Abstract

The case study ‘Britannia’s Rural Market Push’ describes the product and distribution strategies of Britannia Industries Limited (Britannia) to strengthen its presence in rural India. This helped Britannia achieve a 21.5% year-on-year revenue growth even as other FMCG companies were registering sluggish growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Britannia’s growth was attributed to its strong presence in the rural markets, which were not as adversely impacted as the urban markets by the COVID-19 pandemic. The case begins with the origins of Britannia’s rural push followed by the product strategy applied by its Managing Director, Varun Berry (Varun), for the rural markets in which appropriately priced and packaged Lower Unit Packs (LUPs) of both basic and premium products were offered. Next, the case focuses on the distribution strategies applied by Britannia including the direct distribution and zero-day inventory models that ensured efficient and cost-effective delivery of its products. The case ends with a note on the future investment plans of Britannia to further deepen its distribution network in rural areas, launch vitamin rich and immunity boosting products, expand its dairy offerings and establish new production units.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Become aware of the growing importance of rural marketing
• Understand the nature and characteristics of the Indian rural markets
• Learn about the importance of an efficient distribution system in rural markets
• Understand the benefits of aptly priced and packaged products for rural markets
• Become aware of high-end technologies like census mapping and geo-spatial analytics in optimizing distribution reach in rural markets

Keywords

Rural Markets; Rural Marketing Strategies; Product Strategy; Distribution Strategy; Channel Management; Direct distribution; Zero-day inventory Model; Rural Sales Channel; Supply Chain Management; Rural Consumers; Retail Point-of-Sales Solutions; Census Mapping; Geo-spatial Analytics