DO YOU KNOW HOW TO INCREASE YOUR BRAND DISTRIBUTION?

HOW TO INCREASE DISTRIBUTION COVERAGE IN YOUR AFRICAN MARKET

One of the most important metrics in Route to Market is Distribution / Trade Coverage.

Distribution Coverage refers to the presence of brands and SKUs in the total number of outlets in an area. ?It is about your reach into retail Points of Sale. Why is Distribution Coverage so important? It is inextricably linked to sales – because logically you cannot sell your brands unless they are in the store.

Distribution Coverage can be weighted or non-weighted. Non-weighted looks at the total number of POS vs those that you are present in. The weighted version considers the volume of the outlets.

What are some of the important questions to ask yourself when looking at increasing your Distribution Reach?

1) Do you know?how many outlets there are across your market?

2) When was the last time you conducted an EDS?

3) Is the entire country serviced by distributors or are there wholesalers or Cash & Carry’s too?

4) What information and data do you get back from your distributors? Do you have agreements that ask for specific information per outlet?

5) Do you have a distributive map of the country showing which distributors cover which outlets? Have the distributors been assigned?territories?

6) Are there different levels of distributor, tier 1 or 2 or 3? Do the distributors use sub-distributors? Do you have visibility of this?

7) Are you working with your distributors to understand their business, their issues, and how you can help each other?

8) Have you reviewed the performance of your distributors to determine the most effective from the least?

9) If distribution coverage is about penetrating the POS environment, how do you assess the distributors that have the best relationships to deliver on this?

10) Do you truly?partner with your distributors and provide them with the necessary tools?to deliver on your shared goals?

11) Do you have a field sales force that is supporting your distributors? Do the distributors have a sales force with the right level of training to grow distribution?

12) Do you offer incentive?programmes for distribution coverage increases?

13) In areas where you have limited presence have you identified distributors that you can partner with?

14) If you feel there are no local options in the weak distribution coverage zones, have you looked at bringing in a distributor from one zone into another?

15) Have you ever partnered with a distributor to set up in a new zone before? Did you support the setup with resources?

16) Have you considered setting up direct distribution yourself?

17) Have you looked at how the?competitors?are looking at maximizing their trade coverage?

18) Where does modern trade come in here?

Are there agreements in place that mandate the presence of your SKUs across the entire network?

Would you like to know more or need help with this? Please contact me directly. Subscribe to this weekly #AFRICANRTMLEADERSHIP Series for more inspirational content.