Distribution in Birgunj and the Madhesh Province: A Practical Playbook

Birgunj is widely known as the principal inbound trading gateway for goods entering Nepal, and the surrounding Madhesh plains are densely settled, with many market towns close together. For a distributor, that means two things: stock can sometimes be sourced close to where it lands, and demand is spread across many closely spaced outlets. It also means competition is strong, credit expectations are high and festival periods can reshape the month.

Why Madhesh needs its own plan

• Short distances between many towns. A good road network lets one person cover several markets, but only if routes are planned.
• Wholesale-heavy trade. Much stock moves through wholesalers before reaching retailers.
• Credit as a competitive tool. Customers compare suppliers on terms as much as on price.
• Festival peaks. Demand is shaped by festival and wedding periods; plan around them with your own history.
• Heat and rain. Storage conditions matter for food, dairy and pharma lines.

Design the hub

A Birgunj hub makes sense when most of your inbound stock or supplier base is nearby. Decide:

1. What stock lives at the hub and what lives at spokes.
2. How often the hub replenishes dealers.
3. Who counts stock and how often.
4. How returns flow back to the hub.

Keep a single source of truth for stock per branch; scattered notebooks across godowns create the disputes you are trying to avoid.

Route design in dense plains

Principle	Action
Cluster by market day	Group towns that trade on the same days so visits align with footfall
Alternate wholesaler and retailer days	Visit wholesalers for volume, retailers for presence
Limit stops per loop	Leave time for collection conversations
Rotate backups	Cover absences without leaving outlets unvisited

Credit and collection discipline

Madhesh markets are usually credit-driven, so tight collection habits protect cash flow.

1. Define standard terms per outlet type and write them down.
2. Fix due days at dispatch so nobody renegotiates afterwards.
3. Review the aging statement for each dealer weekly.
4. Hold new orders for accounts past an agreed limit, with a manager's approval needed to release.
5. Record every payment with its mode: cash, eSewa, Khalti, Fonepay, bank or cheque.

Preparing for peak periods

• Pull previous peak-period orders by product from your own records.
• Raise buffer stock gradually rather than in one rush.
• Agree priority outlets in advance.
• Pre-assign delivery people and vehicles.
• Plan returns handling for after the peak.

How to run it in gamitrack

1. Set up branches. Create a Birgunj branch and any spoke branches. Stock levels, batches and movements are tracked per branch.
2. Record parties and price levels. Set party types for wholesalers, dealers and retailers and apply price lists by type, with overrides for special accounts.
3. Book orders and invoice. Orders are priced from price lists; IRD-style tax invoices get gap-free numbers per fiscal year, with VAT applied only on taxable lines.
4. Dispatch with due days. Payment due days start at dispatch. Orders dispatch all-or-nothing, so partial surprises are avoided.
5. Use the ledger. The append-only ledger gives each party a statement and aging view.
6. Weekly collection plan. Plan the week, collect, and compare actual against plan.
7. Set targets. Monthly officer targets show daily pace; dealer annual targets split by Nepali fiscal quarter.
8. Review flags. Visits outside geofence, short visits and missing photos are flagged for manager review.

For the stock side, read dead and slow-moving stock and multi-warehouse inventory management. FMCG and bakery or confectionery suppliers can open bakery and confectionery or FMCG and packaged food.

Quick audit questions

• How many accounts are beyond their agreed terms today?
• Which dealer holds the most unsold stock relative to their normal order rhythm?
• Are festival buffers agreed in writing before the festival?
• Is the hub's physical stock tied to the system on a schedule?

Common mistakes

• Competing on credit without limits.
• Allowing price exceptions that are never recorded.
• Underestimating storage conditions in warm months.
• Treating all towns as equal in route planning.

A hypothetical example

Imagine Example Dairy (an invented name) that supplies chilled and packaged dairy lines from a Birgunj hub to wholesalers and retailers across nearby towns. Before a festival period, the manager reviews orders from the same period in earlier years, raises buffer stock in steps, and assigns two vehicles to dairy loops only. Wholesalers with overdue balances are asked to clear them before new large orders are released. After the festival, returns of short-dated items are accepted into the branch, checked against batch and expiry, and either redistributed to fast-moving outlets or written off with a note.

This works because stock, credit and delivery are looked at in one sitting. If credit lived in one notebook and stock in another, the manager would find the problem only after the festival had passed.

Peak-period readiness list

• Buffer stock decided per product and written down.
• Overdue accounts listed with owners.
• Vehicles and drivers assigned per loop.
• Dispatch cut-off time communicated to the team.
• Returns plan agreed for after the peak.

A four-week plan for a new Madhesh corridor

Week	Focus	Output
1	List markets on the corridor, their market days and the wholesalers in each	A map and a short outlet list
2	Agree terms and price levels with wholesalers and dealers	Written terms per account type
3	Run the first loop with a senior officer alongside a new one	Recorded visits, orders and notes
4	Review collections, stock and visit quality together	Adjusted beats and a decision on dealers

The point of a four-week pilot is to learn which towns justify regular visits and which are better served by a wholesaler. Resist the urge to add towns before the first loop is running smoothly.

Next step

Choose one corridor of towns, run it on gamitrack for a month and review collection and stock together. Plan information is on the pricing page.