DSI recognises effort of the dealers

One hundred top dealers of DSI, the premier footwear brand in Sri Lanka, gained recognition when they were rewarded with a company sponsored trip to Bangkok and Pataya recently. They were the best dealers in terms of school shoe sales for the year 2010/11.

While the next 75 dealers were given refrigerators another 100 dealers got mountain bikes.

A company spokesman said that this reward scheme is one way of recognising their business partners who have helped the company over a period of seven decades to become the leading footwear retailer in Sri Lanka gaining a market share of 44%. It helps to strengthen the relationship between the company and the dealers. While providing an opportunity to share ideas amongst themselves and with the company management, it also exposes them to foreign brands and merchandising practices as well as to become aware of international designs and trends in design.

This was the second successive year that the best dealers won a trip outside Sri Lanka. In the previous year 10 dealers were selected from a raffle draw and sent to Bangkok.

Over the years the company has strengthened its distribution network covering the entire island with 200 company owned showrooms and over 3500 dealer outlets. The best dealers were chosen from the entire dealer domain.

The company spokesman representing D Samson & Sons (Pvt) Ltd, the sales, marketing and distribution arm of the DSI Samson Group said that the DSI brand is firmly rooted in the minds of the Sri Lankan footwear consumers. Research studies have revealed that the brand enjoys a 95% level of top of the mind awareness and a brand equity index of 7, he added.

With DSI catering to the entire family, it has become a household word. Its brand mix comprises established local brands such as DSI, Ranpa and Samsons as well new age brands such as AVI (sports brand) and Waves (fashionable thongs brand); international brands such as Reebok, Fila, Proline fitness, Taminto, Liberty and Puma. Having started as a single shop in Main Street, Pettah, DSI has grown from strength to strength to cover the entire island with its well-established network of showrooms, dealers and agencies, the spokesman said. An island-wide distribution coverage including the North and East is maintained.

The spokesman added that at the SLIM Brand Excellence 2010, DSI Super Sports won the Local Brand of the Year (Silver) award. The brand was selected for Brand Leadership at the World Brand Congress 2010.

“We have one of the best laboratories in South Asia, which enables us to develop high quality products for our consumers. We also maintain continuous improvement in quality to provide greater comfort and durability,” he pointed out

As a forward looking organisation, the brand has extended the consumer goods range to include related non-footwear products such as socks, bags, uniforms, shoe brushes, belts, polish and footwear accessories. Discussing future plans he said that the socks and polish categories will be expanded by introducing more products. The fashionable thongs category will also be further developed. Another area receiving attention is the fitness equipment business. The complementary school products range will also be expanded. “We are planning to open sports shops in the main towns,” he said. While continuing to build up the rapport with the dealers by continuing the promotional programme the company is looking at the possibility of including the customers too in next year’s promotional campaign.

On the CSR front, the company is promoting the development of aesthetic and artistic skills of school children. This is being done through the sponsorship of programmes including ‘Denumai Wasanavai’ and ‘Sithuvili’. The company also encourages the school children to develop their sports talent. The schools volleyball championship is one way of promoting talent.