given to the Sales staff and its effectiveness..................................................................23
Compensation Structure..............................................................................................................23
Method of Prospecting and Reporting with the degree of Sales Force Automation...................23
Kent.................................................................................................................................................24
Direct sales division (DSA’s) -.......................................................................................................24
Retail channel sales-....................................................................................................................24
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Corporate sales division-.............................................................................................................25
Territory design-..........................................................................................................................25
Analysis of the effectiveness of the current sales strategy:.........................................................25
Hierarchy of the organization (Sales division)..............................................................................26
Ranking of skill sets required for sales staff by supervisors.........................................................26
Recruitment and Selection of sales people..................................................................................26
Effectiveness of different training methods for sales staff..........................................................26
Compensation structure of the sales force..................................................................................27
Method of prospecting and reporting with degree of sales force automation............................27
WHIRLPOOL.....................................................................................................................................27
Retail channel sales:....................................................................................................................27
Corporate sales division:..............................................................................................................27
Recruitment and Selection of sales people..................................................................................28
Compensation structure of the sales force..................................................................................28
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Distribution Network...................................................................................................................34
Main Impact.................................................................................................................................35
RURAL Segment...........................................................................................................................35
Service Output demand for Water Purifier Industry:-.................................................................35
HUL Pureit’s SERVICE OUTPUT DEMAND and Its Application:-....................................................36
Marketing flows considered important by the customers for the category................................36
Areas of vertical and horizontal conflict and possible solutions..................................................38
Solutions to these conflicts..........................................................................................................38
Impact of modern retail on distribution......................................................................................38
Trade margins and other discounts.............................................................................................38
Impact of internet on distribution...............................................................................................39
Supply chain of the industry........................................................................................................39
Level of Cooperative Advertising.................................................................................................40
TATA Swatch....................................................................................................................................40
Distribution Network...................................................................................................................40
Major Changes in Distribution Policies in past 5 Years................................................................41
RURAL Segment:..........................................................................................................................41
SERVICE OUTPUT DEMAND and Its Application...........................................................................41
Marketing flows considered important by the customers for the category................................42
Areas of Vertical and Horizontal Conflict.....................................................................................43
Impact of modern retail on distribution......................................................................................44
Trade Margins and other discounts.............................................................................................44
Impact of Internet on Distribution...............................................................................................44
Supply Chain................................................................................................................................45
Level of Cooperative promotion in Tata Swach...........................................................................45
Kent.................................................................................................................................................45
Marketing flows considered important by the customers for the category................................46
Trace the route back from retailer to manufacturer to determine levels and intensity of
distribution..................................................................................................................................47
Trace any major changes in the distribution policies over the last 5 years and their impact......47
Identify areas of vertical and horizontal conflict and possible solutions.....................................48
Horizontal Conflict......................................................................................................................48
Impact of modern retail on distribution......................................................................................48
Trade margins and other discounts.............................................................................................48
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Impact of internet on distribution...............................................................................................49
Supply Chain of the Industry........................................................................................................49
Level of cooperative advertising..................................................................................................50
WHIRLPOOL.....................................................................................................................................50
Sales organization and territory design.......................................................................................50
Recruitment and Selection of sales people..................................................................................50
Compensation structure of the sales force..................................................................................51
Distribution..................................................................................................................................51
Trade margins and other discounts.............................................................................................51
Areas of vertical and horizontal conflict and possible solutions..................................................52
Possible Solution.........................................................................................................................52
Impact of modern retail on distribution......................................................................................52
Impact of internet on distribution...............................................................................................52
Supply chain.................................................................................................................................53
Level of cooperative advertising..................................................................................................53
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Part – I – Industry Scenario
Industry Growth over last five years
Year Turnover
2012-13 1650 Crores
2011-12 1400 Crores
2010-11 1142 Crores
2009-10 980 Crores
2008-09 840 Crores
Source: Adi-Media Publication, Economic Times.
The market leader of course is Eureka Forbes’ brand Aqua guard with 57 per cent share in the RO, 75
per cent in UV and 20 per cent in the storage category (Aquasure). Overall, it has 54 per cent share in
the industry (as of 2012).
Method used
Assumption- Water purifier segment in India will grow at a compounded annual growth rate
(CAGR) of about 20 per cent due to the rising demand for water purifiers and increasing
disposable incomes of the people. We do not take the 25 percent growth due to the high
penetration and stagnation of the RO segment.
Therefore taking the actual industry size of 1658 in 2012-13 and applying the CAGR of 20%, we get
the forecast for the next 3 years.
Formula used FV=PV (1+R/100) ^n
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If we take both the organized and the unorganized sector, the current market size is around 3200
crores and taking a CAGR of 20 percent, the size in the next 3 years for 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16
will be Rs 3840crore, Rs4608 crore, Rs5529.6 crore respectively.
In 2013, taking in account RO filters grows at 17% CAGR = 49.28cr
In 2014, taking in account RO filters grows at 16% CAGR so does whirlpool = 57.17cr
In 2015, taking in account RO filters grows at 15% CAGR = 65.74cr
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Supplier Power:
The supplier power is low as the components used in manufacturing of water purifier are basically
commodities which are easily available to all the companies. Also the market is fragmented with no
company having a share of more than 60%.
Buyers Power:
The buyer power of consumers is high in water purifier industry because there are many firms in the
market selling almost similar product with same price tag. Also power of distributors is high as most
of the sales of water purifier takes from this channel.
New Entrant:
The industry is still in its growth phase and as such many new consumer durables have entered the
market and some are still planning to enter the market, also the investment requirement in this
industry is low as compared to returns that are possible and hence we can see many home grown
companies like Kent Ro in the market which are performing well. Hence the treat of new entrants is
high.
Threat from substitute:
Substitutes like boiling water and other methods are still used by the consumers, also as these
methods do not require any additional investment this will be a viable substitute for water purifiers.
Lack of electricity, replacement of batteries, and maintenance requirement of water purifier make the
substitute better for the consumers. But the consumer behaviour is changing and more people are
shifting towards water purifier, hence treat from substitute is medium.
Competitive rivalry:
The industry is growing at a very rapid pace and hence, has seen the entrance of industry giants like
Tata Chemicals, Philips, Videocon etc and also many new players like Kent Ro have come up in the
market. Hence we can see that all the companies are trying to grab as much share in the market by
using their competency like high capital investment capability (Tata Chemical), innovation (Kent Ro),
distribution network (HUL) etc. Hence we can say that competitive rivalry in the water purifier
industry is high.
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require continuous water supply and, therefore, are ideal for locations where water and power supply
is unpredictable. Other aggressive brands available in the offline category are Kent, Zero B, Bajaj, and
Tata.
Market was divided so as to cater the need of every individual. First segmentation was done on the
basis of Annual Income of the family.
Aspirers: This segment mainly consists of Small scale shopkeepers, farmers who owns small piece
of land and industrial workers. These people are also not concerned about taste but only health. Many
of these households are not deprived of electricity but they never get continuous electricity and they
also do not get continuous supply of water.
Major Changes: With the development of rural India and schemes for benefitting the deprived
people, many of this segment has risen and are looking for better basic necessities.
Seekers: This segment consists of Young college graduates, Government employees at intermediate
level and owners of small to medium sized businesses. These types of people are not only concerned
about health of the family but also about taste of water and have continuous supply of water and
electricity.
Major Changes: With the increase in buying appetite of these people, this segment has also rising
and falling into strivers segment wherein they look forward for making their life much better.
Strivers: This segment consists of Senior Government employees, owners and managers of
individuals. These people concern about health and taste of water, they also think water purifier as a
style statement.
Global Indians: This segment consists of Senior Executives in Large corporations, owners of larger
businesses, politician and rich farmers with large land holdings. These people are concerned about
health of the family, taste of water and design of water purifiers as they want it to be fully automatic
and sleek in look.
