State-run Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd on Wednesday said it has tied up with Hindustan Lever Ltd and three other kitchenware brands for selling grocery items to its LPG customers through its distributor network.
"All HLL products besides kitchenware from Hawkins, Prestige and Nirlep can be ordered from our Bharatgas distributors in select cities at fabulous discounts," BPCL Director (Marketing) S Radhakrishnan said.
Sangam, an HLL subsidiary, is currently home delivering about 3,000 grocery items ordered through Bharatgas distributors in parts of Mumbai and there are plans to extend the scheme to more cities.
Bharatgas customers in northern region besides Mumbai and parts of south India, can now buy kitchenware of Hawkins, Prestige and Nirlep at 25 per cent discount from Bharatgas distributors.
BPCL aims to add 1.2-1.5 million LPG customers every year through this initiative 'Beyond LPG', he said.
The firm sells LPG to 17 million customers from over 1,800 LPG distributors in the country and plans to increase the number of distributors by 20-25 per cent every year.
"This is more of a customer retention strategy and will provide additional revenues to distributors, who get a share for selling the non-LPG products," Radhakrishnan said.
HLL and the other kitchenware products would be home delivered by the distributor free of cost.
"All products carry fabulous discounts," he added.
BPCL, which sold 2.03 million tonnes of LPG in 2002-03, is planning to increase its market share of just under 25 per cent to 27 per cent in the next two years.
BPCL executive director (LPG) R K Singh said the company plans to have more such tie ups with consumer brands to deliver products at customers doorstep at a discount.
"The HLL experiment is a success. Neck-labels or leaflets were attached to LPG cylinders and customers ordered for groceries through phone. Initially, Sangam was delivering the products but eventually the stocks would be stored by our distributors who will make the deliveries," he said.
The Mumbai experiment will be expanded to other cities, he said.
"BPCL has taken another step forward, by offering a wide range of kitchen items to their customers at prices significantly lower than the market. We have plans to introduce many more products through our network exclusively for our customers," he added.
