Saffola is a brand of cooking oils owned by Marico Limited that is positioned as heart healthy. It has evolved over time from targeting only heart patients to a broader audience interested in healthy living. Saffola now offers multiple variants including Saffola Gold for a healthy lifestyle, Saffola Active for weight management, Saffola Total for heart health, and Saffola Tasty for family nutrition. Through advertising campaigns and promotions, Saffola aims to inspire small steps toward heart health and fitness.

1. A MARICO BRAND
Healthy is not about a size or a shape. Being healthy is about consciously
thinking about your health Saffola, as the leaders of heart health brings you a range of
products that have been designed to seamlessly integrate health into life
with your own way.
BY- ANKITA PRIYADARSHINI, DIPANJANDASH, PRINCEKUMAR,
SANJEEV SAHU
SAFFOLA

2. INTRODUCTION
This case is a brief analysis of the journey of saffola cooking oil, a product of Marico
company.
Saffola is a health care brand which brings t a range of everyday Heart Healthy
Foods and Services that are easy, effective and enjoyable so that they easily
integrate into everybody’s lifestyle. For the last years, Saffolalife has been creating
awareness about heart health and inspiring people to heave a healthy lifestyle for a
healthy heart.
Saffola is the holding company of Marico Limited. Marico Limited is an Indian
consumer goods company providing consumer products and services in the areas
of Health and Beauty based in Mumbai. Let us now see the various types of holding
companies that are under Marico Limited. Below is a tree of brands under the
Marico limited.
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
It was a family business when Harsh Mariwala, the present Managing Director of
Marico Lim., joined the company in 1971, which was then a part of Bombay Oil
Industries limited (BOIL).

3. In 1983 BOIL categorised the company into three division
- The Consumer Products Division
- The Fatty Acids and Chemicals Division -The Spice Extracts
Division
The Consumer product division was developed and overtaken by Harsh as
Executive Director in 1987. BOIL was restored, and the consumer product division
was separated which eventually became the company Marico Lim., whose managing
director was Harsh. Marico was transformed into a high-quality consumer product
company. The company was divided into two major divisions, Nature Care and
Health Care. Marico introduced Parachute and Saffola as its flagship brands in the
hair oil and edible oil categories, respectively. Saffola was initially launched in 1960s.
It carved a reputation for itself as an edible oil being the initial public offer by Marico
in March 1996.Marico started building development strategies for Saffola recognising
that there is a huge potential for edible oil in India.
EVOLUTION AND POSITIONING OF THE COMPANY
Saffola, positioned on the 'good for Heart' platform was small in volume terms, till
1993, when a series of hard-hitting ads took the brand to new heights. Awarded the
'Brand of the Year' in 1993 by The Advertising Club of Bombay, the brand has
continuously modernized and upgraded itself. A new aesthetically defined shape was
launched in 1998 ensuring glug-free pouring. The brand was repositioned as 'Heart
of a Healthy Family' and extended to a value added edible oil and Salt. A Web site
on health, www.healthykhana.com was launched in 2002 to guide Heart care as well
as proactive health seekers on various aspects of Dietary Health. It also provides a
free personalized diet plan service, which anyone can use to get a diet as per his or
her individual health requirements.
Saffola ruled the kitchen for more than half a century with its attention worthy
advertising strategies and brand positioning which focused on one of the greatest
threats of life, the heart diseases.
Evolution in market trends and market sentiments became a threat to Saffola.

4. Saffola became painfully cognizant of its shrinking relevance as a brand Saffola
basically targeted the customers with heart related issues which in turn resulted
in stagnant sales and now it had to find a way to expand its user base to include
the non-heart patient customers, while still being relevant to the customers with
its brand loyalty
What comes first in our mind when we hear ‘SAFFOLA’ ?
The answer is ‘The healthy heart oil’.
Saffola comes in four variants:
• Saffola Gold
● Saffola Active
● Saffola Total
● Saffola Tasty
Saffola positioned itself as the choice for healthy living . An ad was released with title
‘Sehat Se Jeena Hai’ advertising Saffola Nutriblend. The 30 second ad resulted
in drastic shift from the negative imagery that it had employed in the past. The
commercial ended with a byline: “Saffola-The heart of a healthy family”. Saffola
engaged below-the-line marketing activities for establishing a brand image. Saffola
used doctors to promote the brand and through tie-ups with sports clubs, health
clubs and gyms.Saffola was happy experiencing a growth of 15% initially. But after
the end of campaign the sales were again stagnated. Again analysis was done
focusing on sales. It was found that most of the users were old users, and they
were experimenting the new variants. The repositioning had not worked.Saffola
hired a new ad agency to analyze what had gone wrong. The analysis was done
on the basis of interviewing the customer base. This revealed that consumers
believed saffola was specifically related with heart. And 35% to 40% of volumes
ADVERTISING,SALES PROMOTION &
SEGMENTATION STRATEGY

