In my last article, I talked about the mango-madness and expressed my urge of seeing this fruit into a well-developed branding space. Not finding easy to let loose this mango mania on me, I am taking it further, to unfold a different but interesting opportunity space available.
Yet another lovely side to the mangoes is its association to the gifting tradition of Indians. During the season, mangoes are the preferred gift carried by people when they visit their loved ones. During the mango season, mango gift boxes are a hot favorite of the corporate world and this gift is highly appreciated and relished by the recipients.

Covid crashed domestic demand. Restrictions imposed on flights from India brought sharp dip in exports. Curtailed travel, curbs on socializing crashed demand of mangoes for gifting purpose as well. Even at the airports, common sight of cartons of mangoes coming off the conveyer belts is no longer visible, with these belts almost lying still at most of the airports.
A few days back, in a WhatsApp group conversation, one friend asked if anyone knew of any courier service through which gift boxes of mangoes can be sent to another city within country. I knew about the Mango Express service of DHL and asked my friend to enquire there as I was not sure if this service is provided by them within country. Another friend suggested Professional couriers. Third friend told that she has multiple times managed to get mangoes delivered through train coach conductor by paying some service charge. Within 5 minutes, three different types of service providers got suggested on the group.
I got an interesting marketing learning about competition existing at 3 different levels. First is the brand DHL which has international presence, second, a national level courier service and third, a service through train conductor existing in unorganised market. Each has a different segment to cater.
This incident also brought forward an insight into another untapped opportunity existing in the mango market especially in the gifting space. DHL identified this need gap for international delivery way back in 2004 & created Mango Express service as a hassle-free solution. The entire service package includes selecting the Devgadh Alphonso mangoes, getting phytosanitary certification, packaging, documentation, customs clearance and doorstep delivery – what a wonderfully crafted value proposition!
Today when we are in 2021, with two covid struck mango seasons gone, why do we not have any marketers with a similar, so very relevant service offering for different cities of our country? This delivery service, tying the sender & receiver with the Mango emotion will definitely have many takers, if it gets the right brand hook.
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