Advice on distributor territories

Question

With no borders in Europe and retail head office purchasing for several countries what advice could you offer for distributor territories. eg if we have a distributor appointed for Holland and the German distributor sells to a Company in Germany who also has stores in Holland

This question was asked at our recent webinar – Finding the right agent or distributor to grow your business overseas

Answer

Hi Remi
In my experience I would say the responsibility lies with the Country who has the head office and probably most of the branches. These type of things happen and you need to spell out to both distributors how you would handle this. In other words if there was a dutch head office with branches in Germany then the business goes to Holland.

Even if there are not trade borders in Europe it is up to you to agree the ‘territory’ that particular agent of distributor covers and you would add clauses to the effect I’ve described above.

Hope this helps,
Regards
Steve

Answer

Hi Remi

This is where a strong distributor agreement and contract is crucial.

Firstly you need to understand the scenario that is happening. If the two companies are selling into the same geographical space and also into the same segment and this is having a detrimental effect on your brand and on the sales as a result then you need to find an appropriate solution.

It is hard to stop some distributors from selling into other markets but an enforceable contract and clearly defined boundaries of sale will help- not just geographically but for your specific product mix and highlight which segment(s) that distributor is reponsible for.

There are many ways to carve out a market and think further about this – is there the possibility for you to appoint one distributor to service one sector and another to sell to a different one in that particular territory?

Or can you provide one partner with one line of products and another a different product offering in the same market?

I hope that helps in some way and please get in touch if you require any further advice.
Good luck wih it!

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