Need technology that understands the complete distribution cycle? You have come to the right place.

FMCG is all about getting your products delivered to your retailers when they need it the most. This may sound easy but it's not. The distribution cycle is one of the most important and arguably the most complex process that needs to be understood comprehensively, if you want to stay ahead of your competitors. The CRM or ERP softwares available in the market today fail to do that. Let's find out why.

How the distribution cycle functions usually?

It starts with an agency or an internal logistics department responsible for transporting your manufactured products to your stockist who would then stock up your products in bulk as and when they get manufactured. The stockist would then supply your products to your distributors. Once your product reaches your distributors who would target selling them to retailers in their respective areas, your primary and secondary sale is closed. The next challenging step would be to reach out to your existing and potential retailers and understand their requirements. This is usually termed as tertiary sales. Distributors have their own sales teams or the brand would have their own sales teams as well to generate a good base of retailers. The sales teams would be assigned targets to close an X number of orders every day.

Current scenario

Currently there are different CRM and ERP softwares in the market which can help you automate and manage different aspects of your distribution cycle. Order management and stock management systems focus on taking care of the primary and secondary sales. But keeping track of your tertiary sales is something that is lacking. Maintaining tertiary data is extremely crucial as it gives you an insight about the exact requirements of your retailers. With this data you can also analyze which product of yours is more popular and in a way understand the buying patterns of your end consumers. When you know what your retailers want, you can assign your sales teams to target them and close orders with them. Also delays in closing orders on time lead to losses. There are no effective ways of keeping track of "return of goods" or defective pieces. Also, there is no way in which you can maintain loyalty programs or offers for your retailers depending upon the number of orders they place.

What's required?

What's required is an intelligent CRM/ERP system that handles, automates and maintains your primary, secondary and tertiary sales. There needs to be a mechanism in place using which you can audit your marketing campaigns, manage payments, return of goods and special offers for your retailers. Hold your breath, you are at the right place, our cloud based technology has got all that's required!