Overall Major Changes: It is reported that groundwater in one-third of India's 600 districts is not fit
for drinking as the concentration of fluoride, iron, salinity and arsenic exceeds the tolerance levels.
With increasing number of people becoming conscious of the risks of drinking contaminated water,
the demand for water purifiers is rising rapidly. The rising prosperity in rural India means people may
be willing to pay more for safe water.
So HUL Targeted each segment by offering water purifiers at all ranges mentioned in the table below:
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Part – II – Sales Organisation
Eureka Forbes Limited
Sales force at EFL has been grouped into three divisions –
Direct Sales division
Retail Sales division
Professional Sales division
Possible reasons for this division can be as follows –
Different selling process – Professional sales period is typically longer as compared to direct
and retail divisions.
Different selling skills needed by the sales force – Direct Sales rep needs to have an in depth
knowledge of the product as compared to Retail Sales rep.
More focused approach to cater to customers – Retail and Professional sales divisions posting
strong growth rate (55.75% in retail and 40.38% in Industrial division as of 2006-07).
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Retail sales force hierarchy at regional level is as follows –
1. National Sales Manager
2. Regional Sales manager
3. Zonal Head
4. State Head
5. Area Head
6. Territory Sales Executive
a. ISP Co-ordinator
i. In shop promoter
b. Territory head
i. Field Sales officer
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Foster Relationships
Grow in organization through the route of professional selling and meeting people one to one.
Put in hard work and enjoy with generous contributions from the company.
Expectations from Institutional Sales Executive:
Sales: achieving revenue targets from the territory.
Generation and business development in the assigned territory.
Proposal submission.
Negotiation.
Payment collection.
New account development and management.
Structured Reporting: Weekly
Recruitment of EuroChamp
Recruitment refers to the process of finding and hiring the best-qualified candidate (from within or
outside of an organization) for a job opening, in a timely and cost effective manner. It is the most
important function because unless the right types of people are hired even the best plan and
organization system would not do much good. Systematic recruitment of salesman leads to greater
productivity. In Eureka Forbes, first of all recruitment policy is established when it is found that there
is a need for a salesman. First, the information is sought about the prospective employees from the
present or former employees of the organization. The evaluation of the information collected is done
and a decision is made to select or reject the prospective salesman. The company also gives
advertisement in local newspaper, journals and magazines. Interviews are held up as per a proper
selection process.
Selection of EuroChamp
Selection is the processes in which candidates for employment are divided into two classes, those who
offered employment and those who are not. While selecting the salesman in Eureka Forbes, following
qualities are taken into consideration:
Physical Qualities
Social Qualities
Mental Qualities
Moral Qualities
The different channels of recruitment at Eureka Forbes:
Friends Get a Friend’ scheme
Newspaper Advertisements
Recruitment Through Campuses
Employment Exchanges
Apart from all these methods, Eureka Forbes has also started approaching rural and semi urban
communities, through NGOs and people who work in this field especially in the areas like
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh. They interact with the rural and semi urban communities, shortlist
people, and conduct training for selected people.
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This training covers both Soft Skills and the Hard Skills. It is a mix of Classroom training and Field
training. Half of the day is on classroom training and second half on field training in which they all
practice what all they have learnt. This training involves:
Prospecting
How to make a door entry
How to interact with customers
How to demonstrate the product
How to handle customer’s objections
How to close sale
Employees practice this on field and come up with doubts next day.
At the end of the training program, test is conducted to check how much they have learnt. In this way
follow up can be easily taken up and required change and improvement can be suggested.
For initial 2-3 weeks, new employees work with the senior executives and learn practically from
them. Once the senior executive think that now employees can handle a call, they are given their
targets.
The problem with this Mentoring Method is
It is not necessary that senior executives have good mentoring skills.
Senior Executives can also take it as a burden.
But on the other hand, this training method leads to optimum utilization of time and is cost effective.
Other Trainings
Salesmen are sent for MBA so that they can develop managerial skills which can be used in
performing their job in a better way.
Undergraduates are given opportunities to study further and become graduates.
As new product is launched, all the employees are trained about the features and functioning
of that very product.
All this will lead to Employee Satisfaction because of personal development and will lead to a
culture of Continuous learning in organization.
Despite of so many effortand cost involved in training, the attrition rate among Euro Champs is high
due tothe sales target. Compensation is variable and based on the target achieved. As a result people
don’t get enough motivation to work and there in these training processes also do not contribute in
motivating employees to work.
Another problem is that the supervisors are many times not comfortable with training or mentoring
the new employees as their focus is solely on meeting their targets and this responsibility of new
employees comes up as a burden.
All the training methods in EFL aim for development of employees and company which helps it
maintaining its market leadership.
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Leave Travel Concession 200 250
Medical 75 75
Fixed Expenses
Bike Maintenance 100 100
Bonus 500 700
Provident Fund 250 350
Special Pay or Allowance 250 250
Special Promotion Expenses
Total – A 5375 6975
Variable Component – B
Holiday Bonus 200 200
Sales/Service related Expenses
Petrol 1000 3000
Quarterly Commission 500 700
Commission (monthly for BM)
Group Commission
Contingency Compensation
Performance Incentive 1600 1500
Productivity Bases Incentive
HCRC Allowance
Friendship Chain 900 600
Total B 3500 6000
Total A+B 8875 12975
In its early days EFL followed a compensation structure of 50:50 with respect to its fixed and variable
components respectively, but that structure was subsequently replaced by a 60:40 compensation
structure. This change is in tune with EFL’s new found principle of rewarding the process rather that
result. As a result of this structure the Eurochamps are less burdened with the final conversion rate
and are more focused towards the customer satisfaction and problem solving. More over this structure
has greatly reduced the high turnover ratios which EFL was earlier suffering from. Since the
Eurochamps are now greatly rewarded for the various steps they follow during a sales pitch their
overall performance has improved, resulting in improved sales for EFL.
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e) Call Connect System – A consumer fills out and submits a “lead form” online, an automated
process identifies his or her location based on the pin code supplied. The system then
identifies the nearest sales team, makes an outbound call to a salesperson and one to the
customer. The system then connects the two calls -- all with an expected hold time of less
than 30 seconds. “There is often a lag between a customer filling out a lead form and the team
getting back to him. This system cuts down the lag time drastically. It also works on SMS and
telephone.
f) Leads from Facebook and website– EFL currently gets only four to five leads from
Facebook every month. But it manages 35,000 leads a month through organic traffic and an
additional 40,000 leads a month from its brand display campaigns. The conversion of leads
from hits on EFL’s own website are high -- 40% to 45% of total leads. It’s brilliantly cost
effective. The cost of each lead is the lowest as compared to advertising or door knocks. The
company web-site and call centre (manned by disabled individuals), provides the salesmen
with thousands of referrals every month.
Steps in Prospecting –
Identify and qualify prospects
Company qualifies the leads by contacting them by mail or phone to assess their level of
interest and financial capacity
'Hot' prospects are turned over to the field sales force
Warm prospects to telemarketing units
It takes about 4 calls on a prospect to accomplish a business transaction
Eurochamps are then required to learn as much as possible about the prospect before
approaching them
Then the EuroChamp are required to set up call objectives, i.e. to qualify the prospect, gather
information and/or make immediate sale
Eurochamps them initiates the contract by making a phone call to the prospect to take an
appointment for the demonstration
After that the sales person tells the product "story" to the buyer using features, advantages,
benefits and value approach
Handling customer's psychological and logical resistance. To handle such objections the
Eurochamps needs to have positive approach.
Eurochamps are required to negotiate on issues regarding price, contract completion time,
quality of goods and services offered and product safety.
The last and one of the most important parts is closing the sales. This includes closing signs
from buyers i.e., physical action, statements or comments and questions. Eurochamps also
provides buyer with minor choices such as colour or size, or indicate what the buyer will lose
by not placing the order now.
