Thanks to postmen, ChotuKool is a rage in rural households…..Kamaal Saiyed
The ubiquitous village post office has a new job. Postmen are now delivering refrigerators to rural homes. In a unique marketing proposition, Godrej has tied up with the Indian Postal department to sell small capacity refrigerators to village homes. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with director of postal service (Gujarat circle), a few months back, to sell the ChotuKool, a small refrigerator worth Rs 3790 to capture the rural market.
In the last one month Surat region of postal department had sold around 33 refrigerators only in Jankhvav village in the district.
Interestingly the ChotuKool refrigerator is of 43 litres capacity to fulfil daily necessities, with no compressor. It runs on an electronic chip. It needs just 230 volt AC supply and can even run on an inverter. It is made from unbreakable plastic body weighing 8.9 kilogram and opens from the top, said Chirag Shah, an associate manager with Godrej.
The sale of these small fridges started in Gujarat from October 1 in all three postal head quarters – Ahmedabad (entire North Gujarat), Vadodara (South Gujarat) and Rajkot (West Gujarat).
Referring to the sales from October 1 till November 19, Vadodara tops the list with the sale of 644 pieces in areas like Anand, Bardoli,Bharuch, Kheda, Navsari, Panchmahals, Surat, Vadodara East, Vadodara West and Valsad.
In Vadodara sector, Panchmahals tops with the sale of 392 pieces. While Ahmedabad had sold around 129 pieces and Rajkot had only sold 11 pieces, said Senior Superintendent Post officer M I Patel, Surat circle.
The desired customers had to contact nearby post office with the cash and deposit it over there with his home address. Our duty is to deposit the entire amount with the bank account of Godrej Company and pass order to them. The customer will get delivery within one week, Patel said.
The postal department gets a commission from every sale of the ChotuKool. The fridge is shipped from the factory in Pune directly to the doorstep of rural people. It is delivered through express post parcel services of Indian postal department, he said.
A Mumbai-based Godrej official said, We deliver the parcels of ChotuKool through express post parcel services and we pay to them for transportation, which we dont charge from the customers. We have signed contract with the postal department for one year and even we have made clause to extend it further. We had planned to reach to the rural and poor customers those who cannot spend Rs 10,000 plus for freeze. So we have come up with the small refrigerator. It can also be used in cars, for those who are going out for a picnic. We have started in Maharashtra and since one-and-half-month we have started in Gujarat and Tamilnadu. We are getting good response from Gujarat market.
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/thanks-to-postmen-chotukool-is-a-rage-in-rural-households/890324/0