2008-10

Distribution System of HUL

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 Introduction ‐ Hindustan Unilever Limited

Hindustan Unilever Limited (‘HUL’), formerly Hindustan Lever Limited (it was renamed in late
June 2007 as HUL), is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods company, touching the lives
of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal Care Products
and Foods & Beverages. These products endow the company with a scale of combined volumes
of about 4 million tonnes and sales of nearly Rs. 13718 crores.

HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognised as a Golden Super Star
Trading House by the Government of India.

The mission that inspires HUL's over 15,000 employees, including over 1,300 managers, is to
"add vitality to life." HUL meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with
brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. It is a mission HUL shares
with its parent company, Unilever, which holds 52.10% of the equity. The rest of the
shareholding is distributed among 360,675 individual shareholders and financial institutions.

HUL's brands ‐ like Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond's, Sunsilk, Clinic,
Pepsodent, Close‐up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr‐Annapurna, Kwality Wall's – are
household names across the country and span many categories ‐ soaps, detergents, personal
products, tea, coffee, branded staples, ice cream and culinary products. These products are
manufactured over 40 factories across India. The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers and
associates. HUL's distribution network comprises about 4,000 redistribution stockists, covering
6.3 million retail outlets reaching the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural
consumers.

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 Distribution Network of HUL
Evolution over Time
The HUL’s distribution network has evolved with time.

 The first phase of the HUL distribution network had wholesalers placing bulk orders
directly with the company. Large retailers also placed direct orders, which comprised
almost 30 per cent of the total orders collected. The company salesman grouped all
these orders and placed an indent with the Head Office. Goods were sent to these
markets, with the company salesman as the consignee. The salesman then collected and
distributed the products to the respective wholesalers, against cash payment, and the
money was remitted to the company.

 The focus of the second phase, which spanned the decades of the 40s, was to provide
desired products and quality service to the company's customers. In order to achieve
this, one wholesaler in each market was appointed as a "Registered Wholesaler," a stock
point for the company's products in that market. The company salesman still covered
the market, canvassing for orders from the rest of the trade. He then distributed stocks
from the Registered Wholesaler through distribution units maintained by the company.
The Registered Wholesaler system, therefore, increased the distribution reach of the
company to a larger number of customers.

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The highlight of the third phase was the concept of "Redistribution Stockist" (RS) who
replaced the RWs. The RS was required to provide the distribution units to the company
salesman. The second characteristic of this period was the establishment of the
"Company Depots" system. This system helped in transshipment, bulk breaking, and as a
stockpoint to minimise stock‐outs at the RS level. In the recent past, a significant change
has been the replacement of the Company Depot by a system of third party Carrying
and Forwarding Agents (C&FAs). The C&FAs act as buffer stock‐points to ensure that
stock‐outs did not take place. The C&FA system has also resulted in cost savings in terms
of direct transportation and reduced time lag in delivery. The most important benefit
has been improved customer service to the RS.

warehousing facilities, providing manpower, providing

data, demand simulation and screening for transit damages.

H UL
Fa cto

The role performed by the Redistribution Stockists includes: Financing stocks, providing
service to retailers,
implementing promotional activities, extending indirect coverage, reporting sales and stock

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Detail Overview
The distribution network of HUL is one of the key strengths that help it to supply most products
to almost any place in the country from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. This includes, maintaining
favorable trade relations, providing innovative incentives to retailers and organizing
demand generation activities among a host of other things. Each business of HUL portfolio has
customized the network to meet its objectives. The most obvious function of providing the
logistics support is to get the company’s product to the end customer.

Distribution System of HUL

HUL's products are distributed through a network of 7,000 redistribution stockists, covering 6.3
million retail outlets reaching the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural
consumers. There are 35 C&FAs in the country who feed these redistribution stockists regularly.
The general trade comprises grocery stores, chemists, wholesale, kiosks and general stores.
Hindustan Unilever provides tailor made services to each of its channel partners. It has
developed customer management and supply chain capabilities for partnering emerging
self‐service stores and supermarkets. Around 2,000 suppliers and associates serve HUL’s 40
manufacturing plants which are decentralized across 2 million square miles of territory.

