04BUSINESS SITUATION

Sales or distribution need a turnaround

A new delivery focus is needed.

What the problem looks like

Sales are there, but the channels, distribution or commercial model are not delivering the full result.

What is often behind it

An unclear route to market, weak priorities, poor execution across channels or a misaligned portfolio.

How Boutique Advisory can help

Commercial analysis → RTM and priorities → focused measures → faster delivery.

Sales exist.The distributor exists.The product is with customers.And the market result is still not what the potential suggests it should be.In the meeting an explanation appears very quickly: “the distributor is not doing a good enough job”.Maybe.But what exactly does that mean?

Product availability is not the same as market execution.

The distributor above all has to get the product to the point of sale. On time, in the required quantity and at an acceptable cost. Sales has to win the customer, the shelf, the number of SKUs, the position or the HoReCa outlet. Marketing has to create a reason for the shopper to take that product off the shelf, try it and buy it again. Those are three different things. And that is often where the problem begins.

A product can be physically available and still go unnoticed.It can be well positioned and the shopper still not understand why they should choose it.There can be demand, and the product not be where the shopper looks for it.Every part of the system can work on its own.And the overall result can still be weak.

Availability is necessary. But it is not enough.

So the product has to be available first. But a full shelf does not solve the problem by itself either. The shopper has to know what to choose.

That is especially visible with broad portfolios.

Over the years a company introduces new products, new pack sizes, a premium line, an economy line, special editions. Every new SKU has its own logic at the moment it is launched. A few years later the portfolio can hold thirty products, and the shopper no longer sees the difference between them.

Sales also has to decide what to prioritise. The shopper in the store has to understand the offer in a few seconds. The waiter or the shop assistant has to know what to recommend. If every product has the same priority, very soon none of them does. Navigating the portfolio is therefore not just a design question. It is a commercial one.

And then comes the third part — demand.

The product can be listed.It can be on the shelf.It can have a good price.But someone still has to want to buy it.Marketing is therefore not separate from the route-to-market model.Its job is not simply to run a campaign.It has to create trial, a reason to choose and, more importantly still, repeat purchase.

Three levers come together here:

ACCESS — are we genuinely available where we want to sell?
NAVIGATION — does the shopper understand what we offer and why they should choose this product?
DEMAND — is there a reason to try it and buy it again?

Only when all three levers work does the route-to-market model deliver its full result.

And that changes how the distributor is seen.

A distributor is not a route-to-market strategy. It is only one of the mechanisms for delivering it.

That does not mean the quality of the distributor is unimportant. Of course it is. But changing distributor will not fix an unclear portfolio, the wrong priorities, weak activation or a lack of demand.

So having a distributor is not enough. Their performance has to be measured, steered and connected to the brand's priorities.

The problem often only shows when you look at the whole system.

Sales may be winning positions properly. Distribution may be delivering the product properly. Marketing may be running its campaigns properly. But if they are not aimed at the same customer, the same channel and the same priorities, the result can be poor even though every part of the system formally does its job.

Where to start?

Before changing distributor, adding sales people or launching another wave of promotions, a few things need to be connected:

actual market availability by channel
profitability by customer, channel and product
a clear role for each product and SKU
sales and distribution priorities
in-market execution KPIs
prices, pack sizes and an offer tailored to each channel
the activities that create trial and repeat purchase

Only then does it become clearer where the problem is. In sales. In distribution. In the portfolio. In marketing. Or, very often, in the fact that none of it works as one system.

A product on the shelf is not yet a result. The result appears only when the shopper can find it, understands why they should choose it, and has a good enough reason to buy it again.

Does this sound familiar?

If the product exists, sales is working and distribution functions, yet the market result still does not match the potential, the problem may not sit in one function.

It may be worth first understanding where the link between the product and the actual purchase breaks.

Recognise the situation? — Let us talk