The problem

A consumer goods distributor noticed that it took too long for newly developed products to arrive on the shelves of retail businesses. This significantly reduced the effects of advertising done for those products as customers were unable to buy products that had already been advertised.

The company believed that the low level of sales was a result of poor work done by the commercial team, who supposedly did not manage to sell enough of the products and make them accessible to retail businesses. On the other hand, the commercial team’s point of view was that the advertisement campaigns had been launched ahead of the actual selling process.

The analysis

We measured product presence at the points of sale, the distribution channels, as well as the time it took for the product to get to its final destination.

The analysis of the results immediately showed that the problems lay in the process: The commercial team would visit the client and close a deal. The client then bought the product for its main distribution points which, instead of delivering it directly to the points of sale, waited for them to order it. However, these points of sale either did not know about the product or did not prioritise it in their orders. The result was that the market share achieved was frequently significantly lower than expected.

Since the root of the problem was not found to be within the company resolving this issue was a matter of co-operation with their client and gaining commitment to deliver the product to all its points of sale. In other words, the company and their client became partners rather than supplier and customer.

The result

Although the sustainability of this particular improvement depended in part on the client’s collaboration, the internal relationship between the sales and marketing departments improved drastically creating new trust and joint efforts. And of course, sales for new products introduced to the market through this particular sales network, have improved considerably.