Internship Report

on

Marketing Efforts on Sales of Transcom Beverages Limited

Exam Roll: 152328

 Internship Report on
Marketing Efforts on Sales of Transcom Beverages
Limited

Prepared for:

Chairperson Internship Placement Committee

Prepared by:

Exam Roll number: 152328 4th year, 8th semester

Batch number: 25th, BBA Program
Academic session: 2015-2016

Date of Submission:

July 06, 2020

Institute of Business Administration (IBA-JU)

Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342.

 Declaration

I do hereby declare that the internship report entitled as “Marketing Efforts on Sales Increase of
Transcom Beverages Limited” has been prepared on the basis of three months Internship activities
on the titled organization and it is an original work done by me. The report is a unique one which
is not submitted to anywhere for any academic purpose. The data and information which are
mentioned here are also collected and organized by myself. I am solely responsible for any kind
of misleading or manipulation of data or information in this report. Finally, this report is
submitted to the Institute of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University for the partial
fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Bachelor of Business Administration.

................................

Signature of the intern/student

Exam ID: 152328
Class ID: 2398
Batch: 25th BBA
Academic Session: 2015-16
Major area of concentration: Marketing - HRM
Institute of Business Administration (IBA- JU)
Jahangirnagar University
 CERTIFICATE OF THE SUPERVISOR

This is to certify that student bearing ID: 2398, Batch: 25th, Academic Session: 2015-16, a
student of BBA program, Institute of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University, has
completed internship program on “Marketing Efforts on Sales Increase of Transcom Beverages
Limited” under my supervision.
I have gone through the report and it seems satisfactory to submit for the award of the Degree of
Bachelor of Business Administration.
I wish her success in life.

.......................................
Name of the Teacher: Mr. Badrul Alam
Designation: Lecturer, IBA-JU
Institute of Business Administration (IBA- JU)
Jahangirnagar University
 Letter of Transmittal

June 30, 2020

Chairperson
Internship Placement Committee
Institute of Business Administration
Jahangirnagar University
Savar, Dhaka-1342.

Subject: Submission of internship report on ― ‘Marketing Efforts on sales increase of Transcom

Beverages Limited’.

Dear Madam:

With due respect, I’d like to inform you that I have completed the organizational attachment of
12 weeks, from November 15, 2019 to February 15, 2020, in Transcom Beverages Limited as a
part of my internship program. As a requirement of the internship, I’m asking for the permission
to submit my internship report on ― Trade Marketing Efforts of Transcom Beverages Limited‖.

The intention of this report is to provide an insight on the factors and procedures that contribute
into launching a new brand in Bangladesh.

This report is for your kind consideration and assessment. If you find any explanation or
clarification required about the report, I will be obliged to attend you upon your
acknowledgement. Thank You.

Sincerely Yours,

Exam Roll: 152328

4th Year 8th Semester
BBA 25th Batch
Academic session: 2015-2016
Institute of Business Administration
Jahangirnagar University
 Acknowledgement

Firstly, I like to express my profound gratitude to Almighty Allah for Whose grace and kindness I
could complete my internship report. Then I would like to thank Md. Khurshid Irfan Chowdhury,
Managing Director and CEO, Transcom Beverages Limited, for giving me the opportunity to
work there as an intern. I’d then like to thank Ms. Sabriya Tasneem, Sr. Brand Executive, Mr.
Sharfuddin Bhuiyan Shamol, Sr. Brand Manager, Mr. S. M. Mehedi-All-Sheraji Shiblu, Brand
Manager, and Mr. Omar Asifur Rahman, Brand Executive, for their valuable lessons, guidance,
and constant support throughout my entire internship period in Transcom Beverages Limited.

My heartiest gratitude goes to Mr. Badrul Alam, Lecturer, IBA-JU, who guided me with his
valuable advices and criticisms for writing my internship report properly. Thanks to all the
scholars and the articles websites as these helped me in nourishing myself with lots of information
and knowledge for the report. Lastly, I’d like to express my love and gratitude towards my family
members, my friends and my fellow interns for their constant support throughout my composition
of this report.
List of Abbreviations

TBL Transcom Beverages Limited

FMCG Fast Moving Consumer Goods

CSD Carbonated Soft Drinks

LRB Light Refreshment Beverage

ASM Area Sales Managers

RSM Regional Sales Managers

SE Sales Executives

PSR Pre-Sales Executives

PET Polyethylene terephthalate

GRB Glass Replaceable Bottle

TG Target Group

SWOT Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

TVC Television Commercial

Table of Contents
Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. viii
Chapter 1: Introduction ...........................................................................................................................1
1.1 Origin of the report ................................................................................................................. 2
1.2 Scope of the Report ................................................................................................................ 2
1. 3 Objectives of the report ......................................................................................................... 3
1.3.1 Broad Objective ............................................................................................................... 3
1.3.2 Specific Objective ........................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Limitations of the study .......................................................................................................... 4
1.5 Sources of data ....................................................................................................................... 4
1.5.1 Primary Sources............................................................................................................... 4
1.5.2 Secondary Sources........................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 2: Literature Review ..................................................................................................................5
Chapter 3: ................................................................................................................................................7
Overview of Transcom Beverages Limited .............................................................................................7
3.1 Historical Background of TBL ............................................................................................... 8
3.2 Brief History of PepsiCo, Inc. ................................................................................................ 9
3.3 Mission and vision of TBL ..................................................................................................... 9
3.4 Products and services offered by TBL ................................................................................... 9
3.5 Administrative Hierarchy of TBL ........................................................................................ 12
3.6 Departments under Transcom Beverages Limited ............................................................... 13
3.7 SWOT analysis of Transcom Beverages Limited ................................................................ 13
3.8 Brief trend analysis of the performance of TBL................................................................... 14
Marketing Activities of ........................................................................................................................ 15
Transcom Beverages Limited & ........................................................................................................... 15
Its Theoretical Association ................................................................................................................... 15
4.1 Some Latest Marketing Campaigns...................................................................................... 16
4.2 Theoretical association ......................................................................................................... 21
Chapter 6 .............................................................................................................................................. 23
Analysis and Evaluation ....................................................................................................................... 23
6.1 Calculation............................................................................................................................ 24
6.2 Interpretation ........................................................................................................................ 26
Chapter 7: ................................................................................................................................... 29
Major Findings, Recommendations & Conclusion .................................................................... 29
7.1 Major Findings ..................................................................................................................... 30
 7.2 Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 31
7.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 32
References .................................................................................................................................. 33

