It needs to attain relevance in discrete markets with spin against a cohesive
strategy. In our country, most of the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) suffer from huge
accumulated inventories. The women SHGs of Howrah and Hooghly district of West Bengal
are not mere exceptions in this regard. Although, they prepare papads, achars or jute made handicraft products of best quality possible with their inadequate
finances and infrastructure, still their products are not getting a stable market share.
On the contrary, there are plenty of instances of successful cooperative efforts
in India like Lijjat. It needs no mention that all these efforts had started at a
micro level and now ended up as business moguls.
Mukherjee (2009) has identified from the personal interviews of the 25
SHG members that in all the components of the marketing mix they are deficient.
Through Fishbone analysis, it was established that these groups clearly lack in terms
of diversification and value addition in the product lines, building up sustained
brand loyalty, appropriate distribution and pricing strategy. However, for creating
sustained brand loyalty, lots of promotion expenditures are required which these poor
ladies do not have. Arranging for bank loans is also not very easy for them because
of lack of infrastructure and assets. Cooperative effort like Amul or Lijjat might
solve their problem but these ladies are not so organized and even they need plenty
of time to organize. Moreover, these ladies do not have that much exposure to
the outer world that in one shot they can fulfill these requirements.
It needs time and minimum initial profit for them to sustain their business and
to think for promotional or cooperative effort. In a nutshell, the three major
reasons behind the lack of success of these products
to stand in the market are: fewer variations in the product line, improper distribution mode and improper pricing strategy.
In this context, a study was conducted on behalf of the aspiring group of
women in Serampore, Hooghly District, to identify the initial entry mode in the pickle
business. In this paper, an attempt has been made to identify the customer's
preferences regarding choice of pickle, its distribution mode or pricing strategy. Then
efforts were made to identify the best possible combination in the product,
distribution and pricing mode, which generate maximum utility to the average customers
of the locality and motivate them to buy these products. However, this small
study was limited to the survey results based on the responses of middle class
customers (Family Income ranges within Rs. 8,000-Rs. 16,000 per month) of Serampore. |
