Final Report Submission

On
Drools Pet Food Brand Distribution Strategy
For Next 5 Years

Submitted By:
Group 7
BD21021 Bhavya Ladhani
BD21060 Aman Kundra
BD21091 Sameer Gupta
BD21102 Sugandha Agrawal
DROOLS PET FOOD PRIVATE LIMITED SWOT ANALYSIS
• Strengths
1. Promoters’ Experience:
• The promoters of Drools have been involved in the pet food industry for over a
decade, thus aiding in expansion of scale of operations and geographical footprint.
2. Pan-India presence:
• The company has a pan-India footprint (35 states/union territories) with a wide
distribution network comprising of around 570 distributors and around 6850 retailers
(excluding pet shops). Moreover, one-fourth of its revenue from 2022 came from sale
from e-commerce platforms.
3. Strong brand equity:
• The company enjoys a strong brand recall and is supported by endorsements from
leading Bollywood celebrities.
4. One brand suits all:
• The products of this company are designed in such a way, that all different breeds can
unanimously consume the same.

• Weaknesses
1. Susceptible profitability:
• Given the competition in the segment, it is not possible to immediately and fully pass
on any cost increase. As a result, the company’s operating profit remains susceptible
to volatility in key raw material prices.
2. Low awareness and absence of online-reviews:
• There is very little to no presence of drools on social media and online reviews. Even
though the company holds decent market share chunk, a lot of people haven’t even
heard of the brand, let go the features, benefits of the brand.

• Opportunities
1. Expanding by exporting internationally:
• Drools will be distributed in the Australian market through Arka Global, an established
FMCG supplier in the country. The entry into Australia is part of an expansion strategy
by Drools to grow its presence beyond Asia, the Middle East and Africa, while already
being the single largest Indian exporter of pet foods.
2. Increasing revenue opportunities:
• Sales contribution from the top-five states stands high at 56% in FY2022, this gives the
company an immense chance to improve its revenue distribution evenly across the
geographies, given the brand is the most economical when compared to other brands.
3. Growing market for pet food:
• With increasing population and the growing economy, the number of people having
pets have increased. Not just that, the number of conscious people going for better
and healthy food options for their pets have significantly increased too.
• Threats
1. Competition from established and new players:
• Despite having a well-established position, the company remains exposed to stiff
competition from other recognized players in the pet food industry. As the industry is
in a nascent stage, the threat of new entrants remains high.
2. High quality and reputation risks:
• As the company belongs to the pet food industry, quality related risks are present. If
in any case, there exists an issue with the food causing some kind of side effect, it can
have very severe repercussions on the company’s reputation. For e.g., the pet may
appear tired, lethargic and can even go on to impact the nervous system and cause
seizures.
COMPETITION SWOT ANALYSIS:
Competitors of drools:

1. Pedigree
2. Royal Canin
3. Whiskas
4. Purina

Pedigree, Royal Canin, Whiskas and Drools together command over 60% of the India’s pet food Market.
Purina Petcare has a 3% share in the segment.
Some other companies in the market are:

1. Stylam Sydney
2. Cargill
3. Farmina (Russo Mangimi Group)
4. Bharat International Pet Foods
5. Agro Food Industries
6. Himalaya Drug Co.

• Strengths:
1. Customer Trust:
• Brands like Pedigree has been able to gain customer trust through its product
quality, credible endorsements, etc.

2. Deep Understanding of Customer Needs:

• A lot of customers cannot express what they want, so targeting the pet owner and
their perception of what their pet needs and positioning the product as easy to
consume balanced pet food has been able to define exactly what customers wants
is one of the biggest strengths.
3. Emotional Advertising Campaigns:
• It is well known that advertisements of brands like Pedigree, Royal Canin and
Whiskas often strike an emotional chord in the minds of pet owners. Especially,
Pedigree has been able to take place in the minds of the customers through its
advertisements.

• Weakness:
1. Expensive:
• Brands such as Royal Canin and Pedigree are perceived to be expensive by the
customers and they would rather prefer home-made food for their pets instead of
store-bought pet food.

2. Poor Customer Review on social media:

 • Customers are very sceptical about what they feed their pets. Especially on social
media, there is a lot of criticism about packed food for pets, as the customers
prefer home-made food.
3. Side effects:
• Certain category of pet foods by other brands like Royal Canin Maxi Adult Pellet
Dog Food have had some side effects on the pets
4. Poor taste and smell:
• Certain categories of pet food by some of the brands like Pedigree Adult Dry Dog
Food, Famina N&D Ancestral Grain Dry Dog Food are perceived to have bad taste
and smell.
5. Not suitable for all breeds:
• Certain pet foods are not suitable to all the breeds.

