How to market my agarbatti company?

By Subhankar Paul on May 21, 2014 17 Comments / 24874 views

Dear Rodinhooders,

I am the owner of an Agarbatti company. I have a manufacturing unit in West Bengal. The name agarbatti is synonymous with the state of Karnataka, specially the cities like Bangaluru and Mysore. I am facing a typical type of problem with my location of factory. When I am approaching the dealers with my product they appreciate initially, but after he go through the manufacturing location he starts asking for more discounts sometimes as high as 50% on MRP. Most of the time they do not want to stock our products.

My questions are:-

1) How to overcome this problem?

2) How to create more efficient marketing team?

Thanks

Comments

Subhankar Paul

17 Comments

asha chaudhry May 22, 2014, 6:16 am

hi subhankar,

have you tried selling your agarbattis online?

if you want to create a facebook store pls reach out to nameet of sellmojo

https://www.therodinhoods.com/profile/NameetPotnis

pls use the search feature – you will come across interesting marketing ideas.

we have lots of e-com players

look for amish mody – eco corner – he sells agarbattis at eco corner but only eco-friendly ones.
Anirudh B Balotiaa May 22, 2014, 7:06 am

Hi,

Why is location leading to demand of discounts?

Why not try to tie-up with online stores like BigBaskets where you can/will get good visibility.

How are your rates, is it same as other brands like say Cycle/Mangaldeep?
Saraswathi Pulluru May 22, 2014, 9:02 am

Hi Subhankar,

Same qn. as Anirudh. Surprised as to why the dealers would ask 50% discount on MRP? Is your agarbatti company new in the market?
Anirudh B Balotiaa May 22, 2014, 9:56 am

Being new, discount is expected, but still can’t figure how does a location matter.

On the contrary if Karnataka is the hub due to competition rates will be more competitive versus say West Bengal where not many existing factories may be present. Just my assumption.
Arun Kumar Waghchoure May 22, 2014, 3:39 pm
You haven’t shared much, we can give some inputs based on what you have shared.
1. It looks like you are not in your hometown turf, make friends with dealers and build good rapport.
2. Make a visit to other competitor’s agarbatti factory to see how they are different, you can adhere to quality standards (ISI/ISO applicable for your product and manufacturing unit)
3. May be when you meet them at office your talk and sample is impressive but when they visit your manufacturing location, they might be having thought – “oh! it’s not that great anybody can do it” or “there is not much value add happening here for the amount I am paying”
4. The last guy who sells the agarbatti to the customer usually have max 1 or 2 favorite brands of his; which he would usually push it on people who ask them ‘give me your best agarbatti’. Dealers might have max 3 or 4 favourite brands which he would like to sell the brand, benefits and the story to his distribution line. You need to build that for him.
5. You need to differentiate yourself among all the agarbatti brand.
6. If in the agarbatti business that you are, your competitors have same product, same smell, same pricing, then only thing you can beat them is by being awesome at business standards, payments, procurements, delivery, timings, keeping your words and commitments.
7. One crazy idea – Give one or 10 best agarbatti stick to people for free and ask them to place a regular order if they liked it.
Anirudh B Balotiaa May 23, 2014, 3:13 am

Why not sell it here to start with?

I am ready to try a few of what you make, I can do an NEFT for the goods. You may not make much considering the shipping charges, but I can provide a first hand feedback of the same.

Anything to get some one started in their business! 🙂
Subhankar Paul May 23, 2014, 3:44 pm

Yes, our rates are same in some cases otherwise it’s lower than the brands mentioned.

I am thinking to tie-up with online stores.
Thank you
Subhankar Paul May 23, 2014, 3:49 pm

Yes, It’s great suggestion.
Thank you
Subhankar Paul May 23, 2014, 3:52 pm

No, Sir in West Bengal there are lots of agarbatti manufactures but only problem is that the companies lacks the marketing skills compared to the Karnataka.No, govt awareness. Here is no big companies or brand. Even ITC’s own agarbatti brand is sourcing it’s products from the state of Karnataka. Please go through the packets of the same.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal June 1, 2014, 11:22 am

You should talk to Amish Mody – https://www.facebook.com/amish27?fref=ts

Tell him you are my friend (FB message him?)

He makes the BEST Agarbattis in the world!
asha chaudhry June 1, 2014, 3:01 pm

alok – amish is rodinhooder!

https://www.therodinhoods.com/profile/AmishMody

i’ve already pointed subhankar in his direction (eco corner) – dunno if they’ve connected yet or not…
Hitesh Kumar M June 2, 2014, 12:58 pm

Hi Subhankar,

My friend Rajesh, manufactures his own brand of agarbattis, as well as contract manufactures “Mangaldeep” for ITC,and some other brand for “Cycle”.He also sets-up turnkey projects in the industry, and has developed innovative machines for the production of agarbattis, and can help you. However, he is from Bangalore. His company’s name is Venkat Industries. Please look it up, and let me know if it helps.
Subhankar Paul June 16, 2014, 5:37 pm

Sir,

It’s a pleasure that you wanted to try our product. Your feedback is precious to me. I would request you to mail your address to info@hariksha.com for shipping the product.

Thanks
Subhankar Paul June 16, 2014, 5:50 pm

Sir,

Thanks, for the recommendation.

Surely, I will talk with him.
Shravan January 31, 2015, 10:35 am

Hi Subhankar,

I just checked your website and found that it is not operational.

I am a freelance web developer developing websites for small businesses and brands. I can make an attractive website for your agarbatti company for as low as Rs.5000 (including .com domain, hosting for your website and designing charges). The website will help you in getting a good online presence for your brand.

If you are interested, you can send me a mail at ventures529@gmail.com
Anirudh B Balotiaa May 8, 2015, 11:05 am

Just curious. Any traction Subhankar?
Anurag Adukia May 9, 2015, 1:09 pm

Hi Subhankar,

We have worked with a few agarbatti companies in the past and what we rekon is they have a very swift competition. In your case i feel that the distributors are asking for higher discounts as they feel that your operating costs are less. Which is usually what i noticed with my clients. You need to do a market study with other local competitors….also consider selling online to have a wider reach…i know of someone who generates 65% of revenues from online business…you should try too!