Dabur India Ltd.: Building Efficiency and Optimizing Retail Performance

In August 2022, a senior sales executive at Dabur India Ltd. was facing mounting pressure to meet the company’s sales and distribution key performance indicators. He was responsible for urban retail expansion, as well as promoting new products in a territory where the company dominated the market. However, challenges such as retailer dissatisfaction and low sales were persisting due to expired products cluttering retailer shelves, among other issues. The senior sales executive was grappling to maintain sales efficiency and customer satisfaction, amid sales team governance setbacks. Key concerns included expired items on retail shelves, lack of in-store promotions, and competing sales forces becoming increasingly automated. The senior sales executive had to address these challenges to improve the territory’s performance and sales.

The case is designed for graduate and post-graduate courses that cover channel management, strategic marketing, sales and distribution management, and executive management topics. It can serve as an introduction to the correlation between a company’s performance requirements and a retailer’s objectives. The case delves into the sales and distribution management department of an FMCG company, a fast-moving consumer durables (FMCD) company, or a telecommunications distribution company, where channel or intermediary management is a pivotal requirement.<br><br>The case is intended to enhance the students’ understanding of efficiency, productivity, and the importance of placing merchandising materials in retail outlets. It emphasizes the use of the attention, interest, desire, and action (AIDA) selling framework for new product introductions. It also outlines the financial considerations related to managing trade and channel partners for retail expansion. The case will help students understand the need to apply key performance indicators (KPI) for sales teams, foster trade relationships, and drive business growth. Additionally, it emphasizes the significance of point-of-sale (POS) materials in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry.<br><br>Specifically, after working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to accomplish the following objectives:<br><br><ul><li>Identify methods for assessing field force efficiency in the Indian FMCG context (e.g., bill cut targets, weighted distribution, numeric distribution).</li><li>Understand the significance of secondary sales and the need to keep retailers stocking the company’s products, in the Indian FMCG context.</li><li>Assess the role of POS materials in the FMCG industry.</li><li>Evaluate the role of sales force automation in enhancing trade confidence and satisfaction levels.</li><li>Understand the significance of the AIDA experiential marketing model.</li><li>Identify the responsibilities of the distribution sales force and how they help deliver growth, while adapting to a changing competitive retail environment.</li></ul>

• Dabur India
• sales executive
• urban retail
• product promotion
• expired products
• retailer satisfaction
• sales efficiency
• customer satisfaction
• sales governance
• in-store promotions
• sales automation
• channel management
• strategic marketing
• distribution management
• executive management
• FMCG sales
• POS materials
• AIDA framework
• trade relationships
• business growth