Marketing Plan for Sankalp Products - Vilojan Daniel, SupriyaGunthey, KiranGoud, Harsh Chopra, Jyoti Singh

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: UruliKanchan is a village which is about 40 Kms. from Pune city. A Pune based NGO named BAIF Development& Research Foundation has its Central Research Station at Uruli. Under the guidance of BAIF, the women of nearby villages came together and started off as several selfhelp groups which have now formed a co-operative. SankalpStreewadiUdyogikSahakariSansthanwas establised on 24 August 2000.Today this Sansthan produces more than 200 varieties of products including Ayurvedic Medicines, Beauty Products, Food items, Dairy Products etc. The Sansthan is a FDA licenseholder. There are 9board of directors and 63 women members in this Sansthan. The members meet with the board of directors every fortnight to discuss the business functioning. Their product range includes ayurvedic products, cosmetic and massage oils, herbal tea, fruit products and syrups. MARKETING PLAN: Current Marketing Situation: The rural market store is the place from where the women in the village purchase the products. The products available are of local brand. Most of the time, the women working in Sankalp are approached by their neighbours to get the products from the Sankalp store. Also, many women working for Sankalp produce the same products at their home and sell it to the people in their village at lower prices without Sankalp labels. Opportunity and Issue Analysis: Sankalp as a brand is known only in UruliKanchan and the nearby villages. The USP of this brand is its Quality and Reasonable rates. This store is located next to the Nature Cure Ashram, a well-known place for naturopathy. Due to this people who visit this Ashram for treatment, also visit the Sankalp store. They want the same products even when they go back to their respective cities. Currently a few such patients order the products from Sankalp store and have them couriered to different parts of the country. This desire of people to get the same product from

Sankalp store can be tapped to maximize the profits as well as to develop the Sankalp brand.A better distribution and supply chain is the need of the hour as far as Sankalp is concerned. Sankalphas a very conservative approach to risk taking. The quantity of products produced is only to fulfill the existing demand, but no demand forecasting is taken into consideration. Also, the packaging of the products is not up to the mark. Again the women working for Sankalp do not promote the products at a large scale to attract the attention of city dwellers. Objective of the Firm: This Sansthan was formed with the main motive of making these women aware of entrepreneurship opportunities available along with helping these women with technology, funding etc. 70 Encouraging budding entrepreneurs, assistance in finding the target markets for the products, helping them in developing promotional strategies and providing facilities to the members for pre and post production of manufactured goods are some of the purposes of this firm. MARKETING STRATEGY: Target Market and Positioning: The villages near UruliKanchan are the target market for the products manufactured by Sankalp. Also, the UruliKanchan Ashram uses the Ayurvedic products manufactured by Sankalp. Sankalp positions itself as a symbol of Purity. The products are naturally processed with a minimum exposure to synthetic materials and are thus eco friendly.High quality is the prime feature of the Sankalp products. Product: AvlaMoravla: sweet in taste helps to cure acidity helps to avoid morning sickness during pregnancy rich Source of Vitamin C

Herbal Tea: achieving a more calm and relaxed state of mind supporting heart health aiding with stomach and digestive problems providing cleansing properties for the body promoting energy and wellness

nourishing the nervous system strengthening the immune system providing antioxidants to the body boosting energy levels and invigorating the body relieving stress helping to avoid colds stimulating the internal organs promoting a good nights sleep

Price: Sankalp uses the Markup Pricing Strategy. The cost of raw materials, resources and technology is taken into consideration. Then a 10% mark-up is added to this cost in order to provide the salaries to the women who had worked on the product. Later a 10% markup is added as a commission to Sankalp. The cost of the AvalaMoravla is Rs. 25 per 200gms and the cost of Herbal Tea is Rs. 40 per 250gms. Distribution Outlets: The main distribution store is the SankalpVikri Kendra in UruliKanchan. However, they also send these products at YashodaVikri Kendra(Pune) and BapuBhavan(Pune). They also set up stalls during the NABARD, BHIMTADI and BAIF exhibitions. Again, shops like Kakahalwai and Bharati Market change the Sankalp brand name and use these products with a different brand name. Sales Promotion: Sankalp being an organization established by rural women is not very active as far as sales promotion is concerned. Discounts are given only for bulk orders. On a purchase of products worth Rs.5000 to Rs.9999, 10% discount is given. Advertising: For the initial 10 years, Sankalp used the door to door policy to sell these products. Today, word of mouth is their main marketing strategy. Sankalp has carried out advertisement campaigns on Cable TV for the nearby villages. Also it has published Pamphlets and print advertisements in the most popular newspaper in the neighbourhood Sakaal. ACTION PROGRAMS AND CONTROLS On the basis of the primary research and secondary research, the following action programs can be recommended:

Sankalp can improve the packaging of the products. Attractive packaging can definitely catch the attention of more customers. Since, many customers living in other states have expressed interest in these products; ecommerce could be looked at as a possible solution to increase their sales. Since it does not have fixed retail outlets in the surrounding villages, they can look at the possibility of setting up a mobile shop, say in a Maruti van. The vehicle will contain all their products and can do the rounds every week to these villages and sell them.

PROJECTED PROFIT AND LOSS The daily revenue of the Sankalp Store is Rs.15000 to Rs.16000.