Route to Market Project – Al Ain Mineral Water:
Al Ain Mineral Water has enjoyed a highly successful year in 2007 with strong sales growth, significant market share gains and a dramatic improvement in both presence and visibility in the critical Modern Trade. Al Ain Mineral Water (AAMW) is the No 2 mineral water company in the UAE, the country with the highest per capita consumption of packaged water in the world. Previously a wholly state-owned business, AAMW was partly privatised in 2005 and a new General Manager from a multinational FMCG background appointed. Desirous of creating a much more commercially-oriented organisation, AAMW engaged Pearson Consulting in November 2006 to work with them to review the existing Route to Market approach and, specifically, the Sales organisation, with a view to preparing the business for accelerated growth. Using our 5Cs analysis tool (Channels, Customers, Competitors, Company and Capability) we worked hand-in-hand with the AAMW field sales team to create a prioritized agenda for change. The initial focus was on the external Cs (channels, customers, competitors) to understand the macro picture before turning the spotlight to the company and its internal capabilities and opportunities.
Too often companies focus on their own strategy and plans without fully appreciating the bigger picture and this usually results in an outcome which is not fully customer-focused. AAMW did not fall into that trap and together we created an objective review of the opportunities and a comprehensive implementation plan. The resulting SWOT analysis allowed us to identify 5 key opportunities:
- Business performance in one key region of the country was lagging behind the other areas and this was largely due to a relative lack of resource and focus.
- Sales force effectiveness was sub-optimal as a result of three main issues: “one size fits all” customer and channel approach, imbalance in sales vehicle fleet and failure to place enough emphasis on high profile outlets.
- Modern Trade (Key Account) opportunity seriously under-prioritized.
- Commercial Policy/trading terms not “best practice”.
- Opportunity for a significant price increase based on consumer brand perception.
The recommendation, based on all of the findings, was to defend the market position in the high-performing region whilst dramatically increasing both human and financial resources in the other key region. This included the creation of a new, standalone Key Account structure to focus on the growing Modern Trade.
