Consumer Goods Marketing and Sales

Hello people. Hope everyone is safe & has found a rhythm of working from home and I hope we soon resume normalcy because unlike for people like us for whom this is a matter of lifestyle and ways of working, for millions it is the thin line that divides destitution and livelihood. apologies for the morbid beginning but well we are living in uncertain morbid times. And I am also sorry for being away for so long. A lot happened in the last year or so including a role change, lots of work related travel, craziness overall but most importantly, writers block. I just wasn't sure what should I write about next. So thanx to a dear colleague who drew up a list of topics I could write about and this is the first one I have chosen. Before I delve deep, just a reminder - this blog is for FMCG/CPG beginners and hence may not be relevant for the experts or people who have done this for many years. Consumer promotions are what I call the absolute necessary evil of FMCG industry. You cann...

Many times, you will come across this line with your distributor/retailer/sales officer saying “Sir, aap ke maal mein rate ka lafda hai”. What this basically means is that your stock is available at a lower rate in the market – this could be another wholesaler, another distributor or anyone else. A product that has a rate problem means that it is a top selling item in the market, which is good news for your brand team, but VERY bad news for you. When you start creating rate differences, you start playing a price war and there is no end to that - so our advice to you is stay away from it, even if it means a couple of extra gaalis :) To explain better, let us look at the following scenarios: Scenario 1: You are selling Parle G biscuits. Your distributor is called ABC Traders, and there is a distributor in an adjoining area not too far away called XYZ Traders – however XYZ is not under your jurisdiction. I will explain landing rates in a...