• Opportunities:
1. Growing demand for pet food:

• There is an increase in the number of families owning pets. The information

overload from the Internet and social media has made people more conscious
about the well-being and health of their pets. This has made the customer focus
on quality pet foods.

2. Increasing sales prospects in the emerging economies:

• Countries like India, China and Brazil are going to be the most lucrative markets
for pet food in the next decade. The upwardly mobile population and increasing
awareness of importance of balanced nutrition will increase demand for branded
pet food
3. Weight management of Pets:
• The pet owner has become more aware of the management of weight in pets.
When pets are fed regular home cooked food it is difficult to evaluate if they are
balanced in terms of calories and nutrition.

• Threats:
1. Increasing Competition:
• The competition in the pet foods markets is growing. The frequency of purchase
for pet foods is as high as FMCG products and the industry is known to drive
frequency of consumption through better formats. Hence, it makes sense for them
to leverage this opportunity.
2. Substitution:
• Pet foods are popular only amongst the urban elite population. For most other
regions and demographic types, pet food continues to be synonymous with home-
cooked food. Thus, this becomes a substitute for pet food since it is cheaper and
easier to procure
CHALLENGES IN DISTRIBUTION OF PET FOOD FOR DROOLS: -
1. Damage or wastage of pet food products: -

As petfood products are consumables that contain meat and other consumable products, so they are
sensitive. Sun, rain, rodents or even time can result in a big loss. All of these increases the wastage,
spoilage, and pilferage costs. Some customers even complaint of having worm in their foods when
the open the package
2. Products listing in multi-brand pet food shop

Drools has a wide variety of dog and cat food and around 85% of its products are distributed by offline
retail channels (veterinary clinics or retail outlets). Products have shorter expiry dates and varying
demand across flavours and product types, so it is difficult for a retailer to stock all the products and
he is nor incentivise to keep low selling products without any support or higher margins from the
drool.
3. Issues in packing of products: -
Over 50% of pet owners who purchase premium pet food are dissatisfied because they are unable to
properly close the bag once it has been opened. Pet food that is kept in its original package keeps
fresher longer. Pet owners run the risk of compromising freshness by leaving the bag open or
emptying the food into a different container if the bag is damaged while being opened or they have
trouble resealing it in between feedings. Customers also complaint of torn packing on receiving of
pet food which may be due to the transportation of packages. Drool should therefore put a lot of
effort into creating packaging that is not only simple to carry and open but also dependably
resealable, especially for high-end goods.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR DROOLS IN PET FOOD DISTRIBUTION: -
1. Move towards sustainable packaging

There are lot of problems in packing of the pet food in plastic and consumer are continuously
complaining of the bad packing. Also 75 % of the customers prefers sustainable packing and are more
inclined towards the brand that use sustainable packing. Switching to reusable packaging is one
answer, and Open Farm is leading the charge on this front as the first pet food manufacturer to
collaborate with Loop. Customers can purchase the food from the brand in stainless steel tins, which
they then return for cleaning and refilling after use. Free delivery to your house makes it simpler for
customers to contribute. Food packaged in such containers has a longer shelf life and poses less of a
threat from rodents and the environment.
2. Rotational Feeding
As we have issue in incentivizing multi brand pet food outlet to store our whole range of products,
so we can start campaign on “rotational feeding”. This campaign will prevent pet from developing
food intolerances, also frequently advise switching up the protein sources and brands in their diet
every 3 to 6 months. Additionally, do this to promote a healthy diet rich in nutrients. Most pet feeds
are balanced and comprehensive. On the other hand, food ingredients have distinctive nutritional
profiles. Different food kinds contain various ingredients in varied amounts, including amino acids,
vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids. Rotational feeding enables your pet to benefit from two or more
proteins and nutrients by mixing complete diets at regular intervals.This can help drools in
maintaining only certain amount of food product in the store at a particular time based on the
demand of the food in those areas at a particular time because customers are flexible of changing
the food after the knowledge of benefits on rotational feeding of pets
3. Focus on D2C distribution channel and Customer Service
After the covid and fast growth of digital channels have enabled pet owners to order petfood online
as per the custom requirement of their pet. This has made the D2C channel important in servicing
the premium product pet owners. The customers also read the reviews provided on such channels
to check for the best product for their pets. D2C channel has also been identifies as the channel that
will outperform soon in all the regions specially Tier 2 and 3 cities due to the less density of retail
outlets for pets. So, there is a huge opportunity to strengthen the online channel by better
collaborating with the sales websites and better servicing of customer complaints. A lot of customer
complaint about the issues they face after buying the drools product and are unable to reach the
company executives to resolve them especially for the products purchased on online websites. So,
proper mechanisms of customer complain redressal system should be started by drools in order to
cater to complaints and better serve the issues of the customers. This will help the customer to trust
the drools brand and be a repeat purchase on the online channel.
CHANNEL DYNAMIC AT BRAND LEVEL - CURRENT SCENARIO AND WAY
FORWARD:
As a member of the Indian Broiler Group (IB Group), Drools Pet Food Private Limited (DPFPL) has extensive
expertise as a promoter in the pet food industry. The company's position as one of the top companies in the
Indian pet food market is supported by its presence across India and the strong brand equity it has developed
over time. Between FY2020 and FY2022, the company's sales expanded at a CAGR of around 70% as DPFPL
was able to capitalise on its established position amid rising pet adoption rates and rising demand for pet
supplies. The top line is probably going to increase significantly throughout this fiscal year as well.

