Client Name

CCI Pakistan

Faculty Advisor

Ms. Kiran Khan Ali

SBS Thought Leadership Areas

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

SBS Thought Leadership Area Justification

It aligns with out marketing major and minor in sales.

Aligned SDGs

GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Aligned SDGs Justification

We have introduced merchandiser trainings and effective sale strategies for better sales.

NDA

Yes

Abstract

This ELP was done through a collaboration with Coca-Cola içecek. At the early phase of the project the target was a marketing campaign that would drive the sales of Sprite regular in Karachi. However, very soon through research it was made clear that a full scale campaign would not be possible. Recognizing this limitation, with the company’s consultation this project was altered and refocused toward a new target, to improve the quality of the merchandisers who are the front line in retail interactions with retailers and customers. The modified goal involved coming up with a more scalable soft-skills training package to merchandisers in Coca-Cola based on their needs to increase their influence in the store, handle objections and engage with customers particularly with the advent of socio-political incidents like brand boycotts. The result was the Retail Impact Toolkit: Coca-Cola Merchandiser Development Program, a three-module program using three tools integrated with each other: a bilingual Soft Skills Handbook to merchandisers, The deliverables will include scenario based Training Deck to conduct participant workshops and roleplays, and an overall Training Report, describing the theoretical underpinning, program design and implementation plan. A qualitative and a human-wheeled design approach is taken, which is where stakeholder interviews, mutual workshops, and internal scenario testing transpired within the ELP. Being informed by communication and behavioral science, including the non-verbal communication model by Mehrabian and Problem Solution Benefit (PSB) and LEARN (Listen Empathize Act Resolve Next Steps) models, the toolkit focuses on the politeness and respect of the culture, body language, and sensitivity in selling. More than 15 specific situations of objections and interactions with customers were created to meet the real-life situations in the field. Some important conclusions were that the largest part of the retail resistance was never entirely transactional, being intensely emotional and cultural, post-boycott in particular. This highlighted one of the blind spots in the existing implementation strategy of Coca-Cola, i.e., it needs emotional intelligence and the ability to build relationships on the store level. Although merchandisers are usually prepared in operations compliance, they are rarely given the skills to manage human interactions, although these are some of the most important moments in 7 building perception, shelf space, and purchase behavior. The project shows that the frontline behavioral skills investment is likely to change merchandiser into brand ambassador who is able to make better relationships in the store, diminish conflict and enhance customer experience. It claims to expand the term to the term of retail execution, which is appreciated as much as empathy, communication, and local cultural aptitude, as it is with logistics. These recommendations offer pilot testing the toolkit in high-volume Karachi zones, the inclusion into onboarding programs, the implementation of continuous roleplay-based refresher training, and the digitalization of the toolkit to allow on-demand usage. Incorporating the people-first principles into the retail business model, Coca- Cola Pakistan will be able to create long-term relationships with their retailers as well as resilience in the field, transforming merchandisers into the most credible and culturally fluent representatives of Coca-Cola.

Document Type

Restricted Access

Document Name for Citation

Experiential Learning Project

Notes

NA

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