(Fig. 1 – Schematic of HUL’s Distribution Network)

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 1. Distribution at the Villages:

The company has brought all markets with populations of below 50,000 under one rural sales
organisation. The team comprises an exclusive sales force and exclusive redistribution stockists.
The team focuses on building superior availability of products. In rural India, the network
directly covers about 50,000 villages, reaching 250 million consumers, through 6000 sub‐
stockists.

(Fig. 2 – Rural Distribution Model of HUL)

HUL approached the rural market with two criteria ‐ the accessibility and viability. To service
this segment, HUL appointed a Redistribution stockist who was responsible for all outlets
and all business within his particular town. In the 25% of the accessible markets with low
business potential, HUL assigned a sub stockist who was responsible to access all the villages at
least once in a fortnight and send stocks to those markets. This sub‐stockist distributes the
company's products to outlets in adjacent smaller villages using transportation suitable to
interconnecting roads, like cycles, scooters or the age‐old bullock cart. Thus, Hindustan Unilever
is trying to circumvent the barrier of motorable roads. The company simultaneously uses the
wholesale channel, suitably incentivising them to distribute company products. The most
common form of trading remains the grassroots buy‐and‐sell mode. This enables HUL to
influence the retailers stocks and quantities sold through credit extension and trade discounts.
HUL launched this Indirect Coverage (IDC) in 1960s. Under the Indirect Coverage (IDC) method,
company vans were replaced by vans belonging to Redistribution Stockists, which serviced a
select group of neighbouring markets.

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 2. Distribution at the Urban centres:

Distribution of goods from the manufacturing site to C & F agents take place through either the
trucks or rail roads depending on the time factor for delivery and cost of transportation.
Generally the manufacturing site is located such that it covers a bigger geographical segment of
India. From the C & F agents, the goods are transported to RS’s by means of trucks and the
products finally make the ‘last mile’ based on the local popular and cheap mode of transport.

3. New distribution channels:

PROJECT SHAKTI

This model creates a symbiotic partnership between HUL and its consumers. Started in the late
2000, Project Shakti had enabled Hindustan Lever to access 80,000 of India's 638,000 villages.
HUL's partnership with Self Help Groups (SHGs) of rural women, is becoming an extended arm
of the company's operation in rural hinterlands. Project Shakti has already been extended to
about 12 states ‐ Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
The respective state governments and several NGOs are actively involved in the initiative. The
SHGs have chosen to partner with HUL as a business venture, armed with training from
HUL and support from government agencies concerned and NGOs. Armed with micro‐credit,
women from SHGs become direct‐to‐home distributors in rural markets.

The model consists of groups of (15‐20) villagers below the poverty line (Rs.750 per month)
taking micro‐credit from banks, and using that to buy our products, which they will then
directly sell to consumers. In general, a member from a SHG selected as a Shakti entrepreneur,
commonly referred as 'Shakti Amma' receives stocks from the HUL rural distributor. After being
trained by the company, the Shakti entrepreneur then sells those goods directly to consumers
and retailers in the village. Each Shakti entrepreneur usually service 6‐10 villages in the
population strata of 1,000‐2,000. The Shakti entrepreneurs are given HUL products on a `cash
and carry basis.'

The following two diagrams show the Project Shakti model as initiated by HUL.

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Project Streamline

To cater to the needs of the inaccessible market with high business potential HUL initiated
a Streamline initiative in 1997. Project Streamline is an innovative and effective distribution
network for rural areas that focuses on extending distribution to villages with less than 2000
people with the help of rural sub‐stockists/Star Sellers who are based in these very
villages. As a result, the distribution network directly covers as of now about 40 per cent of the
rural population.

Under Project Streamline, the goods are distributed from C & F Agents to Rural Distributors
(RD), who has 15‐20 rural sub‐stockists attached to him. Each of these sub‐stockists / star
sellers is located in a rural market. The sub‐stockists then perform the role of driving
distribution in neighboring villages using unconventional means of transport such as tractor
and bullock carts. Project Streamline being a cross functional initiative, the Star Seller sells
everything from detergents to personal products.

