Sales and Distribution Management

Submitted by (Section-A)
G.Balaji (FPM 08/07/M)
Ranjith Babu N (PGP/18/266)
Praveen GP (PGP/18/099)
Shahinsha.S (PGP/18/107)
Akhitha Akhil (PGP/18/066)

Dealer Name: Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt Ltd. (Platinum Dealer of Maruti)
Point of Contact: Rahul (Sales-in-charge)
Research Method: Structured face-to-face interview (1 hour) was conducted to get the initial
information company and its operation and then telephonic interview (16 minutes) was
conducted with structured questions designed with the aim of understanding the companys
Sales and distribution process.
About the founder: In the year 1939, Mr. K. P. Paul started his business career with Popular
Washing Home. He dared the tradition and started reaping success in six months. This venture
brought forth his daring nature that remained the backbone of his life and business in the years
to come. He was a born leader and believed in employee empowerment and satisfaction. He
had motivated employees who delivered impeccable customer service.
Mr. KP Paul was a visionary. In the year 1941 he diversified into tire, tube vulcanizing and
battery restoration business. When the 2nd world war came to a closure, he found ample
opportunity in the spare parts business by procuring the surplus spare parts of military vehicles.
In the year 1944, he established Popular Automobiles, perhaps Indias largest chain store
dealing in spare parts. The business grew by exponential proposition and catapulted him to
fame. He further forayed into imported and new automobile parts. It had a pan India presence
with offices at Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Calcutta.
K. P. Paul was an entrepreneur par excellence and entrepreneurship is the key word in any
remarkably growing business. In his business growth he made thousands of people and families
self-sustaining. Hundreds of his former employees are successful business people today. He did
not believe in charity, he wanted people to work hard and succeed. He was an epitome of
dedication, hard work and humility. His humble demeanor won many hearts and he had a
committed workforce and loyal customers. Based on this success saga the Kuttukaran Group
has adopted its vision We will be the worlds most Admired Corporate by Progressively
Delivering Greater Value, through Entrepreneurship within.
About The Managing Director:
Managing one of the largest automobile retail groups in India, Mr. John K Paul has keen interest
in several other areas. He was the President of the TIE Kerala from 2011-14. He was the
President of the Kerala Chamber of Commerce & Industry for the year 2005-06. He is currently
the President of The Kerala Automobile Dealers Association. He has been associated with FADA
for the last few years and has held position as Honorary Secretary from the year 2012 to 2014.

John K Paul is the son of the legendary path breaking entrepreneur of Kerala, Shri. K P Paul. He
had his schooling done from The Lawrence School, Lovedale, Ooty and is the president of its
Alumni Association. He graduated from the Regional Engineering College, Calicut.
Other Business Units:
John K Paul is the Managing Director of Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt Ltd. & Prabal Trucking,
dealers for Maruti Suzuki cars and Daimler Benz Trucks respectively. He is also the director of
Marqland (dealers for Jaguar Land Rover cars), Popular Auto Dealers Pvt Ltd. & Kuttukaran
Trading Ventures comprising the divisions of Popular Automobiles, Popular Mill Stores &
Kuttukaran Engine Rebuilders. He is the Managing Trustee of the Kuttukaran Foundation that
runs the Kuttukaran Institute for Human Resources Development which is engaged in Skill
development.
Operations:
Popular Vehicles, with 200 units spread across the country, is one of the prominent dealers of
MSIL dealership network. It recently grabbed seven awards at the Maruthi Suzuki dealership
conference held at Dubai on May 2015. Currently Popular vehicles is the Indias highest selling
Platinum dealer for Maruthi. Popular Vehicles, apart from new car sales, also offers car service,
car insurance, training for car driving, car beautification, second hand car sales and car
exchange services.
Product Offerings: Hatchbacks, Sedan, Van, SUV & MUV (Both used and new)
Industry Observed: Automobiles (CAR)
Customers: Consumers, Travel agencies.
Retail Outlets: 8 Sales showrooms
Service Centers: 36 service centers
Maruti True Value: 7 used Car Sale point.
Maruti Driving School: 6.
Channels Used: Sales outlets & Sales Person to generate lead.
For new Cars: Maruti Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt Ltd Sales personConsumers
For Old Cars: Consumers turned suppliers Maruti True Value (Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt
Ltd) Consumers

Services: Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt LtdConsumers

Driving School: Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt LtdConsumers
Sales Force: (Kozhikode)

10 sales person and two leaders work in the showroom.

20 people under two team leaders in the market. (Split into two segments till
Kunnamangalam showroom one segment and from there to Kozhikode city another
segment).

Key insights about Dealer Company relationship and promotional activities done:

Usually the dealer tries to gaze the demand through insights got from consumer
response and once the order is placed it takes one month on an average for the car to
be delivered after the car reaches Bangalore from Haryana the dealer pays the amount
to the company and then the dealer receives the car.
Sometimes the dealers are insisted by Maruti to concentrate on sale of a particular
model.
Road shows are conducted while a new model is introduced in the market which is done
by the dealer assisted by Area manager appointed by Maruti.
The Dealer Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt Ltd has a good name among the consumers
which reduces the effort of selling to an extent and make them to concentrate on
retaining the customer.

