Marketing mix strategies: A study of ponlait parlours of puducherry region

Dairy cooperatives assume a great importance in the nations’ economic development through prospering enormous employment opportunities to the rural masses. Next to agriculture, this can be an alternative livelihood model for those people. The demand of urban consumers is fulfilled with admitting various promotional as well as sales strategies. The urban consumers, now-a-days, are stimulated or augmented with the habit of consuming milk and milk products in a modern way. The consumption of milk and milk products by urban consumers’ involves the milk unions to speed up their activities. Among the various methods followed by the unions, selling of milk and milk products through milk parlours attracts many of urban consumers to consume milk and milk products in a large manner. In this regard, the practice of Ponlait in Puducherry deserves mention. It has established milk parlours in important and conspicuous places in the Puducherry region. The sale of milk and milk products through milk parlours has been undertaken by the Ponlait in two ways, namely, i) keeping the milk parlours on its own, and ii) keeping the milk parlours through outsourcing on commission basis. The study reveals that Ponlait is doing well in each strategy of 7 P's of marketing mix. However, its market growth appears to be limited. In order to improve the functioning of the Ponlait, the study has suggested some measures to follow.