Tamul Plates Group 6

Tamul Plates Marketing: Channel Challenges for
an Organic Product
Background
• Tamul Plates Marketing Private Limited
(TPMC) founded by Arindam, Nidhi and
Anirban , 3 passionate social entrepreneurs
in 2009-10
• Involved in production and marketing of
disposable plates and bowls
• In Jan’18, Arindam Dasgupta, confirmed the
next round of much-needed funding
• The funds would drive a long-awaited
expansion in TPMC operations and take the
company to its next phase of growth
Background
• Company’s distribution strategy:
challenge is how to expand
distribution channels across India.
• Historically, more than 70 % of
sales came from wholesalers
• With increasing attention on
building the brand, Dasgupta
worried that the wholesalers
approach might not work in the
future.
TPMC USP
• TPMC, based in a small town in the Indian
state of Assam near state capital Guwahati
• The areca palm is an important commercial
crop in northeast India, an underdeveloped
region of the country, with limited
industrialization
• The nut had a wide variety of commercial
applications, but the sheath attached to the
tree’s leaf was generally treated as waste.
• Marketed plates and bowls made from the
sheath of the nut that fell along with the leaf
of the areca palm
TPMC Vision & Mission
• TPMC’s vision was to make areca nut leaf
plate manufacturing a US$14 million rural
industry for northeast India and thereby
provide employment to thousands of rural
youth
• Company’s mission to generate maximum
value in an ecologically sustainable manner
• With increasing demand the
extended its product range to company
spoons, containers of various sizes,include
and
square plates apart from rice plactes and
bowls
TPMC Plates And Bowls
5’’ & 4’’ Bowls 7’’ & 6’’ Quarter Plates

Eco-friendly Products
• Areca sheaths are very strong
and sturdy, yet biodegradable.
• The production process used only
heat and mechanical force;
completely chemical-free.
• More practical
and environmentally conscious
option than plastic, thermocol,
paper, or sal patta.
Uses of TPMC Products
• The attractive and
appearance
dimensional stability of the
made them popular for special
plates
occasions such as
birthday
and weddings. parties
• Commercial food producers,
caterers, and sweets
preferred TPMC’s products for
retailers
their
ease of use and disposal.
• Many temples across India also used
them to serve prasad.
Customer Groups
• TPMC’s current market consisted of five specific segments
1. High-income households for weekends for parties and get-togethers that
requires small quantities with high regularity.
2. Functions such as weddings and other similar events, held
by high- income families.
3. Premium fast food centres.
4. Institutional buyers such as temples and commercial cafeterias.
5. Corporate or commercial events such as company
parties or conferences.
TPMC Operations
• Raw material retrieved by local entrepreneurs in nearby villages for the
production of the plates and bowls
• TPMC procured the finished products from the entrepreneurs and
performed quality checks and grading before the products were sent to
market for sale
• Inherent paradox in the production and marketing cycle of TPMC’s
products
• Production was most economical when it was done close to the source of the sheaths
• the farther away from the source, the greater the demand was for the plates
Markets And Channels
• The potential market for biodegradable products to continue
growing with India as one of the fastest-growing markets
• The challenge is reaching the end consumer
• TPMC’s current distribution channels consisted mainly of
wholesalers (accounted for 70% of sales)
• The remaining 30% was evenly distributed across direct
orders over the telephone and the Internet, organized retail,
and fast food eateries
Channel And Sales Options
Direct
Exports
sales
Retail
Special
ers
Compa
ny
e- Webs Events
Commerc Wholesal
Websit e ers
i te
e
Direct Sales
• For local sales no intermediary involved, so margins high.
• The challenge was scale of operations, not many re-sellers
could be reached directly.
• There was an inherent limited scale to this approach over
the long term.
• Conflict of interest issues could arise if TPMC served the
same markets as its intermediaries.
E-commerce
• In 2015, TPMC approached Amazon to convince
e- commerce was the answer to its distribution
challenge.
• Amazon was not willing to provide order fulfillment.
• All orders had to be fulfilled by TPMC by courier, making
this option unattractive for both the buyer and the seller.
• Amazon is a promising new sales channel, but
initial results not very encouraging.
Wholesalers
• TPMC had traditionally relied heavily on wholesalers, who
accounted for more than 70% of their sales.
• Wholesalers provided bulk sales and preferred TPMC
products because of the better quality of its products.
• TPMC worked with a total of 10 wholesalers: two in Delhi
and one each in Guwahati, Tura, Dimapur, Shillong,
Patiala, Patna, Mumbai, and Kolkata.
Company Website
• Selling products over the company’s own website seemed
like a favourable option to TPMC.
• Transportation and packaging costs made this option less
ideal.
• TPMC website was redesigned but logistical
challenges limited its efficiency for sales, making it
more of an ideal vehicle for generating leads.
Distributors
• TPMC was considering engaging distributors to sell the
plates.
• It is an expensive option because distributors normally
demanded high margins on the products they sold.
• Expecting a distributor to invest in building a market is
also unrealistic.
Retail in Delhi
• This sales channel had grown considerably in recent
years; 70 stores in and around Delhi are selling Tamul
Plates.
• Dasgupta agreed that TPMC products were a good fit with
these stores and met the clients’ needs.
• High transportation costs reaching above $0.01 per plate
was a considerable amount even with improved economies
of scale.
Organized Retail
• Spencer’sRetail was a large organized retailer that
sold TPMC products.
• Long credit period extending beyond three months.
• Slotting fees charged by the retailer could take a
long time to recover, further affecting the already thin
margins.
Special Events
• Main advantages of selling through special events were
large quantities and higher margins without an intermediary.
• Disadvantages included a typically long, drawn-out process, with
almost a year needed to close a deal and work with caterers.
• Working with caterers could be challenging because
they controlled the overall budget.
• They placed low priority on dinnerware and tried to get
the lowest possible price from TPMC.
Exporters
• Exporters as a new sales channel.
• Issues related to long gestation periods.
• This opportunity can provide potentially attractive
margins.
Challenges Ahead
• The key challenge: to reach a consumer who wanted to
buy 50 or so plates for a birthday party that would be held
in a week’s time.
• These customers wanted small quantities, tended to be
impulsive buyers, and were inflexible about price.
• Direct-to-door delivery model is very expensive to sustain.
• TPMC was also experimenting with women-based clusters
for the production of plates.
Questions

