A week ago, I went to the Aavin milk booth to purchase a milk card for my mom. This was a first-time experience for me and turned out to be an interesting one. I had an immense realization while standing in the queue.
Purchasing the milk card
As I was standing in the queue, a stranger before me was talking to a stranger beside me and I got to know that there is a refund due to the decrease in milk prices from last month. We discussed what would the amount come to now. Stranger 2 went and enquired from the designated person from Aavin that we would get a refund of Rs. 46.50. I did the mathematical calculation of how this figure was derived and understood that it is Rs. 1.50 less every day for 31 days from May 16th to June 15th.
This got me thinking that for a minimal discount we are standing in the queue for a service that the company could provide in a different manner and paying in advance for the milk that will be delivered starting two weeks from now. Also, the service is available only for a couple of hours on a specific day. If it is missed then, one has to go through the hassle of finding where the Aavin office is and go there to get their milk card from the representative.
An Opportunity Created for Impulse Buying
This takes us to the Aavin booth which may lead to impulse buying of their other products. They have a plethora of products being flavored milk, Ice cream, Milk Kova, and so on. A lot of customers purchased Ice cream for their kids, Milk Kova sweet for family, individual milk packets for emergency use at home, and flavored milk to just sip as they stood in the line.
Innovative Ancient Channel Distribution System
I had to stand in the queue for about an hour as the queue was long, imploring me to think about how so many people have been integrated into this age-old system created by Aavin as having the first mover advantage. They have built this network through several franchises and by exploring the opportunities in this widespread market growing from a baby to a giant mammoth, that we today know and see as Aavin.
This got me thinking about, how a company has managed to establish a system over the years and created a demand for their product through exclusivity. And this is just one channel of selling their product. They also have other channels of distribution.
Conclusion
This innovative ancient channel distribution system created by Aavin leaves me pondering upon the thought process in creating such an ecosystem and implementing it to the T making it widespread. It is the consistent effort, tracking, and follow-up done by the human resource across the different stages of hierarchy that has made this possible to what it is today.
An interesting business lesson to be learnt leaving me with food for thought. How can I implement such an interesting lesson in my business?