hard work!!! show off

Report March 1, 2007


Areas visited: Malviya Nagar and Vasant Vihar Market
Time taken: 1230-1420 hours
Target Organizations: 6 + 1
Actual covered: 4 + 1

Malviya Nagar, a hustling bustling market place with a series of stores that make your daily wares available. From clothes to shoes, from sweets to groceries and from Cadburys to Mars.
The general vibe of the market is that of a very conservative shopkeeper kind. They do not find it attractive to entertain the first time surveyors. This is not only about the outlets that were a part of the visit, but others too. Well if I may I would like to blame it to the stars too, jokes apart, I would look forward to a more warm response in the second visit if possible.
Coming back to the survey. The display in most of the shops was not very impressive. The foreign players have dominated the space.
But one interesting fact pointed out about the foreign players is that their basic cost of production in very high as compared to the Indian players.Observation made me realize that no matter what Cadburys is the bestseller among the Indian players. One can find this by looking at the indigenous gift packs for the upcoming festival of colors. There were gift packs of all ranges from INR 125 to 550, made to order or stock, as the case may be.
Cold response from one of the stores disheartened my effort but being warned earlier about the same I gave up the right whatsoever. A store manager asked me to come after some time, with due respects I asked to spare a few minutes but was shoved away. I covered other firms and returned to the store to get the same response. Somehow I took a decision to move to other market.

Next stop Vasant Vihar or Priya’s as we fondly call it. Not one day goes by without hordes of college and school going teenagers painting the place with fun and frolic. Welcome to the Hip Hop generation’s hang out. Here we find a suitably located and artfully decorated Le Marche Food Company Pvt ltd. Greetings, poised salesmen and a talented manager; a perfect recipe for a strategic vendor. The shop had prefect display and no complaints at all.
It was a treat.



Analysis of the questionnaire

Q1. What do you feel about the Cadbury products as a consumer?
Of the 5 respondents
Excellent: 1
Very good: 3
Good: 2

Q2. Do you offer the customers the products you believe in?
The response was a surprising one. Only 2 out of the 5 respondents said that they sell the goods they believe in, rest were of the businessman opinion. Sell whatever that brings in value or revenue.

Q3: Suggest 3 hot spots in your shop where the display can be effective.
Two suggestions came up in the form of attractive racks and stand alone counters {fully stocked}.

Q4: How do you collect the consumer response?
It generally works on the word of mouth.

Q5: Did you pass on the feed back to the Cadbury representative?
In all the cases the feedback was given but interestingly in one of the stores the manager is highly glad to pass on the ASM’s or dealer’s number.

Q6: Beyond the schemes, what measures can increase the sales, visibility and overall performance of the Products?
This was the main subject of the survey. All respondents were upset about the margins but those being not negotiable were out of the purview of the study.
Still following points came up:
· Find an answer to the high margins in other chocolates.
· Match up the international quality and packaging
· Schemes for sellers and buyers
· Cost effective
· Gifts or incentive

Q7: How good, in your opinion is the idea of Paper/Plastic coupons as a part of the loyalty program? Rate on 1 to 10
This idea got an average response, with a few highly supportive and a few strictly against. The fundamental and most important factor being that
It must not be routed through the distributors. I.e. should be straight from the company.


My recommendations

No matter how much we say, Cadbury is the number one choice for chocolates among the Indian players. A striking fact is that the Retailers want higher margins which are not available as of now. A few interesting suggestions were made by them but the underline fact cannot be ignored.