Understanding & Analyzing the depth

of channel sales of Colgate products

in Ranchi-2 and taking action point to
increase depth of distribution

By:
Rahul Raushan

Introduction
Colgate, an oral hygiene product and one of the name sake
brands of the Colgate-Palmolive Company, is a manufacturer of a
wide range of toothpastes, toothbrushes and mouthwashes.

Colgate-Palmolive Company Is an American diversified

multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution &
provisions of household, health care and personal products, such
as soaps, detergents & oral hygiene products.

Colgate was ranked as India's #1 Most Trusted Brand across all

categories for four consecutive years from 2003 to 2007 and in
2011 and 2012 by Brand Equity's Most Trusted Brand Survey.

Introduction

Promoted by Colgate-Palmolive USA, present in India since last

50 years
It is the only brand to be in the top three from 2001-2012
Prior to this, Colgate was also rated as the #1 brand by the
A&M MODE Annual Survey for India's Top Brands for eight out of
nine years during the period 1992 to 2001
Market leader with over 53.7% market share in oral care
segment.
54%, 38% & 39% of market share in the toothpaste segment,

Innovative Products
Colgate Active Salt- 1st toothpaste to contain salt
Colgate Advanced Whitening- Silica enabled toothpaste
Colgate Maxfresh with Cooling Crystals
Colgate Total
Colgate Herbal
Colgate Sensitive and sensitive Pro-Relief
Colgate Visible White
Colgate Sugar Acid Neutralizer

Distribution Channel
Physical distribution of goods and products is a process of reaching out
to the customer. After the production process is over the main concern of
the company is how to make that product available at the nearest shop of
the target customer .For this the company need to have an effective
distribution network which is cost effective, reaches out to every nook
and corner of the target market and delivers the goods the shops on time
so that there is no scarcity. Thus a company needs to have very clear cut
understanding of the geographies of that particular area for an effective
distribution channel.

Basically there are two types of market Viz. Urban market and rural
market. Both the markets are very different from each other in terms of
preference, frequency of goods sold, price and quality. With respect to
FMCG it has been seen that the frequency of sale is faster in the urban
market and not in the rural market. The area that was given to me is
urban market, I was assigned HSL, Doranda, Sector 1 & 2, J.P.
Market, Latma & Singhmore, Hatia-2, these are the area which
comes in Ranchi-2.

Factors affecting the choice of distribution channel

Various factors which affects the choice of the distribution channel are :
Factors relating to product characteristics

Purchase frequency
Perishabilty.
Selling Price per unit.
Standardized product.

Market factors and consumer factors

Consumer of industrial products

Number of purchasers
Geographical distribution of consumers.
Size of the order

Company Factors

Financial resources
Size of the company.
Product Mix.
Attitude of the companys executive.

Factors affecting the choice of distribution channel

Environmental factors
Economical consideration.
Legal restrictions.
Social and ethical considerations.

Middle man consideration

Service provided by the middleman.

Attitude of the middle man.
Availability of the middle man.
Sales volume potential.
Cost of channel usage

Trainee workings
We have been assigned the following works to do that has been done in
Three different phases that are as follows:
First Phase (2 weeks from starting) : In this phase we were required
to focus on the store addition, ERC, Bill cut, and to take care of the total
calls that has been assigned to the respective salesperson.
Second Phase (3rd Week) : In this phase of our project we got an
opportunity to Launch a new Innovative Product of Colgate that is Sugar
Acid Neutralizer along with Bill Cut and Store addition.
Third Phase (4th Week) : In this phase we conducted a survey in
Medical Stores to strengthen the distribution network in the medical
category.

SUGAR ACID
NEUTRALIZE
R: A
Revolutiona
ry
Toothpaste

SAN
Launch at
a Glance

SWOT Analysis
Strength

Opportunities

Strong Brand Value

Wide Distribution Network
Strong Market Presence
Focus on New Product Development
Having wide range of options

Emerging Market Growth

Deploying Advanced
Technologies
Growing Population
Increasing awareness
towards oral health and
hygiene.

Weakness
Schemes for Retailers are not often introduced
Threat
Competitive Landscape
from other private label
growth
Local players being more
active in the market
Increasing Commodity
prices

Achievements
51 New stores added in my Route
SAN Launch in my Route has been completed just in 1 Day whereas we
were assigned to launch the New Product SAN in 3 days.
Completed SAN launch assignment in Another Route with another
salesman in just 2 days.
Convinced the salesman to complete his total call on daily basis so that
it will Increase the performance of the Salesman.
Also focused on the Sales of the Toothbrush store wise so that it will
increase the reach of toothbrush to the retail market.

Distribution Analysis
While working in the market we noticed a gap between the Retailer and
the distributor. Some of the Important notices are as follows:
There were so many stores left where the Colgate salesman never
approached even if they were reachable easily.
Salesman did not approach to those stores because they thought that if
they will add the new store it will Increase the pressure of Bill cut and ERC
target on them.
There were also a communication gap between the company and the
stores as the stores and retailers were not up-to-dated with the schemes
that has been run by the company.
The salesman are more keen to sell the product and take the orders
from the Whole sellers because they easily fulfill the value target of the
salesman.
The salesman should focus on selling the different lines of the product
rather than mere selling single product

Findings
By visiting the market on the regular basis there are few findings which
need to be focused to increase the depth of distribution in Ranchi Market.
Salesman are reluctant to add new stores
OCC Counters are not paid their cut on time
Schemes are not communicated to the stores and even to the whole
sellers properly
Supply of the product is not properly managed which create hassles in
selling the product
Few products are not available with the distributor which sometimes
create problem while taking order.
In Hatia market few stores give order to Khunti Distributor which
affect sales of Hatia.
Rate is also a very important issue as some of the retailer take the

Suggestions and Recommendation to Increase the depth

of Distribution
Proper communication by the salesman to the retailer about the different
schemes should be done so that it will increase the sales value and volume.
Skill and sales training is required to be given to the salesman to strengthen
the distribution as salesman are the backbone of the channel
OCC Counters should be given their cut on time so that they will be
motivated to sell the product
Availability of every product at the stock point is very essential from the
sales point of view.
Proper audit of the route list is very essential as in so many route few store
are added which do not exist on ground which hamper the performance of
the salesman.
Mechanism should be developed so that salesman sell the products to the
Medical stores also.
For whole sellers there should be a separate sales team so that the others
may completely focus on retails business and it will increase the depth of the

Conclusion

To conclude we may say that Colgate is a generic product in Toothpaste

segment and oral care and brand name is enough to sell the product
but due to some factors it is not able to cater the complete market and
there are still few counters which are untouched due to several
reasons. To increase the Depth of the distribution the company should
focus on the approach of the salesman so that sales could be increased
and along with sales the company need to focus on supply also so that
gap that exist in the market could be filled up.

THANK YOU