2. PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION
DEFINITION
“All activities involved in planning, implementing, and
controlling the physical flow of raw materials, in-
process inventory, and finished goods from point-of-
origin to point-of-consumption. The main activities
include customer service, inventory control, material
handling, transportation, warehousing and storage.”
3. 1. FANS FOR RURAL MARKETS :-
a) COMPANY OWNED DELIVERY VANS :-
The van may be owned by the company or the distributor. The
delivery van takes the product to the retail shop in the vilage.
The distributors salesperson travels in the van & he delivers
the stock to the retailer & collects the money too.
eg:- Introduce RMV(rural marketing vehicle). The vehicle
moves from village to village to distribute fans.
b) HIRED VANS :-
In this case, the wholesaler uses a hired vehicle to cover the
retailers in village. Normally, the cost of operation of the hired
vehicle is shared b/w the wholesaler & the company.
4. c) BULLOCK CARTS or CAMELS :-
These are used for covering remote villages with no road
facilities available. In certain parts of Kerala, A.P & West Bengal,
boats are also used to cover villages.
In this case the distributers selling non competative consumer
goods, come together to service the rural retailers. The delivery
van carries the product(fan) of both the companies.
d) SYDICATE VAN DISTRIBUTION :-
5. 2. PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS FOR
SEMI-URBAN MARKETS
Modern housing estates and urban renewal have increased the
number of supermarkets and drugstores in major cities.
The rising levels of consumer disposable income and
sophistication, middle- and higher-income households are
increasingly showing a preference for the convenience and
value-added shopping environments offered by supermarkets,
chemists/pharmacies and drugstores.
Beauty specialist retailers is also growing as a distribution
channel slowly.
6. The number of beauty shops is rising and consumers are
increasingly relying on the judgement of beauticians, whose
presence is growing for brand choice.
Direct sellers expand their reach by deepening their networks
of distributors across semi urban and urban cities.
Building greater awareness by introducing brand new offers
each month like direct selling companies such as Avon,
Oriflame and Modicare.
Continue efforts to connect with consumers and launch
products at every price point, as such companies strongly
increase their value sales
7. 3. PACKAGED TEA FOR A NATIONAL
DISTRIBUTION
Annual average production of tea in our country 750,000 tons.
Marketing of tea is a process of selling manufactured tea in bulk
from tea estates to the buyers through Auction who sell it in the
local market or export it to other countries either in bulk or in
packets.
Some of the teas can also sold at estate level with prior
permission of Tea Board either directly to overseas buyers or to
the internal traders.
Sufficient warehouse and port facilities and well connected by
road, railways and air can be provided.
8. Available tea brands in the retail stores:-
BRAND Percentage
Duncan 6%
Finlay 64%
HRC 20%
Ispahani 97%
Ispahani Zareen 92%
Lipton Taaza (UniLever) 96%
Lipton Yellow Label (UniLever) 68%
Shaw Wallace 2%
It is clear that Distributors are trying hard to make their product
available in every corner of the country.
9. There are number of ways in which a properly designed physical
distribution system can help to generate additional sales volume:-
Providing a good feedback to the retailer about their problems
as well as on right delivery-time.
These entire pro-marketing activities will result in higher sales.
The credit system is the main trick to click their success.Their
vision is that “Sell then pay”. So they don’t have to worry about
the money at the buying point.
Pressure of this huge stock leads to sales increase.
The stock of tea is totally dependent on the retail outlets
location, sell, size etc.
10. Some promotional marketing activities can be adopted, such as,
offering gifts to the retailers against targeted quota achievement
within a stipulated time frame
Proper inventory & control management required to be
implemented at the retail store level. So, the stock shortage/sales
wastes could be minimized.
Reduce customer inventory requirements,
Solidify supplier-customer relationships,
Increase delivery discounts,
Enable expanded market coverage,
Allow greater concentration on demand creation.
