Ok, I have been going around retail stores (More, Vijetha) in Hyderabad to see the shelf space Durga ghee occupies and to get product feedback. Overall I have been getting unanimous replies from the store members that Durga is the choice if you want a ‘nice’ ghee.
Yesterday, I wanted to see if Durga has any shelf space and to enquire the feedback of the ghee in a posh area where typically the people are from middle class/upper middle class and are generally informed of the product choices they make.
I have been to ‘Hyper City’ mega mart located at Inorbit mall, Madhapur – the posh area this side of Hyderabad. I was pleased with what I saw.
Durga shares significant shelf space equal to Amul! (Second pic below, 3 rows each). As per store members both Amul and Durga sell but Amul might have a slight upper hand. Here too the lady said, but sir, if you want a nice ghee, go for Durga. I thanked and came.
Key conclusions are:
- Management really are doing what they are upto as Durga started having better brand visibility when compared to couple of years back.
- Having equal shelf space with Amul in a super competitive retail market is a feat. With time, this should contribute to revenue growth.
- In the local area stores, there are imitation brands like ‘Nand Gokul’ (Nand Gokul copies Durga packaging as is except for hologram, Crane Group Logo) which shares shelf space with Durga BUT in the Hyper mart, there is no such competition from local imitators.
- Ok, so brand visibility is improving, with time the sales growth and its associated disproportional bottomline growth (due to high RoCE, Low Capex) should pan out.
I hold Virat Crane and this is not a buy/sell suggestion. I’m just doing the ‘brand visibility’ scuttlebutt to confirm that product exists and sales do happen really as part of my conviction building process.
EDIT:
If you zoom the second picture, you will see the prices of Amul and Durga ghee. Amul sells at 385 INR per KG whereas Durga Ghee sells at 465 INR per kg which is 20% higher, which is huge premium. This ought to tell us something apart from high quality/aroma of Durga Ghee, what is that?
Couple of pics:
P.S: On a lighter note, I took my family saying its a surprise outing and they don’t know the main reason is my scuttlebutt thing, thankfully, my wife does not read the forum yet 
| Subscribe To Our Free Newsletter |
