A pharmaceutical distributor holds thousands of product lines, each with batches and expiry dates, and sells mainly to pharmacies, clinics, hospitals and sub-distributors who expect the right strength, the right brand and a long enough shelf life. Money is tied up in stock and in pharmacy credit, so small errors in either are costly. This page describes how medicine distribution commonly works in Nepal and how gamitrack supports the commercial side. It is not a regulatory tool, and licence and storage rules are the responsibility of the business.
How pharma distribution typically works in Nepal
Medicines reach the pharmacy through a chain of manufacturers or importers, stockists or distributors, and sometimes sub-distributors in districts. Distributors serve pharmacies in the city and, through route salespeople, in surrounding towns. Medical representatives of manufacturers visit doctors and pharmacies to promote products, while distributor-side sales staff focus on taking orders and collecting payment. Pharmacies place frequent, mixed orders of many items in small quantities, and prefer a distributor who can supply the full list quickly.
Pharmacies commonly buy on credit, with settlement in a few weeks, and some use cheques. Demand has seasonal patterns, for example more respiratory and stomach complaints in particular seasons, and procurement by hospitals follows its own cycles. Batch and expiry are central: short-dated stock is returned or exchanged under agreed terms, and the longer a batch sits, the harder it is to recover its value.
Where it goes wrong
Item names in a large catalogue sound alike, and a hurried handwritten order leads to wrong products. Batches are checked at dispatch by whoever is at the counter, and near-expiry stock can sit unnoticed behind newer lots. Credit is recorded in several places, so the accountant, the owner and the salesperson each have a different number for the same pharmacy. Returns are agreed verbally. The owner cannot tell whether the team is covering the pharmacies they are paid to cover.
How gamitrack is used day to day
The owner or manager. Load products with categories and price lists for pharmacies, hospitals and sub-distributors. The Guide page and setup checklist help with branches, people and products. After that, the owner sees each day's visits, orders and payments, the ledger with aging per pharmacy, and the weekly collection plan against actual receipts. Low-stock and near-expiry views by batch show what to push to the field team this week.
Sales officers. Each morning the Today tab lists the route. At a pharmacy the officer checks in, which is validated against the saved location, records closing stock for fast-moving lines, picks products from the price list, collects a payment if the pharmacy is clearing a bill, adds a photo and records the outcome. Because products are chosen from a catalogue rather than typed from memory, look-alike names are less likely to be mixed up. When a pharmacy asks for something not on hand, the market note and a follow-up make sure it is not forgotten. New pharmacies can be added with GPS and are approved by a manager before going live.
Delivery staff. When the distributor delivers orders, the driver opens the Deliveries tab, sees the amount due and location, marks delivery with GPS, photo and receiver's name, and collects payment. Far-from-shop deliveries are flagged for review.
Dealers and sub-distributors. In districts, sub-distributors use the dealer app to see the orders booked in their area, fulfil them with a progress timeline, place their own orders on their price list, and read their statement. Monthly stock counts compare the expected closing stock with the counted stock.
Batches, expiry and returns. Every stock movement is append-only and recorded by batch and expiry, so you can look back at exactly when a batch came in and went out. Returns of expired or damaged stock are recorded from the party sheet and approved into a branch with a credit note. Where the return is from a shop served through a dealer, the dealer accepts or rejects it in the app.
Invoices and collections. Dispatch creates an IRD-format tax invoice with sequential numbering per fiscal year and VAT only on lines that are taxable, which matters in a category where some items may be treated differently; confirm tax treatment with your tax adviser. Payments by cash, eSewa, Khalti, Fonepay, bank or cheque are allocated to the oldest invoices, and advances are kept on the account.
Targets and commissions. Monthly officer targets with daily pace and universal or personal commission rates on secondary orders make incentive rules explicit. Commissions are calculated from orders, drafted at month end and finalised only after the month has ended.
Getting started
Begin with the top forty pharmacies and a single warehouse. Load their price lists, record opening stock by batch, and run a month of visits, orders and collections in parallel with your existing ledger. When the two agree, retire the paper.
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