The globalization of Indian economy has changed the competitive landscape of Indian business. This simple phenomenon is so pervasive that it has not only brought large number of products and brand alternatives to the Indian market but has also significantly influenced the consumption pattern of Indian consumers. Today, consumers are informed enough to chose from a basket of alternatives. This has led to a growing consciousness about health and hygiene; rising demands for more diverse and sophisticated choices; and increasing concerns about the origin, quality, and safety of the product purchased by the consumers. All these have opened up a great new opportunity for branding of commodities. For a long time, it was felt that branding commodities was far too complicated and expensive an option to consider. However, with the changing times, stagnated markets and newer opportunities, these perceptions are changing. This article begins by exploring the basic concept behind the branding of a commodity. The authors discuss the issues like the importance of commodity branding, the rationale behind them and the feasibility of branding different commodities. Having laid the ground work, the article turns towards some of the hidden perspectives embedded in the concept of commodity branding issues like country of origin, consumer evolution, demand supply equation, packaging and distribution. The authors propose a 3-D framework with the dimensions of product augmentation, corporate image effect and service/delivery augmentation as a basis for the four suggested commodity branding strategies: Category/Generic Branding, Strategy of Product Differentiation, Ingredient Branding Strategy, and Branding of the Delivery Channel. Finally, the authors recommend a comprehensive three-step processsegmentation of the market, creating a value offering through differentiation and delivering the value-added offerfor the implementation of strategies, for commodity branding.
By
commodities, we mean goods like gold, silver, salt, sugar,
rice, atta, diamond, petrol, wheat, gasoline, water, etc.,
which have a value attached to them. The value of a commodity
changes depending on its availability and consumer needs.
For a very long time, the producers of raw materials and
commodity products have overlooked the huge potential in
utilizing these products to increase their profit margins,
created greater consumer demand and built valuable brand
loyalty by adopting the branding strategies of several branded
consumer packaged good players (Shipley, D et al.
1993). The first major instance of popularizing the commodity
branding strategy dates back to the days of NutraSweet (a
key supplier to Coke), when the low calorie sweetener turned
a commodity like "aspartame" into a household
brand by aggressively following a branding strategy, hitherto
known for consumer packaged products only (Kohli and LaBahn
1997). |