1. Discuss the various channel options available to TPMC for distributing its products across the
country.
Direct Sales
Retailers
Company website E-commerce

1. Discuss the various channel options available to TPMC for distributing its products across the
country.

Wholesalers
Websites
Special Events Exports

2. Map various consumer groups onto different distribution channels, specifically with respect
to TPMC, and explain their significance.

High-income households for

Functions such as
weekends for parties and get-
weddings and other
togethers that requires small
similar events held by
quantities with high
high-income families
regularity.
Premium fast food centres.

Institutional buyers such as temples and commercial cafeterias.
Corporate or commercial events such as company parties or conferences.

3. Analyze the economic and consumer preference features of the market, and indicate the best
distribution channel, or combination of channels, for TPMC to pursue to achieve its future growth
targets.

• Due to its biodegradability factor, • Styrofoam and paper plates were still
TPMC products were preferred by preferred by the price conscious group since
high-income households, less price- they were less expensive than TPMC plates
conscious groups, expensive events, and were easily available throughout the
and premium food locations. country.
Channels suitable for TPMC would be:

Wholesalers Organizational retails
Exports
Company Website and Direct Sales Company website, Wholesalers

to large scale and loyal customers acting as a POC for the small
such as the institutional customers retialers.
Thank You

Tamul Plates Group 6

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Tamul Plates Group 6

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Tamul Plates Marketing: Channel Challenges for

5’’ & 4’’ Bowls 7’’ & 6’’ Quarter Plates

Company website E-commerce

Special Events Exports

High-income households for

Institutional buyers such as temples and commercial cafeterias.

Corporate or commercial events such as company parties or conferences.

Wholesalers Organizational retails

Company Website and Direct Sales Company website, Wholesalers

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