Sales Management

1. 1. Sales management is the discipline of maximising the benefits a company and its customers receive from the efforts of its sales force. 
   2. Glaxo spends less than 4% of sales on research and development in the consumer unit, compared with 15% prescription drugs. Horlicks, in India, sold twice as much as Thumbs up soda and earned 50 % more revenue than Tata tea.There is a huge demand of nutrition-related products in India because of high malnutrition rates among the Indian population. . The company plans to spend as much as £40 million ($62 million) to boost production capacity at its three Horlicks plants in the country. Glaxo’s consumer health sales in India totaled about £350 million, or 9 percent of global sales for the division, in the nine months through September. Worldwide sales including pharmaceuticals were £20.4 billion in the period.

Branding

Branding is the marketing practice of establishing a name, design or symbol that identifies and differentiates a product from other products.  

• Nutrition is the core of all Horlicks products. It is the symbol of strength, nutrition and power in India. 
• Even for its new products it is using the same brand promise because the purpose remains the same. 
• This helps the brand to grow bigger. 
• Horlicks is a brand the consumer is satisfied consuming it but there are chances of these consumers switching the brand even if there is minute changes in the price of Horlicks.

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Segmentation is the process of sub-dividing a whole market in different groups or subsets.
The market of Horlicks is segmented as follows:

GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION- In the northern part of the country, it has a huge demand as a white drink whereas chocolate horlicks is very popular in the southern part of the country.

DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION-  Here the market is segmented on the basis of the age groups.

• Junior horlicks- for preschool children
• Horlicks regular- for general use
• Women's horlicks-for pregnant and breast feeding women 
• Horlicks Lite-  for health conscious adults and for diabetic people
• Chocolate and other flavored horlicks- for teenagers

Once the firm has segmented the total market, it should select the target market segment or segments for marketing. This is called targeting. 
Horlicks currently focuses on one segment of market that is children between the age group of 8-14. This is so because children have a huge influence on the products purchased for the family. The focus of Junior Horlicks continue to be the kids between one and three while all the action will be in general Horlicks. 

Positioning of a product or service is creating an image in the consumer's mind. 

• Horlicks was initially introduced as both an additive and substitute to milk and positioned itself as a nutritional supplement for the kids.
• In 2003, it positioned itself as a "pleasurable nourishment" by launching its vanilla, honey and chocolate variants. 
• It adopted a new positioning strategy via product packaging which now carries a logo ,'taller, stronger, sharper." 
• Junior horlicks brand has positioned a product exclusively for children of the age group 1-3.
• Today, the brand talks to each member of the family. Its objective is to cater to the needs of all the age groups.

Promotions

Promotions refer to the entire set of activities that communicate the product, service or brand to the user so as to increase public awareness or sales.

• To reach the rural masses in India, Horlicks started promoting its products through radio ads in 1960-70 that had the voice-over of Amitabh Bachhan. This is still effective in the villages of Bihar and Orissa. In other rural areas, Horlicks is promoted through banners and hoardings.
• In 2005, it came up with a very interesting TV advertisement stating that Horlicks makes you "taller, stronger and sharper". This proved to be a great hit among the viewers. Before launching this campaign, it conducted a clinical trial in Hyderabad with around 869 students.

•  During this year, Boman Irani promoted its product Horlicks lite.
• Ninja Horlicks is promoted by the kid artist, Darsheel Safari.
• Horlicks launched a inter school fest called the whiz kids in 25 cities targeting school children.
• It organised magic shows in rural areas called Video on Wheels in order to promote its product.

Distribution

Distribution can be defined as spreading the product throughout the market place in a way a large number of people have access to purchase it.

•  Horlicks have three manufacturing units and seven packaging units in India, located in Nabha (Punjab), Sonepat and Rajamundi (Andhra Pradesh).
• It has a strong distribution channel comprising of 4800 wholesalers and directly covers over 700000 retail outlets.
• The packaging is done differently in different packaging units spread across various states to save the transportation costs. The powder is distributed in bulk quantities here which is then bottled and packaged and supplied to the distributors.
•  Horlicks initially had a chain of 500 big chains but now it also has a second layer of distributors in the smaller towns to supplement it. Most of these 4000 sub distributors were appointed in the western and southern parts of the company. 

Marketing strategies (4 P's) of Horlicks

PRODUCT: 

• Junior Horlicks.
• Women's Horlicks.
• Mother Horlicks.
• Horlicks Lite.

PLACE:

• 1800 wholesalers and direct coverage of over 4,00,000 retail outlets.
• South and eastern markets that contributes about 46 %  of the total sales.

PRICE:

• Rs. 90/200 gm and Rs.170/500 gm which is less than its competitors. 

PROMOTION:

• Both traditional print and TV media.
• Doctor Engagement Program wherein the company reaches out to physicians, dietitians and nutritionists to educate them about the product.
• Horlicks has launched a fun and informative website (www.myhorlicks.com) for kids (6-16) and mothers.
• The latest campaign of Lite.
• Tie up with the IPC magazines to offer free magazine.
• Philanthropic activity: Aahar abhiyan.
• Medical platform by labeling the product as "clinically proven". 

Product level

Different product levels of Horlicks are as follows:

1.CORE PRODUCT- The service or benefit the customer is really buying.

• Flavored milk drink

2.BASIC PRODUCT- At the second level, the marketer must turn the core benefit into a basic product. 

• Tasty and nutritious health drink.

3.EXPECTED PRODUCT- A set of attributes and conditions buyers normally expect when they purchase a product.

• Different flavors.
• Nutrition supplement.
• Packaging in durable bottles.

4.AUGMENTED PRODUCT- At this level the marketer prepares an augmented product that exceeds customer expectations.

• Brain developing and Bones protecting drinks for women and babies.

5.POTENTIAL PRODUCT- This encompasses all the possible augmentations and transformations the product might undergo in the future. 

• Special sweet health drink for diabetes patients.