Reporting –
Briefing is till 8 o'clock in the morning
8:15am to 11:15am is household knocking
12noon-2pm is reporting including lunch time
2pm-4pm commercial knocking
4pm-5pm is reporting
5pm-8pm demos if any/fresh knocking
Last reporting
The Eurochamps have a cycle of 28days and sets target accordingly and they have a weekly closing of
7 days at the end of which there is again reporting.
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ION Exchange (Zero B)
Recruitment & Selection
At ZERO B (ion exchange), the opportunities for the job of sales executive are open for one and all.
The application for the hiring of sales executives is posted on the company’s website and also
communicated to many applicants via the existing employees of the organization. The applicants are
required to clear two stages to get the job: the first one is the interview by the Human Resource
department of the company. If the applicant clears this interview, he/she moves on to the next step
which is the interview by the Head of relevant department (in this case, Sales). The employees having
prior experience are valued.
The candidate, who clears both the stages, negotiates the salary and is then arranged for a training
period of limited duration to get acquainted with the new job and working environment. The
responsibilities for the job are basically the fulfillment of sales quotas and monitoring and reviewing
of the dealers and customer’s satisfaction. The company has introduced a system of performance
appraisal against objectives or key result areas, set and reviewed jointly, half-yearly and annually. The
appraisal process is considered important because it helps identify the strengths of a person, the
potential for development and growth, areas of improvement and training required. It also serves as a
tool for long term human resource planning and development.
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HUL Pureit
Sales Organization and Territory Design
a
Sales Organization
Territory Design
The above diagrams show the Sales Organization and Territory design at HUL Pureit. India
geographically has been divided into four regions by the companies which are as follows:
North
South
East
West
t
Each region comprises of six to seven states and each state is further divided into various zones.
For example-In case of Delhi, the division is such that the entire state is divided into four major zones,
where Noida, Ghaziabad and the whole of South Delhi come under one zone and similarly, the same
is applicable for Gurgaon and Faridabad as well.
Division of the state depends upon not just the population of that state but also the total area of that
state.
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For example- big cities like Uttar Pradesh is further divided into two parts and similarly, Rajasthan is
also divided into four parts.
At the same time, interestingly, Delhi, though is relatively a smaller state in terms of area but it is
divided into 4 zones because of its high and growing consumption capacity.
Thus, it’s not just the population that the company keeps in mind while creating zones for a particular
state, but also its population and hence the consumption capacity.
• Business Developer
Business Developers work under the purview of the Territory Area Sales Managers. They are
responsible for the sales and distribution for particular zones in a state.
For example-In case of Delhi, there are four Business Developers for four different zones in the state,
i.e. North, South, East and West.
Noida and Ghaziabad area are under the same Business Developer who is responsible for Faridabad
and Gurgaon.
Big states like Rajasthan are divided into four parts connecting major cities. Each part comes under
one Business Developer and there are about two to three Territory sales officers who report directly to
Business Developers and are responsible for their particular regions.
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Prior experience in Sales: It is considered very good to have a sales person who has prior
work experience in the field of sales since this prior experience of the employee helps the
company serve their customers better.
Relevant Experience in Water Purifier Industry: At HUL Pureit, one of the most
important skills required in a sales person is his/her specialized experience in the water
purifier industry. Sales Personnel having such relevant experience are given the first
preference. Since such a sales personnel understands the industry very well, it becomes easier
for the company to put him at work get the desired performance and thereby the results out of
him.
Good in Distribution Management: It is very important for a sales person at HUL Pureit to
handle the entire distribution network under his control efficiently and reliably. Correct and
timely delivery to the customer is always of utmost importance in any company.
Also, at HUL Pureit, past specialized experience in the Water Purifier industry is the most important
factor when it comes to selection of people especially, for the post of Territory Sales Officer and
Business Developers.
Compensation Structure
The front line sales people get compensation of around 2 to 3% per product. However, it
varies from case to case.
The salary structure of a sales representative is as follows:
Total Salary = Fixed Salary + Incentive + Commission on every machine.
Commission on Machines is as follows:
For, UV = Rs 480 per Machine * number of machines sold
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RO = Rs 680 per Machine * number of machines sold
Pureit offline = Rs 20/40 per Machine (depends on the capacity of the machine) *
number of machines sold
PPL(pureit premier league), which is organized by HUL during the IPL, where they reward
their retailers on the basis of points earned by each retailer through selling HUL pureit
products and at the end of the PPL, HUL calculates points of each and every retailers and
rewards the top 10 retailers with gifts and trips to various places.
Distributors also have a compensation structure based on various preset parameters and points
are given to parameter.
For Distributors and Territory Sales officers, the compensation part is mostly fixed, whereas
for PWE (Pureit Water Expert), it is more of variable rather than fixed.
TATA SWACH
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Sales organisation and Territory Design
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distributor’s sales.
The company has no extra sales team to manage online sales, hence cost is less.
Distributors are also happy as they get extra sales with no extra efforts.
important skill required in a sales person, it is definitely not a necessary part to become a
TATA Swach Sales person. The contacted Area Sales Manager informed that a sales person
who have prior experience in Water purifier industry understand the business better and
generally gives better result than a sales man, who has no or experience in other industry
Technical Knowledge of Water Purifiers: The knowledge about the product is must for
every sales person, the company imparts this knowledge during the training period and
explain the functionality of water purifiers and also teaches them how to service these
equipments
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Communication Skills: Area Sales Manager always see that the sales person are good in
communication skills, and are they capable in dealing with the distributors and the retailers or
not. English is not important for the Technical Staff and Territory Executives as they basically
deals with retailers and distributors, but definitely good communication is a must for them to
effectively handle the channel partners
Convincing Abilities: As is the communication ability so is the case with convincing ability,
this is also an important ability for a sales person, they ought to have a good convincing
ability to convince the channel partners and generate sales.
Skills set required for the Area Sales Manager by Zonal Manager:
Prior Work Experience of at least 3 years: All the Area Sales Managers are recruited
internally from TATA Chemicals or from referrals, and the first condition for them to hold
this position is a work experience of at least 3 years. This is necessary because an ASM
handles a team of around 20-25 sales person under him, hence if he has no prior experience
he may not be able to effectively utilize the sales people time.
Managerial Ability: This point has similar logic as the above point, managing ability is of
utmost important for ASM’s as the sales persons are in the field most of the time, hence to
manage the efforts of all the sales person ASM has to have a good managing ability.
Communication Skill: It is imperative on the part of sales person to have a good
communication skill, he basically deals with the sales staff or the distributors, hence he need
to convince and also make sure all the people under him understand their work properly.
Training for Territory Executive and Technical Staff: The training of Sales staff is about a month
long, the training starts with a formal in-office training explaining product portfolio, product features
and industry standards. After the initial training the next 26-28 days sales staffs is trained on-field,
this training is given by the ASM under which he/she shall be posted. ASM gives the sales staff
firsthand knowledge about their roles. During the training ASM also clarifies the expectation of the
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company from the sales staff. The training is effective as it clearly defines the roles and responsibility
of the sales staff, also it is basically given on the field where sales person will be posted hence the
sales staff get a chance to understand the work from the perspective of ASM and also from his own
perspective.
Compensation Structure
Compensation structure of ASM: The compensation of ASM is a mix of fixed salary with
travelling allowances; the travelling allowance has an upper limit based on the region and area of the
ASM. The affect of fixed salary is directly seen in the motivation level in the ASM’s which is
manifested by the large number of complaints lodged by the retailers about the service level of TATA
Chemicals. The compensation is made of 90% fixed and 10% variable depending on tangible and
intangible metrics administered by Performance Management System (PMS). The PMS takes into
account many things like sales generated, new retail outlets roped in for sales of TATA Swach etc.
