P&G Dream Team League
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.
Help needed by Charan 1.
Market data suggests that around 20% of Mini market retailers have a very traditional ways of operating – they are usually present in the store for the whole day, actively involved in the daily management, have immense experience and have great relationships with shoppers who buy from them regularly. They think that they know the shoppers well and this poses a barrier for them to have a diverse assortment or increase the basket size across categories of products offered by P&G. Key strengths for these retailers include proximity to shopper, a range of good quality products and business experience. However they have very low shelf spaces, limited inventory, cramped atmosphere and limited chances of increasing shoppers .How do you suggest Charan to influence these retailers to have a higher assortment across P&G product categories and increase the basket size?
P&G Dream Team League 2.
Mini Markets do not have centralized inventory tracking systems unlike MR stores – hence there are constant issues on stock-outs/ wastages etc. How can we ensure accurate replenishment of store inventory? Can Biraj devise a solution based on technology?
3.
Ashwin is an expert on shopper insights and he wants to leverage his knowledge and skills to crack this channel. Can you suggest the top 3 shopper behavior insights at mini-markets, based on your experience,that you would use to drive actionable improvements in the way we service these stores?
4.
Supriya, a CBD manager from Trichy, observed that there are specific category challenges we face in mini-markets: Size of Babycare products consuming shelf space and loss of expensive Gillette products through theft during her rich learning experience as a field CBD manager – how can we overcome these?
5.
Ruhi is responsible on the size of price and assured on the exact ROI from the project. How will you help her calculate that? What would be the top 2 elements of cost and how would you calculate the payout?
Appendix 1 – Mini market store mix in a metro city according to sales generated per store in a 6 month period. (L=Lakhs)
P&G Dream Team League Contest Rules The Dream Team League offers you to provide your solutions to the everyday challenges in the FMCG industry. Cases would be uploaded on the Facebook group every fortnight. 1.
Cash prizes of Rs. 30,000; 15,000 and 7,500 for the winning teams of this caselet. Winning teams will also qualify for the final round to be held at P&G Mumbai Head Office.
2.
Participating teams are expected to work on the real challenges faced by Multifunction Team as outlined in the caselets.
3.
You are expected to go beyond the provided information in the case and bring fresh research and insights.
4.
The caselets require you to work on 7 functions primarily IDS, CBD, PS, F&A, CMK, HR and Marketing.
5.
Entries must be submitted before the deadline, which will be communicated on the Facebook group.
6.
Contest open to 1st and 2nd Year students of the following institutes:
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.
8.
There is no separate registration required to participate in the contest.
9.
Teams of up to 3 members can participate in the League. Teams can have students from different campuses as well.
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
[email protected] 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.
P&G Dream Team League 12. Solutions to clearly indicate Names, Institute, ID No, Mobile No, Mail ID and Team Name. 13. File should be named as --.doc; Eg. 1-XLRI-Champions.doc 14. Sources / references for data for the solution to be clearly mentioned in the footnote 15. Winners will be declared at periodic intervals on Facebook group. Prizes would be couriered to the respective Placement committee / Placement office. 16. Queries to be sent to
[email protected] with subject line : Query-Institute Name 17. Data provided in the caselets is indicative only and is provided for the purpose of the competition.
Evaluation parameters A.
Quality of Analysis
B.
Quality of Presentation
C.
Innovation
D.
Evidence of Multifunctional Approach
Usefulness for Business Implementation