5. were achieved through doctor advice. In a sample of 20
people, around 17 consumers were suffering with heart
ailment. In a study conducted by the Saffola Healthy Heart
Foundation, it was revealed that 1 out of 4 adults was at a
risk of heart problem. This clearly indicated that there is a
chance for improving sales by the Saffola.
Saffola gained a strong market share and became a brand
of choice in its existing market segment. It had managed to
establish its reputation as “the best heart care oil”. It had
this segment in its pocket. It was trying to grab non-heart
related segment. It had decided to widen its appeal to
include whole new segment mainly women or couples in
the age group of 25 to 45 years, living in metros and creating a healthy heart
awareness. Most individuals in this group were busy with their hectic schedules.
They even did not have time to take care of their health, yet
they were conscious about their health. Saffola decided to
include this “hopefully healthful” lifestyle segment into its
ambit. It recognized that this group needed to lead a healthy
life and healthy heart was the initial step towards it.
● In order to combine its core competence with this segment, agency
arrived at “first step to healthy start” positioning strategy. It also aimed at
drawing user’s attention on how the heart plays an important role in a
healthy life. The idea of this strategy is to place from wrong side of the
heart to right side of the heart. It decided to position this strategy through sub product
Saffola Gold. Saffola Nutriblend was discontinued. Agency believed that Saffola needed
to shift from the culture of fear to culture of trust. The ad portrayed a protagonist as
constantly making a symbolic effort to become healthier,
but falling short on determination each time. Recognizing her husband’s
complacency, the lady decides to take matters into her hands and switches over to
Saffola Gold. (Saffola Gold ad- ‘kal se’ link: https://youtu.be/ZD80NKvY7Oc ) The
team decided to do above-the-line marketing, in addition to this it decided to
employ a 360-degree marketing approach, with a strong strategy. It sponsored
Laughter Olympics, Dial a Dietician programs, TV shows such as Jassi
Jaissi Koi Nahin and Astitva.
● Most of the Indians reduce the quantity of oil in their food as the first step towards
managing their weight. It’s not only about less oil, but the right oil. Saffola Active was
launched in order to help choosing the right oil. It claimed to absorb 28% lesser fat as
compared to other oils and contained the combined benefits of Antioxidants and LOSORB
technology along with Omega 3, hence proving itself helpful in weight management.
Saffola active inspirational advertisement - “Ek chhota kadam, fit rehne ke liye”- visualised
that how saffola active could be added to the daily health care routine
( link : https://youtu.be/vUK62tDP7gw )
● Today, with the increase in awareness of a healthy life, many of us put
extra concern in avoiding heart related problems like cholesterol etc.
Recommended by cardiologists, Saffola