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Higher quality servicing, in terms of frequency, credit and full‐line availability, is to be provided
to rural trade as part of the new distribution strategy.

The diagram shows the model of Project Streamline.

HINDUSTAN LEVER NETWORK (HLN)

It is the company's arm in the Direct Selling channel, one of the fastest growing in India today. It
already has about several lakh consultants ‐ all independent entrepreneurs, trained and guided
by HLN's expert managers. HLN has already spread to over 1500 towns and cities, covering 80%
of the urban population, backed by 42 offices and 240 service centres across the country. It
presents a range of customised offerings in Home & Personal Care and Foods.

The New Compensation plan for HLN partners provides new exciting ways of earning
substantial income in addition to offering rewards like revenue sharing through the innovative
concept of “pools”

MOTHER DEPOT AND JUST IN TIME SYSTEM

In order to rationalise the logistics and planning task, an innovative step has been the formation
of the Mother Depot and Just in Time System (MD‐JIT). Certain C&FAs were selected across the
country to act as mother depots. Each of them has a minimum number of JIT depots attached
for stock requirements. All brands and packs required for the set of markets which the MD and

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JITs service in a given area are sent to the mother depot by all manufacturing units. The
JITs draw their requirements from the MD on a weekly or bi‐weekly basis.

LEVERAGING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

HUL customers are serviced on continuous replenishment. This is possible because of IT

connectivity across the extended supply chain of about 2,000 suppliers, 80 factories and 7,000
stockists. This sophisticated network with its voice and data communication facilities has linked
more than 200 locations all over the country, including the head office, branch offices, factories,
depots and the key redistribution stockists. They have also combined backend processes into a
common Shared Service infrastructure, which supports the units across the country. All these
initiatives together have enhanced operational efficiencies, improved the service to the
customers and have brought us closer to the marketplace.

RS Net Initiative:

The RS Net initiative, launched in 2001, aims at connecting Redistribution Stockists (RSs)
through an internet based system. It now covers stockists of the Home & Personal Care
business and Foods & Beverages in close to 1200 towns and cities. Together they account for
about 80% of the company's turnover. RS Net is one of the largest B2B e‐commerce initiatives
ever undertaken in India. It provides linkages with the RSs’ own transaction systems,
enables monitoring of stocks and secondary sales and optimises RS’s orders and inventories
on a daily basis through online interaction on orders, despatches, information sharing and
monitoring. The IT‐powered system has been implemented to supply stocks to
redistribution stockists on a continuous replenishment basis. Today, the sales system gets to
know every day what HUL stockists have sold to almost a million outlets across the country.
Information on secondary sales is now available on RS Net every day.

RS Net is part of Project Leap. Project Leap begins with the supplier runs through the factories
and depots and reaches up to the RSs. This ensures HUL’s growth by ensuring that the right
product is available at the right place in the right quantities and at the right time in the most
cost‐effective manner. Leap also aims at reducing inventories and improving efficiencies
right through the extended supply chain.

RS Net has come as a force multiplier for HUL Way, the company's action‐plan to not only
maximise the number of outlets reached but also to achieve leadership in every outlet. RS Net
has enabled stockists to place orders on a Continuous Replenishment System. This in turn has
unshackled the field force to solely focus on secondary sales from the stockists to retailers and
market activation. It has also enabled RSs to provide improved service to retail outlets.

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Simultaneously, HUL is servicing the rural market, key urban outlets, and the modern trade as a
single concern.

Adexa iCollaboration suite:

In 2000, HUL identified improved supply chain management as a critical business priority and
launched a comprehensive initiative, “Project Leap” tasked with increasing supplier/distributor
responsiveness, reducing inventory buffers, and optimizing planning and scheduling. HUL chose
the Adexa iCollaboration suite for facilitating centralized monitoring of the SCM, live
customer /supplier collaboration, and integrating demand and distribution planning with
production scheduling. With the aggregated view of data provided by the iCollaboration suite,
HUL was able to combine sales and distribution efforts on the diverse product lines, which
resulted in significant savings on the cost side for inventories and distribution. HUL updates
inventory positions, shipments and customer orders on a daily basis with these software
packages and can get a pulse on the market real time.

