Relax: and get ahead

MARKETING: Speed is not always of essence in everything, not even in the express service business.

There are three important attributes that express services advertise themselves on: speed, speed and speed. Along comes the famous Indian summer, and to get ahead, DHL dangles an offer that is at its most delectable in slow motion (at the point of consumption): DHL Mango Express.

It's a simple deal, now in its third year running. You know someone overseas who is stricken with an acute craving for Alphonso mangoes.

You call DHL, pay for the delivery, sit back and relax. The company does the rest: picking the mangoes on company charge, packing them and landing them at your stricken friend's doorstep.

Regulatory changes have helped. When DHL started off, it was sending mangoes to 30 countries; this year, it will ship mangoes to more than 90 countries across the world.

"The service serves two purposes," says Chris Callen, country manager, DHL Express India, "the need to create an impact on customers and clients through the corporate gifting exercise, and the need to combine this exercise with speed, quality of packaging, innovative ideas and assurance of delivery."

The target audience for the service is obviously corporates who are looking to send gifts to their overseas clients or partners. The mangoes can be sent in either a one-dozen (4-5 kg) or two-dozen pack (8-9 kg).

This spells a bill of Rs 3,000 for a one-dozen express packet sent to Singapore, and Rs 4,200 sent to Paris. And there's a bonus too: you, the sender, get the same quantity of mangoes at your doorstep too "" free.

Says Callen, "To ensure that customers get the best mangoes, we have tied up exclusively with one of India's largest mango exporters, offering the highest quality Alphonso mangoes." Procured in bulk, the mangoes are only a fraction of the service's cost. So it makes sense.

The service has gone down well in the market, according to DHL. The first year saw more than 2,500 orders, with the figure having swelled by 30 per cent per year since.

The promised delivery time: about six days from placement of the order. If that sounds relaxed by express standards, it is, it is.