The details of weights given to different variables were not available with the ASM and the Territory
Executive
Compensation structure of territory Executive and Technical Staff: The compensation of
Territory Executives and Technical Staff is composite of only fixed component and travelling
allowances. The technical staff is given a salary upwards of Rs. 6000, and territory executives are
given a salary upwards of Rs.10000. The compensation structure is not much motivating but in the
same time it also does not put undue pressure on the sales staff, which may be the cause of low
employee turnover.
Method of Prospecting and Reporting with the degree of Sales Force Automation
Degree of Automation: TATA Chemicals is currently not using any type of ERP software
and/or Sales Automation Applications for the sales force. Hence the sales force is still
collecting the orders in forms. The sales force uses no type of handheld devices to take orders
Reporting by Territory Executives: The territory executive reports to the area sales
manager twice daily and also give a formal weekly and monthly report. The morning report
gives the information about the planned activities for the day, whereas the second report gives
the information about the work done through the day. The report also contains the activities
done by the technical staff under the territory executive. The daily reports are usually made
through phone calls and messages.
Reporting by ASM to Zonal Manager: Area Sales Manager reports monthly to the Zonal
Managers, but the Zonal Managers maintains a constant contact with the ASMs and hence the
reporting of the ASM is generally on the points describing the sales and customer inquiries.
The Zonal Manager is also in some contact with distributors to make sure that he/she always
knows and understands the condition of the market.
Kent
Kent RO Systems Ltd is a leading company in manufacturing of health care products like purifiers,
which started its journey way back in 1999. It has a diversified group interest under various categories
with strong presence in selling water purifiers like mineral ROs, gravity purifiers and water softeners.
Pioneer in bringing revolutionary Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology to India for the first time, Kent,
started in 1995 in Noida, India. Despite a humble beginning, today Kent RO Systems Ltd is a strong
organization with offices spread across major cities of India
25 | P a g e
For this division the company has 18 branch offices (direct sale offices) in Delhi alone and each
branch office has about 5-6 sales representatives, therefore the total number of sales reps in the
Delhi region which caters to the demands of the households is around 100.
There is a separate sales force that looks after the after sales services. Around 10 sales reps
from the after sales division report to each branch office in Delhi, from where they are sent to
the homes to cater to the queries of the customers.
The company has its warehouses in various parts of Delhi from where the sales reps pick up the
products for selling.
Retail channel sales- This sales division also caters to the demand of the household through
retailers/ dealers. The company has a strong dealer network and sells a lot of water purifiers through
these dealers/retailers. There are a lot of customers who do not buy the water purifiers despite the
demos given by the sales representatives; therefore the customers go these retailers to buy the water
purifiers. The company has distributors in the and the company also appoints its sales reps to handle
the needs of dealer stores. This division of sale is more prevalent in the cities apart from Delhi/NCR
i.e. majority of the sales in India except from the Delhi/NCR is through the retail channel sales.
The company has around 14-15 main distributors in Delhi.The dealers are the electrical shops,
water purifier dealers and the other private dealers.
Recently Kent has set up its own exclusive Kent Shoppes which only sells the Kent water
purifiers. Some of the main distributors have been asked to sell only the Kent products and are
being converted into these exclusive shoppes. The company appoints its own sales reps at these
shoppes. The Kent shoppe can only sell to the consumers.
The company is also selling their water purifiers through the modern retail stores chroma, big
bazaar, next stores, vijay sales, etc. The company has been selling their products in around
6,000 multi-brand and large format stores across the country. The company sends its ISP’s
there for the demonstrations to the customers.
The company sends its own sales reps or the ISP’s (in shop promoters) to the dealers who are
able to sell more than 10-15 Kent purifiers in a month.
Kent also sells its products through the army canteens across the country. There is a different
canteen sales division for this segment known as the Canteen Sales Division mainly managed
through the corporate office. A purchase order is released by the army for requirements of
water purifiers in various parts of the army canteens, the head office takes care of this
requirement and products are released from the head office to these places.
The company has recently also tied up with the HP and Indian oil gas agencies to act as the
distributors of Kent water purifiers.
Corporate sales division- This division caters to the demands of the institutions and companies
which require the Kent water purifiers. There is a separate sales force for the institutional selling
which sells the water purifiers to the schools, colleges, offices, hospitals, etc. The sale force for this
division in Delhi for instance directly goes from the Noida head office to make the sales. The sales
reps of this division are not present in the direct sales offices of the domestic consumers. The
company has to give large discounts to these buyers as the quantity amount is very high. This channel
also takes care of the MBO(multi brand outlets) Big Bazaar, Next, Croma , Vijay Sales etc. with
which company has a tie up .
For the rural regions the sale is made only through the retail channels and there are no direct sales
agents. The company has a good dealer network for the towns and the rural areas and is trying to
penetrate more in the rural areas by the introduction of low cost water purifiers.
Territory design- The Delhi/ NCR region is divided into 4 regions south, west, north and east.
Similar regional division is followed in the other Indian states as well. The states are divided into 4
regions. The area sales managers are responsible for these regional areas, headed by the Regional
manager.
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Analysis of the effectiveness of the current sales strategy:
After observing their sales organization and territory design it has been observed that Kent is a major
player in the northern region and their main focus is still in the Delhi-NCR and have setup a direct
sales force in this region. The major products of Kent are their products with RO,UV and UF
membrane products which provide triple filtration. They account for major sales of Kent’s products.
The company in its product portfolio has around 35 products in gravity, resin, UV and RO range.
Kent Grand has been their star product , recently the launched Kent supreme to reduce the water
wastage which is a major problem with the RO products. Awareness about water purifiers is quite
high among urban population of India. Major. The company should have a direct sales team other
than Delhi to have a stronghold in these major cities of India. Kent has branch offices in all the major
cities to cater to the need of the retail channel. Kent do not have a after sales team outside of Delhi
and they have outsourced their aftersales and maintenance outside of Delhi-NCR which is a cause of
concern, it has been noticed that lots of complaints regarding aftersales have been noticed with Kent
after we did some analysis through secondary sources so they should setup a aftersales team and a
direct sales in major cities where demand is high and cities where ground water is the major .With the
current sales strategy they are able to expand pan India but still real focus is constrained in the Delhi –
NCR region although on papers they cover all over India but in reality they really focus in this region
with huge turnover being reported the company should make the most of it and look to expand in all
over India in an effective manner while setting up own after sales team to look into after sales in an
effective manner.
27 | P a g e
Extroverts and convincing skills
Good communication skills
Less time constraints/ willingness to work stretch
28 | P a g e
senior sales executive that even after getting a tag of senior sales executive after working for
2-3 years there was no monetary benefit and prospects of growth after that.
WHIRLPOOL
The sale of Whirlpool water purifiers is done mainly through 2 channels:
Retail channel sales: This sales division also caters to the demand of the household through
retailers/ dealers. The company has a decent dealer network and sells a lot of water purifiers through
these retailers. In the present scenario many customers visit the retail shops to buy water purifiers.
The company has distributors in the cities and towns which provide the water purifiers to the dealers
and retailers, which further sell to the consumers. The company appoints its sales reps to handle the
needs of retail stores.
The company sells its product through shops like croma, big bazaar etc.
The retail store on an average has around 8-9 sales reps who sell are goods like refrigerator,
air conditioner and also water purifier.
Corporate sales division: This division caters to the demands of the institutions and companies
which require the Whirlpool water purifiers. There is a separate sales force for the institutional selling
which sells the water purifiers to the schools, colleges, offices, hospitals, etc. The sale force for this
division in Delhi for example directly goes to the corporate office in Gurgaon where they enquire
about whirlpool water purifier and gives them order about how many units they want for their
institution. The order will be handled by area sales manager who intimate the sales force about the
latest order and send them to the respective institution.
