---
title: "FMCG Distributors' Shift from Mobile Sales to Order Taking: Right on Time!"
description: "Thirty years ago, the distribution model gave rise to the FMCG distribution industry; fifteen years ago, the transition from store-based to mobile sales brought prosperity to the industry. Now, what transformation can help distributors break through bottlenecks and regain momentum? After over 20 years of rapid development, the FMCG industry has become highly competitive, and high warehousing and distribution costs, along with internal management loopholes, often exhaust distributors. With the advent of the data era, resource sharing and refined division of labor have become inevitable trends. If distributors can seize the opportunity to outsource standardized services like warehousing and distribution to reliable third parties, they can significantly reduce operating expenses and time investment, focusing instead on marketing and terminal maintenance. To achieve unified warehousing and distribution, distributors must first complete the transition from mobile sales to order taking."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-11-30"
language: "en"
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# FMCG Distributors' Shift from Mobile Sales to Order Taking: Right on Time!

> Thirty years ago, the distribution model gave rise to the FMCG distribution industry; fifteen years ago, the transition from store-based to mobile sales brought prosperity to the industry. Now, what transformation can help distributors break through bottlenecks and regain momentum? After over 20 years of rapid development, the FMCG industry has become highly competitive, and high warehousing and distribution costs, along with internal management loopholes, often exhaust distributors. With the advent of the data era, resource sharing and refined division of labor have become inevitable trends. If distributors can seize the opportunity to outsource standardized services like warehousing and distribution to reliable third parties, they can significantly reduce operating expenses and time investment, focusing instead on marketing and terminal maintenance. To achieve unified warehousing and distribution, distributors must first complete the transition from mobile sales to order taking.

> **30 years ago, the distribution model gave rise to the FMCG distribution industry;**
>
>
>
>
> **15 years ago, the shift from store-based to mobile sales brought prosperity to the FMCG industry;**
>
>
>
>
> **Now, what transformation can help distributors break through bottlenecks and regain momentum?**

The FMCG industry has experienced over 20 years of vigorous development, attracting numerous participants, leading to increasingly fierce competition. High warehousing and distribution costs, along with internal management loopholes, often leave distributors exhausted.

With the advent of the data era, resource sharing and refined division of labor have become inevitable trends. If distributors can seize the opportunity to outsource standardized services like warehousing and distribution to reliable third parties, they can significantly reduce operating expenses and time investment, thereby focusing their efforts on marketing and terminal maintenance.

To achieve unified warehousing and distribution, distributors must first complete the transition from mobile sales to order taking.

> **Lessons from Peers**

Surveys reveal that currently, nearly 70% of FMCG distributors in Zhejiang Province have already transitioned from mobile sales to order taking over the past five years. Based on their feedback, they identified the following issues during mobile sales:

1. Blind loading and delivery routes led to situations where the goods customers wanted were not on the truck, while goods brought along were not needed, requiring them to be taken back.
2. During mobile sales, salespeople would take orders for goods customers wanted and deliver them on the next trip. When the order-taking ratio reached a certain level, it was more efficient to add a vehicle dedicated to order fulfillment.
3. Salespeople managing both goods and accounts often created loopholes that were hard to monitor, such as combining orders to earn free gifts or altering prices for personal gain.
4. A truck loaded with goods might visit over 30 stores, but only 15 would place orders, wasting time and fuel.
5. After writing orders, salespeople had to unload goods, limiting them to 30 stores per day; with order taking, they could visit 40 stores.
6. If goods on the truck were not sold out by day's end, significant time was spent daily on inventory checks, which were sometimes inaccurate.

Although some distributors have not completely abandoned mobile sales—salespeople's vans still carry some regular and new products—it is undeniable that most distributors now sell through order taking. The changes brought by order taking are evident:

1. Order taking makes business practices more professional, significantly improving work efficiency, increasing the number of stores visited and delivered to, and thereby boosting distribution coverage and sales.
2. Order taking effectively shortens the visit cycle, increasing visit frequency, making recovery of soon-to-expire products more timely, and further reducing return losses.
3. Separation of goods and payments, with salespeople and delivery drivers each performing their own duties, reduces collusion to earn free gifts and effectively avoids management loopholes.
4. Delivery is based on orders, so vehicles are merely delivery tools without excess inventory; inventory does not need daily checks, allowing more time for delivery and improving efficiency.

The overall environment in Zhejiang is similar to that in Jiangsu, and their changes serve as an important reference for some distributors in Jiangsu. Donghai County Shuangxiu Trading is the largest condiment distributor in Donghai. After transitioning from mobile sales to order taking three years ago, their distribution costs dropped by 30%, and terminal service quality significantly improved.

> **Concerns About Order Taking**

Some distributors still have doubts about order taking versus mobile sales:

1. When SKUs are numerous, mobile sales cannot carry all products, so order taking has clear advantages; but when SKUs are few, is order taking still necessary?
2. In areas with low store density, trucks running back and forth empty may indeed be uneconomical; but in high-density areas, is mobile sales more convenient?
3. Under order taking, might salespeople increase return rates to boost sales volume?

Mobile sales indeed has advantages in certain special situations, but as the external environment changes, order taking is an inevitable step in transformation. The greatest advantage of order taking is not just cost savings, but also improving service quality through increased visit frequency, expanding sales, reducing returns, and thereby leading distributors to the more advanced unified warehousing and distribution model.

As for those "shortcomings," order taking can handle them effectively. For example, order taking may lose a sale if a small store changes its mind, but the more timely the delivery, the more significant the reduction in customer loss; moreover, with increased visit frequency, sales can be compensated overall. If they don't want it today, they will still want it in a few days. For instance, distributors worried about high return rates under order taking can implement corresponding monitoring strategies to address this. For example, returns do not count toward salespeople's commissions, and excessive returns incur penalties; also, we recommend that salespeople carry goods with them when promoting new products.

> **Conclusion**

Store-based ➔ Mobile sales ➔ Order taking ➔ Unified warehousing and distribution ➔ Big data decision-making

This is the inevitable trend for the future development of the FMCG distribution industry. The internet is not far away, and transformation is not difficult. Distributor friends, the shift from mobile sales to order taking is right on time!

**Source: Zhoupu Data**

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