Distribution Model:
Distribution Selection:
Maruthi has the most extensive distribution network among the car manufacturers in India.
Maruthi has 1421 sales outlets spread across 1097 cities. The strong distribution network and
distribution strategy constitutes the core competency of Maruthi. The immense distribution
network was based on the company objective to reach even the remote areas and gain
competitive advantage. Maruthi is planning to increase its dealer network to 2000 in 800 cities
by end of 2015. To obtain Maruthis dealership, a dealer needs to invest Rs. 6 crores without
including the land Value. Minimum area requirement for Maruthi dealership is 1 acre and cc
limit is Rs. 6 crores to 8 crores. Maruthi selects its dealers through its DDN (Dealer Development
Network) and on an average it takes six months to select a dealer through DDN. MSIL
dealership network is growing by 40% during the time period from 2011-14 but the domestic
sales volume is decreasing at 7% during the same period. Hence the New car sales per dealer is
decreasing sharply. In order to increase sales per dealer, Maruthi has segregated dealer

territories and hosts competition among the dealers. The dealers also represent the brand and
Maruthi frequently conducts corporate image campaign for the dealers.

MSIL Dealership Network

1400
1200
1000

800
600
400
200
0
2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

MSIL dealership Network Large Outlets

Manufacturing
Plant (Gurgaon,
Manesar)

Stock yard
(Bangalore)

2012-13

2013-14

MSIL dealership Network Small Outlets

Kozhikode Dealer
Place

Manufacturing Plant:
There are 7 process shops, 5 assembly lines and around 1700 robots with 3 stages of inspection
for each car. It takes 12 hours to make one car and one car is made at every 12 seconds. Kaizen
has been the philosophy of their continuous improvement which has created Zero
compromise quality structure
Store House:
In order to reduce the transit time, Maruti Stockyard (Mondovi motors) is located at
Bengaluru. Popular vehicle at Kozhikode is served through this stockyard. For transit time, the
bestselling new Maruti Suzuki Swift hatchback commands a two month waiting period for the
petrol variant while the diesel variant has waiting periods of over 6 months in many cases. The
stockyards at Bangalore and Nagpur has cut down the waiting periods.
Kozhikode Dealer Place:

Dealers are selected and continuous internal audit will be done for infrastructures at the
dealer place. There is also a warehouse at dealer place for storing the models that are high on
demand.
Logistics Partners:
As said by the sales in-charge they are served by Axis logistic partner which transports the
vehicles from the stockyard to the dealers location, Kozhikode
Information Technology:
Maruti provides the best service for its customer. The dealer will have his own service stations.
Customers will be served through those stations for the after sale service.
Dealer keeps tracking the customer and informs them about the number of services pending for
the cars they bought. In order do that effectively they have an enterprise solution Dealer
Management System. Whenever a car is sold, the details will be entered in to the DMS and
then the data will be flooded to the service team. Then the service team will continuously
communicate with the customer for the after sales service. The DMS will be updated
periodically once the service is done and the service will be rated/evaluated by the customer.
Sales Force
Duties:

To build good relation with the bank and local finance companies.(Car finance)
Sales people have target based on years of experience based on it they are incentivized
o After 6 months 3 car per month
o After one year 7 car per month
o After two years 8 car per month

Engagement plans
Hall of Fame
Sales persons are made competitive and encouraged through a unique way administrated by
Maruthi and Popular vehicles. New sales person who are in the experience frame of 6 months
to one year are called as Emerging stars. Other sales persons are subjected to a contest
conducted by Maruthi. This contest has quiz, MCQs based on car models, customer handing
and demonstration methods. Based on this contest, employees are put in different buckets
such as Sales experts, Sales champions.

Areas of conflict:
Popular vehicles, as of now, do not have any channel conflict. Its only channel of sale is through
showroom. Sales persons sometimes hold display shows in Malls/Gathering areas. But leads
generated through these shows are closed in showrooms.
Areas of improvement:
According to sales person, the major problem they face is lead time of certain models of cars.
Customers demand the immediate delivery of a certain model of car that has a lead time of
around 15-20 days after placing order. Few customers are not willing to wait and may resort to
other models of cars that are readily available.
This issue can only be solved if Maruti already has an available stock. But from dealers side, he
can try to reduce the time between, he receiving the car and customer receiving the car. Also,
he can keep the customer in continuous loop about the cars current position in this waiting
time. Also, the dealer can also provide door delivery to those customers who wait, in order to
improve customer satisfaction
Contact Details:
Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt Ltd.,Civil Station P.O., Waynad Road, Kozhikode 673 020
Ph. No. (0495) 2370007, 71, 76
Fax no-0495-2371138
Corporate office:
Popular Vehicles & Services Pvt Ltd.,Corporate Office, Kuttukaran Centre, Mamangalam, Cochin
25
Ph: (0484) 2341134, 2340143
Fax : 0484 2340755