Over the years, CCI had built its strong distribution
system consisting of company-owned, franchised and
contract manufactures and distributors. With its focus on
effective execution, in 2006, CCI introduced `Right Execution Daily' (RED),
a distribution plan which boosted the sales of its products in urban
markets through efficient brand displays and visibility programs. India, being
a predominately rural economy and all major MNCs targeting
the potential rural markets with their products, CCI was no exception.
It made its presence felt in the rural markets of India with its
unique marketing and distribution strategies. It further plans
to implement RED in these markets. However, the question to
be answered is—what are the challenges that the company
might face in reaching out to the customers in Indian rural
markets and how far can RED be extended to rural India?
Coca-Cola, the world famous and best tasting cola product
originated as soda fountain beverage in 1886, in Atlanta,
US. TCCC is the largest beverage company in the
world with its operations spread in more than 200
countries. It leads the beverage markets in the
world benefitting from its broad reach and scale. It markets nearly 500
global brands such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Maaza, etc., and more
than 3,000 beverage products including sparkling cola drinks, juices,
sports drinks and energy drinks. With
the largest product portfolio, Coca-Cola allows the people across
the globe to enjoy its beverages for about 1.6 billion times a
day. The company has been able to create
a global reach with local focus through its `Coca-Cola
System' strength, consisting of the company, bottling partners
and customers (Exhibit I). Coca-Cola manufactures the
concentrates, beverage bases and syrups and sells them to the bottling partners.
It owns the brands and focuses on marketing the brands to reach
the consumers. It works with around 300 bottling partners ranging
from international, regional to family-owned operations, responsible
for producing, packaging, distributing and merchandising its
products worldwide forming the world's largest beverage
distribution system. Its customers are
retail stores, restaurants, drug stores, etc., who in turn sell its products to
end consumers. |