Vora and Company Case Study

Q1) Should Mr.Vora continue in this business?

Yes, Mr.Vora should continue his business of Blossom Oats due to the following reasons:

∙ Consumers have rated Blossom Quick Cooking Oats equal or better than the competing product.

● Mr.Vora’s Blossom Oats is the only second product of its category in the market.

So, market share won’t be shared with any third competitor.

∙The price of Blossom Oats is less than that of the Champion Oats , encouraging price sensitive customers to prefer it.

∙People of South India have widely accepted the product.

So, a large market can be captured in South India with proper marketing.

∙The product’s preparation takes only 5 minutes as compared to 30minutes required for normal oats.

Q2) What are the major problems faced by Vora and Company?

Major problems faced by Vora and Co. are,

● Mr.Vora was not directly connected with the distributors, putting the responsibility on sales agents for running the business.

● Inspite of high demand in South India for Oats, the sales decreased because of unexperienced agents

● Insufficient interaction between the selling agents and Mr. Vora as communication was done only through mails.

● There was improper communication between Vora & Co. and the selling agents.

● Lack of proper research (about product and competitor) done before entering the market in 1959.

● No proper advertising campaign was held to promote the product.

Q3) Should Vora make any changes in decisions concerning:

 (A) Product and packaging

 (B) Advertisements and promotions

 (C) Pricing

 (D) Sales and distribution

 (A) Product and packaging

● The company has to carry out a comprehensive market research to understand the consumer behaviors , their buying preferences and their regions.

● Alternative packaging options must be identified as the current cost of packing (while using tin) is about 36% of the total direct cost.

● The packaging can be done for different quantities rather than only 550 gram packs so as to cater to various segments of customers like large families, small families, single people.

(B) Advertisements and promotions

● The tagline ‘Quick Cooking White Oats’ must be highlighted.

● More mediums of advertising such as newspapers, radio etc must be used for promotion, especially in the regions where the popularity of Blossom Oats is less.

(C) Pricing

● Commission of sales agents in sound India should be increased from 10%.

● The packaging price of Blossom Oats(while using tin) is about 36% of the direct costs which must be reduced.

 (D) Sales and distribution

● The employment of an inexperienced sales agent resulted less sales in southern India.

So, experienced and efficient sales agents must be employed in the regions of potentially high sales.

● More sub-distributors should be employed to increase penetration of the product into bigger markets.