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(Fig. 3 – HUL’s Turnover Compared with Competitors, 2006)

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(Fig. 4 – HUL’s Market Leadership across various FMCG Categories)

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 Channel Design
Hindustan Lever Limited (HUL) has two types of channel selling ‐

 Regular (traditional) retail channel,

 Direct Selling Channel in the name of Hindustan Lever Network (HLN).

HUL has a well entrenched high distribution model which comprises of C&FAs,
Redistribution Stockists, wholesalers and retailers (as shown earlier). Hindustan Unilever's
distribution network is recognized as one of its key strengths. Its focuses on Product availability,
Brand communication, and higher levels of brand experience.

HUL’s Sales Break‐up through different channels:

Sales Break-up Through Different Channels

33%
7% Modern Retail
Urban General Trade
Rural Areas

60%

Channel Structure

Typically, the goods produced in each of the HUL's 40 factories are sent to a depot with the
help of a carrying and forwarding agent (C&FA). The company has its depot in every state of the
country. The C&FA is a third party and gets servicing fee for stock and delivery of the products.
In each town, there is at least a redistribution stockist (RS) who takes the goods from the C&FA
and sells them to retail outlets.

The HUL management realized certain problems with the existing sales model. First, the model
was not viable for small towns with small population and small business. HUL found it
expensive to appoint one stockist exclusively for each town. Secondly, the retail revolution in
the country has changed the pattern the customers shop. Large retail self service shops are
becoming commonplace.

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In response of these problems, HUL redesigned its sales and distribution channel and the new
system is known as 'diamond model' in the company. At the top end of the diamond, there are
the self service retail stores which constitute 10% of the total FMCG market. The middle, fatter
part of the diamond represents the profit‐center based sales team. In the bottom of the
pyramid is the rural marketing and distribution which accounts for 20% of the business. As
a result of the new distribution plan the company has planned to reduce the number of RS in
small towns.

Field Sales Force

To meet the ever‐changing needs of the consumer, HUL has set up a distribution network that
ensures availability of all their products, in all outlets, at all times. This includes,
maintaining favourable trade relations, providing innovative incentives to retailers and
organizing demand generation activities among a host of other things.

The important activities that HUL field sales force does are (i) target chasing and (ii) reporting
on a daily basis. Account information is maintained on palmtops given by HUL. During a
research and informal survey of HUL field sales force, it was found that for the last two years,
training is not being given at all to the sales force.

HUL has limited the network channel selling to categories of Home & Personal Care (HPC) and
Food products with exclusive brands for this channel. That is, these particular brands (products)
are all exclusive to HLN, specifically developed for the Direct Selling channel, and not available
in the retail channel. The general trade comprises grocery stores, chemists, wholesaler, kiosks
and general stores. Hindustan Unilever services each with a tailor‐made mix of services.

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Initiatives taken to improve the Distribution Network
HUL has taken the following initiatives to improve its distribution network:

