SWOT Analysis of Meriiboy Icecreams

Submitted by,

Arun B

Malappuram District

Malappuram is the largest district in Kerala in terms of population. It is also pretty large in terms of area. This is only district in Kerala which has a predominant Muslim population. Western Malappuram (Areas like Tirur, Malappuram, and Ponnani) is a Muslim-centric community while Eastern Malappuram (Perinthalmanna, Wandoor, Nilamboor) has a sizeable Hindu and Christian population mainly consisting of migrants from central Travancore region. A notable portion of the population has one or more member of the family in Gulf Region. Generally this is a region with people have high or considerable disposable income. But education levels especially, no of person doing higher studies are less. The Muslim population love to go out to hotels for having food. All major and famous hotels of Kerala like Sagar and Paragon are located in the Calicut region.

Perinthalmanna

Perinthalmanna is located at western region of Malappuram. The NH-213 connecting Palakkad and Kozhikode and the Thrissur-Nilamboor-Mysore roads passes through the town. The road to Thamaraseeri bypassing Kozhikode also passes through the town.

Strength

- Strong Distrubutor, infact the strongest in Malappuram District- Board Presence is very high in Town- Brand Awarness is good among non meriiboy dealers- Strong Infrastructure Support of distributor

Weakness

- Distrubutor is very powerful. Allegation of intruding into Karavrakundu distributor area.

- Lack of variants to dealers

Opportunities

- Distrubutor is growing at a fast pace.- Perinthalmanna is a growing centre of medical tourism. Good and

famous hospitals like Moulana and Al-Shifa in the town. Should check whether we can make use of it. Ice creams are related with medical fields like dentistry.

Threats

- Chances of others companies to lure our distributor since he is performing very well.

Nilamboor

Nilamboor is a town located at the foot hills of Western Ghats. It is an important tourist destination. Well connected to major towns by rail and road.

Nilamboor is connected to Thrissur and Kozhikode by road and Shornur Junction by rail.

Strength

- Strong Distrubutor, eventhough he is located at Edavanna- Presence in A class hotels like the KTDC motel which is a major touch

point of tourists

Weakness

- Board Presence is very low eventhough the distributor is strong- Dealers think Meriiboy as a company which don’t give free freezers- Lack of a distributor at Nilamboor Town. Many dealers prefer instant

supply.

Oppourtunities

- Tourist Destination on the way to Ooty, Connoor etc.- Emerging Market

Threats

- Lazza factory coming up at Pandikkad (20 kms from Nilamboor)- Lazza supply is pretty good

Wandoor

Wandoor is a small beautiful town situated in between Perinthalmanna and Nilamboor. It is well connected to other towns like Manjeri and Kalikkavu too.

Strengths

- Distrubutor Presence in Town

Weakness

- Low Board Presence in Wandoor- Market is a monopoly of SONATA- Dealer Awarness about Merriboy is low.

Oppourtunities

- Comparitively unexplored market. Town is a growing one.- Got couple of leads from dealers in Wandoor. Nice to know they are

ready to change

Threats

- Sonata has captured the market by giving free freezers and boards.- Pandikkad Lazza factory gives them good advantage for supply.

Malappuram

Malappuram is the district headquarters where the collectorate is located. The two main regions of Malappuram are Up-Hill and Down-Hill like North and South in Ernakulum. Despite being district headquarters it is a small commercial centre. It has a good presence of govt offices and is the head office of Malabar Special Police.

Strengths

- Motivating Distrubutor. Aspiring Distributor. Felt like he is eager to boost sales of Meriiboy.

- Dealer Awareness for ‘Real Ice cream’ is high

Weakness

- Non-Availability of different varieties of Meriiboy- Average board presence in the town- Absence of promotional material for Distributor- Consumer Awarness for real ice cream is very low

Opportunities

- Majority of bakeries are Bake chains like Famous Bakery, K R Bakery, and Honest Bakery. If we are able to convince them it will help to boost the sales.

Threats

- Already established competitors- Some stores are having Lazza and Skei Medium fat ice creams

Manjeri

Manjeri is an important town which is an important road junction. It has good connectivity with places like Thamarasseri, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Perinthalmanna. Major Govt offices like District hospital,PWD offices are situated here.

Strengths

- Deemah Bakery, the largest bakery in Manjeri is supplying merriboy- Distrubutor is having good infrastructure- Dealer Awarness for Real Ice Creams but not Meriiboy.

Weakness

- Low consumer Awareness- Lack of promotional material- Different ice creams are supplied in a single freezer

Oppourtunities

- Felt that distributor is more centred in the town. Could do well if he concentrates on down town areas.

Threats

- Competitors are pressurizing our dealers to change since they are offering higher Margins.

Kottakal

Kottakal is a town located on the Thrissur-Kozhikode Highway. Road connectivity is the main advantage of the town. Kottakal Arya Vaidhya Sala , the famous ayurvedic business group is located here. It is a huge commercial centre with large number of shops.

