Amul : A Superb Business Model

Amul is a unique company. What started out as a co-operative movement away from the throes of a city and foreign at one time to the powers of marketing and sales has now turned into a company that uses the same model it always has,one with the co-operative theme of empowering rural workers to extract milk, the principle raw material that has made Amul what it is today. What’s changed and has been documented over the years has been Amul’s rise into a sales and marketing giant.

Amul is a company that strongly pushes itself as an Indian company. For its own sake it works well because it relies extremely heavily on domestic sales. Domestically the company is strong and one that seems to be growing by day.

One reason that Amul is the giant it is because as said earlier it’s built on the back of a co-operative movement.It encourages women and farmers to collect milk from their cows and pass it on to them for a price. That way it has been able to morally empower them.

The flipside of the same movement has been a very strong source as the starting point to Amul’s supply chain.By managing milk supplies from the cattle farmer and sending it straight to the factory, it’s been able to eliminate the middleman.

A problem that has been encountered by Amul’s many rivals including Nestle.

But having a strong supply chain is only the beginning,the remaining part includes making consumer products that sell well and that the same consumers are able to be impacted by marketing and advertising movements.

On both counts Amul has delivered which has made it a winner on all fronts.Its ability to anticipate the right type of product at the right time has been excellent through the years.

Most of these products remain to be products derived from milk like butter,cheese, packaged milk beverages, chocolates, etc.These products have been introduced into the market one at a time and have over time proved to be very popular with domestic consumers.

Since Amul produces food items, it’s not restricted to a particular class. More importantly it’s been able to hold it’s own for so long because it’s been able to provide quality products.

Amul has been a company that has relied on savvy ad campaigns to push its products into the consumer marketplace. Nearly everyone who’s seen Indian ads since the 80’s remembers the Amul Girl that made the ‘Amul Butter’ brand the leader in the butter division.

Amul unlike other companies manages to publicize itself not only through TV campaigns but also road and poster campaigns. The latter has been a recent development. Amul has also been able to market its products by striking crucial deals at the right time.

It’s been able to maneuver its products into company offices and open its own restaurants in association with companies like Infosys that build huge campuses for their employees. Thus by being the official supplier of milk based products it’s been able to bring in the money.

A model that many envy but one whose effectiveness is admired.