Britannia’s Route to Market: Best Practices from a FMCG Case Study
- Maneesh Konkar
- Nov 19
- 4 min read
If you’re serious about mastering FMCG distribution and sales strategies, Britannia’s new route to market approach covered in this fmcg case study offers a masterclass in how a legacy brand can adapt to modern challenges. The company, celebrated for its iconic biscuits, faces increased pressure from changing product mixes, evolving retail structure, and profitability challenges. Let’s break down how Britannia’s route to market transformation unfolds step by step, highlighting lessons any marketer or business student will find invaluable.
1. Britannia FMCG Case Study: Focusing on Financials—Revenue Up, But Profits Under Pressure
Britannia’s top line is growing, which on the surface seems positive. However, a closer look reveals a drop in profitability, which is attributed partly to uncontrollable raw material price inflation. While this factor lies beyond the sales team’s direct influence, the other profitability lever—product mix—is something the sales and distribution teams can control. By selling more premium, higher-margin products, the company can counteract raw material cost challenges and justify the existence and value-add of the sales force. This move sets the foundation for why Britannia’s evolving route to market is so important.
2. Expanding and Positioning the Product Range
Many still see Britannia as “just a biscuit company,” but its portfolio now spans biscuits, dairy items, cakes, nutritious bars, and numerous snacking and baked goods. Newer offerings and premium variants, from cakes and cheese slices to bars and health foods, are often underrepresented in retail and not well known among consumers. This gap underscores the need for a route to market that isn’t just about breadth, but about placing the right product in the right outlet. Getting consumers and distributors to understand the range and ensuring proper market positioning for both core and “adjacent” products is key to unlocking growth.
3. Team Alignment—Overcoming Resistance to Change
Britannia’s new approach requires a major culture shift across its vast sales network and distributor chain. Change breeds anxiety: frontline teams worry about new targets, altered incentives, and unfamiliar routines. Managers need to sit down with distributors and sales teams to explain not just what’s changing, but why. They must help their teams understand how new products and a focus on premium segments will drive shared financial benefits over time. Linking strategy to incentives and clarifying how everyday responsibilities will evolve are vital to winning buy-in, reducing resistance, and ensuring unified execution.
4. Route Rationalization—Redefining Territory Coverage
Traditionally, sales routes in FMCG companies were formed geographically, often without considering outlet quality or business potential. Britannia’s new strategy segments outlets, with top-tier (A-class) stores assigned to the best salespeople and the rest (B/C-class) managed by different teams. This approach ensures that the most valuable customers receive focused attention and premium service. Rationalizing sales “beats” isn’t just about maps—it’s about maximizing salesforce productivity and deepening relationships where it counts most.
5. Salesman Allocation—Matching Talent to Opportunity
Building on the new segmentation, Britannia undertakes individual-level sales team allocation. The company’s highest-performing reps are assigned to the most lucrative, top-tier outlets, with others routed to manage the broader retail landscape. This sometimes means salary or incentive restructuring to recognize and reward the unique demands of different territories. It reinforces that top outlets deserve top talent, and maintaining this hierarchy requires careful planning, honest dialogue, and motivating compensation structures.
6. Sales Training—Equipping Teams for Range Selling
A bigger, more diversified product basket demands sharper skills. Sales teams must now possess richer product knowledge, from biscuit specs to dairy logistics. Training goes beyond features and benefits: it’s about objection handling, cross-selling the product range, and tailoring solutions for each outlet type. Building this competence ensures reps speak confidently about every item, answer retailer and customer questions, and help convert shelf space into profitable sales across the broader range.
7. Supply Efficiency—Ensuring Timely and Accurate Fulfillment
Britannia’s strategy flounders if distribution doesn’t keep pace. The case study highlighted instances where stock ordered by retailers took five to seven days to arrive, undermining trust and opportunity. Tackling this means reinforcing the link between distributor, sales rep, and logistics. It involves explaining service-level expectations, the critical importance of rapid restocking, and the need for investments in process or infrastructure if necessary. In FMCG, service reliability is as much a differentiator as product innovation.
8. Continuous Feedback—Making the Change Stick
Once strategic changes roll out, managers regularly reconnect with distributors, sales teams, and retailers to assess what’s working and what needs adjustment. They review incremental revenue shifts, unforeseen challenges, and evolving retailer needs. Spending time in the field—visiting outlets, talking to stakeholders—is vital for sustained improvement. This feedback loop also provides a forum for explaining to retailers why they’re seeing more frequent visits or a broader product range, ensuring everyone in the value chain understands and supports the changes.
Best Practice Takeaway
Britannia’s case study reminds us that route to market evolution is complex but critical, involving finance, people, systems, and culture. To stay competitive and boost profitability, companies must navigate product range expansion, optimize outlet segmentation, invest in talent, enable supply reliability, and keep communication flowing. For marketers and students alike, this is an inspiring model of how a traditional FMCG brand reinvents itself for a modern, more demanding market landscape.
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Maneesh is an MBA from IIM Bangalore and started his career with ITC. He runs Direction One, a corporate training & digital agency services company.
Online Courses - www.directiononeconsulting.com
Contact him at directiononeonline7@gmail.com
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