Paint Distribution in Nepal: Win the Painter, Stock the Dealer

Ask a house owner in Nepal which paint brand is on their walls and many will say, "whatever the painter recommended." That single fact shapes the whole trade. A paint company sells to distributors and dealers, who pay the bills. Households pay for the job. But the painter or contractor standing at the dealer's counter often decides which tin goes into the bag. Add a catalog that multiplies every product by base, shade and tin size, and you have a business that needs two kinds of field work and a very tidy stock record.

Two customers, two plans

	The dealer	The painter or contractor
What they want	Right sizes and bases in stock, margin, scheme rewards, fair credit	Paint that covers well, quick availability, recognition, sometimes a reward
How often to visit	Fortnightly for large dealers, monthly for small	On a schedule, at dealer counters and active sites
What to record	Order, closing stock, display, payment	Brand they use now, complaints, whether they will try yours
What goes wrong	Wrong size mix, slow shades, overdue balances	Visits that never happen or are never written down

Most paint companies already visit dealers. Fewer can show a record of which painters were met, where and with what result. That record is the difference between "we have a painter programme" and actually having one.

A painter meet, step by step

1. Pick an area and list the active painters and contractors there, with the dealer each buys from.
2. Meet them at the dealer counter in the morning, when painters pick up material, or at a running site.
3. Record the visit with a photo and the outcome: current brand, complaints, interest in a trial.
4. Follow up within two weeks with the dealer: did the painter's purchases change?
5. Review the list monthly. Painters who have not been met in two months go back on the route.

Taming the catalog

A single emulsion line in four tin sizes, with a white base, three tint bases and a dozen ready-mixed shades, is already more than sixty SKUs. Multiply by interior, exterior, enamel, primer and putty, and a mid-sized company carries hundreds.

A naming pattern that works

Use the same order every time: line, base or shade, then size. For example:

SKU name (illustrative)	Line	Base or shade	Size
Exterior Emulsion, White Base, 20 L	Exterior Emulsion	White Base	20 L
Exterior Emulsion, Deep Base, 4 L	Exterior Emulsion	Deep Base	4 L
Enamel, Black, 1 L	Enamel	Black	1 L
Wall Putty, 40 kg	Putty	none	40 kg

With a fixed pattern, a dealer's order is easy to read, stock counts match, and low-stock levels can be set on the 20 to 30 SKUs that really matter instead of all of them.

Shelf life and slow shades

Paint is sensitive to heat, freezing, leaking lids and rough handling, and some products carry a manufacture or expiry date. Receive stock by batch where dates matter, review slow shades monthly, and move older batches to dealers who turn stock faster rather than letting them age in one corner.

The paint season

Demand is strongest in dry weather and in the months before Dashain and Tihar, when households repaint. Heavy monsoon weeks slow exterior work. A simple rhythm:

• Baisakh to Jestha. Exterior work in dry weather; stock exterior lines and primers.
• Asar to Bhadra. Monsoon lull for exteriors; focus on interiors, collections and painter meets.
• Bhadra to Kartik. Festival repainting peak; scheme deadlines; credit grows fast.
• Mangsir onward. Steady demand; review the season, clear slow shades, plan next year's schemes.

Schemes without disputes

Dealer schemes and painter rewards are where paint companies lose the most goodwill, almost always because the terms lived in someone's memory. Before any scheme starts:

• Write the tiers in a form anyone can calculate ("reach this volume in the quarter, earn this reward").
• Decide whether returns are deducted before the reward is counted.
• Decide when the reward is credited and how.
• Share the terms with every dealer in writing before the first order.

How it runs in gamitrack

Catalog and batches. SKUs by line, base or shade and tin size, grouped into categories. Stock is received by batch into the right branch, with dates where needed, and every movement is recorded in an append-only history. Plants, depots and regional stores are branches; low-stock and expiry views help you rebalance.

Dealers, painters and projects. Dealers, painters, contractors and project accounts are parties with a type and location. Party type separates them in price lists and reports. Internal notes record preferences and agreements and are never visible to dealers.

Routes that include painters. Routes have ordered stops that mix dealers and key painters. Every visit is geofenced with photo proof, which also documents dealer displays. Outcomes record orders or the reason for no order. Visits outside the geofence, too short or without a photo are flagged for the manager, which keeps the painter programme honest.

Prices. A default dealer list, special lists for large dealers and projects, and overrides for specific accounts. Orders resolve price from override, then party type, then default. VAT invoices follow the IRD format and are numbered per fiscal year.

Schemes and targets. Tiered schemes on fulfilled secondary sales; approved rewards are credited to the dealer ledger. Dealer targets are annual by fiscal quarter; officers get monthly targets with a daily pace.

Dealer app and stock reports. In via-dealers mode, dealers see orders with progress and reminders, plus shop orders to fulfil. Monthly dealer stock reports compare expected with actual closing stock, which shows which dealers are over-stocked on slow shades.

Delivery, credit and returns. Assigned delivery people mark delivery with GPS, photo and receiver and can collect payment. Due days run from dispatch, payments settle the oldest bills first, and aging plus weekly collection plans keep credit visible. Damaged tins and returns are reviewed and approved into a branch with a credit note.

Dealer order or project order?

	Dealer order	Project order
Buyer	Paint shop or hardware dealer	Builder, hotel, school, institution
Price	Dealer price list	Negotiated, set as a party override
Delivery	To the shop	To the site, often in stages
Terms	Standard due days	Agreed in writing, kept in party notes
Risk	Slow shades, overdue balance	Long approval chains before payment

Treat each project as its own party with its own price override. That way the negotiated price never leaks into a dealer's order, and the project's balance is visible on its own.

A worked example (hypothetical)

Suppose a company has one distributor in a regional town and thirty dealers. Before Bhadra, the manager sets a quarterly tiered scheme and writes the terms down. Officers visit dealers fortnightly and meet painters at four of the busiest counters each week. Halfway through the quarter, the dealer stock report shows two dealers heavy on deep-base 20 L tins that are not moving; the officer stops pushing those SKUs to them and instead introduces painters at those counters to the shades they hold. At quarter end, scheme achievement is calculated from fulfilled secondary sales, and approved rewards are credited without a single argument about the arithmetic. The scenario is invented for illustration.

Related reading

Cement dealers, pipes and sanitaryware, stopping fake visits and the building materials industry page.

Pick one region, load your dealers and a dozen key painters, and run one quarter. See pricing for the free trial, or contact us.