In FMCG the distributor is your route to the shelf, and the wrong one costs you a year of listings you will not get back. We run distributor search and route-to-market programmes for food, beverage, personal care and household brands — and where we have already built the market, the verified picture is waiting on DistributorIQ Hub.
The most common FMCG distribution failure in high-growth markets is not a logistics failure. It is a channel mismatch: appointing a distributor with strong modern trade relationships for a product that primarily sells through traditional trade, or vice versa. Getting product into a warehouse and onto a pallet is the baseline. Getting it onto the right shelf, in the right outlet, at the right price, with the right promotional support — and consistently, across thousands of outlets — is the actual distribution challenge.
The secondary failure mode is execution depth. Many distributors in high-growth markets have the relationships to gain initial shelf listing but lack the van sales infrastructure, the merchandising team, and the data systems to sustain and grow that listing over time. A brand that launches well and fades in month three has found a distributor who could open doors but not maintain presence.
“In FMCG, the distributor’s channel relationships are your channel relationships. Their execution capability is your execution capability. There is no meaningful distinction between what the distributor can do and what your brand can achieve.”
Most FMCG engagements start from nothing: we build the distributor picture for your market from primary sources, screen it against your brief and stay with the appointment through the negotiation. Where the market is one we have already built, that groundwork is done and you can search it yourself from day one.
These are the markets already built out on DistributorIQ Hub: analyst-verified profiles you can search today. They are not the limit of where we work. Our consulting practice runs distributor search in any country — and most engagements start in a market Hub has not reached yet.
The best time to run distributor intelligence is before a launch timeline forces the decision. Tell us the market and the product, and we will come back with a scope, a timeline and a price.