List of Tables
TABLE 1: PRICE PER PRODUCT ....................................................................................................................... 12
TABLE 2: BONDHU CLUB MARKETING CAMPAIGN ......................................................................................... 17
TABLE 3: BONDHU CLUB GROCERY PROGRAM .............................................................................................. 17
TABLE 4: EATERY PROGRAM ......................................................................................................................... 18
TABLE 5: REGULARLY UPDATED TRADE OFFER EXAMPLE (1) ......................................................................... 19
TABLE 6: TRADE OFFER FOR DHAKA SOUTH REGION AREA FOR THE 15TH TO 20TH MARCH 2020................. 20
TABLE 7: REGULARLY UPDATED TRADE OFFER EXAMPLE (3) ......................................................................... 21
TABLE 8: SALES REVENUE FOR THE MONTH JANUARY. .................................................................................. 24
TABLE 9: SALES REVENUE FOR THE MONTH OCTOBER. .................................................................................. 25
TABLE 10: REVENUE COMPARISON ................................................................................................................ 26
TABLE 11: SALES INCREASE RATE IN PERCENTAGE. ....................................................................................... 27
TABLE 12: MARKETING COST ........................................................................................................................ 28

List Of Figures

FIGURE 1 ASSOCIATED COMPANIES OF TRANSCOM GROUP............................................................................. 8

FIGURE 2: PRODUCT (BRAND) LOGOS USED BY TBL ...................................................................................... 10
FIGURE 3: CSD (CANS), MANUFACTURED BY TBL ....................................................................................... 10
FIGURE 4: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND HIERARCHY OF TBL ............................................................. 12
FIGURE 5: MOUNTAIN DEW CAMPAIGN POSTER ............................................................................................. 16
FIGURE 6: TRADE MARKETING STRATEGIES AND BEVERAGE MARKETING STRATEGIES................................ 22
FIGURE 7: SALES GROWTH RATE .................................................................................................................... 28
FIGURE 8: SALES REVENUE COMPARISON ...................................................................................................... 28
Executive Summary

This report has been made to provide an insight into how an international consumer goods brand
adopts trade marketing strategies in the perspective of Bangladesh and which trade offers are
provided to their distributors and retailers. This report also briefly familiarizes the reader with the
history of Transcom Beverages Limited, PepsiCo Inc., how Pepsi Cola came to be such a popular
drink and made its way to the hearts of millions of consumers.

The data for this report has been collected through primary and secondary sources. Primary
information was collected by talking to the employees of sales and marketing department. The
secondary sources consist mainly of internal secondary sources as well as external sources that
include company performance report, sales report, text-book and some related research articles
found online.

TBL gives importance to trade marketing activities the most; continuously updating and
monitoring their trade marketing offers and incentives to take over the shelf spaces. This report
gives an insight of these trade marketing efforts and how it accelerates sales. TBL focuses on
maintaining and strengthening relationship with distributors (partners) and retailers the most in
their supply chain since they bring the products closest to the consumers. Lucrative trade
promotions and offers increase TBL’s chances of winning more shelf-space in the market and
ultimately making more sales.

TBL mainly provides their partners and retailers with three types of trade promotions such as-in-
store displays, temporary price reductions and coupons. In-store displays include coolers, light-up
banner, posters and many other promotional goods to decorate the retail store. Temporary price
reductions include discounted price as well as free cases with particular purchase. Coupons
influence repurchase by the retailers. TBL has a program called ‘Bondhu Club’ to provide the
retailers who achieve targeted sales to get different discounted amount on their repurchases. Other
than these TBL has special outlet programs for exclusive outlets and there are key accounts
consisting of five star hotels and restaurants managed by the marketing team. These distributors
are market leads; the more market leads the more opportunities to sale, the more sales.

This report focuses on the TBL’s trade marketing promotions and offers, which have increased
sales revenue despite the seasonality effect of winter to dampen sales. Due to winter the demand
of beverages naturally falls, but through successful marketing campaign the team was able to
maintain sales target.

viii
Chapter 1: Introduction

Page 1 of 34
Transcom Beverages Ltd is emerging with the motto of delivering sustained growth in
Bangladesh and moving towards being the dominant Beverage Company. Many years ago, they
started with bottling and selling only the original (cola favored) Pepsi. To meet the changing
beverage needs of the consumers, TBL now has made available in the country different flavored
drinks under 5 brands and a brand of purified bottled water by PepsiCo. Given so many available
products, it is getting difficult to ensure a balanced number of the products in the store shelves as
per consumer demand. This is where all of TBL’s trade marketing efforts come into play.

Where retailers dominate the market and control which products reach the consumers, it is
imperative to convince the retailers to buy our products instead of the competitors’ products.
Lucrative trade offers can work as an incentive for retailers and distributors to prefer to buy and
sell the company’s products instead.

1.1 Origin of the report

Internship is a mandatory program for all students under the BBA program of Institute of
Business Administration. This report is a partial requirement for completing the internship
program of BBA curriculum. The main purpose of an internship is for students to get exposed to
the corporate environment so that they are able to relate and translate theoretical concepts into real
life experience.

The author had the opportunity to work as an intern at Transcom Beverages Ltd under the
marketing and sales department and to participate in different ongoing projects along with
carrying out the assigned job responsibilities. This report conveys what the author was able to
learn and was able to give back to the company by participating is different projects and carrying
out assigned tasks with utmost dedication. This report also includes information about the
products of Transcom Beverages Ltd along with the trade marketing strategies adopted by them
to influence the sales of these products.

1.2 Scope of the Report

Marketing is Scope of marketing are Gathering and Analyzing Market Information, Marketing
Planning, Product Designing and Development, Standardization and Grading, Packaging and
Labelling, Branding, Customer Support Services, Pricing of Products, Promotion, Physical
distribution, transportation. With each passing days the scopes are broadening with new business
insights and strategies. With each varied business these marketing activities and strategies needs
specialization.

Page 2 of 34
Here, TBL, market leader in market share, follows specialized business strategies in accordance
with its business type. TBL conducts B2B business with the company distributors (Partners). Its
marketing manly falls in the trade marketing category. Trade marketing is a B2B marketing
strategy aimed at getting a product onto store shelves. This is done by making other businesses
recognize the value of our product and convincing them that helping us to sell our product will
ultimately help them make money too.

The type of marketing may vary but the main goal of marketing is profit making (via sales) and
brand Equity building. Profit making is the short term goal to maximize the goal the sales
maximization is necessary. To measure effectiveness of the marketing measures various scholars
has suggested various methods, both theoretical and financial. The measurement methods are:

➢ defining and valuating marketing channel,

➢ measuring customer lifetime value,
➢ capital expenditure through key performance expenditure,
➢ ROI evaluation,
➢ sales increase analysis etc.

The beverage company mostly analyze through KPI in the light of target achievement.

‘The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or
services fits him and sells itself’- Peter Drucker

So, therefore the author is able to deduct that by comparing the sales revenue after the campaign
and the revenue before the campaign is an indicator of marketing campaign effectiveness.

1. 3 Objectives of the report

1.3.1 Broad Objective

The broad objective of this report is to provide an insight to the trade marketing strategies and
procedures followed by an international FMCG in a developing country like Bangladesh.

1.3.2 Specific Objective

To accomplish this broad objective there are some specific objectives:

▪ To understand the trade marketing strategies of a leading beverage company in

Bangladesh.
▪ To know about the trade offers and other activities by the company to maintain
relationship with distributors and retailers in the supply chain.
▪ To get an insight into TBL’s efforts to stand against its major competitor in Bangladesh.

Page 3 of 34
1.4 Limitations of the study

▪ Limited access to different data of the company

▪ Organizational policies to maintain confidentiality

▪ Time limitation: The study time was limited by 10 weeks which is not enough time to
fully know an organization like TBL
▪ Inadequate Data: Because of the unwillingness of the busy key persons, necessary data
collection became hard
▪ Author’s inexperience

1.5 Sources of data

This report has been prepared based on data collected from both primary and secondary sources.

1.5.1 Primary Sources

The primary data has been collected through observation, interviews and surveys.

➢ Face to face conversation with few retailers and distributors

➢ Direct Observation: An oral unstructured interview taken of the employees under

marketing and sales department to get information about company’s recent trade offers
and incentives
➢ Practical desk work helped to learn about how the whole marketing and sales operations
department operates

1.5.2 Secondary Sources

Secondary data has been collected from the following sources:

➢ Website of Transcom Beverages Limited and PepsiCo

➢ Internal Sales Record & related trade offer files

➢ Office documents

➢ Company database

➢ Annual reports of the company

➢ research papers and articles on the internet

Page 4 of 34
Chapter 2: Literature Review

Page 5 of 34
Soft drinks manufacturers strive hard to maintain their sales target throughout the year. They
would launch different marketing campaign to drive sales across different seasons, especially in
the winter when consumers are less likely to purchase these products. DeGaris and West (2012)
conducted a study in identifying the possible relationship between sponsorship activation efforts
and soft drink sales. The study carried out a survey on National Association for Stock Car Auto
Racing (NASCAR) fans and found a strong association between sponsorship-linked public
relations, advertising, and sales promotions and the weekly consumption levels of a major soft
drink brand. The results of this study highlighted soft drink consumption based on sponsorship
activation efforts. In another study, Fortunato (2013) argued that companies can achieve their
brand goals through successfully activating different programs. The study also mentioned some
social responsibility initiatives which could be more effective in case of activation programs.

Pohler (2017) highlighted the importance of emotional and memorable stimuli in the marketing
campaign, which could significantly influence the buying behavior of the customers. The study
suggested that three marketing campaigns of Coca-cola, "Always Coca-Cola", "Share a Coke",
and "Taste the Feeling" have significantly increased the brand awareness and sales of the product.

Ajagbe et al. (2011) revealed the importance of marketing campaign in the overall performance of
the company. The study found that successful marketing campaigns could help the customers
recall about the brand more conveniently, thereby exerting a significant impact on the purchase
behavior of the customers. Kotler et al. (2018) mentioned the effect of consumer engagement in
successful brand communication. They also added that brand activation could be effective if they
involve customers in some activities popular with them.

Page 6 of 34
 Chapter 3:
Overview of Transcom Beverages Limited

Page 7 of 34
3.1 Historical Background of TBL

Transcom Limited established as Transcom Group in 1973 by Mr. Latifur Rahman. Originated
with tea plantations in 1885, Transcom today is one of the leading and fastest growing diversified
business houses in Bangladesh with over 13,500 employees. With a legacy of over 130 years, the
company has presence in 20 countries and business in 9 sectors.

Medias tar
Transcom Ltd Eskayef
Beverages Pharmaceutical
Ltd cals Ltd
Bangladesh
Transcraft Electrical
Ltd Industries
Ltd

Reliance Transcom
Insurance
Ltd Transcom Distribution
Co. Ltd

Group
Tea Transcom
Holdings Electronics
Ltd Ltd
Transcom
Mediaworld Consumer
Ltd Products
Transcom Bangladesh Ltd
Cables Ltd Lamps Ltd

Figure 1 Associated Companies of Transcom Group

Transcom Beverage Ltd (TBL) is the exclusive PepsiCo Franchisee for Bangladesh which owns
and operates modern plants in Dhaka and Chittagong for bottling the renowned light refreshment
beverages (LRB), carbonated soft drinks (CSD), and non-carbonated soft drinks (fruit drinks).
The company is emerging with the motto to deliver sustained growth in Bangladesh and move
towards being the dominant Beverage Company by best meeting their everyday beverage needs.
The company believes in delivering performance with a purpose, through talented and dedicated
people.

Page 8 of 34
3.2 Brief History of PepsiCo, Inc.

Starting out as a product of the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay in 1965, PepsiCo is now a
leading food and beverage provider in over 200 countries and territories with the company
headquarters in Purchase, New York.
Pepsi Cola is one of the most recognizable products in the world today, almost as famous for its
commercials as for its never-ending battle with rival soft drink Coca-Cola. From its humble
origins more than 125 years ago in a North Carolina pharmacy, Pepsi has grown into a product
available in multiple formulations. The original formula for what would become Pepsi Cola was
invented in 1893 by pharmacist Caleb Bradham of New Bern, N.C.

At first, Pepsi had been marketed as a digestive aid, appealing to consumers but as the brand
flourished, the company switched tactics and decided instead to use the power of celebrity to sell
Pepsi. Today, like its rivals, the Pepsi brand has diversified far beyond what Caleb Bradham
could ever have imagined. In addition to the classic Pepsi Cola, consumers can also find Diet
Pepsi, Black Pepsi, plus other varieties.

3.3 Mission and vision of TBL

Mission
“As largest beverage company of the country, our mission is to provide customer delicious,
healthy, affordable and convenient beverages by keeping highest market share in the segment.”

Vision

“To deliver sustainable growth in Bangladesh and be the dominant beverage company; delighting
and nourishing every Bangladeshi, by best meeting their everyday beverage needs and delivering
performance with purpose.”

Company objectives

“The objective are to operate the business with best practices, compliance ethical practices for
sustainable and profitable business growth through talented and capable peoples.”

3.4 Products and services offered by TBL

Transcom Beverages Limited, as the only franchisee of PepsiCo, Inc. in Bangladesh, provides the
subsidiaries of PepsiCo. The products that are currently being manufactured by them in
Bangladesh fall under the categories of CSD, club soda, drinking water, and fruit drinks.

Page 9 of 34
Under CSD, there are four flavors: cola (includes Pepsi, Diet Pepsi & Pepsi Black), lemon (the
favor for 7up & 7up lite) lime (Mountain Dew) and orange (the flavor for Mirinda).
‘Evervess' by PepsiCo is a club soda and Aquafina is the only mineral drinking water under
PepsiCo that TBL manufactures. Non-carbonated soft drinks or fruit beverages include

Tropicana Frutz which is currently sold in three flavors: mango, orange, and apple. Pepsi, 7up

(except 7up lite), Mountain Dew and Mirinda are available in stores in GRBs, CANs and PET
bottles. Evervess soda, Tropicana fruit drinks, and Aquafina are only available in PET bottles.

Figure 2: Product (Brand) logos used by TBL

Figure 3: CSD (CANs), manufactured by TBL

Transcom Beverages Limited is the only franchisee of PepsiCo, Inc. in Bangladesh; therefore, it
provides the subsidiaries of PepsiCo. The products that are currently manufactured by them in
Bangladesh fall under the categories of CSD, club soda, drinking water, and fruit beverage.
Under

Page 10 of 34
CSD, there are four flavors: cola, which is Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, lemon, which is the flavor of 7up
and 7up lite, lime, which is Mountain Dew, orange, which is the flavor of Mirinda. Evervess falls
under the category of club soda. Aquafina is the only mineral drinking water under PepsiCo that
TBL produces. Fruit beverage is a fresh addition to the company after the launch of Tropicana
Frutz, a global juice brand under PepsiCo.

Brand SKU MRP MRP/Bottle

PEPSI 250ml x24 (PET) 360 15

250ml x24 (PET) (Black) 432 18
250ml x24 (CAN) 960 40
250ml x24 (DIET CAN) 960 40
250ml x24 (Black CAN) 960 40
400ml x24 600 25
500ml x24 (N) 720 30
500ml x24 (D) 840 35
1000ml x12 PET 720 60
2000ml x6 480 80
7up 250ml x24 (PET) 480 20
250ml x24 (CAN) 960 40
500ml x24 (N) 840 35
1000ml x12 PET 720 60
2000ml x6 (DR) 600 100
2000ml x6 (CKBS) 660 110
7up-light 500ml x24 (N) 840 35

M. Dew 250ml x24 (PET) 360 15

250ml x24 (CAN) 960 40
400ml x24 720 30
500ml x24 (N) 720 30
1000ml x12 PET 720 60
MIRINDA 250ml x24 (PET) 480 20
250ml x24 (CAN) 960 40
500ml x24 (N) 840 35
1000ml x12 PET 720 60

Page 11 of 34
 SODA 500ml x24 (PET) 600 25

Tropicana 250ml x24 (Mango) 600 25

350ml x24 (Mango) 840 35
350ml x24 (Orange) 960 40
350ml x24 (Apple) 960 40
Aquafina 500ml x24 (PET) 360 15
1000ml x12 (PET) 264 22
1500ml x9 (PET) 225 25
Table 1: Price Per Product

[The distributor (DB) prices & Trade prices (TP) are confidential information & not allowed to be
shared with outsiders. Only the MRP could be mentioned in this report.]

Figure 4: Organizational Structure and Hierarchy of TBL

3.5 Administrative Hierarchy of TBL

Page 12 of 34
3.6 Departments under Transcom Beverages Limited

Accounts and Finance department

In this department, transactions of different sorts are recorded and Term Loans Installments are
taken care of. Sales Incentives are arranged and fixed in a way to motivate the employees to
achieve targets. Account briefings and reports are prepared that show how much they could
achieve, what their revenues are, how much of their assets are depreciated, and what loans they
need to take care of.
Sales department

This department looks after the amount of sales done, by setting a target of total sales to be
achieved and then comparing the total sales done monthly to check if the retailers could achieve
the given target. They continuously communicate with the RSM, ASM, and PSRs to keep track
of every sale made and the reach of the campaigns that are done to attract more selling of
products.

Marketing department

This department comes up with ideas and ways to promote their products and services to the
retailers and customers in order to boost up sales. They launch new brands, make promotional
campaigns and media promotions in order to familiarize their target market with the brands and
the products that come along, create promotional campaigns and contest for customers to
familiarize their products through direct testing, and regularly associate their products and brands
with different events.

3.7 SWOT analysis of Transcom Beverages Limited

Strengths
• Brands are strong and proven.

• Positive and collaborative organizational culture.

• Selective supply chain strategy.

• Rigorous food safety standards.

• Has a great market share in the CSD category in Bangladesh.

• Long term focus strategy.

• Experienced and skilled human resources, resulting in a low management risk.

• Flexible to changes in market trends.

Page 13 of 34
 • Efficient expansion of beverage production.

Weaknesses
• Online presence is very insignificant.

• Somewhat moderate media promotion.

• A gap between top management levels and the root level sales people.

Opportunities
• Growing demand of beverage among young consumers.

• Expansion to the remote areas of Bangladesh.

Threats
• High competition in Bangladesh market.

• Growing negative attitude toward CSD among health conscious customers.

• Aggressive marketing campaigns by competitors.

3.8 Brief trend analysis of the performance of TBL

After studying annual reports of TBL from 2012 to 2018, some trend analyses could be done.
Sales in both volume and monetary value had seen a very slow rise from 2012 to 2014. They then
started slowly decreasing, resulting in the lowest sales in 2016. Sales hiked again in 2017 and it
saw the highest sales in 2018. Production volume had a very slow and steady rise from 2012 to
2016. It drastically increased in 2017, and saw the highest production in 2018. Profit of TBL
increased from 2012 to 2014, and slowly started decreasing from 2015. It saw a loss in 2017, but
quickly recovered from it, resulting in a good profit in 2018. The highest profit was observed in
2016. Raw material purchase of TBL had a slow rise from 2012 to 2014, decreased upto 2016,
and saw a significant rise in 2017, resulting in the highest amount of raw materials purchased. It
then decreased in 2018. Advertising and marketing cost had a slow rise from 2012 to 2014, then
had the lowest cost made in 2015. After that it saw a hike in 2017, which was the highest cost. It
decreased again significantly in 2018.

Page 14 of 34
 Chapter 4:

Marketing Activities of
Transcom Beverages Limited &
Its Theoretical Association

Page 15 of 34
4.1 Some Latest Marketing Campaigns

‘Drink Mountain Dew, Win Bike’, They give advertisement during the campaign to inform people
about that. One need to drink mountain dew and send the code that they got in the cap of bottle.
Then every week, we announce winner by a lottery.

Figure 5: Mountain dew Campaign Poster

Bondhu Club Cash Coupon

Here company came up with a unique idea to give incentive to the distributors and maintain chain
of repurchase. This is basically a trade promotion program where the company send cash back to
the outlets registered outlets who have meet their sales target. But by that cash they can only buy
PepsiCo product. The program has started from April 2019 and with a grand program at February
the program ended. There is target set for coupon winning is 25 case (minimum).

• For each 25 case to 39 case sell, rewarded amount is 20tk per case.
• For each 40 case to 99 case sell, rewarded amount is 22tk per case.
• For each 100 case or more sell, rewarded amount is 25 tk per case.

And every outlet participated in the program will receive Mountain dew t-shirt. The

participants number is 20,000.

Page 16 of 34
Table 2: Bondhu Club Marketing Campaign

October November
Participants no. (outlet) 9160 24169
Target Achievers 4232 10672
Sold Volume 619618 692006
Winners sold volume 46701 583726

Bondhu Club Grocery Program:

This program is applicable to the outlets participated in the ‘Bondhu Club’ program. This is a two
month program (November & December). It is a national program. The incentives set for the
program are:

All CSD go pack (except for GRB),

• for achieving 200 case sell a Samsung Android phone.

• For achieving 400 case sell a Samsung LED Television.

The total participant was 4896 outlets. The number of winners was 412.

Table 3: Bondhu Club Grocery Program

Incentive Winner outlet no. Wined amount

Television 130 140*
Mobile-phone 273 273
T-shirts 4896 4896

Bondhu club Jacket Program:

This program is lunched only for Dhaka metropolitan area. This is a one month program held for
November 2019. The promotional activity was-

• For 20 case sell 1 piece of high quality mountain Dew jacket.

Page 17 of 34
 • For 30 case sell 2 piece of high quality mountain Dew jacket.

Outlet participated was 5384. 3324 outlets achieved their target and have win 5448 piece of
jackets.

Eatery program:

Here hundreds of stores and restaurants participate in the program. Perticipent number is
625.Here each retailer will get at lest one t-Shirt, for targeted sold the retailer will have
receive mobile or television.

Table 4: Eatery Program

Incentive Winner outlet no. Wined amount

Television 86 90*
Mobile phone 93 93
T-shirts 625 625

E-Marketing:

To cope with the current trend, the company maintains its page regularly, posting in
social media. Animated promotional is posted daily to inspire consumers interaction.
Some page links are:

https://www.facebook.com/MTNDewBangladesh/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=325112524208905&ref=br_rs

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=171157086343491&ref=br_rs

https://www.facebook.com/TropicanaFrutzBD/

https://www.facebook.com/Aquafina.Bangladesh/

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Trade Fair campaign and Book Fair Program:

Sales promotional programs are conducted where pepsi products are sold at a discounted
rate providing the company with vast exposure to targeted market.

Price Reduce:
Price reduce in 250ml bottle is mainly a sales acceleration program. These reduced price
are varies segment wise which is confidential.

In-store displays
TBL offers promotional fixtures in retail stores which includes point-of-sales displays, visi
coolers, banners, posters, umbrellas and stickers.

Temporary price reductions (TPR)

The company often reduces the price of specific SKUs to boost sales. The retailers are
encouraged to purchase more cases when they see a sudden price reduction. As they can make
more profits per bottle when reselling them to the end users.

TBL also gives price discounts to consumers which are more long-term. For example- 18 TK go
packs of Mountain Dew and Pepsi are sold at 15 TK only. A few examples of trade offers given
by TBL is listed below:

o Trade offer for the period of 7th to 9th March,2020

Table 5: Regularly updated trade offer example (1)

Pack Brand Trade Offer- Dhaka Metro (Central North

Zone)
2 Ltr 7Up 2 bottles 2 Ltr Pepsi free per 3 cases

1 Ltr Pepsi/Mirinda 6 bottles 500ml Aquafina free per case

250ml Mango Tropicana 3 Unit free per case

350ml Apple 2 Unit free per case

500ml/1 Ltr/1.5 Ltr Aquafina Tk. 10/ Tk. 16/ Tk. 18 (TPR)

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 o Trade offer for Central North Zone (Dhaka East, Dhaka North & Bogra Region) for
the period of 16th & 17th March 2020

Table 6: Trade offer for Dhaka South Region area for the 15th to 20th March 2020

Trade offer: 16th & 17th March

400ML PEPSI 1 bottle 400ml Pepsi free per case

M/DEW 1 bottle 400ml Dew free per case

500ML 7UP 1 pcs 250ml 7 up free per case

1 Ltr 7UP 1 bottle 500ml 7up free per case

MIRINDA 1 bottle 1ltr Mirinda free per case

CAN PEPSI/7UP/MO/DEW/Diet 2 pcs Can free per case (24 bottles)

1 pc Can free per case (12 Bottles)

AQUAFINA 500ML Tk. 50 discount per case

1LTR Tk. 10 discount per case
1.5 LTR Tk. 8 discount per case

Tropicana 250ml Mango 3 bottles 250ml TP free per case

350ml Orange/Apple 3 bottles 250ml TP free per case

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 Table 7: Regularly updated trade offer example (3)

Pack Brand Trade Offer- Dhaka South Region

DEW 1 Pcs 250ml Dew free per 2 cases

250ml PET 7UP 1 Pcs 250ml 7Up free per case
MIRINDA 3 bottles go pack Mirinda free per case

750ml PET 7UP 1 bottle 500ml 7Up free per case

PEPSI 1 bottle 500ml Pepsi free per case

2LTR PET
7UP 3 bottle 500ml 7Up free per 2 cases

GRB PEPSI/7UP/MO/DEW 4 Bottles Aquafina 500ml free per 2 cases

CAN PEPSI/7UP/MO/DEW/Diet 2 Pcs Can free per case

500ML Tk. 66 discount per case

AQUAFINA 1LTR Tk. 10 discount per case
1.5 LTR Tk. 8 discount per case

250ml Mango 3 bottles 250ml TP free per case

Tropicana 350ml Mango 3 bottles 250ml TP free per case
350ml Orange/Apple 3 bottles 250ml TP free per case

Special Outlet Benefits

There are around 1700 special outlets of TBL who exclusively buy and sell the company’s
beverages. These outlets enjoy extra benefits and significant discounts along with latest
(regularly updated) trade offers available to other outlets.

4.2 Theoretical association

Marketing effectiveness is measured by how well a company’s marketing strategies increase its
revenue while decreasing its costs of customer acquisition. Actually the company will always win

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the day if marketing continually lowers the costs of finding and winning business, while also
increasing the value of that business.

The company conducts with the distributors. Other than consumer market, the company has to

Figure 6: Trade Marketing Strategies and Beverage Marketing Strategies

provide the special incentives to the distributors, to provide the sales team with more market
leads. By features it conducts trade marketing activities. ‘To put it simply, trade marketing is
mostly done by manufacturers — companies, and individuals that produce some kind of goods or
products. Trade marketing is not meant for the end-user and retail consumer, but for the

distributor networks, wholesalers, and retail shops. We refer to these business entities as partners
in the collective supply chain.’

Combining both strategies, from the organizations point of view, the business follows the all the
following strategies, which can easily be deducted from the operational point of view. The
company is segmented on customers' needs and preference and providing specialized pricing at a
USP value. The term USP stands for Unique Selling Point, which is price leadership and product
availability. It has strong partnership with various renowned restaurants and hotels. Market
research and forecasting is mainly pre-information based highly automated software. To
maintaining more market leads active promotional trade offers are offered. Thus customers are
made permanent customers.

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 Chapter 6
Analysis and Evaluation

Page 23 of 34
6.1 Calculation

The sales of two months before and after activation programs are shown below, which are
marked by colors according to the higher range to lower range.
Table 8: Sales revenue for the month January.