Share % of various
channels
Co
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Re e Ch
tail 10 an
20 % nel
% 70
%
Table 1.1: Percentage share of sales of Whirlpool water purifiers in Delhi
29 | P a g e
Compensation structure of the sales force
The sales representatives on being permanently recruited into the company are given:
Fixed Salary: 9200
Variable Salary (Incentives and commissions): 2000
Variable component of the salary:
Commission on normal days on sale of 1 purifier= 250
Commission on Saturday and Sunday of 1 purifier= 400
If a sales representative is able to do more than 30 sales in a month, then after that his incentives get
doubled. For ex- If he sells the 31st product on a weekend then his commission will increase from 400
to 800.
New Channels
These are further classified into NC1, NC2 and BPCL. They contribute 22% of entire durable
business.
o NC1 – Distributing products to Modern organized retail which consists of organized retail
outlets like Hyper City, home shop etc. These are managed by different managers and
distributors. Contributes to 15% of entire durable business.
o NC2 – This is small scale retailer selling. Products are sold through shops other than consumer
appliances like utensils, furniture etc.
o BPCL – This division takes care of distribution via BPCL gas network. The delivery people of
BPCL were trained by EFL as salesmen of water purifiers. Some profit percentage was shared
with BPCL.
30 | P a g e
Rural Channel (described in Changes over last five years)
Supply Chain
Retail Channel
Retailers
Aquaguard brand is sold through Direct Sales as well as Franchisees and Aquasure brand is sold
through retail.
No. Of warehouses in Delhi= 2 (Mayapuri and Badarpur)
The products are manufactured at Aquamall factories. Aquamall Water Solutions Ltd is a 100%
subsidiary Company of Eureka Forbes Ltd. The company has four Manufacturing facilities have been
established at Baddi (H.P.), Bhimtal (Uttarakhand), Banglore (Karnataka) and the Latest & the biggest
in Dehradun (Uttarakhand). Apart from this Eureka Forbes has forged a 50:50 joint venture with UK-
based Waterlogic to develop premium water purification products and solutions.
From these manufacturing units, products are transferred to regional warehouses on the basis of
quotation given by the state heads.
EFL operates in 125 cities and 400 towns across India through 5,000 + strong Dealer Sales Network
and 75 Distributors. Area head and Territory sales-in charge are responsible for the orders taken by
the distributors once the stock reaches the regional warehouse. Distributors distribute the stock
among retailers on the basis of orders and the retailers sell off to the consumers. However distributors
for every category of product are different. There are generally different distributors for electric water
purifiers and non-electric water purifiers.
Dealers are responsible for the direct sales channel. The dealers are given the responsibility of getting
stock from warehouse and maintain the direct sales and distribution
To manage its Distribution Network Business, Eureka Forbes has implemented an in-house software
solution - BAMS. This software captures information related to the day-to-day functioning of the
business. The BAMS primarily handles the following areas –
Sales Transactions and related Returns made to the Distributor
Material Purchase & Material receipt by the Distributor
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Material Return (Purchase Return) and Credit Notes
Other Claims and Credit Notes etc.
Current Issue
With vigorous growth plans, the company wants to closely integrate its operations with that of the
distributors and simplify operations of its distributors. Many EFL distributors do business with
multiple products and a large section of these distributors use Tally (ERP9 software) to manage their
business operations. EFL wishes to integrate its BAMS application with Tally.
Channel Conflicts
Channel conflict at EFL may arise due to the two different methods of selling being followed i.e
Direct Selling Model vs The Retail Selling Model. This results in Vertical Channel Conflict between
the Manufacturer and a distributor/franchisee/retailer, happening due to poor communication, lack of
role clarity as Sales force of each division feels that they end up competing against one another.
Two separate divisions Retail Sales division and Direct Sales division selling similar products in same
area. In this case, there is sort of channel cannibalization of Direct Sales against Retail sales.
Solutions:
To overcome this conflict EFL adopts the following strategy:-
1. Keeps separate product line for separate channel, for example, Aquasure is sold via retail outlets
and Aquaguard via Direct sales.
2. Different Target Segment for each channel.
The strategies for both the channels are explained as following:-
32 | P a g e
1.
Storage type
2.
Non – Electrical, Gravity purifiers
3.
Cheap – INR 1800 onwards.
4.
Do not remove Hardness (caused by heavy metals etc), Pesticides, Arsenic and
Fluoride.
Aimed at increasing the market penetration which is assumed to be as low as 9%.
Retail Selling is more conducive for Multi – products selling. EFL has increased its
products from 1 to 30 in the past decade.
Contribution: Retail contributed about 22.7% of all Water Purifier’s sales of EFL in 2012.
2013 onwards: Advanced Models of AquaSure.
Targeting working couples at Tier 1 cites and Metros as well as to counter increased
competition from contemporaries and new entrants.
Both electrical as well as non electrical models can be purchased at retail outlets of such
cities.
Prices wary from INR1800/ – INR 26,000/-
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All this made EFL enter into Retail Channel as well.
Currently, EFL is dealing in 3 categories UV, RO, Resin. UV and RO technology is dealt through
Retail Channel as well as Direct Channel but Resin technology is present only in the Retail Channel.
CURRENT SCENERIO
EFL is dealing in both Retail Channel and Direct Selling. It sells only entry-level products through the
route. All the high end and premium product are under the brand name Aqua Guard are sold through
Direct Selling. These are premium products for high segment that needs personal attention and are fit
for direct selling. Being a premium and flagship product of EFL, people want to get assure about the
benefits of the product by demonstrations before spending money to buy it.
For the Retail Channel, brand of EFL names Aqua Sure. It is available in all the three technologies.
These products are 20 to 30% cheaper than the products which are sold through Direct Channel as in
retail as people are looking for good value for money products. Also, there is a severe price
competition in Retail Channel by companies like Kent, HUL, etc.
In Resin technology, EFL is at poor second position. HUL is the market leader with a large difference.
HUL is having an intense distribution network and to compete with it EFL is concentrating on
developing strong distribution network.
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Ion Exchange(Zero B)
As ion exchange has entered the water purification segment only recently and is therefore a new
player in the concerned segment, it is currently immune to Hassles like channel conflicts. Ion
Exchange currently has a corporate office in Mumbai, and 11 Branch/Regional offices across 10 cities
in India.
More over unlike Eureka Forbes Limited, Ion Exchange does not follow Direct Selling therefore it is
solely concentrating on consolidating its Distributor/Retail Channels.
During our primary research we were constantly reminded of Ion Exchange’s newbie status in the
market as it was mighty difficult to locate a Zero – B water purifier.
Ion Exchange uses its own websites just to provide details about its complete product range. Though
the company doesn’t allow user to purchase directly through website, it just allow customers to ask
for demo or call for more details. It is not leveraging the complete power of internet yet as according
to the company, though there is a huge customer base that checks details online, very few people in
India are comfortable with e-commerce and hence do not purchase online. Thus they are still waiting
for the market to get evolved to start selling online. Since they do not allow purchase of products
through their website, they have not kept a different distribution network for internet. However the
company has made Good Life as its authorized sales partner. Good Life website features many
products including water purifiers of every brand and for them Zero B is just one of the partners. For
Good Life, Ion Exchange operates through B2B distribution network. Good Life maintains the stock
in their warehouses based on the sales and demand forecasts. Ion Exchange products are not featured
on other major e-tailers such as Flipkart, Homeshoppe etc. and also not on major modern trade outlet
websites such as Chroma.
Cooperative Advertisement
At Eureka Forbes the advertisements are mainly done by the manufacturer itself where distributors
and retailers play a very minor role. The cooperative advertisements done by Eureka Forbes
distributors and Retailers are as follows:-
1. Banners and Posters – Eureka Forbes distributes banners and posters through its channel which is
to be displayed by retailers at their store. These banners and posters are being put at the retailers
by the Area Sales Managers (ASM).
