Innovation in Distribution Strategy to Sustain in Competitive Market: A Case Study of Auto Parts Industry

Innovation in distribution strategy is the key to sustain in today's competitive market place. This is applicable for diverse sectors like PC manufacturers, retail chain, furniture industry, book sellers etc. Even the auto component makers are now changing their traditional push-type of distribution strategy especially in the replacement or aftermarket. The case is about an established company dealing in automotive filters which used the principle of pull-replenishment advocated in Theory of Constraints to increase its market share in the aftermarket segments. The company used a focusing process to identify the constraint and restructure the organization around it. In the last few years after adopting the new strategy, the company has experienced higher inventory turns, better market reach and remarkable increase in ROI by changing its distribution strategy from a push strategy to that of a push-pull strategy.