Marzin Shroff, CEO, Direct Sales & Sr Vice President – Marketing, Eureka Forbes Limited, talks about adding retail as a selling point for the company in addition to direct sales, and re-strategizing to drive growth from retail as well as e-commerce platforms
By SALONI DUTTA
Q] In a major strategy shift, Aquaguard will now also be available on retail shelves. Why this shift to retail and why now?
We have always been a person to person company. That has been our core and the whole concept of ‘friend for life’ is something which is really important to us. So how do we take the friendship further, personalize it and use and leverage technology to nurture that friendship, was really where we were coming from. Therefore, the need to make Aquaguard an omni-channel brand was felt. We re-jigged our entire brand strategy. We still have two brands - Aquaguard now becomes the omni channel brand; we have a Dr. Aquaguard for our direct sales business, and Aquasure which was anyway perceived one level below Aquaguard by customers, has become the value for money fighter brand.
Direct sales, is no longer a viable option in order to reach out across the board to everybody. And therefore the growth strategy had to be from the upcoming digital channel and the on-going opportunity in retail. And the category had moved from a push to a pull. If you look at the hierarchy of purchase in the needs of the customer, a decade ago, the water purifier occupied the position at number nine or ten, and today it has moved up to number three or four. Yet there is the penetration factor to consider. We are at about 29% penetration in SEC A and B and so the opportunity is huge. We need to leverage that and stay leaders.
Q] How do you plan to grow from the current market share of 58%?
We are today at 58% market share and we want to move that to 67% over the next three years. That is our strategic direction. In order to do that and fulfil our growth needs we revamped our entire strategy and that is how we landed up adding retail and digital. We are now consolidating all our money and efforts under one brand and putting 100 odd crores into it to make it visible. Visibility is critical because at the end of the day people like to see what they are about to buy.
Q] What were some insights between the new campaign ‘Shudh se Zyada, Sehat ka Vaada’ and signing up Madhuri Dixit and Dr. Shriram Nene as goodwill ambassadors?
We see retail growth increasing substantially and have revisited our communications strategy a bit to go down the specialist route. We found around 1.5 lakh doctors who use Aquaguard by scanning our database. In India, the Medical Association has banned doctors from endorsing products. So we found Dr Nene, a celebrated heart surgeon, studied and spent his whole life in the US, come back to India. He is not practising and therefore not violating the code of the Indian Medical Association and as a doctor his genuine interest lies in saving lives by using technology. Madhuri Dixit has grown up using Aquaguard and is the UN ambassador for children, doting mother and hence the couple is an awesome fit. So we brought in the paani ka doctor which is Aquaguard, we brought in the specialist which is Dr Nene and the ghar ka doctor which is Madhuri. The insight really was that the woman is the first doctor in the house and she takes that role rather seriously. Together it is a great triangle.
Q] What is the media mix used in the campaign?
We are using Television, Print and Digital. Digital is now playing a significant role in our new communication strategy mainly for brand affinity. We trended nationally this year for our Mother’s day campaign on Twitter.
Q] What is the company’s USP when compared to other players in the market?
Everyone is pure and safe; we are more than that. We are healthy. Our mineral guard is a technique developed by our propriety R&D and we have a global patent for it. We have a top of mind recall of 92%. Our reach is also a USP - our boys meet as many people every year as the population of UK.
Q] Aquaguard has become a generic name for the category. Will that be a hindrance for the brand?
It won’t. If Xerox had reinvented itself with time, the company wouldn’t have shut. The lifecycle of brands has shortened and before you know it, if you do not re-invent yourself, you will have a gravestone. Being generic is a benefit provided that you leverage that generality to your advantage and this whole entire omni experience is about that. Time will tell but at least we know we have taken the first step in staying ahead of the curve.
Q] How do you aim to increase your digital infrastructure and make the brand easily available on e-commerce sites? Are there plans for any specific tie-ups?
Our brand is available on e-commerce already and we are doing a significant number of things there and sales are growing at 80-90% month-on-month. Once you put in the effort and get your branding and essence right, things move. So we are looking at best-in-class CRM partner, e-commerce partner, social partner, as specialists add so much value. We have also re-aligned our digital strategy internally and beefed up our team. So we are sourcing the best partners, moving from a capex model to an opex model and putting a lot more onus on digital, risk and rewards and passing it on to the agency. We have just shortlisted a partner for our e-commerce tie-up and will be announcing that hopefully in the next two weeks.
Q] How is the distribution network for the company and how do you plan to strengthen it in accordance with the company’s growth plans?
We have a new channel called Rurban, and for the first leg we are looking at cities with a population in the range of 20,000 to 100,000. The challenge comes in the infrastructure part. Selling television in these towns is easy as all you need to ensure is proper delivery. With Aquaguard, we have to service the product as well. So we have to install the product, and then the service channels.
In terms of distribution we have an OR (organised retail), GR (general retail), and speciality retail which is all your CSDs (customer service desk); digital retail or the e-commerce business; tele-shopping as a channel which we have been using and direct selling which is our bread and butter. Each of these categories and areas have different distribution needs. We cannot duplicate what we are doing in Bombay with what we are doing in Deolali and hence we need to be very careful of what our distribution strategy is. We started with first getting our warehouse infrastructure realigned and auto-updating our WMS (warehouse management systems). And post this, we now need to build our network which is not just in terms of physical shops which will sell our product, but also finding a distribution partner, who will also install the product, serve as a brand ambassador and he/she needs to be trained (technically, socially and in grooming and soft skills) in the ways of Aquaguard.
Q] How does the market look for the air segment?
We have been in the air segment from the last 15 years approximately. Three months ago when Obama was in town and talks about air quality dominated the headlines; Delhi overtook Beijing as the most polluted city in the world. Air is now the largest killer, and suddenly this whole explosion of awareness has happened. For years we have seeded the market, every night at 9pm on NDTV you get an air quality index. We have been waiting and watching for the market to grow and the time is now ripe. So we have beefed up our air business and hope to see big success in this category. Everyone is internally talking about air being our next water. Air, and cleaning it are our focus areas in terms of growth engines in the next few years. As for water, we want to consolidate and expand market share.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Eureka Forbes Limited is a multi-product, multi-channel organization with a gross group turnover of Rs. 20,351 million for FY2015. A part of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Eureka Forbes’ product portfolio encompasses water purification, vaccum cleaning, air purification and home security solutions. It has a base of 15 million customers spread over 1,500 cities and towns in India and a global footprint across 53 countries. In addition to Asia’s largest direct sales force, it has one of the most expansive service networks in India. In its 33 years of existence, Eureka Forbes has been a pioneer and trend-setter in direct selling in India and today is one of the largest direct selling companies in the world.
FACTS
CREATIVE AGENCY: TRITON COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA AGENCY: TRITON COMMUNICATIONS
SOCIAL & DIGITAL MEDIA MARKETING AGENCY: RAZORFISH
PR AGENCY: TRITON COMMUNICATIONS
PR AGENCY: MSLGROUP
CMO FILE
Marzin Shroff, CEO – Direct Sales & Sr. Vice President – Marketing, Eureka Forbes Limited is the brand trustee of 3 Superbrands – Aquaguard, Euroclean and Eureka Forbes, and has the task of steering the largest vertical of Eureka Forbes. He is a Chartered Marketer from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and has an MBA in Marketing. Shroff started his career as a Brand Manager at Eureka Forbes. Subsequently he has been associated with, consulted, and trained a number of well-known companies. His last stint was with Suashish Diamonds where he set up their brand operations. He has a passion for jazz, reading and travelling.
MARKETING TIP
Roll up your sleeves and get into the market, visit customers and most importantly listen to your customers because they will tell you what you should be doing and help strategize.
Feedback: saloni.dutta@exchange4media.com