6. Total reflected the benefits of heart health care because it claimed to reduce
inflammation.
(Saffola Total ad link : https://youtu.be/1QNw4oavHCo )
● Family’s wellness has always been
the priority. For the fitness of the entire
family right choice of oil was
necessary, a choice that not only
provides a superior quality over other
oils like sunflower, but has the benefits to maintain a healthy
heart as well. And Saffola Tasty was launched as a
promising choice with a content of Oryzanol and LOSORB
technology. Multi-seed Technology assured goodness of two
oils in one - helping to achieve intake of all kinds of fatty acids
– MUFA & PUFA, to provide you an improved nutrition in diet.
LOSORB technology absorbs 20% lesser fat as compared to other single
seed oils like sunflower Blending Oil Technology. An external study was
conducted on this claim in January & March 2017. ( Ad link
:https://youtu.be/CyTowpwnuPA )
NEW SAFFOLA:
● Saffola Active - Pro Weight Watchers
● Saffola Gold - Pro Healthy Lifestyle ● Saffola Total - Pro Heart Conscious
● Saffola Tasty - Pro Fitness Conscious
Marico's Research & Development centre continuously work towards incorporating
the latest technological advances in all their products. This ensures that, any product
which comes out from Saffola, incorporates the latest learning in the field of heart
care. Precisely why, the new Saffola or say the ‘Pro’ range now comes with new
ingredients. New Saffola is a blend consisting of Safflower (Kardi) Oil (60%) & Rice
Bran Oil (40%) contains Vitamin E. Vitamin E is a well-known and potent antioxidant.
Safflower (Kardi) Oil: This has the highest levels of Linoleic acid, an omega-6-
polyunsaturated fatty acid, which is well known in reducing
cholesterol levels. It also contains Rice Bran Oil (RBO). Heart
healthy nutrients in RBO such as tocopherols, tocotrienols and
oryzanol are known for their cholesterol lowering ability. Saffola
renovated the packaging of its cooking oils by specifically
categorising each one of them, to make them look more promising
and creating enthusiasm in its consumers.

7. Recently, Saffola has also launched Saffola Aura - a blend of olive oil and
flaxseed oil - in two different variants:
● Saffola Aura Refined Olive and Flaxseed Oil ( Rs. 750/litre ) ● Saffola Aura Extra Virgin
Olive and Flaxseed Oil ( Rs. 175/250ml )
PROMOTION;
Saffola always promoted its brand by
centralising heart. Saffola offered its
customers a buy one get offer, i.e. buy
5 litres can and a 1 litre packet free. It
was great offer for its customers.
Saffola started a campaign- Saffolalife-
on world heart’s day. Saffolalife aimed
at creating awareness of heart risks
through beautiful videos. Through the
idea of “Chhote Kadam – dil ke bade
kaam ke” - saffola inspires you to take
small steps towards a healthy life by
adopting healthy habits like eating better and being happy so that you can make
your heart health journey easy, enjoyable yet effective. (Saffolalife ad :
https://youtu.be/ZUGiqnK4JPc)
It also promoted the idea of keeping the women healthy by its #protectherheart
(https://youtu.be/R-A42q3BUDg) campaign.
Some of saffola’s promotional videos are listed below.
● Saffolalife - #standupforyourheart https://youtu.be/L_ud9V2SGus
Research says sedentary Lifestyle doubles the risk of heart problems. So saffola
advices to prefer standing to sitting because standing standing burns 53% more
calories than sitting.
● Saffolalife - “Chhote kadam, dil ke bade kam ke”-
https://youtu.be/LV1MSFguN6E
● This heart touching video was dedicated to all mothers and it was categorised
under #protectherheart campaign https://youtu.be/J5247aksQcE ● This is
another video under #protectherheart https://youtu.be/ZOMnckSrU Not only
women, but Saffola also inspired the men to take care of themselves by an ad
https://youtu.be/Ku6TYCpakhk in which the newly born fathers were focused
on, because a father plays as crucial part in a child’s life as a mother. So he
should also take care of himself to create a inspiring image in front of his
child.
Saffolalife - “Young at heart” :
This promotional ad was released years ago, then saffolalife re-created it as a
medium to calculate the fitness of heart.
(link https://youtu.be/dG1PSla-hCA )

8. “Happy Birthday Dear Heart” was also a part of this campaign
(https://youtu.be/KvhLySQML24)
Saffola - Apne Tareeke Se Push, Toh
Dil Khush:
The sole purpose of all the promotions
of Saffola was to create confidence in
people that it is not difficult to maintain a
healthy life. It inspired every generation
to be conscious about their health and
ignited the emotion of taking care of
each other, as a family or as an
individual. It ensured its dedication in
helping people lead towards fit and
happy lives.
(https://youtu.be/rDOIdkOifME )
SEGMENTATION :
Type of segment State of being Suitable product
GEOGRAPHICAL:
a. Urban
b. Rural
a. Need satisfaction and
health consciousness.
b. Need satisfaction.
a. Saffola gold, saffola
active, saffola total and
saffola tasty.
b. Saffola tasty
DEMOGRAPHIC: Unlike rural women, educated
housewives preferred healthy oil.
Saffola gold, saffola active,
saffola total and saffola tasty.

