Fast-moving consumer goods companies often deal with a common problem. Products are shipped from warehouses delivered to distributors, and then vanish without a trace. The products have already been sold in the market, but the tracking process ends up at the distributors. This gap in communication and tracking between the company to distributor and the distributor to retailer creates a sort of problem. Some places are flooded with an excessive amount of goods while others suffer from a shortage of stock.
Not having access to live data on secondary sales doesn’t just limit decisions. It also impacts profits hard.
1. Understand What’s Selling
When you follow secondary sales, you stop making guesses and start having real answers. Which products sell in certain areas? Where do items just sit on shelves without much action? A good tracking system gathers this kind of info from the bottom up. Field teams often use mobile apps, or distributors sync their systems to give this data.
Seeing this information changes the whole game. Instead of relying on assumptions to supply products, you can make sure production and distribution match real demand. You deal with less dead stock. The popular stuff stays available. This leads to faster inventory turnover and fewer slow-moving items eating up money.
2. Better Trade Spending and Promotional Results
FMCG companies spend huge amounts of money on trade promotions, discounts, and offers. However, if you don’t track secondary sales, it’s like guessing and hoping for success without any real proof.
Secondary sales data tells you what happens after a promotion begins. Did retail sales go up? Which areas performed better? Were the discounts too high, or did you price them just right? With these insights, you can stop wasting money and focus more on strategies that succeed.
3. Distributor Performance Becomes Clear
Not every distributor delivers the same results. Without proper data, figuring out who boosts sales and who just excels at negotiating becomes a tough task. Tracking secondary sales helps clarify this. It shows you which distributors are promoting your products increasing retail reach, and turning orders into real sales to customers.
This clear view helps build accountability. You can reward those who perform well. Those struggling to meet expectations can get the training or resources they need. These choices become well-informed and based on facts instead of instincts.
4. Demand Forecasting Becomes Reliable
Primary sales data shows what distributors order, but it does not reflect what shoppers actually purchase. This is a delayed metric full of distortions like distributor hoarding or big seasonal purchases. Secondary sales data, on the other hand, provides clearer signals about actual market demand.
Accurate forecasting allows businesses to plan production more . It cuts down the costly pattern of making too much and then relying on clearance sales to offload excess inventory. With this precision, the whole supply chain operates more because everyone aligns with the same demand picture. Over time, these improvements lead to noticeable cost savings.
5. Quicker Reactions to Market Changes
Markets change fast. A rival might roll out an aggressive marketing strategy, stores might reassign shelf space, or customer tastes may shift overnight. Sticking to primary sales data means you will notice these changes far too late to act.
Tracking secondary sales acts like an early warning system. If retail sales fall in a certain area, you can spot it rather than waiting to find out in the next quarter. This quick action is crucial in FMCG where profit margins are small and the competition is tough.
It affects your profit and loss. You spend less time carrying extra inventory. Spending on trade becomes more effective. Better production planning cuts down on waste. All these changes help expand your margins and lead to higher profits.
Reasons Why FMCG Software Tools Are Important
Building a secondary sales tracking system needs FMCG software solutions that handles the challenges of distribution networks and fieldwork . Good FMCG software works well with current systems, operates even with bad connectivity, and shows data in ways that help businesses act instead of just examining it.
Arobit: Your Trusted Partner in FMCG Success
At Arobit, we specialize in FMCG software development to handle real-life problems faced by FMCG companies. Our secondary sales tracking systems come from a strong knowledge of the industry. Using mobile tech, cloud systems, and analytics, these tools provide clear insights. We do more than just make software. We work with you to ensure it works well and brings real value to your business. Arobit focuses on making reliable and scalable solutions to help FMCG companies turn their data into actionable decisions that lead to profits.
FAQs
Q1. Is it hard to convince distributors to use a secondary sales tracking system?
Success often depends on showing distributors the clear advantages, like speeding up claim processes and improving inventory assistance. Providing a user-friendly system through mobile apps makes a big difference too. Distributors cooperate when they understand it supports their business instead of just keeping an eye on them.
Q2. Can secondary sales tracking work if a company has many small distributors?
Yes, this is when it becomes most beneficial. Cloud systems handle large distributor networks well, and mobile tech makes it possible even in areas with weak infrastructure. The important thing is to pick a tool designed to manage this kind of complexity.
Q3. What kind of ROI can companies expect after starting secondary sales tracking?
Most FMCG companies recover their investments in 12 to 18 months by cutting inventory costs, making trade spending more efficient, and improving demand predictions. These advantages grow over time as companies gather historical data and adjust their processes using the insights gained.
