Launching a New Product Through Distribution in Nepal: A 90-Day Plan

A new product is exciting for the factory and invisible to the shopkeeper. A kirana owner in Pokhara or Biratnagar has limited shelf space, limited cash and plenty of brands asking for both. A new product launch through distribution in Nepal succeeds when it gives the retailer a reason to try it, makes it easy to reorder and is watched closely in the first weeks. This guide gives a 90-day plan you can adapt to your company.

Before the launch: decide what success means

Write down four numbers before you begin. These examples are illustrative, so use your own:

1. Reach: the share of target shops that place a first order in 30 days.
2. Repeat: the share of those shops that reorder within 45 days.
3. Velocity: units sold per shop per week.
4. Dealer stock: how many weeks of stock sit at the dealer.

Without targets, every result can be explained away.

Step 1: Fix the offer

Price and margin

The retailer asks "what do I earn?" before anything else. Set dealer and retailer prices so both earn a fair margin, and check them against competing products. See dealer vs retailer price lists.

Pack and size

Choose pack sizes that fit how shops buy. A new product in an unfamiliar large pack is a heavier first decision than a small trial pack.

Shelf life and batches

For goods with expiry, track batches from the first lot. See batch and expiry control. A launch hurt by stale stock is hard to recover.

Step 2: Choose a pilot

Do not launch everywhere on day one. Pick:

• Two or three dealers who pay on time and cover their areas well.
• A mix of outlet types so you learn which kinds buy.
• Routes where your visit coverage is good, so you can check results.

A pilot lets you correct price, pack and messaging at a small cost. See dealer and distributor management for how dealers fit into the chain.

Step 3: Equip the sales team

Before the first visit, every salesperson should know:

• The product, its price and margin in one sentence.
• The suggested first order quantity.
• The launch scheme, if any, and its dates.
• How to record the order and the reason when a shop says no.

Announce the launch to the team on one day, in writing. Use a short briefing, not a long speech.

Step 4: A launch scheme that fits

A dealer scheme can reward early sell-through to shops, for example a reward tier on units sold to shops during the first period. Keep it simple and time-bound. The point is to reward movement to shops, not stock pushed into the dealer. See designing dealer schemes that pay for themselves.

A 90-day calendar

Period	Focus	Key check
Days 1 to 14	Dealers stock, team briefed, first visits	Dealer stock received, first orders from shops
Days 15 to 30	Push first orders, shelf checks	Share of target shops with a first order
Days 31 to 60	Reorders, fix problems	Repeat orders, price complaints, dealer stock
Days 61 to 90	Decide: scale, adjust or stop	Velocity per shop, repeat rate

Check the shelf, not only the order

An order is not a sale. At each visit, ask the salesperson to look at the shelf: is the product on display? Is the stock moving? Is it hidden behind competitors? A photo of the shelf and a note about closing stock are far more useful than a plain order. Read retail outlet visit planning for planning the visits, and how to prevent stock-outs at retailers for follow-up.

Weekly review

Every week, spend 30 minutes on the launch only. Look at orders by dealer and route, repeat orders, no-order reasons and dealer stock. Use the format in the weekly sales and stock review. Make one decision per week, such as moving a scheme or adding a route.

An illustrative example

Invented numbers. A masala company launches a new 50 g pack through 3 dealers and 120 target shops. By day 30, 66 shops (55 percent) have placed a first order. By day 60, 30 of those shops (45 percent of them) have reordered. Two dealers hold about four weeks of stock, the third holds ten weeks. The no-order reasons show "price" for a cluster of small shops, so the company tests a smaller trial pack. At day 90 the company scales to a wider set of dealers in the strong routes and holds the third dealer until its stock moves. This is only an example, but it shows how the weekly numbers lead to decisions.

Common mistakes

• Pushing stock into dealers and calling it a launch. Measure sell-through to shops.
• Launching everywhere at once. Pilot first.
• No repeat-order check. First orders prove curiosity, not demand.
• Changing price during the pilot. You will not know what worked.
• Ignoring the no-order reasons. They tell you what to fix.

A second example: a launch that stops early

Illustrative numbers. A snack company launches a new 30 g pack through 4 dealers and 160 target shops. By day 30, only 40 shops (25 percent) have placed a first order, and by day 60 only 8 of them have reordered. Dealers hold about eight weeks of stock. The no-order reasons show "price" and "buys from competitor" for most shops.

The company had agreed the decision rules in advance: if fewer than 30 percent of target shops reorder by day 60, stop pushing and rework the offer. So the team does not argue. It pauses the launch scheme, pulls back new orders to dealers, and tests a lower price on a trial pack in two dealer areas for 30 days. The loss is small because the pilot was small.

	Launch A (scaled)	Launch B (stopped early)
Shops with first order by day 30	55%	25%
Repeat orders by day 60	45% of those	20% of those
Dealer stock	4 to 10 weeks	About 8 weeks
Decision	Scale to more dealers	Rework price and pack

Stopping early is not failure. It is the point of a pilot.

Common questions

How big should the first order be?

Small enough that a slow sale does not hurt the shop's cash, and big enough to fill a visible shelf position. Suggest it to the salesperson based on shop type and size.

Should the salesperson leave free samples?

Samples can help, but track them. Record where they went and what happened afterwards. A sample that nobody follows up is wasted.

How should I price the launch scheme?

Keep it modest and time-limited, and base it on sales to shops. If the reward looks bigger than the margin, the scheme is paying to move stock, not to build demand.

How do I know if a competitor reacted?

Ask salespeople to note competitor offers and prices in their visit notes and market status. Look at those notes each week.

When should I scale a launch?

When reach and repeat meet the targets you wrote before the launch and dealer stock is moving. Scale to the next group of dealers in steps, not all at once.

What do I do with dealer stock that is not moving?

Check shelf presence, price and the shop mix. Consider a short push in the right shops, and read dead and slow-moving stock before stock gets old.

How GamiTrack supports a launch

In GamiTrack, you add the new product with its price lists, so dealer and retailer prices apply in orders. Dealer schemes can be created for a period and measured on kg or value sold to shops, with reward tiers, and then calculated and approved. Salespeople record every visit with an outcome, a reason when there is no order, closing stock and market status notes, and managers read the "why shops did not order" breakdown on each person's profile. Broadcasts announce the launch to the team. See add products and set prices, set targets and schemes and broadcasts. You can try it on a pilot with a free trial.

Key takeaways

• Decide what success looks like before the launch.
• Pilot with strong dealers, then scale.
• Reward sell-through to shops, and check the shelf.
• Review weekly and decide: scale, adjust or stop.