Ashima Attires (B)

Abstract

Ahmedabad based Ashima Attires (AA) had just decided to launch a ready to stitch (RTS) shirting and trouser fabric brand called Icon based on recommendations made by a consulting company. The product had to be launched in August 1997 in some of the states in India, starting with Gujarat. The CEO of AA was considering an additional direct to home (DTH) channel for the sale of these products. For AA, the challenge was in creating a `consumer good' culture, while being a part of the Ashima family, whose main thrust so far had been in selling to industrial customers. This case focuses on this new concept of DTH, where the salesmen (ambassadors) would visit houses for sales. We need to decide the profile and number of `ambassadors' to be employed, their territory allocation, training, support systems required for this channel, and analyse the expected costs and benefits of this channel.