Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

Morning woes I have just had one of those mornings. I missed the alarm and the 10-minute snooze and from then on everything went downhill. Jumped in the shower for a brief cleanse but then once waterlogged I realised there was no soap, not even a…

Do you want fries with that? People who work in fast food outlets – I really cannot bring myself to label them as restaurants – must have specific training in dealing with non-standard orders. Can you imagine the temptation to audibly groan when in…

Through product rationalization, regain control of your product portfolio and become more profitable & competitive. Do you really need SKU rationalisation now? Do you think that substantial portion of your products do not contribute enough to your…

The Enchange Supply Chain House; the one-stop shop for all of the elements you need to achieve supply chain excellence. In a recent article we looked at the problems of excess stock at distributors and again we look at inventory but this time at 3rd…

After the viral trials and tribulations of 2020, is the market going to get any better any time soon? Many big-name companies predicted/reported indifferent Q4 results and all offer caution about the continuing "difficult market conditions”. Ok, so…

Please bear with me for a while on this one; I will get to the Supply Chain stuff eventually. Do you know that on average 85% of a sample of expectant mothers suffer food cravings during pregnancy? Apparently, the top 5 must-haves are: Pickles 5% -…

The FMCG business is like a team sport. There are sales people sent into the field, to sell more products and beat their targets. There are players put on the sports field, charged with scoring points and winning the game. In both scenarios, if the…

A Distributor Partnership Programme, if designed and implemented correctly, can be one of the most powerful tools in the Route to Market (RtM) armory for delivering sales growth. A Distributor Partnership Programme sets out which individual…

You will have to bear with me for a while on this one. Do you know that on average 85% of expectant women suffer food cravings during pregnancy? Apparently, the top 5 are: Pickles 5% - yuk, that surprised me too. Cheese 11% - get those calories in.…

I have just had one of those mornings. I missed the alarm and the 10-minute snooze and from then on everything went downhill. Jumped in the shower for a brief cleanse but then I realised there was no soap, not even a sliver. So, soaking wet I get…

Do you find yellow dog biscuits stuffed in your window frames? Well, I’d expect such occurrences to be as rare as a squirrel with a nut allergy but I find it all the time. Our house has mosquito nets on the windows as our summers are rather hot and…

May Day falling on a Tuesday meant a rare 4 day “weekend” break was enjoyed and the sun shone, in Romania at least. Time to dust off the BBQ for the first time this year and chill in the late April heat. We had some Romanian bred ostrich meat to…

How I guffaw when I hear producers complain about traditional trade distributor overstock.Make no mistake Mr. Producer, YOU put the stock there, oh yes you did! Distributors don't buy stock for something to do or a laugh and a giggle. Excess stock…

Many will recall that famous Four Yorkshiremen sketch first seen the At Last the 1948 Show and later Monty Python. Four dour characters recall how tough it was when they were younger with each trying to out do the others in a downwards spiral of…

Have you ever “hunkered down”? I remember being asked to hunker down during a business game training course many years ago and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Eventually I had to ask as failing to follow the hunker downwards request…