Trade Research For A Liquor Major

Objective

Client is a major IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) producer in the country and manufactures the entire range of alcoholic beverages i.e. whisky, rum, gin and vodka. They wanted to conduct a trade research to assess the trade satisfaction levels for its top selling brands in terms of service frequency and quality of visit of their sales team vis-a-vis its competitors.

Approach

The approach for this study included the following essential elements:

• Store categorization: There was a need to include all types of stores ensuring an adequate geographical spread as well as mix of both mid and high offtake stores.
• Surveyor selection: Surveyors were selected based on their experience in conducting retail surveys in the past. Due consideration was also given to local dialect to overcome any language barrier during interaction with liquor store executives.
• Field execution: Structured coverage map was provided to each surveyor and relevant beat plan was developed. Store photograph and contact details of person they interacted with was collected as a proof of their visit.

Outcome

The research enabled insights around the following:

• Product blend - How well is the product in terms of taste and quality
• Product packaging - How well is the packaging attribute of different products
• Service by sales team - In terms of frequency of visit and quality of visit
• Trade satisfaction for different brands
• Trade supply
• Feedback for various brands

Additionally, the target cities were classified as high, medium and low strength based on their trade satisfaction score in order to enable the client to prioritize improvement measures.