Pan-India presence of wide distribution network: Drools

DPFPL has a presence throughout India with a sizable distribution network made up of 6,850 retailers
(exclusive pet shops) and 570 distributors. Additionally, it sells through e-commerce platforms, with the
latter accounting for around one-fourth of its sales in FY2022. It is present in 35 Indian states and union
territories. The top 5 states contributed 56% of total sales in FY2022 and 53% in FY2021, giving the company
a chance to increase the geographic dispersion of its income.
Additionally, Drools has a great brand recall and is one of the top brands in the domestic pet food sector,
boosted by endorsements from prominent Bollywood stars.

Indian Pet Food Industry – Current Scenario:

According to industry specialists, millennials account for 31% of pet owners in India, followed by baby
boomers with 29%, Gen Xers with 26%, and the Genz and Builder generations with the remaining market
share. Technology is also used by millennial pet owners to get goods and services for their animals.
A solid market with well-known new pet-related enterprises has also been created, according to market
studies on the pet sector. The pet industry should continue to expand in the years to come if all these
variables are taken into account.

E-commerce insights:
• Sales in the Dog Food category on Amazon.in between January 3, 2021, and January 1, 2022, were ₹
3.89B, rising +30.49% from the previous year.
• The category's average retail price dropped by -4.79% to ₹1.18K. Pedigree continued to hold the top
spot in the market for the category, with a 44.21% market share (despite a -14.14% decline from the
previous year).
• Stunningly, the top 3 performing brands accounted for 74.97% of the category market share.
• The paid advertising expenditure for the category increased by +67.83% to ₹ 96.18M.
• The category's promotion count climbed by +105.09%, and it made up 33.8% of all sales.
Pet Food Industry : Future Prospects
Pet owners in India spend around $300 (about Rs. 23,000) annually on food and treats for their animals,
according to a study of the pet food business. According to statistics on online pet food sales, around 27%
of pet owners and 73% of pet owners respectively buy food for their animals from pet specialty retailers.
According to the most recent data from the pet food business, Amazon is the market leader in e-commerce
sales, with a 45% increase in sales over the previous year. The market's expansion can be ascribed to the
abundance of options. For only dogs, there are a tonne of options, such as dry food, wet food, organic, and
natural dog food. The dog food business is expanding as a result of the large array of options available.
Way Forward:
1. As can be seen from the Amazon analysis, compared to the previous year, Drools' online market share
increased by almost 40%, moving it from third to second place, which showed that customers were
becoming more aware of its online presence and preferred making purchases online over in-person.
Even the company's annual report indicates that over a quarter of its sales were made online.
However, the currently trail Pedigree in market share by over 30%, indicating that there is still space
for growth in the industry. They should thus make more investments in internet distribution
platforms.
2. In addition, projections indicate that India requires 3000 tonnes of pet food, and the existing supply
cannot keep up with demand without compromising on quality. In the nation, there is a 35% to 40%
shortfall of animal feed. Many pet owners are unable to afford the high cost of imported pet meals.
Drools can benefit from this. The key to a pet's health is a balanced, nutritious diet, but owing to a
lack of knowledge and exorbitant prices, not every Indian pet owner can afford top-quality, premium
pet food. Here, Drools may take the initiative and close the supply-demand gap. They might take
advantage of chances like government initiatives to produce pet food in India and satisfy demand.
There is a huge scope for India-specified pet foods too. They can market such products in the semi-
urban areas and invest in increasing awareness in those untapped market to gain market share.
3. The Indian pet food market is estimated to be worth Rs. 2,500 crores. According to industry statistics,
24 million of the 29 million pets worldwide are dogs, with the remainder being cats and other
animals. And when it comes to pet food, the majority of consumers believe that homemade fresh
food, rather than ready-to-eat and packaged food, is better for their dogs. To tackle this is a
significant issue for Drools. However, they may benefit from the same and broaden their product
offering by incorporating freshly cooked pet food. The age of dry kibble is coming to an end as the
humanization of pets in the food industry becomes more prominent. Drools may enter this market
and offer personalized, fresh meal alternatives to compete. One of the niches with the highest growth
rates is raw dog food; nevertheless, additional study and testing are required before it can be
considered a successful strategy.
UNDERSTANDING OF CURRENT DISTRIBUTION NETWORK FOR OUR BRANDS IN
COMPARISON WITH OTHER FMCG COMPANIES:
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies typically have a well-established distribution network that
is designed to get their products to consumers efficiently and quickly. This typically involves a combination
of different distribution channels, such as wholesalers, retailers, and online stores. The specific distribution
network for an FMCG company may vary depending on the products they sell, their target market, and the
geographic region they operate in.
DPFPL has a large distribution network in India, consisting of 6,850 merchants (exclusive pet stores) and 570
distributors. It also sells through e-commerce platforms, which account for around one-fourth of its revenues
in FY2022.
Large FMCGs have an extensive distribution network making FMCG products available at every corner shop
across the country. This is a major difference compared to pet food products sold by Drools. The channels
are limited and targeted to increase sales efficiently. The niche TG of pet owners and their need & willingness
to spent on pet products requires Drool to have more targeted distribution channels and promotion
strategies.
CUSTOMER AND SHOPPER FEEDBACK AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
I. Primary research objective:
1. To assess the brand image of IB group drools dog and cat food.
2. To investigate IB group customers' preferences for drools dog and cat food.
3. Obtaining feedback on the goods and service offered by drools dog and cat food of the IB group.
4. To understand the client attitude and demand for the IB group's brand.