Strengths

- Distrubutor himself is supplying the ice cream which increases the efficiency

- Impressive Sales

Weakness

- Average Board Presence- Market is somewhat saturated- Meriiboy not present in A class Bakeries

Oppourtunities

- Has a large unexplored area under his belt like Tirur, Parappangadi etc- Distrubutor should be do well (boost the sales) with addition of some

support staff

Threats

- Competitors are well established and their distributors having personal relationship with the dealers.

Tirur

Tirur is the most important railway station in the District. It is an important commercial centre which accounts for about one-third vehicle sales in the district. Tirur is a highly populous urban agglomeration in the district.

Strength

- It is a mixed market. Not monopolistic. All are having presence. It also can be viewed as an opportunity.

Weakness

- Absence of a distributor- Low Awarness of our product- Dealers are reluctant for new leads because of the huge distance of our

distributor at Kottakal.

Oppourtunities

- Completely unexplored market for us- Most dealers giving 2 ice creams from a single freezer. So we could

persuade them to keep Meriiboy also in the freezer.- Presence of good small towns in and around Tirur

Threats

- Growing market of competitors- Competitors may not allow our ice cream to placed in other freezers.

Valanchery

Valanchery is an important town in between Thrissur and Kozhikode in NH-17.It is almost equidistant between Thrissur and Kozhikode. Valanchery is a very small town in terms of area but there is a presence of small towns like Kuttipuram near it.

Strengths

Weakness

- Lack of good supply for Meriiboy. KR Bakes, Valanchery were earlier supplying Meriiboy. They stopped due to poor supply.

- Slightly established market of Skei icecreams. KR Bakery Puthanathani certified that skei has good instantaneous supply.

Oppourtunities

- Presence of Distributors in nearby towns like Puthanathani and Perinthalmanna. They can cater to the needs of the town.

- Being a major traffic junction and especially very busy one (1 road to Perinthmanna, one to Palakkad, one to Kozhikode and another to Trissur) vehicles lay idle for about 5 minutes average in the town. If we place a boarding in top of any building, it would of huge value.

Threats

- Good Supply of other ice creams boost their images when one of our ex-dealer stopped due to poor supply, it has importance.

Wayanad District

Wayanad District is one of the largest districts in Kerala in terms of area. But it is sparsely populated. The population is more concentrated in the town area. Majority of the land area is forests, tea plantations or agricultural area. The indigenous people of Wayanad are the tribal people who live in village areas with low per capita income. Migrants especially form the central Travancore region form a commendable part of the population. Cash crop cultivators have high disposable income. Wayanad experiences cool temperatures throughout the day. It also experiences huge rainfall. Vythiri is considered to be wettest place in entire Kerala state. This may have an effect on the ice cream sales in the region. Compared to Malappuram, the no of ice cream shops per km are few especially in Manathavady area.

Manathavady

Manathavady is town in the north western part of the district. This town is the gateway of the district to areas like Kannur, Thalassery etc and other northern parts of Kerala. The presence of good bakeries is very low in the town. Overall number of bakeries in the town is only average.

Strengths

- Strong Distributor Awareness. Non-Meriiboy dealers associated our company with Kamaliya Bakes. They are known by all the dealers in the town although the shop is a small one.

Weakness

- Lack of good supply. City Bakes, probably the best bakery in Manathavady was dealing with Meriiboy earlier. They stopped due to poor supply.

- Distributor bakery and ice cream parlour is pretty average which may affect the image of Meriiboy

Opportunities

- The number of bakeries for town of this stature is pretty low. Opportunity for many more number of new bakeries.

Threats

- Lack of space in town. Town is already congested with non-bakery and non-ice cream parlour shops.

- Merriboy Dealers placing non-ice cream products inside the freezer and damaging the freezer.

- Competitors giving free freezers to dealers.

Sulthan Bathery

Sulthan Bathery is the border town on the Kozhikode-Mysore highway. Although the town is not having municipal status it is pretty large and felt to be bigger than Kalpetta Municipality

Strengths

- Meriiboy having its presence in ‘A’ class bakeries like Dani bakery and Well Arabia Restaurant unlike in other towns.

Weakness

- Board Presence is low. I entered Dani Bakery for getting a lead only to know that it is a Merriboy dealer. No notable board of Meriiboy was present outside.

Oppourtunities

- Emerging town. Probably bigger than Kalpetta.- Supply of Lazza is poor eventhough they are strong. For You bakers was

ready to change to Meriiboy if we promised good supply.

Threats

- Bathery is a well established market of Lazza.- Competitors give free freezers to dealers

Kalpetta

Kalpetta is the district head quarters of Wayanad district. It is the lone municipality in the district. Majority of the government offices are located in the town.

Strengths

- Completely new market for Merriboy. Can start afresh.

Weakness

- Lack of a distributor at Kalpetta- Although ice-cream distributors are present in Kalpetta, majority of

stationery and FMCG distributors are located in Sultan Bathery or Manathavady.

- Low Brand Awareness for Meriiboy ice creams among dealers

Opportunities

- Presence of a new distributor could give a huge boost to our sales- Kalpetta is easily accessible from Kozhikode compared to Bathery or

Manathavady

Threats

- Already established market of Lazza