RC Cola’s Blueprint for Successful Dealership

RC Cola’s Blueprint for Successful Dealership – Beverage industry oldtimers usually list capital, warehouse, routing trucks, and salesmen as the indispensable components in the successful dealership of a softdrinks brand. Certainly, the primary consideration is still the product, especially if the drink has enough fizz, with strong consumer pull and can sell even with just a reasonable amount of push. But for a daunting undertaking like beverage dealership, finding the right collaborators has now also become a must.

While fostering a healthy relationship between the dealer and the product manufacturer or the licensed distributor is an ideal scenario, a number of beverage dealers today are still faced with a different reality, often finding them stuck in an inflexible business agreement with manufacturers. So even before dealers can take a crack at success, their operations have already fizzled out.

One Filipino company engaged in carbonated soft drink dealership has taken a different approach, putting a premium on relationship. As a result, dealers of RC Cola products are not only sipping reasonable success but have since built an alliance with the company that goes beyond the professional kind.

The Asiawide Refreshments Corp. (ARC), the licensed manufacturer and distributor of RC Cola, divulges that the company’s dealership program is centered on business-partnership model which underscores the importance of personal relationships. While it is important for dealers to have the means and determination to succeed, ARC believes that giving importance to a relationship plays a critical factor.

ARC also puts premium on the value of collaborative partnerships with its dealers. Like a puzzle, RC Cola dealers are vital pieces that contribute to the whole system. It is a mutuality of business interest. So it is only logical that ARC and the dealers help each other out throughout the course of the business partnership.

Unlike other beverage firms, the set-up that ARC offers is very much different from those commonly afforded to beverage dealers (such as compliance to logistics requirements and other typical stipulations), like exclusive territories with boundaries, prohibiting a dealer to sell products not carried by manufacturers and similar other “restrictive” terms and conditions. Any of these don’t form part of an ARC contract at all.

Some people will find this odd but unlike most other beverage firms, ARC don’t actually encourage exclusivity. They give independence to do what their dealers want with the business. They don’t dictate to them what to do and what products to buy. What the company do is foster personal relationships, treat them as one of their own. The company also make it a point to guide and support their dealers in key areas of the business like marketing. For dealers, especially those with small capital, limiting products to sell may prove to be a risky move. Beverage dealership, after all, is a volume-driven industry.

Taking this into consideration, ARC has espoused free enterprise. With this kind of set-up, dealers can sell both RC Cola and non-RC Cola products at the same time. The diverse stock bodes well for the dealer more products for consumers to choose from equate to more profits. The company has also enacted schemes to benefit the dealers. These include deposits on instalment basis as opposed to the Cash on Delivery (COD) treatment usually used in most dealership transactions. For traders who roll over profits, the deposits on an instalment scheme would often suit them well.