2. Consumer Awareness Training – The ASM trains the salesmen at the retail outlet regarding the
benefits of the product. These salesmen pass the same knowledge to the consumers thus helping
them to sale the product.
3. Display – The ASM visits the retail shops and sets up the display according to their need.
35 | P a g e
HUL Pureit’s
Distribution Network
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Figure 1
There is no fixed number for distributors for Pureit; it all depends on the capacity of the
distributor. For e.g. there is only one distributor in South Delhi while there are 3 in East Delhi.
Retailers and Sales Rep are in direct touch with the distributors of their respective territories, which
are appointed by the company (i.e. HUL in this case)
Above Distributors, there is a networks of Depots (or in simple term Warehouse), from where all the
products are delivered to respective Distributors
And finally above Depots, comes the Manufacturers from where the parts of products are produced
and assembled in their own vicinity as per HUL design and specification related to each categories of
product, which are different for all these three categories of HUL Pureit, which are RO, UV and
Offline one.
As per A.C Nielson survey some years back on water purifier industry, water purifier was not even
considered as a category or segment to have distribution network.
Level of intensity in distribution is high on the distributors end as they are getting targets, which they
have to fulfill as per decided by the company, which they pass on to retailers. But in case of retailers,
it is not that intense as they are independent entities.
Depots are solely responsible for the delivery of goods or water purifiers on time and to keep check
on the arrival of these finished products from manufacturers and have to maintain their inventory
level.
36 | P a g e
There is no major change in the distribution policies in this industry in the last 5 years as this is still in
its nascent stage and it is growing tremendously. Only change we can observe is that it was purely
through door to door distribution networks, but now it is more or less through organized distribution
network, which start from Manufacturers, than depots, than distributors and finally retailers or Sales
Rep.
Main Impact of this distribution network is that now a day’s these water purifiers also get space on
the display counters of the retailers, which was not there previously and companies also understand
the importance of these display counters, so they are offering different scheme to get more space,
which ultimately result in increasing their sales.
RURAL Segment
Pureit has low presence in rural segment as market potential of Tier I, Tier II and Tier III
cities is very high so according to us they might think of getting into rural segment. We were
not able to find any data about it from any of the primary or secondary sources, will make
sure to search more on it and try to cover this in final report.
Service Output demand for Water Purifier Industry:-
As we have seen the demand for water purifiers and selling strategy for HUL, the demand for water
purifiers is high but people buys it once in 5 years because it is a high involvement product. It is a
spatial convenience type of Service output demand as people today considers it as a necessity rather
than style statement. This is high involvement because of cost of the product. Since product is
categorized for different segments and each segment is from different socio-economic class, so cost of
the product matters a lot.
37 | P a g e
RO Low Low - Medium - Low High - As High -
Available at Customers can customers Customers get
exclusive wait but not are high information
stores or sold too long value since through
through the cost of MBO's, EBO's
direct product is and also
channel very high through Sales
representative
during Direct
Selling.
38 | P a g e
and storage cost at distributor end is bear by distributors.
2 Ownership Inventory carrying cost is bear by the depot owner, when
goods are at depots.
Inventory carrying cost is bear by the distributors, when
goods are at distributors end.
Same apply with the retailers and online portal.
3 Promotion Personal selling through sales rep, advertisement of the
products, Sales promotion, publicity and PR are handled by
the company (HUL Pureit), distributors and Depots owners
are exempted from this activity.
4 Negotiation Mostly Margin level for all distributors across country is
same as a result negotiation on the basis of price is very less
from company’s end but in many case when there is a bulk
order company may relax some norms.
There is a separate sales team for negotiation for the stores
like big bazaar, Next , Croma etc.
At distributor level negotiation can be done on the basis of
order as distributor use to give high margin to bulk order it
give high margin to snap deal and other modern retail shop
which deals with distributors.
5 Financing No credit is provided by the company to distributors. All
transactions are on advance payment.
But in case of retailers, credit facilities are given by the
distributors, for which the company is not responsible. It is
totally on distributor risk
There are targets set by the company for the distributors,
which they have to fulfill and for the same company
provide scheme or discount to their distributors.
As Retailers are independent, so there is less pressure on
them to fulfill these targets and also get advantage of this
schemes/discount which is passed on to them by the
distributors from the company.
6 Risking Price guarantees, warranties, insurance, repairs and after
sales service are all look after by the company with the help
of distributors, who takes the damage product from retailer,
who in turn take it from the customers and then distributors
return that damage good to the company, who will replace
it in 15 days time period or repair it as per warranties terms
and conditions.(there is a different department to handle all
these query.)
Neither Distributors nor retailers are at risk of bearing these
addition cost.
7 Ordering Order processing cost through customer care or internet are
bear by the company.
Order processing cost through retailers are bear by the
distributors
8 Payment At company end, products are delivered from depots only
after payment is paid in advance, so there is no problem in
payment collection and no bad debt cost incurred.
At Distributors end, not every transaction took place on
advance payment, as they provide credits to the retailers.
Online portal like snap deal take take products from
distributors on a credit of 15-20 days based on their
39 | P a g e
operating cycle of product.
There is a possibility of bad debt cost with the distributors
as there may be a case when retailers will not be able to
clear the credit amount.
Solutions to these conflicts provided by the company is through their software “ Sunrise to
Sunset”, where every Friday a team member or employee in the designing department or in the
department related to technical specification can share their feedback, which will be displayed on their
portal and on their internal magazine. They also maintain a website for the same.
There is a dedicated team for taking complaint, whose task is to collect these conflict &
feedback through software and then pass these conflict & feedback to the respective HR
teams, who are responsible for resolving these conflicts. These teams are also responsible for,
in how much time these conflicts are resolved or not.
There is also a help Centre for distributors to register any conflict with the company (Lever
care), they can register complain here online and company people resolve it in the same way
as discussed above.
40 | P a g e
part of Rajasthan as the per capita income of the population and population is less scattered in Delhi
as compared to Rajasthan.
Distributor is actually an investor to the company.
For Retailers
Trade margin for Retailers is much more as compared to Distributors.
Credits facilities are provided to retailers from distributors and not from Company.
Schemes/Discount and benefits are provided to Retailers too, such as display scheme wherein
if the retailers will display 6 or more HUL Pureit products for 3 months than they will get
some incentives.
And whatever scheme/benefits given to retailers, are mainly company scheme. In some cases
distributor may give extra scheme to meet its own target.
Smoothing of processes
HUL had a tie up with “Snap deal” for selling their products through online web portals.
Previously it was also with “Fip kart” but it had been discontinued now. So here internet
played a major role in increasing their penetration in the market and getting distributor big
clients.
Use of new software best example their Samsung tab given to PWE (pure it water expert)
through which they can share the details and it get registered in the central database
increasing efficiency and productivity.
Even the conflict feedback part improved a lot with the advancement in internet, as all
feedback are placed on the company website and portal, from there all feedbacks are stored at
a centralized database, where the respective teams can collect the data and processed it
further.
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Level of Cooperative Advertising
At HUL Pureit, the advertising expenses are mainly borne by the company itself. Neither the
distributor nor the retailer bear any expenses related to advertisement.
Sometimes the distributor funds the distribution of pamphlets, stickers, brochures etc. placed
at point of sale or on the roads through banners and posters. The company reimburses the
distributor for these expenses.
Thus the flow of the advertisement goes from the company to the distributor and from the
distributor to the retailer.
These days, HUL has been following a very interesting way of advertising Pureit. The
company offers special schemes to the retailers who stack the Pureit products in the front, just
outside their stores.
These schemes also flow from the company to the distributors and from the distributors to the
retailers.
TATA Swatch
Distribution Network
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The route from the retailer to manufacturer is shown above. The diagram shows that there can be
three types of distributors as follows
o Distributors servicing crockery retailers.
o Distributors servicing consumer durables stores.
o Distributors servicing both types of retailers.
