FMCG Distribution Planning and Route to Market Training Course

Course overview

FMCG distribution teams must place fast-moving products in the right outlets, at the right frequency, without creating excess stock, expired inventory, missed deliveries or unprofitable transport cost. The challenge is rarely a single warehouse or vehicle decision: it is the interaction between channel demand, outlet segmentation, distributor capability, sales-force call plans, order cycles, route density, service targets and replenishment rules. This course equips participants to make those trade-offs using evidence rather than intuition, whether managing modern trade, traditional trade, wholesalers, e-commerce fulfilment or distributor-led networks.

Participants learn to diagnose an FMCG route-to-market model, segment customers and outlets, define channel service policies, calculate distribution capacity and design practical delivery routes. They work with demand and shipment data to establish order frequency, drop size, vehicle utilisation, route productivity, safety stock and inventory deployment targets. The course also covers distributor performance management, direct-store-delivery economics, sales and operations planning alignment, OTIF measurement, stock freshness control and the use of dashboards to identify route and service failures.

Delivery combines instructor-led technical sessions with FMCG cases, Excel-based planning exercises, route design workshops and peer review of channel decisions. Participants build a route-to-market planning pack for a realistic consumer goods business, including an outlet segmentation model, channel service matrix, distribution KPI dashboard, route productivity analysis and a 90-day improvement plan. This provides a practical document they can adapt for their own territory, distributor network or category portfolio.

The programme is designed for experienced supply chain, logistics, sales operations and commercial professionals who influence how consumer goods move from factory or distribution centre to retail outlet. It is particularly valuable where organisations are expanding coverage, reducing delivery cost, improving on-shelf availability or restructuring distributor and direct-delivery operations.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Segment FMCG outlets using sales potential, service requirements, order patterns and delivery economics
• Design a channel-specific route-to-market model covering direct delivery, distributors, wholesalers and modern trade
• Build a customer service matrix that defines delivery frequency, order cut-off, lead time and OTIF targets
• Calculate route productivity using drops per route, kilometres, load factor, cost per case and driver hours
• Develop delivery territories and vehicle routes using stop sequencing, route density and capacity constraints
• Set inventory deployment and replenishment parameters using demand variability, shelf life and safety-stock logic
• Create a distribution KPI dashboard for fill rate, on-shelf availability, OTIF, returns, freshness and route cost
• Produce a 90-day route-to-market improvement plan with initiatives, owners, measures and implementation risks

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Distribution Managers — who must improve service coverage, fleet productivity and delivery cost
• Supply Chain Managers — who align inventory deployment, replenishment and channel service commitments
• Logistics Managers — who design warehouse-to-customer flows and manage transport performance
• Sales Operations Managers — who translate outlet coverage and call plans into executable delivery models
• Demand Planning Managers — who need shipment and inventory plans that reflect channel-specific demand patterns
• Commercial and Trade Marketing Managers — who assess the cost and service implications of channel growth plans

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in FMCG supply chain, sales operations, distribution, logistics or customer service, ideally with responsibility for a territory, distributor, warehouse, fleet, channel or product category. They should understand basic demand forecasting, inventory concepts, transport cost components, order fulfilment and common spreadsheet calculations such as percentages, lookups and pivot tables. Familiarity with Excel is assumed because exercises use planning datasets. Prior experience with route-optimisation software, SAP IBP, Power BI, GIS tools or formal operations-research techniques is not required; methods are explained through operational examples rather than mathematical modelling.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led modules followed by applied FMCG planning work. Participants analyse outlet, order, shipment, fleet and inventory data in Excel; calculate route and customer-service metrics; and test decisions against realistic channel constraints. Cases examine distributor-led and direct-store-delivery networks, including late orders, poor freshness, low route density and modern-trade service penalties. Small groups develop a route-to-market plan and challenge each other’s assumptions on coverage, cost-to-serve and service levels. The final session converts learning into a prioritised 90-day workplace application plan.

Course outline

Day 1: FMCG distribution strategy and channel economics

• FMCG physical distribution flows from factory to shelf
• Route-to-market models for traditional trade, modern trade and e-commerce
• Direct-store-delivery versus distributor-led network decisions
• Channel profitability and cost-to-serve components
• Outlet universe mapping and numeric distribution measures
• Customer segmentation by sales potential and service need
• Distribution service failures and their commercial consequences

Workshop: Participants map a consumer goods company’s current channel flows and produce an outlet segmentation and route-to-market diagnostic.

Day 2: Service policy, demand and inventory deployment

• Channel service matrices and differentiated service policies
• Order cycle design, cut-off times and delivery lead times
• Demand variability by outlet, channel and promotional period
• Minimum order quantities and economic drop-size analysis
• Safety stock logic for fast-moving and shelf-life-sensitive products
• Inventory deployment across central, regional and distributor locations
• Freshness, returns and expiry-risk controls

Workshop: Participants create a channel service matrix and replenishment policy for a multi-SKU FMCG portfolio.

Day 3: Territory design and route productivity

• Delivery territory design using geographic clusters and outlet density
• Route capacity constraints for weight, volume, cases and driver hours
• Stop sequencing and practical route optimisation principles
• Delivery frequency selection and fixed versus variable route plans
• Vehicle utilisation, load factor and empty-kilometre analysis
• Drops per route, cases per drop and cost-per-case calculations
• Driver productivity and proof-of-delivery performance measures

Workshop: Participants redesign a set of delivery territories and produce a route productivity comparison for alternative delivery frequencies.

Day 4: Distributor management and distribution performance control

• Distributor selection criteria and capability assessment
• Distributor operating models, incentives and service-level agreements
• Joint business planning for coverage, stock and sales targets
• OTIF, fill rate and on-shelf availability measurement
• Distribution dashboard design in Excel and Power BI
• Root-cause analysis for stock-outs, late deliveries and claims
• Escalation routines and performance review cadences

Workshop: Participants build a distributor scorecard and conduct a performance review based on service, inventory and route data.

Day 5: Integrated route-to-market improvement planning

• Aligning sales forecasts, shipment plans and distribution capacity
• Scenario planning for new outlets, promotions and seasonal peaks
• Network trade-offs between service, inventory and transport cost
• FMCG route-to-market risk registers and mitigation actions
• Implementation sequencing for territory and route changes
• Stakeholder alignment across sales, supply chain, finance and distributors
• 90-day improvement plan governance and benefit tracking

Workshop: Participants present a complete route-to-market planning pack and produce a prioritised 90-day implementation roadmap for their chosen case.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, SAP Integrated Business Planning, GS1 Standards

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions