DISTRIBUTION

Marketing channels and Value networks

• Dove uses the Pull strategy to persuade its customers (advertising, campaigns)
• The target market of the product involves individuals of the upper middle and upper class and according to the strategy of demand chain planning the products are made available for sales to the customers in over 1 million stores.
•  The distribution channel functions and flows however is as folows

• As shown in the figure the distribution process of Dove products starts with the manufacturer and moves down to the retail stores, CSD and modern trade through C&F(cost and freight) and stockists. 
  • The Assistant Sales Manager (ASM), Activation manager (AM) and Territory Sales incharge (TSI) co-ordinates the sales process. 
  • The stockists have who is known as a re stockist salesman (RSSM) to manage operations between the stockist and the retailers
  • As it can be observed HUL follows a four-level channel.
• It falls under the Vertical marketing systems (Administered VMS)
• The associated risk of conflicts are also minimized as the stockists are decided by the company and administered as per requirement and there is no space for the retailers to charge extra.

Service sector channels

               The brand has managed to grab the prospective customers with its

• Advertisements on the television 
• Interactive billboard campaigns allowing the audience to vote for their preference of choice
• The 'Real Beauty Campaign' that helped secure a sense of connectivity with its target customers.

Analyzing customer wants and needs: Service outputs

• Lot size: any amount
• Waiting and delivery time: NIL
• Spatial convenience: Availability at across 1 million stores proves the extreme spatial convinience
• Product variety: A wide range of variants available
• Service backup : NA

Managing, Retailing, Wholesaling and Logistics

Major types of store retailers

• Department stores
• Supermarkets
• Convenience stores
• Kiosks
• Chemists
• Superstore

Level of service offering: Self selection

Marketing decisions:

1. Target market:  Working women of the upper class and upper middle class form the target customers. Under this category they aim at women age in the range of 17 to 50, of all sizes shapes and colors. Since it is positioning itself as a premium brand, the target market would include all stores situated in urban areas.
2. Channels: Multiple channel marketing is followed where in the customers have a choice of picking up their products from the stores or order online.
3.  Product Assortment: Dove as a brand as a fairly large breadth and depth. Under the family of personal care the brand offers skin care, hair care, deodorants and such. The depth under the subcategory of soaps include its 3 variants.
4. Communications at retail stores are done by in store sales persons who puts across the values of the product into the minds of the customers. Also when a new product is launched they have initial introductory offers or free samples made available to the customer. In case of complementary products, they are packed together and made available at a price lower than the price it would cost a customer when bought separately.
5. Location: the product is available in central business districts, regional shopping centers, community shopping centers, shopping strips and stand alone stores.

Marketing logistics:

 HUL has now tried to provide complete back-end support to the distributors by tying up with a third party logistics. The executive director feels that the outsourcing is necessary as it provides them a chance to be more customer focused and work on the market growth. (Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-07-29/news/27698118_1_distributors-hul-retail-segment)