2020-01-01 Dhaka East Region Dhaka North Region Dhaka South Region Grand Total
2020-01-02 3,946 11,476 4,199 19,621
2020-01-03 5,443 12,136 7,067 24,645
2020-01-04 5,896 13,313 7,425 26,633
2020-01-05 - 31 73 104
2020-01-06 8,856 16,758 9,834 35,448
2020-01-07 7,962 16,817 8,468 33,247
2020-01-08 7,522 16,462 7,196 31,181
2020-01-09 6,179 16,371 5,737 28,287
2020-01-10 6,985 14,785 7,025 28,796
2020-01-11 7,141 14,325 7,428 28,895
2020-01-12 - 8 416 425
2020-01-13 8,470 17,922 9,092 35,484
2020-01-14 8,987 18,061 8,270 35,318
2020-01-15 8,382 16,046 7,811 32,239
2020-01-16 7,423 15,802 8,071 31,296
2020-01-17 6,988 14,424 7,540 28,952
2020-01-18 7,480 16,201 8,533 32,213
2020-01-19 48 16 130 194
2020-01-20 8,944 19,153 9,412 37,509
2020-01-21 9,202 20,341 9,788 39,331
2020-01-22 8,994 17,910 9,490 36,394
2020-01-23 8,019 15,827 7,977 31,822
2020-01-24 7,429 16,633 7,848 31,911
2020-01-25 6,983 14,404 8,334 29,721
2020-01-26 47 45 105 197
2020-01-27 6,269 13,679 6,949 26,897
2020-01-28 6,977 13,891 6,308 27,176
2020-01-29 6,788 16,019 7,385 30,191
2020-01-30 7,278 20,503 7,299 35,081
2020-01-31 8,932 20,240 7,545 36,717
Jan Total 6,944 15,324 6,893 29,161
200,514 434,924 209,649 845,086

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Table 9: Sales revenue for the month October.

Dhaka East Dhaka North Dhaka South

Area Region Region Region Grand Total

2019-10-01 4,566 8,038 3,807 16,412

2019-10-02 4,580 8,106 4,508 17,194

2019-10-03 39 440 171 650

2019-10-04 4,512 8,066 4,427 17,005

2019-10-05 4,321 6,999 3,880 15,200

2019-10-06 4,207 6,980 3,693 14,880

2019-10-07 4,480 5,891 3,176 13,546

2019-10-08 3,703 6,328 3,481 13,512

2019-10-09 3,610 6,715 4,554 14,879

2019-10-10 97 - 267 364

2019-10-11 3,572 7,750 3,575 14,897

2019-10-12 3,728 4,845 2,947 11,521

2019-10-13 3,867 7,137 3,888 14,892

2019-10-14 4,166 7,716 3,473 15,356

2019-10-15 4,489 10,927 4,132 19,548

2019-10-16 5,081 10,864 6,004 21,949

2019-10-17 114 38 419 571

2019-10-18 7,418 11,595 6,017 25,030

2019-10-19 5,610 11,022 5,763 22,395

2019-10-20 5,565 11,737 4,965 22,267

2019-10-21 5,549 11,521 5,365 22,435

2019-10-22 10,698 21,667 8,918 41,284

2019-10-23 14,167 27,505 10,888 52,561

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2019-10-24 4,667 3,291 3,380 11,337

2019-10-25 5,235 14,042 6,129 25,406

2019-10-26 5,417 11,555 4,686 21,658

2019-10-27 5,726 10,933 5,232 21,892

2019-10-28 5,649 11,895 5,163 22,707

2019-10-29 6,158 13,670 5,676 25,505

2019-10-30 4,871 14,684 5,022 24,576

2019-10-31 807 2,507 1,597 4,910

Oct-Total 146,667 284,465 135,203 566,335

Table 10: Revenue Comparison

Column1 January October Compare

Grand Total 845086.28 566335.31 278750.97
Average 27,261 18268.881 8991.9668
Max 39,331 52561.14 -13230.42
Standard Deviation 11157.536 95950.8068 -84793.271
Median 30,191 17099.75 13091.37

6.2 Interpretation

➢ Here the grand total of the month October is 566,33500BDT and for the month January
is 845,086.
➢ Where else for the month January the sales has evidently increased. Here the total sales
increased for 27825097 BDT (multiplying by 100).
➢ Consequently average revenue and median has increased as well.
➢ Though daily highest sale decreased by 13230.42 BDT.
➢ The revenue fluctuation rate has gone down as well by 84793.271BDT.
Increased sales revenue indicates effective marketing activities. Beverage purchase usually goes
down due to the seasonality effect, but in this case, sales increase rate in maintained properly,
which is an indicator to successful marketing campaign.

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Calculation:
Sales increase rate per day in percentage:

Table 11: Sales increase rate in percentage.

After Activation Before activation Increase Increase Rate

19,621 16,412 3,209 0.195527663
24,645 17,194 7,451 0.433348843
26,633 650 25,984 39.97538462
104 17,005 -16,901 -0.993884152
35,448 15,200 20,248 1.332105263
33,247 14,880 18,368 1.234408602
31,181 13,546 17,635 1.301860328
28,287 13,512 14,775 1.093472469
28,796 14,879 13,917 0.935345117
28,895 364 28,531 78.38186813
425 14,897 -14,472 -0.971470766
35,484 11,521 23,964 2.080027775
35,318 14,892 20,426 1.371608918
32,239 15,356 16,884 1.099505079
31,296 19,548 11,748 0.600982198
28,952 21,949 7,003 0.319057816
32,213 571 31,642 55.4150613
194 25,030 -24,836 -0.992249301
37,509 22,395 15,115 0.674927439
39,331 22,267 17,064 0.766335833
36,394 22,435 13,959 0.622197459
31,822 41,284 -9,461 -0.229168685
31,911 52,561 -20,651 -0.392895873
29,721 11,337 18,384 1.621593014
197 25,406 -25,209 -0.992245926
26,897 21,658 5,239 0.241896759
27,176 21,892 5,284 0.241366709
30,191 22,707 7,484 0.329589994
35,081 25,505 9,576 0.375455793
36,717 24,576 12,140 0.493977865
29,161 4,910 24,251 4.93910387
845,086 566,335 278,751 0.492201612
557,502 5.999884242

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 Sales Revenue
Per Day Sales

Figure 7: Sales growth Rate

Figure 8: Sales Revenue Comparison

Calculation:

Table 12: Marketing Cost

Smart
Phone
T-shirts (10999 TV Jacket (650 Cost Per
Participant No (200BDT) BDT) (54000BDT) BDT) Program
Eatery Program 650 93 90 BDT6012907
Grocery
Program* 4,896.00 273 140 BDT11541927
Mountain Dew
Program 5,448.00 BDT 3541200

BDT
BDT BDT BDT BDT 21,096,034
Amount 1,109,200.00 3,992,637.00 12,420,000.00 3,541,200.00

Interpretation:
Here all the campaign is Dhaka based accept for the grocery program. So in farther calculation,
the program is not included. In the calculation above the per incentive amount is multiplied with
the participant numbers.

