SERVICIO NACIONAL DE INFORMACIÓN DE COMERCIO EXTERIOR (SNICE)

The Retail Mapping is the integral part of the project and the most crucial is taking significant decisions regarding the enhancement of the distribution network involving heavy investment on account of increasing the routes and starting new routes and promotional measures on those routes to increase its market share in Delhi The new routes, exploring new markets required the decision to be supported with facts and figures which had to be provided by the Research trainees on the basis of the survey conducted in the market and processed data there of.

The retail mapping had to be conducted on the basis of the Retail Tracking Sheet (RTS), which had been developed by the Marketing Development Coordinator and Customer Executives of the Delhi unit which incorporated the retail outlets, their addresses, proprietor, respondent etc and served as a vital database for all market since then for PEPSI in Delhi and had to be incorporated in the project in accordance to the companies policies.

Objectives of Retail Mapping:

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• Assessment of retailer’s performance.

• Assessment of the level of promotional measures required for increasing market share of PEPSI.

• Collection of required information for making investment decisions for the enhancement of existing routes and opportunities for new routes in existing market as well as exploring new market.

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The duration for the completion of the Retail mapping took duration of 20 days. The entire survey was guided and directed by the Customer Executive and Daily report had to be presented to him after assessment and analysis along with other findings and observations. The Data had to be classified in a systematic manner and presented in a predefined format, which was further reviewed by the Marketing Development Coordinator.

The Retail Mapping process incorporated of including of new outlets, which have been omitted or newly opened, and the product availability on all these outlets. The major thrust was on segregating the market for Strong Area Programme and Weak Area Programme.

The Strong Area refers to the routes on which the sales targets are met without much effort and have continuous demand for the products. These areas are performing to the standards and are contented with the level of promotion schemes and other sales boosting measures. The marketing efforts are nominal in these areas because of the surplus demand and the area of concern is only to ensure the proper and efficient supply of the products to meet the demand. In the Delhi market approximately 45% of the market can be said to be strong areas and these areas include the well-developed markets as shopping malls, movie theatres, convenios, hotels, restaurants and

bars etc. For these Strong areas, SAP only aims at maintaining the performance of the product and enhancing the sales volume. It is not the area of serious concern for the company.

On the contrary the Weak Area refers to those areas or routes, which are critically low in sales and the targets, are tough to achieve and require aggressive marketing support. The demand in these areas is fluctuating or rather feeble. The routes are the area of concern for the company as the demand is very low due to many reasons and the major one is the existence of the player like Coca Cola in the market. Other reasons could be poor distribution network, inadequate availability of the products on the outlet, inadequate promotional measures and marketing support, undeveloped market as that of the interiors etc.

These weak areas had to be identified and the cause of their inferior performance had to be traced through the Retail Mapping and the company had to be provided with the facts and figures to take legitimate measure on the basis of the findings of the deficient performance of the product in these areas. This involved the aggressive marketing strategy and heavy investment decisions to strengthen these markets. For this purpose the classification of the outlets into five categories was very crucial along with the other findings and observations discussed later. These five heads of classification have been discussed as under.

ON ROUTE:

It refers to the retail outlets, which are covered by the Route Agents and visited daily for sales and merchandising. The outlet is visited daily and actively involved in the sales of all brands and flavor packs of PEPSI.

NON EXISTENCE:

It refers to the outlets which were merchandising the product are no more in existence, i.e., they have diversified their business activity or have closed.

NON POTENTIAL:

It refers to those outlets, which are in existence but have very low potential in terms of sales or are not keenly interested in merchandising the products of soft drink.

A careful assessment had to be done in case of Non Potential outlets, as they would turn to be potential in near future. It was also the area of operation of project to motivate these Non Potential outlets to undertake the merchandising of PEPSI.

POTENTIAL OUTLETS :

It refers to those outlets, which have the potential for the merchandising of PEPSI and have the required investment capabilities and can be the profitable Point Of Purchase of PEPSI by the customers. There were cases in case of these potential outlets, which were already merchandising PEPSI, and those, which did not, dealt with beverage products. The possibilities of setting monopoly counter were very fair at these outlets and were given special attention. The Potential outlets had to be further classified in two heads as below:

REACHABLE POTENTIAL OUTLETS :

It refers to those Potential outlet which are reachable i.e., the products can be made available with the PEPSI vans. The reach ability decision had to be taken in context to the accessibility of the vans at these outlets.

NON REACHABLE POTENTIAL OUTLETS :

It refers to those Potential outlets which are not accessible by the PEPSI vans. These outlets had to be considered because the sales volume can be increased at these outlets and so alternative method of distribution and promotional activities have to be evaluated and worked upon.

CORPORATE MAPPING :

Delhi being an entirely industrial city had huge potential for the sales of PEPSI in corporates as these concerns had factories, offices and canteens and the officials and workers base was very strong. The process of Retail Mapping was followed by the Corporate Mapping, which incorporated of tracing of the organizations and assessing the market for PEPSI in these areas. Apart from these the database had to be updated to turn the non-potential market in the corporate into profitable liaisons for the increment of sales volume.

THE OBJECTIVES OF CORPORATE MAPPING WERE:

 Trace the organizations with and without canteens and cafeterias and estimate the market for PEPSI.

 Estimate the brand preference of PEPSI and COKE in the corporates and the reasons thereof.

 To review the product performance and satisfaction along with the expectations of the customers in corporates including PEPSI Dispenser Equipments.

 To assess the product availability and demand of the product (Traffic) in these organizations as well as when the product has the optimum consumption

e.g. daily, delegations, meetings, parties, or other occasions and the customers i.e., whether the officials or workers or both.

 To ensure efficient supply and record any complaints or grievances thereof.

 To assess the promotional measures being adopted by Coca Cola for tapping these markets and locate the weak points in corporates having Coca Cola counters to convert them into profitable opportunities.

The Corporate Mapping was the supplementary programme in the project to boost the sales performance of PEPSI in NOIDA & NCR and capture the market share of its nearest competitor. The analysis and findings were recorded on the format provide by the company accompanied by the list of findings and observations in order or their preference and seriousness along with all the relevant details about the organization.

The matters were discussed and analyzed carefully by the MDC.

The corporate matters had to be given a special care as these had huge potential for the product. The specimen copy of the Corporate Mapping format is attached for reference. The findings and observations have been discussed in the coming pages.