Handling foods – processed, semi-processed or otherwise – is a very different ballgame from the products Dabur has peddled for decades? Did you anticipate a big market waiting to be tapped?
Handling food is a different ballgame in terms of both distribution and marketing. So far as distribution is concerned, shelf-life is of critical importance. While the products from Dabur India can sit on the selves for two to three years, the products of Dabur Foods have to be consumed within a stipulated time. Because of which you have to be pretty much on the ball all the time. You have to know which product is moving in which market and if the product is not moving then why not. Next you need to do something to move the product to another market or do some promotions around it to create interest. The problem is if you are not able to sell the product after four or five months it comes back to you and that hits your bottomline. This we realised once we got into the business. The other thing we learnt was to be stricter and tighter with reporting in terms of stock structure. We needed to know when our product move out of the stockist into the retail, and from the retail out. And this