Excluding the Grocery program cost BDT 11541927, the campaign cost approximately is ( BDT
21,096,034- BDT 11541927) or BDT 9554107. From the information above the sales revenue
increased is BDT 55,750,200. So, return on the cost is, {(55,750,200/9554107)*100} or 4

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 Chapter 7:

Major Findings, Recommendations & Conclusion

Page 29 of 34
7.1 Major Findings

➢ TBL mostly focuses on updating trade offers every 4 to 5 days based on how particular
brands & SKUs are doing in specific regions.

➢ ‘Bondhu Club’ trade offers are being emphasized on to increase sales. Out of over 2 lakh
outlets currently only 24,000 outlets are Bondhu Club members.

➢ All the coupons are difficult to manage and takes time to calculate traditionally (by hand).
But use of coupons are a better option that previous ‘cask back’ offer.

➢ There are over a few 100kof coupons that are manually counted by the vendors.

➢ KPIs are used to find out how trade promotions performed relative to their predetermined
objectives. A lack of understanding on what trade promotion data to measure and how to
measure performance can hinder the overall process.

➢ Which outlets are to be included in the ‘Bondhu Club’ is determined after proper
calculation of sales performance and target achievement.

➢ TBL sometimes offers promotions to consumers (shopper marketing) to boost sales

usually in cases of new product launch, remodeled packaging and rebranding. For
example- “Drink Mountain Dew, Win Bike” campaign was ongoing the last two years.

➢ TBL does not usually spend much on advertising and strengthening its brand image
locally. Mostly TVCs aired in India are dubbed and used by TBL.

➢ Trade promotions can be difficult to execute since they are carried out by PSRs in
different locations all over the country.

➢ Trade offers can be costly if not analyzed and executed correctly.

➢ Historical trade promotion data should be analyzed in order to continually improve trade
promotions. If TBL does not utilize processes and systems that measure trade promotion

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 performance properly, future trade promotion executions could be less effective than if
they’d been planned using past analytical information.

7.2 Recommendations

➢ Trade marketing offers need to be carefully executed and monitored so that it does not
incur loss.

➢ As ‘Bondhu Club’ members grow, the coupon procedures need to be automated.

Manually calculating the coupons is cumbersome and has a high chance of being
erroneous.

➢ When trying to win over the retailers, TBL should not employ offers that may not be
profitable for the company in the long run.

➢ Trade promotion tactics can contribute to a sales lift, but only if the company has a clear
line of sight into the data-driven strategies that can turn things around.

➢ TBL needs to update its systems to properly analyze the past data for successful
forecasting and trend analysis.

➢ If TBL simply increases promotion frequency, offers deeply discounted items more
frequently, and cuts the product prices lower without knowing what works and what does
not, the promotions efficiency will drop down.

➢ The organization needs to focus more on promoting the brand to the consumers along
with making the products available through retailers.

➢ TBL needs to keep a centralized database to more effectively track the trade offers.

➢ The company’s social media presence needs to be consistent and should effectively use
social media to promote their campaigns.

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7.3 Conclusion

The beverage market of Bangladesh holds a very big share among all the FMCGs. For many
years, Transcom Beverages Ltd. have been exerting their efforts into creating a strong position
for PepsiCo’s beverages in the market of Bangladesh competing with the strongest global brand
‘Coca Cola’ and other domestic beverage companies. In 2014, Global company- PepsiCo was the
major market share holder holding 35%, following Coca-Cola 25% in

Bangladesh. In just a few years, with TBL’s extensive marketing efforts, the market share for
PepsiCo beverages increase to over 45%. Because of beverage being a low margin FMCG
product, the companies need to focus most on making high volume sales. For this reason TBL
gives importance to trade marketing activities the most; continuously updating and monitoring
their trade marketing offers and incentives to take over the shelf spaces.

Trade promotions represent a huge percentage of the company’s marketing budget especially for
manufacturing companies. Although it might be a good way to increase demand for products and
win shelf space in the stores, trade promotions are too substantial to tackle without a game plan.
Past records need to be properly analyzed and forecasted to come up with the right trade offers.
The company must not lose sight of their objective of achieving sustainable and profitable
business growth while trying to compete over shelf space and aggressively claiming market
share.

Page 32 of 34
References

Adegbuyi, O. A., Ajagbe, A. M., Kehinde, O. J., Adegbuyi, A. A., & Akande, A. O. (2015).
Strategic roles of branding on organization sales performance. International Journal of Current
Research, 7(12), 23835-23841.

DeGaris, L., & West, C. (2012). The effects of sponsorship activation on the sales of a major soft
drink brand. Journal of Brand Strategy, 1(4), 403-412.

Fortunato, J. (2013). Sponsorship activation and social responsibility: How MasterCard and
major league baseball partner to stand up to cancer. Journal of Brand Strategy, 2(3), 300-311.

Pöhler, M. L. (2017). Activating Processes in the Brand Communication of Valuable Brands on

the example of Coca-Cola.

Kotler, P., Keller, K. L., Ang, S. H., Tan, C. T., & Leong, S. M. (2018). Marketing management:
an Asian perspective (5th Ed.). Pearson.

Transcom Beverages Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.transcombd.com/transcom-beverages-

ltd.html

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