9. BEHAVIOURAL
SEGMENTATION PRICE:
Saffola launched four different
variants with different prices to
compete with the other brands in
the market.
Saffola gold, saffola active,
saffola total, saffola tasty.
ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCT
SAFFOLA TOTAL OIL
The rice bran oil division of the Saffola brand has 1 product named Saffola total oil.
Saffola Total cooking oil is a blend of 70% Rice bran oil and 30% refined Safflower
seed oil. This oil is high in PUFA and this PUFA is mostly omega 6 fats. As omega 6
PUFAs are susceptible to oxidation when heated,
irrespective of the smoking point of Saffola Total,
doctors do not recommend this oil for high heat
cooking. heating in the pan with dry masalas. There is
evidence that Oxidised PUFA is a source of toxicity in
food and can cause a wide range of lifestyle diseases.
Saffola Total may however, be used as a safe cooking
oil for low heat cooking. The other problem we find with
cooking with Saffola is that it may damage the Omega3
and Omega6 balance. We recommend that people
exclusively using Saffola for cooking must supplement
with Omega 3 to rebalance these fats in their diets.
Lack of omega 6 and omega 3 balance can be harmful.
70 percent of Saffola total is comprised of rice bran oil
and rice bran oil is the oil extracted from the germ and inner husk of rice, majority of
rice bran oil on the market is chemically extracted using solvents, in particular
petroleum-derived hexane and high 70 percent of Saffola total is comprised of rice
bran oil and rice bran oil is the oil extracted from the germ and inner husk of rice,
majority of rice bran oil on the market is chemically extracted using solvents, in
particular petroleum-derived hexane and high heat which may destroy the
antioxidants in it and oxidise the PUFA. heat which may destroy the antioxidants in it
and oxidise the PUFA.
WHAT IS SAFFLOWER OIL?
30 percent of Saffola total is comprised of Safflower oil, which has qualities which
make it a good ingredient for healthy eating, it’s an unsaturated fat, is tasteless, and
has a high smoking point.
Safflower oil has a high omega-6 content, which can be detrimental to health if
oxidized by high heat cooking. In addition, high consumption of omega-6 PUFA, may

10. increase risk of several diseases if not balanced with adequate consumption of
Omega 3 fats.
In other words, Saffolatotal oil = 70% rice bran + 30% saffloweroil
Productoverview
Nutritional facts per 10 gms
ITEM QUANTITY
TOTAL FAT 10g
SATURATED FATTY ACID 1.7g
POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACID 4.9g
MONOUNSATURATED FATTY ACID 3.4g
TRANS 0g
ORYZANOL
CHOLESTEROL
ENERGY
PROTEIN
CARBOHYDRATE
49mg
0mg
90Kcal
0g
0g
ProductPricing
VARIANT PRICE
15 litres Rs 2670
5 litres Rs 925
1 litre Rs 200
ProductPackaging
Saffolahas a variety of packaging when it comes to their edible oils
segment.Marico sells products in 5 litre cans and in 1 litre packets.This
ensures that their products are differentiated from other products and in
longer term helps in creating brand recognition. Various types of packaging
of saffolaoils are given below.

11. SAFFOLA TASTY GOLD TOTAL
ACTIVE
SAFFOLA GOLD AND TASTY IN 1LITRE PACKETS
RATINGS
On a scale of 1-10 1 being very unsafe and 10 being very safe FOODNET INDIA
has rated Saffola Total Oil 7.
However, if used for high heat cooking, we would reduce the safety rating to 2
(unsafe, not recommended and potentially toxic)
For wholesomeness FOODNETINDIA has rated Saffola Total Oil 5. (On a scale of 1
to 10 from very unbalanced nutrition profile to excellent nutrition profile)
SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning technique used to help a person or
organization identify the Strengths, Weakness , Opportunities and Threat related to
business competetion or project planning. So , let’s see how Saffola has intended to
specify the objectives of the business venture or projects and identify the internal or
external factors that are favourable and unfavourable in achieving the objectives.

