Caselet 3 - Not A Mini Problem
Caselet 3 - Not A Mini Problem
Mini Markets
Mini markets are not your usual Mom and Pop stores across the street. Nor are they the like of Walmarts, Big Bazaars and Reliance Fresh. They are essentially self-service larger stores with an independent brand identity (unlike multi-brand chains like Big Bazaars), somewhat like the Haiko Supermarket in Hiranandani, Powai, Mumbai. They have the volumes of many Mom and Pop stores combined together (see Appendix 1), however do not have the scale and systems used by multi-brand chains for supply chain operations like inventory management and invoicing. Consumer behavior data suggests that shoppers find distinctive advantages of convenience and familiarity with the store while purchasing from Mini markets. These stores have their own unique brand identity and hence higher footfalls. Kirana stores generally have limited products and give lesser chances to browse whereas large multi-brand chains are time consuming to shop and give limited replacement options. Moreover, there is a notion of older promo products being available at such stores as compared to Mini markets.
The Challenge
Mini markets are a goldmine for P&G to expand its reach in the market across categories. Competition treats Mini markets just as any other multi-brand chain. However there are certain design and execution challenges in the Go-to-market strategy for minimarkets. Having the same Go-to-market strategy as for Kirana stores would not be efficient given the huge variation amongst the throughputs of various Mini markets, with some going as high as a multi-brand chain, and hence the frequency of calls for field sales force being drastically different. The capabilities required by the field sales executives would also be different while dealing with Mini Market accounts. There are several execution challenges as well not limited to tracking, inventory management and shelving. The CBD director has called a special task team to crack the Mini market channel comprising of CBD KAMs Rahul and Supriya, a CMK manager Ashwin and a Finance Analyst Ruhi, headed by Charan, a Market supply and planning (MS&P a group of CBD) manager. A GBS expert Biraj also joined the team as they wanted to leverage technological breakthroughs for this channel. They need to crack the Mini Market on an urgent priority.
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Appendix 1 Mini market store mix in a metro city according to sales generated per store in a 6 month period. (L=Lakhs)
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IIM Ahmedabad IIM Bangalore IIM Calcutta IIM Lucknow IIM Indore IIM Kozhikode MICA XLRI Jamshedpur SP Jain NITIE TISS FMS Delhi JBIMS SCMHRD Delhi School of Economics MDI Gurgaon IIT Bombay* IIT Madras* IIT Delhi* Shailesh J Mehta School of Management *For IITs, pre-final and final year undergraduate students can participate 7. Students from other streams such as the Part Time Program, Management Development Program, Executive MBA Program, FPM Program and not from the above listed schools, are not eligible to participate. There is no separate registration required to participate in the contest. Teams of up to 3 members can participate in the League. Teams can have students from different campuses as well.
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10. Winning teams for each caselet to get attractive prizes and a chance to participate in the final Dream Team contest to be held at Mumbai. The guidelines for the final contest would be shared by the qualifying teams separately. 11. Solutions to the caselets to be sent to indiarecruitment.im@pg.com by the stated deadline in not more than 1 page (500 words in MS Word count) in MS Word Times New Roman font size 10. No additional attachments to be included. Please mail the solutions through the institute Mail ID.
Evaluation parameters A. B. C. D. Quality of Analysis Quality of Presentation Innovation Evidence of Multifunctional Approach