A Critical Analysis Of Itc Distribution Channel Marketing Essay

A Critical Analysis Of Itc Distribution Channel Marketing Essay Abstract Distribution channel is having an important role in positioning of the product because we know that distribution channel is tool by which we can make reach our product to the final consumers. That’s why selecting a distribution channel is an important aspect of building a competitive advantage for businesses of every size. Distribution channels include your own direct sales force, retailers, distributors and the Internet. The right distribution channel ensures that customers in different locations around the country, or around the world, can buy your products and get the right level of service from your company. To select the right distribution channel for your business, you need to consider what a channel can offer, including location and reach, skills and resources, management costs and degree of control. This is a project to study, analyze and report the distribution channel of the FMCG giant ITC. The project would take help of various sources of secondary data ab out the organization; it’s functioning in terms of distribution channels it employs and the management of these channels in order to stay competitive and ubiquitous against competition. For that we have reviewed the organization and its product lines on a macro level and critical analysis of distribution channel for a specific product line. In that way we would be able to ascertain what are strength and weaknesses of the given distributions channel. We have also drawn out certain similarities and contrasts between ITC’s and other FMCG’s distributions channel to help us add some recommendations at the end of the report on how the potential of the distribution channel and its efficiency can be improved. Contents Introduction – ITC ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited. As the Company’s ownership progressively Indianised, the name of the Company was changed from Imperial Tobacco Company of Ind ia Limited to India Tobacco Company Limited in 1970 and then to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. In recognition of the Company’s multi-business portfolio encompassing a wide range of businesses – Fast Moving Consumer Goods comprising Foods, Personal Care, Cigarettes and Cigars, Branded Apparel, Education and Stationery Products, Incense Sticks and Safety Matches, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business and Information Technology – the full stops in the Company’s name were removed effective September 18, 2001. The Company now stands rechristened ‘ITC Limited’. Though the first six decades of the Company’s existence were primarily devoted to the growth and consolidation of the Cigarettes and Leaf Tobacco businesses, the Seventies witnessed the beginnings of a corporate transformation that would usher in momentous changes in the life of the Company. Key landmarks in history of ITC limited 1925 – Packaging & Printing Business was set up as a strategic backward integration for ITC’s Cigarettes business 1975 -Launch of Hotels business with the acquisition of a hotel in Chennai which was rechristened ‘ITC-Welcomgroup Hotel Chola’ 1979 – ITC entered the  Paperboards business  by promoting ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited 1985 – Surya Tobacco Co. set up in Nepal as an Indo-Nepal and British joint venture.