TBL Myanmar: Understanding the Barriers to Sale of Dehumidifiers in Emerging Markets

Abstract

Vipul Murarka, Executive Director of Tropical Biotechnology Ltd. (TBL), was perplexed after looking at the erratic sales of dehumidifiers over the past 3 years since he started in June 2016. Although the number of goods sold was growing until 2019, which gave a marginal increase in revenue earned, the top line was increasing at a decreasing rate, with 10% in the first year, 8% in the second year and 7% in the third year. He could not understand the reasons for these inconsistent sales despite offering quality solutions and having many satisfied clients in the past.

Given the torrential rains throughout the year in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, a dehumidifier was an essential product for factories, yet sales were not picking up as anticipated. Dehumidifiers as an industrial product aided many manufacturing units, as they helped in controlling moisture by extracting water from the air, thus reducing humidity and preventing the growth of mildew. There were myriad manufacturing companies in Yangon because of the availability of cheap labour, yet sales for certain months were flat, with not even one sales call funnelling to final action. These lull periods made Vipul anxious and forced him to think if he had entered the wrong industry. He even thought if the first-mover advantage turned into a disadvantage for him. The initial reason he speculated about this sales barrier was the price, as it was a high-investment product for industrial buyers. However, he also posited to himself that he might not have been able to position the advantages of the product aptly in the minds of the potential buyers.

Unable to find a definitive reason for the sales barriers of the dehumidifiers, he approached his friend, Myint Than, an independent consultant and visiting faculty at an MBA institute where he taught sales and marketing strategy courses. Vipul and Myint had to find the reason for the barrier to the dehumidifier sales and eventually make a strategy to overcome these barriers for future growth before deciding the sales target for the year 2020.