Being a fresher, I was excited about my summer internship at Godfrey Phillips India Limited, to translate my academic learning into concrete work and have first-hand experience in the corporate environment. I hit the ground running as an intern for Pan Vilas Pan Masala. Being a MOUB (Loyal) consumer of Pan Vilas (i.e. PV, as they call it), it was not difficult for me to understand the nitty-gritties of the industry.
The best thing about working in GPI and specifically Pan Vilas is that it allows you to take ownership of your work; you are independent to take decisions and present ideas. You’re considered a valuable resource and as a marketer if you’re not able to sell the idea to your colleagues you can’t sell it to anyone else. Right from deciding the packaging and labeling for the product to designing customer loyalty programs, I have done it all for PV that is available in the brand books.
But the best part was the market visits, of course. It gave me a different perspective about how the pan masala as an industry may look mundane from the outer view, but from the inside it is a highly competitive and a strenuous FMCG sub industry.
My mentor was a tough teacher. I have been scolded multiple number of times, but for my own good. He always pushed me to work hard and act smart. I believe once you align yourself with your mentor and start taking feedback constructively, you definitely excel at your work. For marketers, if you can handle the FMCG pressure and ace the process of learning and re-learning, you will be able to hone your skills and at the end of your internship, you’ll take back a valuable experience. Thus, it is imperative to choose your internship wisely, in order to deliver your best.
This internship has given me immense knowledge that can be transferred through the PRISyM platform, marketing club of SIBM B, where I hold the position of the Co-ordinator. People are unfamiliar about the process of branding as crude a product as pan masala. For a consumer the process of choosing consumer durables goes a long way from need recognition to evaluating your total set and till making a purchase. It is a high involvement process and there is assistance at almost every step. But for an FMCG product and that too a pan masala, the first purchase is always based on peer recommendation and influencers.
One thing that I have learned by working in corporate is that all the marketing models, like BCG/Ansoff/Brand Identity or Rogers diffusion, are merely a tool to achieve what you want you are aiming to achieve. This is the reason that OGST becomes the primary step before planning out any marketing activity for the brand.
I always felt at home while working for Pan Vilas at Godfrey Phillips India Limited.
Indeed – Shauk Badi Cheez Hai!
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Comments
venkat iyer
"Flipkart removed the delivery charges for the most obvious reason – to counter the growing competition" This was exactly what we hinted at. We never mentioned that it was to cover something ‘shady’. Well, we’re not talking about Satyam here, for starters. To make it clearer, we meant that delivery charges were removed because the competition (Amazon) offered free delivery, thus putting pressures on Flipkart’s bottomline (It was a major reason why small cart customers were moving towards Amazon). Thus, in an industry such as this, price wars would lead to lower profit margins, thus making the huge valuations (HUGE expectations of growth in profits) untenable. This was our point.
25 Aug 2014, 11.26 PM
Bhanu Putumbaka
The GMV multiplier, like you put it..is high but not unheard of. Exactly what we are saying. It is an inflated amount. It is indicative of a bubble. Our statement was taken out of context. We said that when the total number of e-commerce users is projected to be 100 million, its irrational to expect flipkart users to be 100 million. According to Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s 1 Lakh Crore INR ‘Digital India’ programme seeks to completely transform the nation into a digitally empowered-knowledge economy. When the Indian government takes a call to implement something, on an average, how long does it take to reap the benefits? At least 10 years..being extremely optimistic here. What this statement tells us is that there is a really blaring need for infrastructure development that the government has realized now, and will take steps to implement it in the distant future. And so the inflated growth rates that we are projecting won't actually happen.
26 Aug 2014, 11.25 AM
venkat iyer
“Flipkart removed the delivery charges for the most obvious reason – to counter the growing competition” This was exactly what we hinted at. We never mentioned that it was to cover something ‘shady’. Well, we’re not talking about Satyam here, for starters. To make it clearer, we meant that delivery charges were removed because the competition (Amazon) offered free delivery, thus putting pressures on Flipkart’s bottomline (It was a major reason why small cart customers were moving towards Amazon). Thus, in an industry such as this, price wars would lead to lower profit margins, thus making the huge valuations (HUGE expectations of growth in profits) untenable. This was our point.
26 Aug 2014, 07.02 PM
venkat iyer
"Moreover, FDI inflow is only a welcome sign as it will lead to huge investments to the tune of billions in ‘Indian e-Commerce industry’." Welcome sign for the customers maybe. But how is competition in an industry with an unproven future demand a positive sign for the incumbents? Say, RIL (with its usual whims) starts an e-commerce firm, won't there be more price wars leading to a reduction in profits? Also, your previous article talked about FDI in 'Inventory based e-commerce'. That is an investment in the back-end activities which is obviously beneficial to the industry. Aren't we talking about FDI in e-commerce here?
26 Aug 2014, 07.07 PM
venkat iyer
"For example Amazon, an US based company is operating in India and being counted as a part of the Indian industry. The same will apply if and when Alibaba enters the market" Firstly, how is Amazon's entry beneficial to Flipkart? Secondly, allowing FDI will make Amazon realize its true potential. Currently Amazon is not even the actual power it is abroad because it just operates a 'marketplace' model here. Alibaba is another such behemoth. In this industry with already existent severe competition, the incumbents really do not wish for more competition, especially at this nascent stage.
26 Aug 2014, 07.12 PM