Commodity to Branding - Is it beneficial?

Till mid 1980's, the process of grocery purchase for the house was different. Father, on consultation with the mother, will say out aloud the items and quantity to be purchased and it was my duty to write it down as a list dutifully. The list was then taken to the regular grocery shop and left with him. It takes an hour for him to pack the items we required and keep it ready. Remember, in those days, everything was a commodity and the grocer has to physically weigh the quantity required, then pack it in a newspaper as a bundle (recycling of used paper, very Eco friendly) and tie it with a string. We had to give him some vessels for him to measure out the quantity of oil which came to him in bulk quantity packed in tins. The bread was purchased fresh from the bakery and was packed in paper in front of our eyes. No one even worried about adulteration (though it was prevalent) or quality. But if you buy from a reputed grocery shop, you were assured of the quality. Branding was unheard of. The rice went by the generic name of Ponni boiled, Ponni raw, Matta boiled etc.

First sign that things were changing came in mid 1980's. The salt was sold as a commodity and cost about Rs 0.25 per kg. Tata came out with their iodized salt and advertised heavily. My father, who was always a sucker for any advertised products (he was a marketing man's dream), was on of the early adopters. I, who was just out of MBA, argued vehemently against paying 10 times for an item as common as common salt, for the cost of 1kg of Tata iodised salt was Rs 2.50. By any stretch of imagination or marketing logic, the product should have failed as there was no value addition, other than being iodized whereby preventing Goitre (not that people had a ghost of a chance of getting it), that justified a 10 fold increase. But, Tata being Tata, got away with it. To me, that was the beginning of popularising branding in grocery products. Till then, the branding was aimed at wholesalers and retailers but never towards the end users.

In two decades, the market has undergone a sea change. Today, we hardly see a commodity being sold. The layouts of the grocery shops have changed. Every single item is packaged and branded. The last bastion fell when the Rice, which was always sold as a commodity, started to be branded. I visited a rice merchant during my last visit to my native place and was surprised to see that he did not have a single unbranded rice in his shop, and he has been in existence for 50 years. I saw different brands, in different package sizes and in different colours. Same is true of oil, bread, jagiri, pappad, sugar, salt, pulses. Milk which was a commodity (remember the milkman who came in a cycle or better still the lady who came with a herd of buffaloes and milked in front of your eyes in Hyderabad?) had long since become a brand with the introduction of packet milk.

On looking around, the only things that remains a commodity are Vegetables, Fruits, Coconut and jasmine flower. Even drinking water is branded. How long will these remain a commodity?

This is not a trip down the memory lane. My point is that we need to evaluate whether this change has resulted in a positive fallout for the customer. Are we assured of the quality? I do not frankly think so. Adulteration is still prevalent. Many argue that there is a consistency in quality. That may be true. But in olden days, when we were buying from the same shop, we were assured of the same consistency. Maybe there is an advantage that we can buy the same brand in most parts of the world. However, one need to understand that packaging and branding has pushed the prices up considerably. Are we getting the value for the additional money paid?

And of course, my old grouse remains. Advent of supermarkets have ensured that we do additional work of picking, carrying and billing which was done earlier by the sales boy. This cost needs to be incorporated. And, finally, there was a personal relationship between the grocer and our family. We used to get good tips on products, their quality and price. There was a transfer of knowledge. All these are gone forever.

Do I have regrets? Maybe. But life moves on and I am not one to carry baggage from the past. Still it pays to critically evaluate the benefits of change