12. GENERIC COMPETETION OF THE BRAND
Before we go on describing the generic competition for Saffola Total Oil, we need to
know what Generic Competition is at first.
So, what is Generic competition? Generic competition is the competition among
products that are different but solve the same problem or provide the same benefit or
utility, such as audio cassettes and CDs, adhesive tape and glue-sticks, carpets and
tiles.
So according to above definition, the generic competition to Saffola Total Oil is an oil
brand that made from rice bran.
There are various companies which sell different brands of Rice Bran oil in India.
Some of them are:
• PATANJALI RICE BRAN OIL – Patanjali Ayurveda
• HEALTHY HEART - Healthy Heart
Foods Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh
STRENGTHS
.Higher recall value1
.Higher PUFA2
3.Trusted Brand
WEAKNESS
1.Medicinal tag
2.Higher Cost
3.Inefficient segmentation
OPPORTUNITIES
1.New taste variants
2.360 degree marketing
THREATS
1.Competition
2.Faliure of campaigns

13. • DHARA - Mother Dairy Fruit &
Vegetable Pvt. Ltd Mother Dairy,
Patparganj, Delhi
• RICELA - AP Organics Ltd
Ludhiana, Punjab
• RISO - Kamani Oil Industries Pvt.
Ltd Mumbai
• FORTUNE RICE BRAN OIL –
Adani group
• SUNDROP HEART – Agro Tech
Foods Limited
COMPETITION IN EDIBLE
OILS
According to data from market research
firm Euromonitor International, the edible
oil category, which had overtaken dairy to
become the largest packaged food segment a few years ago, grew 25.6 per cent to
cross the Rs 1.3 trillion mark in 2017. This is the first time any packaged food
category has crossed the Rs 1.3 trillion mark. In fact, edible oil formed over 30
percent of the Rs 4.34 trillion packaged foods market in India, compared to the 8.8
per cent share held by rice, pasta and noodles. As the market share goes in Edible
oil industry there are some usual names out there as of FY 2013-14. The leading
seller is SAFFOLA with 36% percent of the market share. With 23% market share
its SUNDROP at second place and at third its FORTUNE OIL of ADANI WALIMAR
GROUP. AT 4th position its NATURE FRESH with 13 % market share. A detail
report is given below in the pie chart.

14. MARKET STRATEGY OF SAFFOLA
Marketing strategy is a long-term, forward-looking approach to planning with the
fundamental goal achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. During a lifetime of
the brand these strategies are adopted over time to tackle competition and prime
market expansion.
As there are many players in the market and there is a heavy competition weather
be it related to distribution or advertisement. So, in such volatility and uncertainties it
becomes very necessary for a brand to formulate market strategies. There are
threats of various natures wandering over the brands all the time. Some of them are
threat of substitute, competition among the players, political pressures, economic
threats, socio cultural threats, technological advancements and many others. So,
there should be appropriated strategies formulated to tackle these threats. But here

15. we will mostly talk about the strategies adopted by Saffola brand to tackle
competition and prime market expansion.
BRAND OBJECTIVES
• Achieve volume objectives
• Set up a distribution network
• Build a dealer franchise
• Build equity with customer
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
• To achieve strategic leadership in the refined oil market
• Set up state of the art manufacturing facilities in the heart of the oil belt.
• Enter through a range of multi brand oil offerings
• Ensure the best in quality, packaging, pricing and focused distribution
STRATEGIES ADOPTED OVER YEARS TO TACKLE
COMPETETION AND PRIME MARKET EXPANSION
Saffola tried to POSITION its product to the right set of consumers. So saffola
made health consciousness its priority which helped it to attract the
healthconscious consumers. Saffola tried to raise awareness among the people
about heart diseases and how choosing the right oil can make the difference. The
brand called itself ‘Life Insurance’, positioning the oil as a bulwark against heart
disease.
And the strategy worked with Saffola being among the first brands to talk about
health — albeit in a very panic inducing manner. But over the years saffola
realised that perhaps scaring the consumers may not be the best strategy. So,
from fear it moved to convincing at risk consumers to adopt better, healthier
practices. The brand also acknowledged the difficulty in getting people adopting a
healthier lifestyle with its ‘Kal Se’ commercial about a serial procrastinator, who’d
rather let his kid ride the exercise cycle, or who changes into gym clothes only to
fall asleep again. However, consumers and the category were moving a lot faster
than the brand. Even as Saffola pitched itself to consumers showing the first
signs of slowing down, the broad trend was preventive: not allowing one or one’s
family members to get to that stage in the first place. Now the managers were