 Setting up of a full‐scale sales organisation comprising key account management

and activation to impact, fully engage and service modern retailers as they emerge.
 Servicing Channel partners and customers with continuous daily replenishment.
 Leveraging scale and building expertise to service Modern Trade and Rural Markets.
 Delayering of sales force to improve response times and service levels.
 Revamping of its sales organisation in the rural markets to fully meet the emerging
needs and increased purchasing power of the rural population. HUL’s distribution
network in rural India already directly covers about 50,000 villages, reaching about 250
million consumers through about 6,000 sub stockists.
 Implementation of supply chain system that connects stockists across the country, and
also includes a back‐end system connecting suppliers, all company sites and stretching
right up to stockists. IT tools have been deployed for connectivity across the extended
supply chains. Backend processes have been combined into a common Shared Service
infrastructure.
 Launching of Project Shakti through which the company is able to extend its operations
in villages. HUL has also included several NGOs and state governments as the initiative
helps rural women to improve their financial position.
 Launching of HUL Network to leverage the channel of direct selling by presenting
customised offerings in 11 home and personal care and food categories. Started in 2003,
it already has a base of 300,000 consultants across the country.
 Starting of franchised Lakme Beauty Salons and Ayush Therapy centres to offer
standardised services, in line with the strategy to leverage the equity of its brands
through relevant services.
 Finding out Innovative ways to reach out to its consumers, particularly in rural areas by
leveraging non‐conventional media like wall paintings, cinema vans, weekly markets
(haats), fairs and festivals.
 Initiating the concept of Super Value Stores (SVS) in urban areas to partner traditional
stores to provide a range of services ranging from managing their inventory to setting up
POS (point of sale) banners. In addition to this, to boost up traditional retail in the face
increasing in‐roads made by large, modern retailing chains like Spencer’s, Reliance Fresh
etc (where HUL is squeezed harder for discounts), HUL started restructuring some of the
selected SVSs into the form of self‐service retail shops a la modern retails. This is to
protect & maintain the competitive advantage that HUL has over its biggest competitors

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 in the other markets (e.g., P&G), with its very deep distribution reach through
traditional retail.
 Launching the Unicare scheme with upmarket pharmacies and retailers to sale its
premium brands.
 Undertaking several initiatives for traditional channels in order to improve its
capabilities at the front‐end by developing skills for stockists' sales force. Under 'Project
Dronacharya', the FMCG major continuously imparted training to over 10,000 stockist
salesmen.
 Launching of several promotional schemes for existing wholesalers and distributors. For
instance, it has started the ‘Vijeta ‐ Rishta Jeet Ka’ scheme last year to provide a
platform for the wholesaler and HUL to grow the business by earning points and
redeeming them.

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 Analytical Framework
To analyze HUL’s distribution network in the light of 20 most significant variables that affect the
distribution part of channel management for any organization in the business of marketing &
selling of goods. The variables, their explanations and their impact on the HUL’s distribution
network are given below –

1. NUMBER OF CONSUMERS

In retail business dominated by traditional stores like Kirana Stores etc (Indian retail business
falls in this category), higher the no. of consumers, higher will be the no. of channel
intermediaries. The implication of this is that there will be many layers in the channel in such a
situation and managing such a complex distribution network by keeping tabs on every player
will be a huge task. Moreover, Transport & Logistics (“T&L”) support provided by the
organization needs to be well organized.

Implication for HUL: HUL’s key strength lies in managing its distribution network in India. HUL is
India’s largest FMCG company with unmatched distribution network, which is built over a
century focusing on traditional retail. HUL’s distribution network comprises about 4,000
redistribution stockists, covering about 6.3 million retail outlets reaching the entire urban
population, and about 250 million rural consumers in India. It’s said that HUL is able to touch
the lives of about 2 out of every 3 Indian consumers. This achievement is due to the sheer
strength of its distribution network (products should be good as always, otherwise they will find
no buyers in the long run). For a comparison, P&G, world’s largest FMCG major, does not find
its name in the list of top 5 FMCG majors in India as its strength lies in managing modern retail
(biggest example, Wal‐Mart), but not traditional retail.

2. GEOGRAPHIC DISPERSION OF CONSUMERS

Again, this is closely related with the previous variable, more so in a large, geographically
diverse country like in India. With the increase in this dispersion level, more intermediaries and
more layers are required in the distribution network so as to effectively reach the length &
breadth of the country. Obviously the T&L management for such an organization would be
critical to accomplish this.

Implication for HUL: For a country as geographically diverse as India, pan‐Indian presence &
market leadership can only be possible when products reach even the remotest parts of the
country. HUL is very successful in achieving and maintaining this reach due to its distribution
network.

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 3. FREQUENCY OF PURCHASE

If the frequency of purchase is high, then transport intensity in “the last mile” (i.e., from
distributor to retailers) increases manifold. For FMCG products, as a thumb rule we can take
that the mean time between two purchases is ~ 90 days. With the introduction of smaller form
factor packaging for FMCG goods (Re.1 /‐ shampoo sachets being a very good example), the
transport intensity increased further.

