Baby Products and Diapers Distribution in Nepal: Size Curves, Pharmacies and Fresh Dates

A parent who cannot find their diaper size does not wait for next week. They walk to the next pharmacy, and if that shop has the size, the loyalty moves with them. That makes baby products less about pushing volume and more about never missing the sizes and dates a family depends on. This guide looks at what is genuinely distinctive about distributing diapers, wipes, formula and baby care in Nepal, and how to build the daily work around it in gamitrack.

Diapers are a size-curve business

Most baby-care stock problems start with one fact: a single diaper brand is really five or six products. Newborn, S, M, L, XL and pant styles, each in two or three pack counts. A shop rarely sells them evenly. A pharmacy near a maternity hospital may sell mostly newborn and S; a general store in a residential area may sell mostly L and pants.

Suppose a distributor's monthly sales for one brand look like this (illustrative numbers only):

Size	Share of packs sold	Typical stock risk
Newborn	Small	Expires in shops that rarely sell it
S	Medium	Steady
M	Large	Runs out first
L	Large	Runs out first
XL and pants	Small to medium	Piles up if ordered "evenly"

The mistake is ordering every size in the same quantity because it looks tidy. The fix is to plan each size as its own line.

In gamitrack: create every size and pack count as a separate SKU, such as "Brand M 20-pack" and "Brand M 50-pack". Set higher low-stock levels on the fast sizes and lower ones on the slow sizes, per branch. The low-stock alert then tells you which size, in which godown, needs reordering, not just that "diapers are low".

Three channels, three rhythms

Baby products move through outlets that buy very differently. Treat them as separate customer groups rather than one list.

Channel	How they buy	Price and terms	Visit rhythm
Pharmacies	Formula, baby food, care items, top diaper sizes	Often their own price list	Weekly in busy areas
Baby and gift shops	Wide range, accessories, premium lines	Larger orders, longer credit	Fortnightly
Supermarkets	Full range, fixed terms	Negotiated party price	As agreed with buyer
General stores	Two or three fast sizes, wipes	Default price, short credit	Weekly or with the beat
Sub-distributors	Bulk, for smaller towns	Dealer price	Monthly orders

Price conflict is a real risk here. If a pharmacy owner sees the same pack cheaper in a supermarket, you will hear about it. In gamitrack, price lists resolve in a fixed order: a party override beats a party-type list, which beats the default list. That lets you keep one default, one pharmacy list and one supermarket list, and use individual overrides only where a buyer really has different terms. Your team can then explain the price instead of improvising discounts.

Formula, baby food and wipes: dates are a trust issue

Short-dated formula on a shelf is not just a write-off risk. A parent who spots it may stop trusting the shop, and the shop may stop trusting your brand. Treat dated lines differently from diapers:

• Receive formula, cereal and baby food in batches with expiry dates.
• Dispatch the oldest batch first from each branch.
• Check the near-expiry view weekly and decide early: move stock to a faster branch, push it through high-volume pharmacies, or plan a return.
• Agree with shops, before it happens, how near-expiry stock comes back.

Because stock movements in gamitrack are append-only, a transfer between branches or a return into a branch keeps its trail. When someone asks where a batch went, the history answers.

A pharmacy visit, step by step

Here is how a sales officer's visit to a busy pharmacy can run when the routine is built into the app. The phone needs signal for the visit and order to save, so officers in weak-signal areas should finish entries where the connection is good.

1. Check in at the shop. The visit is GPS-verified against the shop's geofence. A visit logged outside the geofence, too short, or without a photo is flagged for the manager.
2. Photograph the shelf. The photo shows which sizes are faced and which gaps exist.
3. Note closing stock by size. A short note such as "M 2 packs, L none, NB 6" tells the next order what to fix.
4. Check dates on formula. Anything close to expiry goes on a return or a swap plan.
5. Book the order. Prices come from the right list automatically. VAT at 13% applies only on taxable lines.
6. If there is no order, record the reason, such as enough stock or waiting for a scheme. A pattern of "enough stock" on M and L usually means the shop is buying elsewhere.

At the end of the day, the manager sees each officer's visits, flags and integrity score, and the all-day location trail.

Crushed packs and damaged returns

Diaper packs are light but bulky, and they crush when loaded under heavier cartons. Torn wrappers make a pack unsellable even if the product inside is fine. Build a simple rule: photograph damage at delivery, raise a return with the reason damaged or expired, and let a manager review it before a credit note is issued. After a month, look at returns by route. If one vehicle produces most of the claims, the problem is loading, not the product.

The delivery person's proof of delivery (GPS, photo and receiver name) helps here too. If the pack was photographed intact at delivery, a later damage claim is a shop-handling question, not a transit one.

Questions owners ask

Should I move slow sizes or discount them? First move them. A transfer to a branch where that size sells costs less than a habit of discounting. If a size stays slow for a quarter, reduce the order quantity.

How do I keep sub-distributors honest about stock? Ask for a monthly dealer stock report. gamitrack compares the dealer's expected closing stock with the counted figure and shows the variance by SKU, which tells you whether sizes are selling or sitting.

Can schemes help? A scheme on a slow size can clear it, but set start and end dates and apply it to dealers deliberately. Schemes that never end become the new price.

How do I handle credit with supermarkets? Payment due days start from dispatch, payments are allocated to the oldest invoices first, and the party ledger and aging report show who is late. Collections can be planned weekly per officer.

Your first 30 days

• Days 1 to 7: create SKUs for your top brand by size and pack; set low-stock levels on M, L and pants; set up branches.
• Days 8 to 14: receive formula and baby food into batches with expiry; enter pharmacy and supermarket price lists.
• Days 15 to 21: run one pharmacy-heavy route with shelf photos and size-wise closing stock notes.
• Days 22 to 30: review size balance and near-expiry stock together; make one transfer or one reorder change based on what you see.

Keep it to one route until the habit sticks. A route tracked honestly teaches you more than five routes half-used.

Related reading and next step

Related reading: pet food distribution, batch and expiry control with FEFO and the cosmetics and personal care industry page.

If size-wise stock and fresh dates are where your business leaks, see the plans on our pricing page and start with a free trial, or contact us to talk through your setup.