Division B

Group name B01

Marketing Management -1 Group work assignment – Teracom Ltd.

Group members: Name (Roll Number)

Aditi Sidharta Choudhury (PGPM-17-071)
Akshay A Shakkarwar (PGPM-17-075)
Amit Kumar (PGPM-17-077)
Mohammed Shahzad Khan (PGPM-17-099)
Zeba Ali Sayeed (PGPM-17-137)
Q1. If Teracom adopts the distribution model of B2B to penetrate retail
markets, do you think it will be successful? Why?
Yes. If Teracom adopts the distribution model of B2B (Teracom-Distributors-
Retailers-Consumer) to penetrate retail markets, it will be successful.

Though Teracom, being one of India’s fastest- growing companies and with business
interests in both the telecom and power infrastructure sectors, had a well-established
institutional distribution network that they wanted to leverage, they were faced with
differences in retail consumer behaviour from one region to the other in a diverse
market of India with vast geography and diverse culture.

 To have a distributor between retail (B2B model) would mean to include

someone who has a better understanding of customer’s need (their customs,
culture and traditions) and in turn mean better business and market capture.

 With B2B, Teracom will have a better competitive edge in the market with
leveraging its distribution channel via the distributor.

 The price offered by Teracom will be comparatively low and favourable for the
consumer as there are no intermediaries (telecom) in between but the
distributor who is going to increase the revenue with larger market share.

 Teracom could emerge as a trustworthy brand and could mould consumer’s

attitudes towards itself with the help of the distributors.

 With India becoming the world’s fastest-growing and competitive telecom

market, the benefits of entering and being one of the few and probably most
recognised in the retail markets are high so adopting B2B seems very profitable
for the Teracom.

Q2. Assess Teracom's strategy to have a separate distribution channel for

the retail market. What should be the appropriate channel selection process
for selling modems in the retail market?

There are two major factors behind having a separate distribution channel for the
retail market:

 Teracom would not be able to use its sales force of institutional distributors,
which is dedicated to business sales only, to directly deliver to consumers.
 Due to vast geography and diverse cultures, Teracom was faced with
differences in retail consumer behaviour from one region to another. The
 company realized that it would not be enough for Teracom to survive with only
institutional dealers. It would be necessary to appoint different distributors
retail customers – those who would understand local traditions, customs, and
culture.

So, the proposed channel is:

Teracom – Distributor – Retailer - Consumer

Appropriate channel selection process will be decided upon meeting following criteria
to evaluate the distributors:

 An increase in reach by catering to the maximum retailers in the area.

 Optimum investment in terms of vehicles or storage – The key to success in
this retail segment were proper storage and warehousing facilities., as well as
proper market coverage by the distributor to ensure a wider distribution of the
product.
 High-quality sales force – Telecom retailers needed to have technically
competent personnel to advise retail customers to purchase the right modems.
 Participating in promotions run by the company
 Educating retailers about the modems

Q3. What is your assessment of the first three applicants? Do any of them
provide a unique and distinctive advantage to the company?

With a few basic considerations of expectations from the distributors in mind, here
are the assessment of the first three applicants:
 First three applicants for the distributorship
Variables
Sharma & Sons Pawan Distributors Rajdhani distributors
Pawan Distributors supplied
modems to various
government organisations, They cover 150 retailers in
With S&S fairly new in
Reach in the institutions, and telecom Delhi, have been in the 3G
the market, the reach
market (by companies plus their business for 2 years and in
will not be penetrated to
catering to salespeople would visit general over the preceding
the fullest. Currently
the maximum institutional buyers regularly 5 years have developed a
they cover 200 retail
retailers in the to negotiate and receive favourable relationship
outlets for their sales
area) orders which indicates that with the retailers. This
target.
their market presence and sounds promising.
hold is strong and is a
favourable point.
Nothing is mentioned about
They have 2 vans and
the vehicles but since they
an average inventory of They have only one vehicle
were supplying goods to 50
Optimum Rs 4 million inventory and as well that they are
institutional customers seems
investment in per month, this seems a not ready to invest in any
like they had fine number of
terms of low number but S&S is more vehicles and nothing
vehicles, they had a small
vehicles or ready to expand it as is mentioned about the
warehouse to meet any
storage per the requirement, storage capacity. Seems
emergency needs, it does not
which is quite not favourable.
seem very favourable for
favourable.
them.
The sales force is of only The sales force is of only 10
They have a very low sales
10 employees, which is employees, which is low, but
High-quality force plus the same was
low and as well they they do sufficient marketing
sales force not going in the market to
have limited knowledge and provide after sales
fetch orders.
of the product. support.
They are already in sufficient
marketing and service They seem a little rigid
Participating
S&S are ready to mould support, which indicates they with their thought process
in promotions
their organization to have sufficient knowledge and and do not seem to be very
run by the
meet the requirements. will be participative in participative in promotions
company
promotions run by the if at all.
company.
S&S employees are less No, the sales force is low
sound technically (not as well as they do not
Educating
favourable), but they seem to care in the market
retailers Yes, they have this capability
are inclined to adapt, to get orders and know
about the with their team of 10.
adopt and learn and much about the product
modems
expand as per the and after sales service, not
requirement. favourable.

As can be seen from the above table, Pawan distributors offers an edge over the
other two distributors.