Implication for HUL: HUL has about 4000 redistribution stockists, who supply to approx. 6.3
million outlets across India. Since manufacturing is done at 40 plants around the country,
rationalizing the logistics and planning is a huge task. An innovative step in that regard has been
the formation of the Mother Depot and Just in Time System (MD‐JIT). Certain C&FAs were
selected across the country to act as mother depots. Each of them has a minimum number of
JIT depots attached for stock requirements. All brands and packs required for the set of markets
which the MD and JITs service in a given area are sent to the mother depot by all manufacturing
units. The JITs draw their requirements from the MD on a weekly or bi‐weekly basis and supply
to stockists in that area, who, in turn, supply to retailers.

4. TENDENCY TO POSTPONE PURCHASE

If the tendency to postpone purchase is lesser, then the product will be easier to distribute. For
example, products/services like Fire Extinguishers, Life Insurance etc. are such that though
these are needed, the overall tendency for the consumers is to postpone the purchases – these
products/services can be termed as “necessary evil”. For this kind of products, regular
reinforcement in the minds of consumers becomes necessary, sales field force becomes critical
and use of “expert” field force is commonplace.

Implication for HUL: Since FMCG products are used regularly and these products are not
“necessary evils”, distribution network of HUL does not require any expert field force to sell its
products. Only the recent diversification of HUL into Home Water Purification business (“Pure
It” brand) needs dedicated field sales force.

5. LEVEL OF FAMILIARITY/KNOWLEDGE (OF CONSUMER) ABOUT THE PRODUCT

If the level of familiarity of consumer with the product is higher, lower will be the importance of
field sales force and higher will be the importance of channel.

Implication for HUL: Since FMCG goods are very much familiar to consumers, channel and its
different members are very much important to HUL and field sales force’s function is
mostly limited to channel management and ensuring availability of products.

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 6. DEGREE OF BRAND LOYALTY

If the consumers are more brand loyal, then less “push” will be required from the channel
members to sell the products as there will be sufficient “pull” or demand from the consumers.
This implies that for products with loyal customer base, efforts from the channel members can
be much lesser for final off‐take to happen which in turn leads to lesser margins to the channel
members for those products. For faster moving products (mostly due to brand pull), retailers
may not be averse to slightly lesser margins as rotation of the products is high and thus his/her
ROI is protected, Retailer’s ROI = Margin × Rotation/ Investment

For a FMCG player with a non‐established brand, margins to channel members and point of sale
(POS) advertising are both important.

Implication for HUL: As HUL enjoys leadership position in many FMCG segments like Soaps,
Detergents, Personal Care products etc with strong brands with continuous “pull”, HUL has less
to worry about margins to channel members or POS advertising. But this situation can change
considerably in the face of rise of a significant competitor having almost the same reach as HUL
has (e.g., ITC as it’s eating into HUL’s market share continuously since it entered FMCG
segment).

7. PURCHASED ON IMPULSE

The impulse purchase products like chocolates, toffees, colas, ice creams etc. follow Say’s Law
which states that “Supply Creates Demand”, implying availability of these products are the
most critical aspect for these to be sold and consumed. This stresses on the fact that T&L for
these products becomes very important.

Implication for HUL: HUL has only one product in this impulse purchase category ‐ Kwality
Walls (ice cream). HUL is #2 after Amul in this FMCG segment. To increase this brand’s sale &
market share, availability, visibility and consumer mind share has to be increased and improved
as well.

8. LEVEL OF INVOLVEMENT (LOI)

Level of involvement (i.e., time & effort spent by the consumer) generally depends on the
product cost. If LOI is higher, lower is the importance of availability and more critical is the
supply of information as consumer decision process depends more on elaborate information
search.

Implication for HUL: As FMCG products are generally Low Involvement Products, HUL has to
bother more on ensuring availability of the products, rather than supply of information.

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 9. PURCHASED AS A BASKET OF GOODS

The products which are generally bought together by consumers as a basket of goods (e.g.,
Rice, Flour powder, Cooking oil etc at the beginning of the month) are to be made available
together for final off‐take.

