He knew that his mama was a typical “ Urban” Customer – rural location, but urban aspirations.
What could he learn in this trip that could help him create an impact in his job? One distinct difference that Humane found between his mama’s place and his home, was that most of the house maintenance and odd job work was done by mama himself, unlike at his home where the local electrician / carpenter / plumber were on call. Government loved to keep doing odd jobs, and swore by Appetite products like Officio, Effective etc, and had been amazed to learn hat even Mesas and Steeliest was from Appetite itself.
Humane also found that Government used a local brand of Solvent Cement (the solution used to join PVC pipes – used for irrigation), and was unaware that Appetite made Mesas Solvent Cement, or that Appetite made Teflon tapes for plumbing applications. Rural was clearly a much more Do-let-Yourself market, than urban, but Appetite had a task on hand to create awareness here. Humane kept observing his maternal ancestral place, now in a new light. Everywhere he saw an opportunity for Appetite products.
Appetite also had reduces to use in construction the DRP Fixity Range – Products that could give strength to new construction, or products that could repair leaking walls / Roofs, and also products that could stop ground seepage, if used during construction. One more difference he saw in this old house, was the ubiquitous use of Solid wood- Right from Columns to door frames, to beams for supporting roofs! And focuses the age old furniture was solid wood. The fencing in the farms was wooden, and temporary sheds were all wood supported.
As Humane was running his hand on the antique writing desk, Government entered and Humane said “ Appetite also makes products to protect and beautify wood.
Mama, At Appetite, I have learnt how to polish wood and make things kick new. We have a product called Wedding… If you permit, I’ll get Wedding from the hardware store, and polish this desk. ” -Giovanni pointed out that the antique desk was actually looking much newer than some new furniture he had recently got made for his son’s wedding.
It had got infested with Termites, a year back, and he was contemplating throwing it away.
He had tried cleaning the termites, and even applied kerosene, as advised, but eremites kept spreading. Humane reflected, “ We have product called Terminator for protecting wood against termites. Ideally it should be applied on new furniture to protect it, before polishing or laminating it. When applied to already infested wood, or painted / laminated wood, it may not be as effective, as it does not penetrate effectively, or might leave some avenues in the furniture, for termites to spread. Yet I am sure it’s better than kerosene”.
Mama laughed and said, “ So you mean Terminator is like ‘ Polio aka teak’ against termites.
To be given early, to prevent lifetime disability of furniture, ha ha! – If only knew of it before! For your cousin Rajah’s wedding, we got a lot of furniture made -? and I ensured that the carpenter used Officio. Butte never thought of Termites at that time! Why did you not join Appetite two years earlier – It would have saved me a lot Of headache” Humane started reading on termites, on the web and also referred his product training notes. He found that the problem is much more acute in Rural areas. Besides spreading through flying, these termites mainly came in from the ground.
Termites could infect the walls and wood. Terminator infarct, had two variants – a) Terminator Structure – could be used for soil treatment, or used in foundations of new constructions, and even mixed with paint and b) Terminator Wood Preservative – which was to be used on wood or ply. Wood preservative was 15% cheaper, and could not be used in construction. But the Terminator Structure variant was stronger version and could be effective on wood too.
He referred to his sales data, in his laptop. He found that Terminator Structure + Wood was less than 1% of Appetite consumer Sales.
A very minor product in that sense, yet Appetite had spent on C&S media to generate awareness. Within that, Terminator Structure was than of the combined Terminator product sales. Looking at the ratio of Officio to Terminator, he found that Terminator was 4% of Officio sales in Urban areas and 6% of Officio sales in Rural areas. Appetite always believed in quality products and had ensured that Terminator was experienced and non toxic.
So not only a very safe product to use, but also for the trade there were no licenses required as would be in the case of pesticides sales channel.
Infarct, were pesticides to be used in the formulation, Appetite WOUld have been able to save a lot of cost on the product too. It had recently introduced a Spray variant at nearly double the cost, to create further ease of use. Hemostat’s concentration was disturbed by the distant sound of Giving mama starting the pump for the daily irrigation, but his mind started whirring.
Was Terminator the product that was looking for, to create an impact in his Urban Stint? Could Terminator be his preparation for the Judgment Day (MATS nickname for performance Review)?
Or should he look for other reduces which were already contributing to 4-5% of his portfolio, and could be grown at upwards of 50%? He thought it would be a good idea to write down the questions he should find answers to, before finalizing Terminator as his focus product. Oho could he map the Potential for a product like Terminator? Where should he start, what methodology or process of research should he use? II Who were the customers and influences for Terminator in Urban? 0 How could he generate awareness in Rural areas? Obviously Appetite could not recruit every mama’s nephew and train!
And till now the TV Media had done nothing much to create impact in rural areas! L] Was the regular channel of hardware and plywood shops the right one? Was some innovation possible there? C] Should he first look at the Supply Side (Reaching the product to rural shops) or first create Rural Demand (Create awareness in Rural areas) ? In other words, was this a supply side problem, or a demand side problem? What product innovation could be suggested, so that the product was acceptable to rural masses? Should he popularize the ease of use, or go for bringing the product cost down?
