Question

“Every time I travelled, people asked me to bring them chips, khakra and pickles from all over the country”, says Anoushka. Finally, she and her colleague, Sumeet, decided to make a business out of it. They launched a facebook page, asked people what they wanted, and they came up with a list of about 100 places and tied up with two dozen vendors to begin with. They were servicing people from Jaipur who wanted spices from Kerala, people from Panipat who wanted halwa from Jammu and people from Delhi who ordered for fresh tea leaves from Darjeeling. Through their business they wished to bridge the gap between sellers and buyers. The business is now worth millions. 

Explain any two important activities that Anoushka and Sumeet will have to be involved in for making the goods available to the customers at the right place, in the right quantity and at the right time.

Answer 1

For making the goods available to the customers at the right place, in the right quantity and at the right time, following activities relating to physical distribution are required : 

(i) Order processing – Order placement is the first step. Order processing cycle involves the following: 

• Receipt of order from the customers. 
• Entry of order in company’s records.
• Procuring goods from inventory.
• Despatch of goods. 

(ii) Transportation – Transportation means physical movement of goods from one place to another. Roadways, railways, shipping, etc., are used in transportation. Transportation is an important activity because most of the markets are geographically separated.

(iii) Warehousing – Warehousing refers to an activity of holding the goods in perfect state to create time utility. The purpose of warehousing is to provide safety and protection of goods. Warehousing is needed when there is difference between the time of consumption and time of production.