One of the biggest challenges of bringing products to the people is understanding the channel to reach the households. There have been tons of innovative approaches to bring products to the people in the past, we want to focus on the oldest channel – Kirana Shop.
Kirana Shop that adopted FM marketed products
Which Kirana Shop?
The Kirana Shop comes in various sizes – for our purpose, we will focus on the Kirana Shop providing products for the BOP. This Kirana Shop has an owner who is a local member of the peri-urban slum or rural village. Usually, a family business, husband and wife are working together at the Kirana Shop where they stock 10-30 products for local households.
What does the Kirana Shop Stock?
The products range from soaps, to sache shampoos, hair oil, agarbatti, beedis, cigarettes, matches, biscuits, washing powder soap, tea, sugar, to some fresh produce. They have been stocking similar products for as long as they started their business because they respond to their neighbors’ demand, as well as assess their capacity to stock a product for a period of time.
The Kirana Shop Owner is not like your typical supplier or retailer. While they too believe in margins, and try to understand trends, they are always willing to try new products if they feel their neighborhood demands it. They know their consumers inside and out. They are also extremely risk averse because of their capacity to invest in new products. So the question is, how to break their aversion?
By showing them the demand potential…
By marketing to women in MFI centers, we are able to introduce them to products that they have not directly encountered. (Direct = in person, in their daily life, as compared to an advertisement on tv). If they like the product, they want the product… we introduce them to their retailers who will provide them with that product.
Frontier Markets’ target was to approach 10-12 kirana shops to place products for MFI members to purchase. We placed at 25 kirana shops who were happy to try a new product in their store knowing the demand was apparent since MFI members approached their stores asking for specific products.
Results to follow…
Tags: Kirana Shops
