On a red 'n' white revolution

KOCHI: With identity, comes purpose. So is the case with the government-manned Kerala State Co-operative Consumers’ Federation Ltd that is  treading the path of brand-building.
Barring some old buildings, all the units under Consumerfed across the state is being painted in red and white.
When the Consumerfed decided to go in for an  image-makeover, little did the authorities realise that the colours red and white would revolutionise a venture started 47 years ago.
The uniform colour for all its ventures has helped attain lots of goals which once seemed a distant reality, the officials said.
Consumerfed Managing Director Riji G Nair believes the colours enabled to procure an identity for its outlets.
“Your identity is your signature. Unfortunately we lacked it for several years and we failed miserably in reaching out to the masses. People found it difficult to differentiate Consumerfed supermarkets from Maveli stores,” Riji said.
He said giving red and white colour to its buildings was also a deliberate attempt to break the convention that all government buildings are shabby. Moreover, ‘red’ can easily grab public attention.
Brand building was a deliberate attempt to make Consumerfed products and services public friendly, Riji said. Triveni supermarkets were started in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode During the 70s.
One of the shortcomings was the layman was ignorant about the subsidies and offers.
“Hence, luring people to the supermarkets became a strenuous task. Then we realised that an identity was a prerequisite,” he said.
The Consumerfed could outlive its drawback completely once it decided to stick to a uniform colour, he asserts.  Consumerfed president Joy Thomas said that Consumerfed has come a long way from a small venture, which sold goods from the Gulf seized by the Customs.
“The branding, ofcourse, played a key role in our achievements. Nanma outlets of the Consumerfed sells essential commodities at a 20-percent discount. We have done this without government subsidies,” he said.
Besides a chain of supermarkets, Consumerfed owns nine floating supermarkets and 10 mobile supermarkets under Triveni.
Joy Thomas said that they are expecting a turnover of `2,000 crore in the next fiscal.