d.

light Design:
Marketing
Channel
Strategies in
India
Submitted By - Group 9
 For rural marketing customers in India,
discuss how these channel alignment
constraints lead to demand side
misalignment if the company sells through:
 2a. Rural entrepreneur channel, and link these
misalignments to constraints (legal and/or environment
and/or managerial)
Favourable Factors:
● Better Distribution: REs (local villagers as salespeople) were efficient in physically transporting products into
smaller villages by using the Hub and Spoke model. This also helped in keeping the cost low
● Brand Trust: Instilling brand trust among villagers was easier via REs as they were often well known and well
liked by the consumers in these villages
Unfavourable Factors:
● Motivational Challenges : Local REs’ might find the task of selling large quantities of the product very
daunting especially when the initial trust on the product was not yet established
● Untrained REs’ : REs were not professionally trained salesforce. While they were capable salespeople, they
might struggle to grow sales significantly in a sustainable manner over longer periods
● Challenges in handling Finances: Although REs’ were proficient at physically moving products into small
villages, they were not as practised in handling a large sum of money, thus it might make the process receiving
payments from them difficult as well as expensive
2b. Village Retailer channel, and link these misalignments
to constraints (legal and/or environmental and/or
managerial)
FAVOURABLE FACTORS UNFAVOURABLE FACTORS

● Rural India had about 7 million independently
owned small shops in towns and villages which
could be used to sell d.light lamps
● Shop owners had the expertise to transfer both
products and money over long distances enabling
d.light to receive money in a timely manner
● Shop owners power over purchase decisions due
to:
 Personal relationship with the customers
 Significant knowledge about product quality
and popularity
 Intermittent cash flows leading to products
being purchased on credit
• Lack of variety available – Not a troublesome
factor for d.light as limited options to begin
with
NOT FAVOURABLE FOR d.LIGHT :
• Increased distribution costs
• Unknown brand that required more PUSH
selling and explanation than established
FMCG products
 2c. Centralized shopping channel, and link these
misalignments to constraints (legal and/or environmental
and/or managerial)
● The d.light lamps were new to the Indian market, they required more demonstration and explanation to the
consumers, requiring significantly more investment by the retailers and salespeople
● People buying from these centralized channels might not be the exact target group for this product
● Since the exact target audience wasn’t being served, the environmental and health conditions faced by the
impoverished weren’t being addressed either
● A variant on the centralized shopping channel were the weekly haats, however transporting these products to
the haats every week could be a managerial disadvantage to these retailers
● Most shoppers who came to the haats, came to buy durable goods such as tractors. Thus, selling d.light lamps
along with these goods would be a misalignment in the minds of the shoppers
● Selling d.light lamps at the retail outlets owned by the oil company might seem like a good idea at the
corporate level but the retail shop owners might not be motivated enough to learn about and sell a new
product, thereby affecting sales via this channel