Dabur to Double Rural Reach to 27k Villages

Dabur plans to double its rural reach to have direct access to some 27,000 villages with more than 3,000 people this fiscal, in a bid to keep pace with market leader Hindustan Unilever. The maker of Dabur Chyawanprash and Vatika shampoo has identified 10 states that contribute 72% of the entireFMCG sales in the country through an initiative dubbed 'Project Double'. 

"The canvas is very large and one needs to play this very carefully as cost of reach and activation is disproportionately high in rural markets," George Angelo, executive director — sales at Dabur, said. He said the company used digitised maps and economic data to select villages for coverage. It focused on 353 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Dabur currently has stockists in about 14,000 villages. 
FMCG companies, including HUL, Procter & Gamble and Emami, have been increasing their rural reach significantly since the last two years, posing a challenge for Dabur, which earns over 50% of its domestic revenues from the country's hinterland. HUL had tripled its rural reach in 2010-11 through self-help groups with its project Shakti. Dabur's latest move follows the company's recent rejig in 'route to market' strategy to utilise synergies across divisions, maximise reach and maintain cost. 
sagar.malviya@timesgroup.com