Technologizing Distribution And Sales Management – New Color In The Alcohol Industry Picture

A vibrant economy together with a young population have contributed to the alcohol industry’s development in Vietnam. Based on statistical figures, this industry is enjoying nearly vertical, double-digit growth rates, and the alcohol consumption of Vietnamese people currently ranks 2^nd throughout Southeast Asia.

Challenges in distribution and sales management in the wine industry

Contrary to fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) such as confectionary, soft drinks or household care products, wine is considered a “luxury item” under tight control in terms of advertisements. Besides, the prevalence of wine without proper origins on the market, as well as increasingly popular imported brands have shaped the new business strategies of wine manufacturers.

Accordingly, the distribution and sales management topic is grabbing assiduous attention from wine companies. Due to limitations of mass media advertising, the key takeaway for enterprises in enhancing product coverage and competitive advantages lies in the ability of their goods to reach consumers anytime and anywhere, with appealing display and attractive promotion schemes.

The wine industry poses many challenges in distribution and sales management for enterprises. Source: Internet

This requires investments in building national distribution channels with wide-ranging agents and retail outlets. Great emphasis needs to be placed on the supervision of sales representatives – those responsible for visiting outlets (restaurants, grocery shops, and wine-trading stores), making sales, and recording purchase behavior, competitors’ information, risks of counterfeits confusing consumers, etc. The management system must also be able to maintain a high level of security, and process a huge number of orders, since wine trading tends to be seasonal and Public Holidays or New Year Festivals often witness peak demand.

However, as shared by corporate leaders, distribution and sales management practice in the wine industry is not effective enough. Most notably, sales management processes are still manual and involve heavy paperwork; there is significant “dead time” in the communication and exchange of information between manufacturers – distributors – salesmen, rendering companies slow to respond to market circumstances. Moreover, issues relating to sales supervision and data integrity are difficult to tackle: in quite a few cases staff trespass upon other sales territories to meet KPIs, or distributors “cook up” data so that manufacturers can be satisfied.

Boosting sales performance is one of the essential matters for company management. Source: DMSpro

Distribution management for wine companies: Strike while the iron’s hot

One uplifting signal for the Vietnamese market in general, and wine companies in particular is that, technological advancements have gradually enabled manufacturers to improve their distribution and sales management effectiveness, without enormous infrastructure and personnel investments.

Though relatively new in Vietnam, Distribution Management System (DMS) solutions are quick to impress large manufacturers and distributors because they are highly mobile, easy to implement, and accommodative of real-time data management throughout the supply chain. As a result, enterprises benefit from optimum control of distribution and sales activities, cost reduction, and profit maximization.

On 8 May 2017, DMSpro JSC and Arowines JSC proudly organized the DMS – Men’ Vodka Project Kick-off Ceremony in Hanoi. This is the first time DMSpro – the pioneer to introduce cloud-based Distribution Management System (DMS) solutions in Vietnam signed a contract with a Top 3 Vietnamese company in the wine industry.

DMSpro members during the DMS – Men’ Vodka project meeting. Source: DMSpro

In the agreement, DMSpro will provide DMS consultation and delivery services to Arowines, including the Core DMS system based on world-class ERP standards, along with additional and customized functions suitable for the wine industry such as: Sales Force Automation (SFA), eRoute, Visibility, and eCalendar. Such features support Arowines to tighten the collaboration between Head Office – Distributors – Sales Reps, upgrade distribution and sales management quality, cut down on manual tasks, and collect market information on a real-time basis for decision making purposes.

DMS – Men’ Vodka Project has marked a turning point in applying information technology to distribution and sales management for the Vietnamese wine industry. Under competitive pressure, whoever can take advantage of favorable conditions will not only realize short-term business objectives, but also pave the way for sustainable development in the future. “Strike while the iron’s hot” is never an outdated proverb, and DMS solutions are certain to accompany enterprises to write their success stories.