Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

Moving to a new Distribution Partner (DP) arrangement can be daunting, challenging, stressful, costly, rewarding, and ideally, successful. But no matter what the scenario, there are risks involved. Producers who understand these risks and adapt…

Arguably the most important element of any Route to Market strategy for a consumer goods company is its Distribution Strategy. Very often, when results are not coming in, the distributors get the blame and may even be replaced. Too often, their…

How do we take a Sales or RtM Strategy (Plan) and transform it to Operational Execution? This is a question we are often asked, and one that many are facing right now. We are at the start of a new year; we have some grand sales and distribution…

Over the last few months, I have shared the proven and successful Enchange approach, to find and develop FMCG Distributor Partners (DPs). We call this the Distributor Partner (DP) Development Programme. It is broken into 8 Modules. In my last post,…

I recently started a blog series on indirect distribution by sharing our step-by-step approach to drive and develop distributor performance. We call this the Distributor Partner (DP) Development Programme. The programme has eight modules, across…

I recently started a blog series on indirect distribution. I began by examining the 10 biggest challenges Route to Market (RtM) leaders face in managing FMCG Distributors. Then in response to this in my last post I shared our step-by-step approach…

In my last post we discussed the biggest challenges that a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company could face when managing the ‘last mile’ of the Route to Market (RtM). Once we have examined the challenges and the pitfalls in managing distributors or…

If you ask any sports person who has played a contact sport, how to avoid getting hurt, very often you will be told to try your best not to get hit. In order to avoid the hits, you need to understand more about them including when they are likely to…

Is it just me or does FMCG life seems to be increasingly full of initials? New examples seem to pop up on a weekly basis with COVID-19 being top of mind currently. In line with many business functions Supply Chain and other functions use multiple…

As we come to the end of a very tough 2020, attention is turning to what the next year will bring. In FMCG organisations around the world, General Managers, Sales Directors, Heads of Sales and Department Heads, are all scrambling to finish the year…

This post is Part 3 of a series of posts discussing indirect distribution management, and specifically the characteristics and the key differences between FMCG Distributors and Wholesalers. You can read Part 1 which includes the Characteristics of…

This post is Part 2 of a series of posts discussing indirect distribution management, and specifically the characteristics and the key differences between FMCG Distributors and Wholesalers. You can read Part 1 which includes the Characteristics of…

The focus of this article is on indirect distribution. Previously, I have discussed how to achieve Route to Market (RtM) Excellence by effectively using the different types of distribution, our DIME approach, and specifically Direct and Indirect…

As a company designed to improve the Route to Market (RtM) strategy of our consumer goods clients, at Enchange, we are often asked questions by the RtM community about improving or sharing RtM knowledge. For example, how can organisations best help…

Understanding the Total Cost to Serve our customers is an essential element to any Route to Market (RtM) Strategy. As FMCG professionals, we need to understand how much it costs us to service our customers. It is also not as simple as it sounds. Why…