Notes for owners · Industry-Specific Software Guides
Monthly numbers an FMCG distributor should track, beat by beat
Track five sets of figures every month: outlets billed on each beat, retailer outstanding by salesman, stock by batch and expiry, schemes given against claims settled, and market returns. Read them company by company. GullySystem’s software for FMCG distributors keeps these on one record, though a careful sheet can start the habit.
Ganesh HS, Strategy and Technology, GullySystem · · 3 min read
Outlets billed on each beat
A beat lists the outlets a salesman should visit on a given day. The first figure is simple. How many outlets on each beat placed an order this month?
Compare outlets billed with outlets on the beat, salesman by salesman. A beat where many shops order nothing points to a route that needs changing, a competitor or missed visits. Look at the list of outlets that stopped ordering, not only the total.
- Outlets on the beat and outlets billed
- Outlets that ordered last month but not this month
- Average lines per order by salesman
- New outlets added
Retailer outstanding by salesman
Credit to retailers is where an FMCG distributor’s cash sits. Read outstanding by age and by salesman. Old dues often cluster with one salesman or one beat.
Check that collections reported by salesmen reach the ledger the same day. Cash held overnight in a diary is a risk. Cheques returned unpaid should appear against the retailer at once.
Stock by batch and expiry
Packaged food and personal care items carry a batch, an MRP and an expiry date. Read stock nearing expiry company by company, with enough time to push it through the market or return it under the company’s terms.
Also read stock that has not moved in the month. Slow items tie up godown space and credit with the company. Some can be moved with a scheme. Others need a conversation with the company’s area officer.
Schemes given and claims settled
Every free piece and discount given to a retailer under a company scheme becomes a claim on that company. Total what was given by scheme and month, with the bills behind it.
Then compare claims filed with credit notes received. A gap that grows month after month is money owed to you. Keep the claim papers together. Companies settle claims they can check.
- Scheme value given, by company and month
- Claims filed and claims pending
- Credit notes received against claims
- Claims short-paid, with the reason given
Market returns and the cost of each beat
Damaged and expired goods collected from shops should be counted by outlet and batch as they arrive. Uncounted returns become a dispute with the retailer and a weak claim with the company.
Finally, set the van, fuel and salesman cost of each beat against what it billed. Some beats cost more to serve than they earn. The figure helps decide visit frequency.
FMCG monthly review sheet
A one-page sheet with a column per company and rows for outlets billed, outstanding by age, near-expiry stock, claims pending and market returns. Fill it on the first working day of the month. Circle any figure that moved sharply.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Does the company’s DMS give us all these figures?
Not on its own. A company’s DMS covers that company’s lines. A distributor carrying several companies still needs one view of retailer dues and costs across all of them.
Can a small distributor do this in Excel?
Yes, at first. A distributor with one company and a few beats can keep these figures in a sheet. It gets hard once salesmen report collections from the field every day.
Which figure should we read first each month?
Retailer outstanding by age. It shows where cash is stuck and which salesman to sit with first.