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| Sunday, 21 November 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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'Coke' strengthens mini-distribution in Kegalle Elmo Leonard reports from Kegalle The Kegalle township is buzzing with activity but a few kilometres interior the population is sparse and dependent on rubber, rice and spices. In such a setting, in Moradana, most schoolgoers walk home and only a few children whose fathers command more economic power travel home in hired vans, buses being scarce. But, Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka are intent on maximising their sales here. The consumer of Coke or Coca-Cola knows as little about how the bottle in his/her hand reaches the trade outlet as the moviegoer knows about the shooting of the film he/she views. The distribution of consumer goods each has a separate and highly-evolved strategy to suit the product and the place it is distributed in. That being so, Coca-Cola Beverages are in the process of adopting what they call a mini-distribution centre (MDC) system, as had proved successful in South Africa, by Coca-Cola bottlers in that country. This MDC mode of distribution was begun as a pilot project in Kegalle and Kurunegala and is expected to be gradually introduced throughout the country. It is in operation in several districts such as Colombo, Gampaha, Matara, Tangalla and Hambantota making 53 MDC's operational in the island, to date. The distributor in the Kegalle district has been replaced by five salesmen who live in the area and earlier worked under the distributor and the sixth, Tamaranga Jayasena (21) takes over from his father Wimalasiri. Young Ratnapala Dissanayake operates from the Moradana Junction and is delighted that he not only drives a Coca-Cola van (which he will own in five years) but has a storeroom which houses the Coca-Cola range of drinks, next to his home. Dissanayake lives with his aged father who drives him to sell more Coca-Cola and his wife and two children. He is the sole breadwinner while his wife looks after the children. The Rs 15,000 he earns per month goes a long way, he said. The Coca-Cola company maintains a strict surveillance of sales stocks and cash collection of these mini-distributors and expects them to meet targets. The Coca-Cola range in Sri Lanka consists of Coke, Fanta, Portello, Lion Ginger Beer, Lion Tonic Water, Club Soda and the like. The consumer is familiar with the small (buddy bottle) and the larger size. Here, as in other parts of rural Sri Lanka the larger bottle sizes are more popular; in Colombo and the metropolises the Buddy size moves better. The large plastic bottles we see in the towns have little appeal here. In soft-drink distribution, more visits must be made to the trade outlets to replenish stocks and empty bottles must be collected promptly, while the cash must be recovered even in small sums preventing the accumulation of credit. Who could do the job better, than the Coca-Cola mini-distributor, being a man of the area, knowing little about the science of salesmanship, but does a lot, being a wholetime one-man distributor? |
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