Implication for HUL: This aspect partly applies to HUL’s products as some products like
shampoos, soaps; detergents may fall in a basket. Efficient distribution network of HUL ensures
availability of all such products at each selling point (individual retailer).

10. SPEED & COMPLEXITY OF DECISION MAKING PROCESS

If the speed is low, then the complexity of the decision making process is higher and greater is
the importance of field sales force and the salespersons’ skill, knowledge and quality.

Implication for HUL: For FMCG products, complexity of decision making process is not there
and so, speed of decision making is high. This means that for HUL, field sales force is of limited
functional usage.

11. PRESENT OF EXPERT INFLUENCER IN THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Roles of sales field force vary depending upon whether expert influencer (e.g., doctors) is
present in the process or not. If present, then consumer buying behavior may become
subcontracted and the expert influencer becomes another customer of the network, apart from
the end‐user. In that situation two groups of sales force are needed to cater to both the
segments.

Implication for HUL: For FMCG goods, role of expert influencer is limited. But companies try to
associate brands with regulatory bodies/authorities and show advertising with experts
commenting upon superior virtues of a product in an attempt to make the buying behaviour
shift from picking/variety‐ seeking to subcontracted and make consumers more loyal to the
brand. These are true for HUL also (e.g., Pond’s Intitute).

12. ELEMENT OF CRISIS PURCHASE EXISTS

If element of crisis purchase exists in the buying decision of a product (for example, bulbs &
tubes), then its availability becomes critical.

Implication for HUL: None of the products of HUL fall under this category. Nevertheless,
availability of products of HUL is necessary for other reasons.

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 13. ELEMENT OF RISK AVERSION EXISTS

If the level of involvement of the consumer in buying decision process is higher, risk taking
tendency of the consumer will be lower or consumer will be more risk averse. In such a
situation, channel members can “unsell” a brand by giving explicit or implicit suggestions. This
implies that in such a case, selling depends on many cases how the company is taking care of
channel members (“keeping them happy”) such that they are not lured by other competitors or
directed by grievances so as to unsell the brand. This situation is prevalent mostly in Consumer
Durables (like TV, Refrigerators etc.). In FMCG goods, the situation does not exist per se.

Implication for HUL: HUL is not affected for its FMCG products by this variable. For water
purifier “Pure It”, this can have considerable impact if its sale starts to happen through channel
members rather than by field sales force as is happening now.

14. PERISHABILITY OF THE PRODUCT

If the product is perishable (having small shelf life; examples – newspaper, milk, fruits etc), then
the dimension of “speed” in reaching the end consumers becomes critical & T&L assumes great
significance for the company.

Implication for HUL: The FMCG products that HUL sells are not perishable by nature, but have
limited life. So this aspect is not critical for HUL.

15. TIME BAND ASSOCIATED WITH THE PURCHASE OF THE PRODUCT

If there is seasonality/cyclicity for the demand or purchase of the product (examples –

newspaper, milk are most on demand in the 1st three hours of the day; cooking oil, rice etc
grocery items are most on demand in the 1st week of the month), then high T&L and
infrastructural requirements are needed for the “last mile” for the time band when demand is
maximum. It is possible to have idle capacity in the areas mentioned above outside the peak
required time band.

Implication for HUL: For some of the products of HUL, the above stated variable is significant.
For example, in Food segment, Branded Atta – ‘Annapurna’; in segments like Laundry
Detergents, Shampoo & Hair Oil etc. this element of demand time band exist to a certain
extent. This underscores the importance of T&L for HUL as the transport intensity
between distributors and retailers increases in the 1st & 4th week of a month for the
products mentioned above. This is over and above the regular replenishment of stocks at
retailers done by distributors. Festivals like Holi etc. may also increase the demand for personal
care items like soaps, shampoos etc for a short period and distribution network should be
geared up not to miss any such opportunity.

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 16. FUNGIBILITY

Fungibility is the property of a good or a commodity whose individual units are capable of
mutual substitution. Examples of highly fungible commodities are crude oil, wheat, orange
juice, precious metals, and currencies. Fungibility has nothing to do with the ability to exchange
one commodity for another different commodity. It refers only to the ease of substitution of
one unit of a commodity with another unit of the same commodity for all intents and purposes.