16. realising that people have started to perceive saffola as the oil for unhealthy as
opposed to the oil for people who want to be healthy and have an active a fit
heart. The brand has now become a continuous investment in health. But by
positioning themselves in the right set of consumers in the right way saffola was
able to convince the consumers to put the dishes made using saffola oil on their
dining table.
Even at a time when the affluent Indian’s obsession with health was leading them
to buy super premium olive oils at two or three times the price. The brand was
meeting the challenge with new blends like Aura a combination of olive and
flaxseed oil. On the communication front, Saffola had moved past its scare
mongering on TV. It ran its own website fitfoodie which had healthy recipes of
traditional favourites ratified by nutritionists and dieticians.
The Saffolalife Initiative;
Under Saffolalife, an initiative begun in 2005, the brand promoted healthy
lifestyles and organised heart health checks. They strongly positioned on
proactive and preventive heart health. After that, saffola made sure that they have
very hard internal guidelines for product development. Unless they met those
standards, the products didn’t go out.
DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
As the company looks at future growth it has identified five areas of transformation—
innovation, go to market transformation, talent value proposition, IT and analytics

17. PRODUCTS
WHAT TO
SELL
WHERE TO
SELL
MARKETING
STRATEGY
HOW TO
SELL
and cost management. “Everything else is non-core for us,” says Gupta, whose new
strategy is to focus on improving the core
competencies and outsource the rest.
CHALLENGES WITH SUPPLY CHAIN:
The systems were unintegrated,
Production didn’t scale with logistical
requirements, Inaccurate forecasting,
Long planning cycle, no transparency of
warehouse stocks, Delayed response to
customer needs.
PROBLEMS FACED WITH
DISTRIBUTION:
No prioritizations rule for optimizing truck
loads, depot stocks reduced some days
and increased some days, needed to hire
more space when shipment exceeds
depot capacity, distributor lost confidence and customer didn’t get product when they
want. In December 2017, the company signed a contract with a global firm to
outsource its bookkeeping and supply chain processes. It believes this automation
will reduce inventory days with its suppliers, thereby increasing their return on
investment. Moreover, its salesforce can be engaged in more productive work of
demand generation resulting in better demand projection and increased throughput
as the order taking system gets automated.
Markets/Distribution Channels Marico’s rural grew by 4% while urban sales grew by
9% in Q4FY17. An update on the Company’s Go to Market Transformation journey
during FY17 is as under:
▪ Project ONE (outlet network expansion): 86000 outlets across
34 cities were added yielding a turnover of INR 88 Crores. The company
plans to add further 14000 outlets in FY18.
▪ New with Order Management Platform: Thenew Distributor
Management System along with Order Management Platform was rolled out
Pan-India and it led to significant increase in range service levels with
optimized inventory leading to lower loss of sales.
▪ Visual analytics & rich dashboards: Handheld devices powered
with visual analytics & rich dashboards have enabled the sales force to target
its efforts at the right channel and right outlets to help generate effective sales
leads. This has led to improved salesforce effectiveness.

