As the recession struggles on and governments continue to drip feed “corrections “ into national economies, e.g. VAT rises 19-24%, FMCG markets are spluttering. Discretionary spending is under tremendous pressure and items previously seen as simple necessities are becoming luxuries.
Take the humble beer, for example. The most popular way for workers to signal to end of the working shift in Western Europe and as you move eastwards beer begins to pop up considerably earlier in the day! Premium brands have certainly taken a knock but those at the lower end of the supping spectrum are also suffering. See Beer Sales Droop. Eating out is in decline and this is contributing to a difficult period for brewers. I am not picking on beer; I just like drinking it!
Just think about your own product range and consider how many brands and/or sku’s are necessities. Yes, there are many items we must have to get through our daily lives but the amount of choice available at all price points means competition for the available cash is tough. The best financial brains tell us we will have such conditions for some time to come so what are you going to do about this?
One fact above debate is that when your product is not on the shelf you are going to miss out on precious pennies. Some big-name FMCG companies still underestimate the importance of Traditional Trade. Sure, the % of TT business may well be dropping but it still represents a huge market opportunity for a competitor to steal. (Surely one day the price of petrol and cat tax will also diminish the desire to make a weekly pilgrimage to out of town mega stores?).Sort out your Route to Market Distributor network and do it now before it is too late. Here is some useful background to read.
Finally, take a look at this free evaluation tool and see how your current network stacks up against these standards.
Final, question; if you have challenges in your FMCG Distributor network why are you still reading this blog?
Image credit: HikingArtist.com
