The doors to a chilled experience!
The types of visi coolers that HCCB uses
HCCB is one of India’s largest FMCG companies and it therefore has certain consumption points (retail outlets/restaurants etc) in areas that have intermittent or no power supply. Standard visi-coolers, that all of us are familiar with, took a lot of time to chill products (because of intermittent electricity) and also, when the lights went off, they wouldn’t retain the chill, either.
In such a situation, bottles of your favourite beverages could not be chilled. There was a dire need for coolers that could retain cooling in the absence of continuous power supply.
The HCCB team worked with suppliers and the global R&D teams of The Coca-Cola Company, and developed a chest cooler with eutectic solutions that was able to retain the chilling for up to 12 hours with a serving temperature of less than 10°C.
Close to 60,000 units of these coolers have already made their way into the market and are used to distribute your favourite products. This helped HCCB to cater to more consumers, who needed our juices, water, dairy or sparkling products.
The 2nd chilling equipment that had to be conceptualised differently so that they could help distribute HCCB products was the localisation of the fountain dispenser.
HCCB and Coca-Cola India collaborated with one of its Mumbai-based suppliers - Western Refrigeration - and soon came up with a localised solution. It was almost at par in terms of functionality and better in terms of performance in comparison to the internationally-made equipment. The Company was also able to save 35-40% in terms of CapEx (Capital Expenditure) investment in buying the equipment. As a result of this ingenuity, the number of fountain equipment placed by HCCB, has doubled in the span of the last three years, as compared to the last 10 years.
Hands-on market strategies
How digitisation is making the job easier on the field
The secret sauce to distributing an FMCG product and keeping the customers’ happy is no different from what Shivanna does every day. He follows a rigorous schedule of reaching the market everyday to meet retailers in his area. As a sales representative for HCCB, when he is on a regular visit to the market, he gets a first-hand understanding of the demand, critical for the company to plan.
With a connected tablet in hand, Shivanna can offer the best deals to his customers (retailers) as and when he is on the daily rounds in the market. If there is any customer about who he needs to know more, it is just a click away on his always-connected tablet. As retailer (customers’) place orders, the software on the tab is quietly processing the order to create the most optimal distribution plan to re-fill the retailer’s premise with the product that they most need.
Shivanna’s customers are finding it a great way of working too. When he has completed taking an inventory of all the products that are needed by the retailer, the final spend and margin for the customer is displayed on his tablet screen. Vinay Kumar, at Teertha Bakery in Bengaluru, endorses the utility of Shivanna’s device and finds it a very transparent way of working.
“Sales representatives like Shivanna, show us the schemes and discounts as well as the margins on the tab. It is very good for the retailer,” Vinay says.
The digital capability and the use of the tab is a skill that Shivanna has acquired over the last 24 months. Along with hundreds like him, HCCB organised a two-week training to enhance his familiarity with the digital ecosystem and also for the use of tablets to help the pre-sales team to focus on their job better.
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