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Market visits can be conducted in various ways, with different companies having different requirements and perspectives. Here, I'd like to share my understanding of market visits:

I. Before the Trip When preparing for a city visit, we need to review the following materials in advance:

  1. Look at the overall picture: Retrieve the team's distribution data from the sales system to check for any anomalies in recent months, whether the achievement rates are reasonable, and if not, identify the reasons and whether they are attributed to specific individuals or regions.
  2. Look at individuals: Examine each person's achievement, outlet distribution, visit success rate, and average transaction value per store to gauge the team's work attitude and skills, which will be verified during the market visit.
  3. Look at the city: If unfamiliar with the city, search online for its introduction, economic highlights, and consumption characteristics to deepen your understanding.
  4. Plan carefully: Arrange the visit schedule, including the number of outlets to visit, the streets to cover, and the number of personnel to visit, and use the data analysis issues to validate through field visits.

II. During the Trip For most market visits, I recommend visiting without prior notice to the region, so you can see the most authentic frontline market conditions. During the visit, focus on the following:

  1. Look at outlets: Retail outlets best reflect market reality. Focus on product, price, display, promotion, and brand visibility. Use a dedicated form to record each outlet's data meticulously, not relying solely on memory. Afterward, categorize outlets by channel to compare product distribution and competitor differences, check if the price system is too high or low in the region, see if main shelves and secondary displays are well-organized and follow product standards, check if POP materials like store signs, posters, and price tags are sufficient, and observe competitor execution at outlets. Besides observing, it's crucial to ask questions and communicate with store owners to understand when salespeople visit, what they do in the store, their work attitude, and after-sales service. Also, ask about recent promotional activities and their appeal, product sales performance, and any suggestions from the owner or consumers. In summary, observe, ask, record, and think to uncover problems from details and see opportunities from problems.
  2. Look at channels: Since most companies have three or more product channels (e.g., traditional, special, and modern for beverages), each with its focus and interrelation, intentionally visit outlets across different channels to gather data and enhance understanding, identify issues and opportunities, and guide the regional team to focus on key market aspects without neglecting any channel.
  3. Look at personnel: This can be assessed in two ways. First, observe in-store execution, such as whether shelf displays are standardized, whether shelves and floor stacks are fully stocked, whether there are signs of tidying, whether price tags and other materials are used, and whether product distribution is adequate. This helps determine the attitude and skills of the staff. Poor attitude is often reflected in non-standard execution, incomplete displays, scattered products, and lack of price tags or posters, indicating a task-completion mindset. Second, insufficient skills can be gauged by the number of products distributed in the store; skilled staff achieve higher distribution and larger display areas, while less skilled staff only sell best-sellers and fail to persuade owners to stock other product lines, lacking sales presentation and order drafting skills. Most importantly, use outlet observations to infer personnel performance and then assess whether regional supervisors' coaching abilities and work focus are appropriate.
  4. Look at the distribution system and distributors: The rationality of the distribution system architecture determines the speed of product flow in the region, akin to a skeleton. Therefore, understand whether the regional distribution system is functioning, whether distributors deliver products promptly, whether the number of distributors and regional divisions are reasonable, and whether distributors' capital, delivery, and personnel are adequate. Also, assess their service attitude and pricing. Besides learning from outlets, communicate with regional staff to evaluate the system's health and provide guidance to supervisors.
  5. Look at competitors: Observe how competitors execute in the above four areas, identify their strengths and potential opportunities for us, and use this to formulate our next steps and priorities, ensuring we know our competitors as well as ourselves.

III. Guidance and Summary After completing the market visit, schedule a one-on-one review with the regional supervisor to discuss the problems and opportunities observed, seek their input on any questions, and outline your overall assessment and recommendations for outlets, channels, personnel, systems, distributors, and competitors. Work together to develop an action plan with clear priorities, addressing root causes and targeting efforts effectively.

These are my humble insights on market visits. I welcome feedback from peers!

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