The company follow intensive distribution as the retailers are not selected by the company, but are
rather selected by the distributor who gives the product to the retailer under credit terms. The selection
of new retailers is also done by territory executives who collect orders in his/her territory. The average
number of retailers under a distributor is around 80, which may not be large when compared with
FMCG industry but in white goods it is quite a big number.
In case of return sales, the return sales are made to the distributor and the manufacturer has no role to
play in this case.
Whenever a defective unit is to be replaced, the following sets of events are enroute from retailer to
manufacturer:
The communication of the defective unit is made to the Territory Executive of the Retailer’s
Territory. In some cases, the communication may be made to the distributor.
In both the scenario, the Territory Executives creates a replacement case and sends the unit
back to the distributor.
The distributor immediately delivers the replacement unit to the retailer.
Meanwhile, the Territory Executive performs the requisite documentation. After the closure
report has been documented, the Carry and Forwarding Agent delivers the number of units
replaced by the distributor, at Free of Cost Value.
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The Carry and Forwarding Agent then processes the return of defective equipment to the
respective vendor.
RURAL Segment:
One of the important Below The Line activities that really helped TATA make inroads to the
households is through ‘Society/School contact Programme’. The idea was to create awareness about
water borne diseases among the children. So, under this programme Tata Swatch has its volunteers
going to and conducting contests and essay writing competitions (on topics related to water borne
diseases). This programme really helped Tata Swatch in getting its footing stronger in the market.
Apart from such programmes, the company has been reaching its target consumers through
participation in rural melas, haats, outdoors, activation vans and through road shows. Another
important strategy that helped Tata Swatch to reach more consumers is the company’s focus on the
indirect channel to reach consumers. For this, it tied up with NGOs and MFIs to harness the potential
of small level entrepreneurs at the village levels.
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Marketing flows considered important by the customers for the category
S. No Marketing Flow Cost represented
1 Physical possession From Manufacturer to CFA and from CFA’s to distributors,
the cost of transportation is incurred by the company and in
this case it is bear by Tata Swach
But from Distributors to Retailers, the cost of transportation
and storage cost at distributor end is bear by distributors.
2 Ownership The CFA is only given payment on a yearly basis and hence
does not own the product.
The distributor pays for the product in advance; also
inventory carrying cost is bear by the distributors, when
goods are at distributors end.
Although retailers are given a credit depending on their
relations with distributors with average being 1 month, the
retailers bear the cost of carrying of the product.
3 Promotion Advertisement of the products, Sales promotion, publicity
and PR are handled by the company, distributors and
retailers are exempted from this activity. The territory
executive are given the charge of POP branding with
stickers which is done on a weekly basis, cost of boards etc
is taken by the company itself.
4 Negotiation Mostly Margin level for all distributors across country is
same as a result negotiation on the basis of price is very less
from company’s end but in many case when there is a bulk
order company may relax some norms.
There is a separate sales team for negotiation for the stores
like big bazaar, Next, Croma etc.
At distributor level negotiation can be done on the basis of
order as distributor use to give high margin to bulk order,
the company also provides lucrative scheme to boost sales.
5 Financing No credit is provided by the company to distributors. All
transactions are on advance payment.
But in case of retailers, credit facilities are given by the
distributors, for which the company is not responsible. It is
totally on distributor risk
There are targets set by the company for the distributors,
which they have to fulfill and for the same company
provide scheme or discount to their distributors.
As Retailers are independent, so there is less pressure on
them to fulfill these targets and also get advantage of this
schemes/discount which is passed on to them by the
distributors from the company.
6 Risking Price guarantees, warranties, insurance, repairs and after
sales service are all look after by the company with the help
of distributors, who takes the damage product from retailer,
who in turn take it from the customers and then distributors
return that damage good to the company, who will replace it
in 15 days time period or repair it as per warranties terms
and conditions.
Neither Distributors nor retailers are at risk of bearing this
additional cost.
7 Ordering Order processing cost through customer care or internet are
bear by the company.
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Order processing cost through retailers are bear by the
distributors.
8 Payment At company end, products are delivered from CFA only
after payment is paid in advance, so there is no problem in
payment collection and no bad debt cost incurred.
At distributors end, not every transaction took place on
advance payment, as they provide credits to the retailers.
The average credit period is around 1 month.
There is a possibility of bad debt cost with the distributors
as there may be a case when retailers will not be able to
clear the credit amount.
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this practice is also the same. These problems are also yet not dealt with any results
(according to the distributors). The company should take strict action so as to reduce long
term negative impact.
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Tata Swach distribution channel is also not automated, and the company’s sales agent does not make
use of any hand held devices. The only use of internet is to mail the weekly report to higher
executives.
Supply Chain
o The Cartridge or Bulb of the water purifiers in manufactured by the company in its own plant
at Haldia, India
o The body of the purifier is manufactured by Supreme Plastics, at Noida
o The cartridges are assembled onto the purifier at Supreme Plastics, Noida
o Supreme Plastics sends the packaged units to Tata Chemical’s Carry & Forwarding Agent
o Carry & forwarding agent delivers the products to each of the distributors
o The distributors deliver the units to retailers
o The retailer sell the units to final consumer
Tata Swach supply chain is shown above in the diagram, the cartridge which is the core of the product
is made in-house by the company at its plant at Haldia, it outsources the work of body manufacturing
to Supreme plastics at Noida, the final assembling is also done at Noida at Supreme Plant, the product
is then sent to all CFA’s which forwards the product to various distributors across the country. The
distributors then deliver the product to retailers across the country.
Kent
Kent has a strong distribution network with over 500 distributors spread over the country with
northern states providing most traction. Till 2015, it hopes to increase the number to 1000
distributors.Kent RO Water Purifiers, which enjoys a 40 per cent market share in the RO segment, is
aggressively focusing on tier II and III cities on the back of its ATL and BTL activities with a 360
degree media approach. The company has its warehouses in various parts of Delhi.
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Share(%) of various channels
2%
12% Retail Channnel / Distributor
8% Direct sale
Corporate sale
8% Modern retail/ CSD
70% Online
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The customer also has a few options according to his requirements so he also negotiates to get
the best deal either from the dealer or from modern retail outlets and finally payment of the
product is an issue.
Trace the route back from retailer to manufacturer to determine levels and intensity of
distribution
The company has a strong dealer network and sells a lot of water purifiers through these
dealers/retailers. The company has distributors in the cities and towns which provide the water
purifiers to the dealers and retailers, which further sell to the consumers. The company also appoints
its sales reps to handle the needs of dealer stores. The distributor- retailer flow is prevalent in majority
of the cities in India apart from Delhi/NCR which also has a direct sales division. In the Delhi region
the company has around 14-15 main distributors. The entire Delhi region is divided into north, south,
west and eastern region and there are about 3-4 distributors in each region in Delhi of the 3 types.
There are 3 types of Kent distributors
Type 1-The distributors of offline water purifiers
Type 2-The distributors of online water purifiers for which the company does a lot of
promotion and high capacity advertisements
Type 3- The distributors of online water purifiers for which the company does not do a lot of
promotion and no high capacity advertisements
For example the distributor in Sarojini Nagar that we visited belonged to the category 3 distributor
having products like Kent Super plus and Kent excel, for which the company was doing less
promotions and the distributors had to do search for the retailers, knock at their outlets and promote
these products in order to sell to the retailers . The category 2 distributors do not have to worry at all
about the promotions as the company is doing a high capacity advertisement for these products.The
intensity of the distribution depends on the market demand. For some distributors the average
monthly sale could go upto 60 products while the sale could also go down to 20 products. The market
demand for water purifiers does not depend on any festival season.
There are no distributors for the modern retail stores and the company directly sends its goods
to the modern retail stores which are replenished as soon as the goods are demanded by the
modern retail stores. Example- The Company sends its goods directly to big bazaar and the
average monthly sale at the Big Bazaar is around 12. If the in shop promoters feel that the sale
is high then the company sends the new stock within 20 days or when required else the stock
comes after a month.