The survey is quite significant in market research. It also aids in understanding and identifying human
behaviour toward the IB brand.
The information acquired through rigorous market research would aid in determining customer
brand awareness.
This study was primarily designed to gauge customer awareness of drools goods.
The survey covers a wide range of topics such as market, marketing, branding, brand awareness,
promotional activities, and post-purchase action, giving the study a broad and deep scope for
analysis. This research will take two weeks to complete.
Customers today have an increasing variety of brands of products and services to choose from. They
make their decision based on their opinions of brand, quality service, and value.
This research is not only concerned with brand recognition, but also with other data.

1. From where did they learn about the product?

2. Did they consider the brand to be essential in their purchasing decision?
3. If offered, would they buy the same product brand again?
4. Do they believe the branded product meets their expectations?
5. What is the brands' market influences?
6. How relevant is the brand in terms of trends?
II. Methodology:
The methodology adopted to fulfil the objectives of the project is as follows:

• Type of Research - Analytical and Descriptive

• Sample Size – 100
• Type of Sampling – Random
• Sample Unit – Delhi NCR
• Data Collection Method: Questionnaire
III. Statements:
1. Do you believe the advertisement is providing accurate information about IB group Drools?
2. Drools products are widely available.
3. The Drools product is of the highest quality.
4. How probable is it that you will receive proper service from IB group?
5. How likely is it that you would suggest Drools to someone else?
6. How probable is it that you will move to a different brand in the next 12 months?
7. Drools products are very affordable.
IV. Null and alternative hypothesis testing using Z test:
The null hypothesis is Ho.µ = There is no relationship between advertising providing accurate
information about Drools products and maintaining Drools product quality.
Alternative hypothesis is H1.µ= There is a link between advertising providing accurate information
about Drools products and maintaining Drools product quality.

• Mean= 3.97
• Z at 95% confidence= 1.96
• Value of Alpha= 0.05
• Calculated value Z= -2.74, 1.53 is less than table value (1.96) it lies in the rejection region
Hence null Hypothesis is accepted. We can perform Z test for all the other statements using a similar
method.

V. Findings & suggestions:

1. Drools dog and cat food is purchased by 50% of postgraduate responders.
2. 72% of respondents buy and use Drools dog and cat food on a regular basis, i.e. once every six
months.
3. The majority of responders, i.e. 80%, buy Drools dog and cat food once a month.
4. 50% of customers are willing to suggest Drools items to others.
5. In Delhi, 78% of customers are aware of the IB group company's goods drools dog and cat food.
6. Almost 40% of customers are eager to purchase drools items in the future.
7. IB group has a well-established collecting and distribution network.