14.

DISTRIBTUION & RPOMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

ABSTRACT
Godrej and Boyce mfg co.ltd is in the business of security equipment since the year 1902.
They are one of the largest manufacturers of fire& burglar resisting safes in the world with
annual sales turnover of above USD 100 million. The Prima division of Godrej and Boyce mfg
co.ltd offers automation solutions for the modern office. The solutions involve the deployment
and integration of equipment such as video conferencing, projection systems, plasma displays,
photocopiers, printers, multi function devices and more. (In addition to this the company
provides vending services, document management, variable data printing & services in retail
distribution. It offers vending services to offices and services in Retail Distribution to companies.
It offers services in document management and variable data printing.

The Prima division of Godrej and Boyce mfg co.ltd is importing, marketing and distributing GP
batteries. The company as a new entrant to the battery market should know the major market
players and their distribution and promotion strategies.

The prime aim of this research is to devise distribution and promotional strategies to be adopted
by Godrej and Boyce to market GP Batteries. So a research was conducted to meet the above
said objectives. The study was limited to the state of Kerala.

Descriptive research methodology was undertaken and Primary and Secondary data was
collected. Primary data was collected in the form of well structured interview schedules for the
retailers as well as distributors. Direct interview method was also used. Secondary data was
collected from internet sources and company reports.

The data was collected from all the five cities and two municipalities of Kerala to know the
market potential for alkaline and rechargeable battery in Kerala. The sampling method followed
was Snow Ball sampling. Hundred and one samples were taken. (Trivandrum, Kollam,
Ernakulam, Kottayam, Trichur, Palakkad and Kozhikode are the areas that were covered). The
major limitation of the study was that the data was collected from seven cities and the results
cannot be generalized for the whole of Kerala.
The study indicated that majority of the retailers are margin conscious. It was also found out that
the customers are brand-specific in case of alkaline battery. The major consumer segments for
alkaline and rechargeable battery are photographers and users of electronic items. The study also
revealed the distribution channel and the margins provided by the competitors.

Based on the findings it was recommended that the company should have a selective distribution
channel with one distributor in every towns and cities. The distributors should be appointed on
the basis of the financial and human resource he has to ensure that the product reaches the retail
outlet on time.

The research design for the project is Descriptive research design.

Snow ball sampling method was used to collect data from the retailers as well as distributors. Of
the fourteen districts in Kerala, five cities and two municipalities were selected and the data was
collected from retailers to know the market potential of alkaline and rechargeable battery
segment in Kerala.

Sample size
Hundred and one retailers were interviewed from the seven cities across Kerala.

Distributors of market players were interviewed to know the distribution activities and the
sample size is ten.

Sampling Unit
The sampling unit selected for this research work was, retailers of alkaline and rechargeable
batteries in five cities and two municipalities of Kerala.

Tools for analysis

Cross tabulation, percentage analysis, Friedman test were used for analysis of the data collected.