The distribution for the canteen sales division is different. There are no distributors and the
requirements are managed through the corporate office. A purchase order is released by the
army for requirements of water purifiers in various parts of the army canteens, the head office
in Noida takes care of this requirement and products are released from the head office to these
places.
Trace any major changes in the distribution policies over the last 5 years and their
impact
For the first two to three years Kent was only a Delhi-based company. Then it expanded by taking the
distributorship and franchisee model to Haryana, western UP, Punjab and then slowly to the whole of
northern India. Later, it expanded into western India, then eastern, and after a span of 10 years,
expanded in south India. Although there has not been much change in the distribution policy of the
company, some significant changes are-
Some distributors are converted to sell exclusive Kent products and are being converted into
Kent shoppes and the company directly caters to needs of these shoppes.
The company has started giving more focus on the multi brand outlets for the sale of its water
purifiers and has set an online store for the consumers to order and buy online
The company is rapidly expanding into tier 2 and tier 3 cities where the company cannot work without
the distributors, therefore to have a strong retail presence in the future in untapped markets, the
company has to build more relationships with their distributors.
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Identify areas of vertical and horizontal conflict and possible solutions
Vertical Conflict
Vertical conflict is slightly present in water purifiers as they sell through both retailers and modern
retail outlets. In modern retails products are directly sources from the company whereas in case of
retailers products are sourced from distributors who source it from manufacturers. So distributors
have their margin as well so retailers are not able to have a margin that modern retail.So in order to
sell at competitive pricing at which big bazaar sells retailers have to sufficiently cut their share of
margin and not able to sell at prices offered by Big bazaar.
Due to some instances of vertical conflict between the company and the retailers, the
company also sells its water purifiers directly to the consumers. Example- Few months back,
a dealer in Delhi was selling some local water purifiers to the consumers using the brand
name of Kent. The company got to know about this fraud case. This is one of the reasons why
the company is selling the water purifiers through direct sales also in Delhi as the products
sent directly to the consumers from the company are always genuine and the consumers trust
the Company.
The distributor’s complaint that the company was very rigid in product replacement and the
retailers and the consumers complained about this.
Horizontal Conflict
Horizontal Conflict is also present in case of Kent but not very prominent , it is mostly present in big
markets where the number of retailers of water purifiers are in close proximity like in Karol Bagh,
Sarojini Nagar , Lajpat Nagar central market where there is pricing war ,with dealers cutting their
margins to give the best price. But the conflict is not very high as almost every retailer sells at almost
the same price range.
The prices offered by the different retailers are different for the water purifiers. The highest
discount is given by the distributors. The retailers tend to compete among themselves as there
are different sales channels like modern retail, dealers, online sales which sell at different
prices. The online price is cheaper than the direct sales from the company.
Solution to this problem can be that company promotes selling their products based on the products
USP rather than on the pricing war. Company should encourage distributors to encourage dealers not
to indulge in price rather focus on selling the product based on its value. The distributor should also
take care that he does not have large number of dealers very close to each other as it is bound to rage a
conflict. In case of a retailer or modern retail outlet giving excessive discount and cutting its margin
hugely just to show higher figures should not be encouraged by the company.
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the retail store at a price of Rs 14’600. The price at which the retailers now sell to the consumers
becomes the margin for the retailer.
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The water purifiers are manufactured at Roorkie and are then transported to the central warehouse in
Greater Noida. The water purifiers are then sent to various parts of India to the regional warehouses.
For Delhi/NCR the 3 warehouses are in Noida, Okhla and Gurgaon. The water purifiers are then sent
to the distributors, then retailers and to the consumers. There are no wholesalers in Kent. For the other
channels like CSD, Modern retail, corporate sales, direct sales the water purifiers are sent directly
from the company though different sales teams.
WHIRLPOOL
Sales organization and territory design
The sale of Whirlpool water purifiers is done mainly through 2 channels:
Retail channel sales This sales division also caters to the demand of the household through retailers/
dealers. The company has a decent dealer network and sells a lot of water purifiers through these
retailers. In the present scenario many customers visit the retail shops to buy water purifiers. The
company has distributors in the cities and towns which provide the water purifiers to the dealers and
retailers, which further sell to the consumers. The company appoints its sales reps to handle the needs
of retail stores.
The company sells its product through shops like croma, big bazaar etc.
The retail store on an average has around 8-9 sales reps who sell are goods like refrigerator,
air conditioner and also water purifier.
Corporate sales division This division caters to the demands of the institutions and companies
which require the Whirlpool water purifiers. There is a separate sales force for the institutional selling
which sells the water purifiers to the schools, colleges, offices, hospitals, etc. The sale force for this
division in Delhi for example directly goes to the corporate office in Gurgaon where they enquire
about whirlpool water purifier and gives them order about how many units they want for their
institution. The order will be handled by area sales manager who intimate the sales force about the
latest order and send them to the respective institution.
Share % of various
channels
Co
M rp
od or
er ate Re
n Sal tail
Re e Ch
tail 10 an
20 % nel
% 70
%
Table 1.1: Percentage share of sales of Whirlpool water purifiers in Delhi
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by senior sales executive and for the senior post the interview will be taken by Area Sales Manager or
by Branch Manager.
Distribution
Whirlpool has an extensive list of retailers for distribution of whirlpool water purifiers in Delhi. Water
purifier segment don’t have any distributors. Dealers/retailers get the product directly from the
company and then retailers sell it to the end customers. Therefore they utilize a producer-retailer-
customer distribution channel and a producer-customer distribution channel (For bulk orders). In both
instances, the company transport the products from the warehouses located in Faridabad, Pondicherry
and Pune to the retail stores.
The company has a strong dealer network and sells water purifiers through these dealers/retailers. The
company supplies water purifiers directly to retailers/dealers in the cities and dealers further sell it to
the end consumers. In the Delhi region the company has around 14-15 main distributors but they don’t
distribute water purifiers because of limited demand by the customers. They distribute all other
whirlpool products like refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioner and microwave oven. The
dealers get the water purifier directly from the company. The entire Delhi region is divided into north,
south, west and eastern region and there are about 3-4 distributors in each region.
Manufacturing
Unit (Faridabad)
Main
Warehouse
(Faridabad)
Dealer/Retail
er
End
Customer
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more margins to the retailers who are able to sell a certain minimum amount of water purifiers to the
consumers.
Example- I visited a retail outlet called Balaji Electronics in West Delhi and found out that the
highest selling product of whirlpool had an MRP around Rs 15000 and the company sold the product
to the retail store at a price of Rs 13400. The price at which the retailers now sell to the consumers
becomes the margin for the retailer.
Possible Solution
To solve the problem of conflict between various modern retail outlets and other local retailers
company can:
• Exchange of persons between channel levels – This helps in better understanding. It can
reduce the misunderstanding and conflicts can be reduced substantially through this
communication. Each will grow to appreciate the others point of view and carry more
understanding when returning to their position.
• Offer same promotional schemes to modern retail stores as well as to local retailers.
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advertise its water purifiers on various websites like Google, You tube etc therefore the retailers don’t
have to worry much about advertising Whirlpool products as most of the burden is taken by the
company.
Supply chain
The industry of Water purifier for Whirlpool follows the below distribution system
The dealers/retailers directly procure the water purifiers from the company itself.
The warehouses are of the company where they store the purifiers.
Modern retail and individual retailers procure the water purifiers from the company on
monthly basis or depending upon the demand and actual sale.
Supply chain of Water Purifiers is not very complicated.
Channel of distribution selection is based on demand by the customers.
Cost effective, due to fewer intermediaries between manufacture and customer.
Also, for industrial selling a separate and direct sales channel is used.
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