India: IG International now exporting fruit
“Our international exposure is of great help to meet the demand of our foreign customers,” said R.K. Sharma, IG International's general manager for sales and marketing. “Our unique packing, selected quality, excellent cold chain management, experienced team and SAP accounting have allowed us to meet the expectations of all our foreign buyers.” Prior to the move, IG had built themselves up into one of the largest fruit importers in India, but with the new business, they'll also source local pomegranates and grapes for shipment abroad.
One of their major partners in the import business has been Stemilt Growers in the United States. Stemilt has provided IG International with apples sourced from their orchards in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S., a place known for the quality and quantity of apples it produces year after year. To promote that fruit, IG held a series of in-store drawings in 2012.
“With the help of the brand owner, we took the initiative to promote the Stemilt brand,” said Sharma. “It was a sales-linked drawing program that we launched in six of our biggest outlets.” The drawings consisted of five smaller raffles that built up to a larger drawing with the main prize of a new car. Other prizes included televisions, phones and appliances. The aim was to get in touch with consumers in order to keep a dialog with them open, and Sharma noted that the program was a success.
“We can keep in touch with many customers who visited us for the first time because of the drawing, and many of them have now become regular customers,” she said. “So this helped increase our sales revenue from the Stemilt brand.”
For more information:
R. K. Sharma
IG International Pvt Ltd
Tel: +91 0226627000
Mob: +91 09930507023
rksharma@iginternational.net
www.iginternational.net