Fungibility is different from liquidity. A good is liquid and tradable if it can be easily exchanged
for money or for another different good. A good is fungible if one unit of the good is
substantially equivalent to another unit of the same good of the same quality at the same time
and place. It is said that commodities are fungible, goods tangible, services intangible,
experiences memorable & transformations are effectual.

As an example, one Rs. 100/‐ bank note is interchangeable with another. Cash is fungible. A
barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil is fungible (direct exchange) with another barrel of
the same crude oil. Oil (of the same type) is fungible.

Fungibility does not imply liquidity, and liquidity does not imply fungibility. Jewels can be
readily bought and sold (the trade is liquid), but individual diamonds, being unique, are
not interchangeable (diamonds are not fungible). Indian rupee bank notes are interchangeable
in London (they are fungible there), but they are not easily traded there (they are not liquid in
London). In contrast to diamonds, gold coins are fungible. They are also liquid, especially under
a gold standard. The combination of fungibility and liquidity is one of the reasons why gold has
successfully served as money for thousands of years.

Further, a fungible thing can become non‐fungible under some circumstances. For example, an
old coin or a currency note may assume a value which is way above its ‘face value’ due to
historical reasons or due to some defects in it which makes it unique from others from a
viewpoint which sees it differently than its intended purpose.

The outcome of product fungibility is that the more fungible a product becomes, higher is the
chance that parts of the distribution channel it can be replaced by IT. A good example of this is
dematerialization (Demat) route for share trading now where there is no physical existence of
shares.

Implication for HUL: As branded FMCG goods are not fungible per se (branding is done to
“decommoditize” & differentiate the product), the importance of channel members will
continue.

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 17. DEGREE OF CUSTOMIZATION POSSIBLE

Degree of customization directly affects economies of scale; higher the customization, lesser
the economies of scale. Also, criticality of sales field force increases with customization levels of
the offering.

Implication for HUL: For FMCG products of HUL, which are mass produced, such customizations
are not possible and thus with higher economies of scale, lower criticality of field forces from
the standpoint of customization of product offerings, costs are lower in these respects with
HUL.

18. NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE REINFORCING PRODUCT

Negative reinforcing products are those which are bought to avoid/reduce the problem (ex. –
insurance, washing machine, car battery etc). Positive reinforcing products are those which
gratify the senses (ex. – Perfumes, Chocolates, Vacation etc). Shopping experience becomes a
critical aspect for positive reinforcing products to reaffirm the positive feelings.

Implication for HUL: “Axe” & “Rexona” deodorants are distinctly positive reinforcing products
from HUL, including others like Lux, Lakme etc. So these are seen in most shopping malls etc.
with high visibility displays to reaffirm the feelings. Consumers are willing to pay higher for
these brands.

19. VALUE/VOLUME RATIO (VALUE DENSITY) OF THE PRODUCT

This ratio is very important for both the company and the retailer for its two critical aspects –
T&L cost and retailer ROI/sq. cm (retailers are actually in real estate business in true sense).
Higher the ratio, better it is for both company and the retailer as higher ratio signifies lesser
T&L cost per unit volume transported for the company and greater ROI per unit of shelf space
for the retailer.

Implication for HUL: In general for FMCG goods and for HUL as well, value density is relatively
lower. In addition to this fact, increasing trend towards using smaller pack sizes increases the
packaging density (increased packaging density increase cost to some extent, but favours
mechanized handling greatly, reducing handling costs). Since value density is less,
transportation costs will be higher and thus it is of economic sense to have manufacturing
plants located closure to major markets. This is the reason HUL has various manufacturing
plants (40 in totality) located across India. This is a pointer to the fact most of the major
FMCG players (including HUL) use contracted manufacturing dispersed across the
geographic spread so as to lower transportation cost component.

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 Conclusion
Hindustan Unilever, which once pioneered distribution in India, is today
reinventing distribution - creating new channels, and redefining the way current
channels are serviced. In the process it is converging product availability, with
brand communication and brand experience.

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