Leveraging direct sales forces for impact at the last 100 meters
For traditional fast-moving consumer goods companies, maximizing product penetration can be a sound business strategy, but it cannot suffice for brands selling nutritious products, meant to achieve a positive health impact through repeated use. Indeed, encouraging consumption frequency requires different strategies, in particular in distribution, to maximize the chances of adequate, impactful intake from target consumers.
For many urban low-income consumers who shop on a daily basis, consumption choices happen at the “last 100 meters” around their home or workplace. There, direct sales force agents have the potential to proactively encourage product trials, promote behavior change, and firmly anchor products in people’s daily routines.
This report – supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – hopes to help organizations looking to have an impact through products requiring regular usage, to build distribution strategies aligned with their impact objectives. It consolidates lessons from projects supported by the Foundation and other best-in-class organizations who have built impactful, sustainable, and scalable direct sales forces around nutritious products. It delves into:
The landscape of “last 100 meter” channels where low-income consumers shop in developing economies
The different roles that direct sales forces can play at product launch and at steady state for organizations looking to have impact through repeat uses
The economics of direct sales forces
Best practices from practitioners operating at the “last 100 meters” in terms of sales agents’ performance management and retention.
