By Iqbal Shamoeel

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The brand Amul is marketed by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) Indias largest food products marketing organization The Co-Operative movement started with two villages and 247 litres of milk in 1946 Amul now covers 2.12 million farmers, 10,411 village level milk collection centers and fourteen district level plants (unions) under the overall supervision of GCMMF.

Breadspreads which include butter Cheese Range Mithaee Range (Ethnic sweets) UHT Milk Range Pure Ghee Infant Milk Range Milk Powders Sweetened Condensed Milk

Fresh Milk Curd Products Amul Icecreams Chocolate & Confectionery Brown Beverage Milk Drink Health Beverage

Channel Design
Working Model: The GCMMF works on what has been called the Anand Pattern. This is an innovative three-tier organisation structure combines the productive genius of farmers with professional management and modern technology. The facilities at all levels are entirely farmer-owned.

The district-level Milk Union is the second tier under the three-tier structure The main function of the Milk Union is to process milk into various milk and milk products as per the market requirement The Union procures milk from the village Societies of the District and arranges for the transportation of raw milk from the villages to the Milk Union

The State-level Federation is the apex tier under the three-tier structure It has membership of Milk Unions of the State and is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of one elected representative of each Milk Union The main function of the Federation is market the milk and milk products, manufactured by Milk Unions

The GCMMF has an extensive sales and distribution system and a cold chain network starting from the milk producer and ending at the eventual consumer. It has a dealer network of 3600 dealers and 400,000 retailers, one of the largest such networks in India

A set of chillers near each village that could ensure chilling of milk Quick transportation to the district Union facilities where the milk could be further chilled and dispatched to the consumers or to the processing units for conversion into milk products Chilled trucks which could transport the milk products such as butter and cheese in refrigerated condition from the factories

Local chilling of milk to ensure its quick distribution to the customers through a network of trucks in many cities so that most consumers could have their milk sachets by 6 a.m. if not earlier Deep freezers and refrigeration equipment in the dealers premises to keep the products cold and prevent their deterioration Facilities in super markets and even larger retail stores to keep the products fresh

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Amul products are available in over 5,00,000 retail outlets across India through its network of over 3,500 distributors There are 47 depots with dry and cold warehouses to buffer inventory of the entire range of products Wholesale dealers carry inventory that is just adequate to take care of the transit time from the branch warehouse to their premises. This just-intime inventory strategy improves dealers' return on investment (ROI) All GCMMF branches engage in route scheduling and have dedicated vehicle operations.

FROZEN: ` The deep frozen channel used for transportation and storage of ice creams, paneer,cheeses. ` Products leveraging this channel are generally high value and therefore maintenance is of utmost significance ` It consists of vehicles with freezing equipment (first, second and third leg) and cold rooms, freezers at all levels.

CHILLED: ` This channel is used for transporting and storing products like butter, delicious bread spread etc. that need a temperature of about 0C. AMBIENT: ` Products that do not show temperature decay and that may be transported under ambient temperature conditions are carried through this channel

FRESH ` Products like pouch milk, dahi, shrikhand are transported through this channel. Given the nature of the products bourn by this channel, frequency of movement and shortness of turnaround time is of crucial importance

Stocking issues: The company doesnt want the retailers to stock the competing brand in the company leased fridges, which at times s hard to manage as retailers tend to do it often. Replacement of products: The deterioration in the product calls for fail in replacement by the company this major issue of vertical conflict. Credit policy: Compared to the market, the companys credit period is less that specially incase of institutional sales is very important. Packaging: The channel members for easy storing demand a better quality of packaging. Replenishment: The replenishment of the stocks is not prompt in case of amul cheese and all hard selling items.

 Amul should go in for exclusive outlets in at least all the shopping malls coming up these days and any location where footfalls are large in number. The advantages of this channel will be:
Full range display Easier to promote new products Easy to push impulse purchase products Brand building will be facilitated

Pushcarts should be increased in number in order to increase the market reach this can provide with e very effective channel for ice creams and flavored milks. Trade promotion should be formulated for newly launched products instead of just tagging them onto best sellers.

The company should start a home delivery where a particular household will order full range of products required by it over a period of time. For this the company could provide a deliveryman with cycle to reach the different houses.
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In order to motivate the channel members it is also very essential for the company to increase the margins for the hard selling items e.g. Amul dahi where it faces competition from Nestle & Mother dairy.
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In order to remain sensitive to market demand, it is essential for the company to place additional salesmen on the field since the brand as such commands a high demand in the market but fails to match it with the supply.

THANK YOU !