18. ▪ Assortment Mix Analytics: The Assortment Mix Analytics which has been
successfully implemented fully in one city has now been extended to two more
cities in order to help drive cross-sales opportunities.
▪ Geo-tag-based analytics led route optimization: The project has the
potential to optimize the feet on street and drive higher outlet coverage. - Output
from the Analytics models of Category Growth Drivers and Market Mix modelling
have been used for the annual planning.
▪ New Demand Sensing model:The company also launched a new
Demand Sensing model which helps improve response to within month
forecasting changes thereby lowering the possibility of stock-outs.
Expansion in adjacent markets such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Nepal is
expected to contribute INR 100 Crore (USD 15 million) by next year. The operating
margins (before corporate allocations) are at 9.8% and 16.5% in Q4FY17 and FY17
respectively as against 12.9% and 17.0% for the same period last year. Bangladesh
(44% of the International Business), Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (15% of
the International Business). South East Asia (28% of the International Business). in
South East Asia (18% of the international business) South Africa (7% of the
International Business are expected to grow significantly after the new strategy is
effectively carried out. The Company’s Go-To-Market strategy has focused on
improving the width and depth of its distribution – both direct and wholesale.
Strategic initiatives in sales and supply chain have ushered in efficiencies in selling
and go-to-market.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
Before Implementation End of first year End of second year
Distributor stock-outs 30% of sku 20% 15%
Marico stock-outs 21% of sku 13% 9%
Excessive inventory 29 days 26 days 22 days
Excessive inventory 43m rupees 29m rupees 22m rupees
Annual supply costs 13.8m rupees 8.1m rupees 4.8m rupees
▪ PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DISTRIBUTOR RELATIONSHIP WITH
INTEGRATED SALES ROUTE OPTIMISATION (ISRO):
For long, sales route and beat design for Distributor Sales Representatives
(DSRs) were made manually, leading to inefficiencies in the geographical
cluster. Sometimes this could result in the same location being visited by both
the weekly (those having 25 outlets per day, with each outlet being serviced
once a week) and fortnightly (those having 35 outlets per day, with fortnightly

19. service frequency) DSRs, leading to inefficiencies and higher transit time
between outlets. With ISRO this process was automated based on historical
data and algorithm-based solutions, helping enhance cost-to-serve
efficiencies through route optimisation. We have successfully used
geotagging and analytics for route optimisation and extended it to 26
distributors across 8 cities, which enables coverage of more outlets with
lesser manpower. This efficiency in sales beats helped reduce manpower by
13%, which has been redeployed.
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
VENDOR MANAGED INVENTORY
WITHOUT VMI
DISTRIBUTOR MARICO
PLACES ORDER
REPLENISHMENT OF ORDER
WITH VMI
DISTRIBUTOR MARICO
PLACES ORDER
REPLENISHMENT OF ORDER BASED ON NORMS
MIDAS MI-
NET SAP

20. ▪ INFORMATION ON THE FINGERTIPS WITH TERRITORY SALES
MOBILE APPLICATION:
The territory sales officers and executives (TSO and TSE) at Marico play a
major role in generating sales and revenue. They are constantly on the move
across urban and rural markets ensuring business growth. To help them get
the right information at the right time, we introduced the TSOE mobile
application. This app has a new module that generates a Permanent Journey
Plan based on an algorithm that takes into consideration the performance of
key sales metrics. It has all the important dashboards enabling territory sales
representatives to get real-time status of the business in their areas. The app
has also been integrated with the Field Force Assessment application which
empowers employees to take better decisions and helps build capabilities. It
has also automated the assessment process for the field force. 1,800+ urban
field force was assessed via this end-to-end in-house assessment app with
better control and faster turnaround time.
▪ DRIVING RETAILER INTELLIGENCE AND ANALYTICS:
Analytics Started in Bengaluru in 2015, RETINA (Retailer Intelligence &
Analytics), a recommendation engine has been deployed across 13 cities. It
helps the Distributor Sales Representative to identify and focus on the next
best Stock Keeping Units (SKU) by suggesting relevant Stock Keeping Units
(SKU) and brands that have been on the shelf for more than 12 months at an
outlet. This simplifies the job of the DSRs on each call and increases their
productivity.
▪ ENCOURAGING CROSS POLLINATION OF BEST SALES PRACTICES ACROSS
DIFFERENT MARKETS:

