After the promotion of Swadeshi to consumers, the yoga guru Baba Ramdev is building a business empire that is done by targeting the shopkeepers as well as the trader society on the Swadeshi plank.
In the ads in both the social media and print, Patanjali Ayurved is tempting the shopkeepers to give more prominence to the products from the brand. The same is done as it will help in fulfilling the dream of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi to support Swadeshi.
Usually, the companies pay the shopkeepers in order to place their products on the shelves in a predominant way. But, the latest brand Patanjali Ayruved is not paying the shopkeepers to do the same. SK Tijarawala, the Patanjali spokesperson stated that the Swadeshi products are needed and now they are telling the vendors to help in the same. The Swadeshi products must reach the customers to achieve the same, he added.
The rivals and analysts claim that the strategy might not work for Patanjali on the long run. Mayank Shah, the marketing head of Parle products stated that no one can deny that Patanjali is a Swadeshi brand, but Parle is also swadeshi and they make in India. The shopkeepers are looking to get returns on the investment that they have made from the real estate space and so they are pushing the prominent products on the shops that will not cut ice.
The yoga guru Baba Ramdev followed the strategy with the organized retailers including Reliance Retail, Future Group, and Shoppers’ Stop backed HyperCITY. When Reliance Retail created the Patanjali Destinations at its stores, the Future Group tied up with Patanjali.
As per Abhneesh Roy, analyst at Edelweiss Securities, the Swadeshi angle will help the brand get the end consumers, but its distribution strategy might not work. He added that they believe that Patanjali will manage to grab some initial market share with its upcoming juices business as it did with Chyawanprash and honey.
