Page 201 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Rural Marketing

Notes Wholesalers have been performing important role in the business of the manufacturers, most
important being that of making bulk purchases. It is for this reason that the wholesalers prefer
to sell products of only one manufacturer. They may take up sale of other manufacturer if there
is no competition involved. Furthermore, wholesalers take up products from other manufacturers
if they complement their main product either as an accessory or original component. The
exclusivity of product sale is legally not appropriate under the MRTP Act. Most firms however
keep the exclusivity clause in the agreement as unwritten.
In order to survive in the distribution race, wholesalers/distributors, have started to
re-focus their strategies as under:

1. Distributors/wholesalers divest themselves of small jobs and concentrate on the
distribution as their main line of business. It provides the required focus to the task of
distribution.
2. Distributors/wholesalers take up product servicing as per standards laid by the
manufacturers. They invest in service equipments, service consumables and stock of spares
required for providing quality service to the customers.
3. Distributors/wholesalers take up other customer oriented activities like providing leasing
options to the customers, through their retailers.
4. Distributors/wholesalers get their persons trained in servicing of product and in sales
techniques. They impart this training to the sales and service people of retailers to enhance
value addition to the products.
5. Distributors/wholesalers help the manufacturers in meeting their sales targets.

Task Take one FMCG one consumer durable company and analyse the effectiveness of
their distribution system. Try to suggest improvement in the same.

10.4 Retail Business

It has really come of age in the last decade of twentieth century. Retail shops have grown from
being mere storage depots of the first half of twentieth century to a chain of super markets. In
rural India there is usually a grocer’s shop which sells a variety of products.
Historically, retailing started as sales by pushcart carrying products of daily use. The cart puller
was also the salesman who vended the product in residential areas. In the morning the housewife
found the bread and butter seller at her doorstep. These salesmen, on earnings saved, hired or
purchased shops in the same localities where they were selling on the carts. While they lost on
mobility, they gained in larger product range, and bigger clientele. Some shops became almost
like morning clubs where friends would meet for making purchases and exchanging gossip and
news. Despite the entry of super market chains, these shops have survived as they do provide a
service to the local customers. In fact even handcarts have also remained as retail links and a
large variety of products are still sold on the carts for e.g. vegetables.
At present too retail has not lost its importance, at all. In fact, there have been maximum
innovations in the retail business as shown below.
1. Super markets, the one-stop shops. These shops are really multiple shops under one roof
with a large variety of products, sometimes complementary and sometimes totally
dissimilar in nature and use. The common factor in all shops remains the type of customer

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