21. Reduced planning cycle Lower inventory holding from 30
days to 10 days. and supply chain cost.
SAP
ADVANTAGES
Improved forecasting
ability Improved delivery ability.
After successful integration of the automated order management system in
India, we took this best practice to Bangladesh. The sales ordering process
was rendered seamless with the help of Order Management, Midas Pro and
General Trade Personal Device Assistants (PDAs) in the local language.
Midas Pro was designed to achieve time-effectiveness by reducing manual
interventions in data management, incentives, schemes etc., thereby leading
to better efficiencies such as faster claim processing and quick order-to-bill
process among others. The order management application automates and
controls the primary sales process which was manual until last year leading to
delayed dispatches.
▪ E-COMMERCE AND ORDER COLLABORATION PLATFORM:
e-commerce is an important pivot of growth and with dedicated resources and
technology, Marico has been able to double its annual revenue in the
ecommerce channel as compared to 2015.Kripalani is recasting the company
in line with the digital vision. He embarked on Project Retina, a Sales
Assortment Analytics model that enables Marico to garner higher volume
growths through the recommendation of cross-sell/upsell opportunities. Some
predictive analytics led Forecasting System for Finished Goods has led to
improvement in accuracy by around 10% points average. Marico has over
800 and 4.6 million outlets. The company has rolled out Order Collaboration
Platform for its distributors which have helped in better fill rates, improved the
visibility of stock outs thus positively impacting sales as well as the working of

22. the distributors. Plans are afoot to launch initiatives in the area of consumer
and sales engagement like geotag based route optimization scale up,
demand sensing analytics models, online sales scale up programmatic buying
and platform based approach to providing business solutions.
Marico's distribution width and penetration is acknowledged as one of the best in the
industry and is a leverage strength. Every month, 46 million consumer packs are
sold to about 1.8 million households through 1.7 million retail outlets spread across
the country. Marico's distribution network covers almost every Indian town with a
population of over 20,000.
SUMMARY
Marico today stand at a value of $ 6.2 billion market capitalisation. Marico explores
newer ways to create value in a digitally transformed world, bringing people closer
through their offerings, they are evolving into a Marico that is in step with shifting
consumer needs. At Marico, they are passionate about making measurable impact
through everything they do. Their new range of products, adoption of new
technology, strategies to connect to newer markets and new distribution models are
testament to their efforts. Their culture of empowerment, agility, bias for action and
consumer centricity are strong enablers. Going forward, as specified earlier have
identified five areas of transformation – Innovation, Go to Market, Value
Management, IT and Analytics, and Enhancing our Talent Value Proposition – to
build Marico of the future.
Marico will also intensify their endeavour to achieve inclusive growth for Companies
stakeholders, especially in the area of environmental sustainability. Few
technological incorporations undertaken are:
● Deployment of artificial intelligence to get real time feedback
Since its launch this year, it has been used by more than 70% of the new members.
It has provided an additional platform for members to voice their opinion and share
their suggestions to help make Marico a better workplace.
● Sales Mood-o-Meter:
My Voice a Sales Mood-o-Meter has been launched to take continuous real
time feedback from the sales team. The bot listens to the members in order
to address issues, engages key talent and records additional feedback from
the frontline field force of Marico. It has been prototyped with the east sales
team and 52 members have been using it regularly since its launch.
● Maricognize Kudos Bot:
Marico has successfully integrated its internal social rewards and recognition
platform ‘Maricognize’ on Facebook@ Workplace. With the use of a Kudos
Bot and its ‘Workplace first’ approach, Marico has enabled members to give
top-down and peer-to-peer recognitions publicly and globally. The bot also
enables members to redeem their reward points online. The bot was

23. launched in February 2018 and was an instant hit with more than 800 uses
within one week of its launch
● ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION:
We have leveraged latest advancements in technology like the Robotic
Process Automation (RPA) to improve efficiencies and drive accuracy through
automating systems and processes across various functions of the
organisation. Some of the examples are:
Budgetary control process in Finance: RPA helped streamline the budget
control process and significantly reduced the manual effort involved.
Freight invoice reconciliation process in Procurement:
Freight invoice reconciliation has been a manual and repetitive process which
was streamlined using the RPA system thereby reducing the amount of time
and resources spent on procurement-related activities
Recruitment process in HR:
Automation has helped simplify the recruitment process. We are currently
piloting a bot which receives the search criteria, downloads profiles and
resumes of relevant candidates and emails back the results to the recruitment
team.
With these technological incorporations Marico’s saffola expects to acquire more
market share in upcoming days.