When producers sell products themselves

VietNamNet Bridge – In the current difficult period, when consumers are trying to tighten their purse strings, companies are boosting sales by bringing products to families themselves instead of relying on distributors.

Companies are boosting sales by bringing products to families themselves

Luong Van Vinh, General Director of My Hao Cosmetics Company, said that companies can maintain sales only by retailing themselves; wholesale business now carries risks of losing sales agents to other companies and losing turnover as sales agents are also being affected by the economic downturn.

Selling products themselves

Therefore, Vinh has organised a team of 500 members in charge of selling products of the company in rural and remote localities.

The salesmen get minimum wage and the more lucrative income – commissions on sales, 1% of the turnover of dishwashing liquid, the best seller of the company, and 1.7% of the turnover of other products.

In the provinces in the west, salesmen carry products in ferry-boats on rivers or canals, while boats carry products further to more remote areas, where products are sold directly to buyers. In the north, big trucks bring commodities to localities, where smaller trucks and motorbikes carry the products further, to every street and corner of localities.

In new urban areas and residential quarters, the company supports distributors by giving them 4-6 salesmen, each in charge of 250 small shopping points. There are a lot of teams, and each team has a team leader, and every province or city a senior supervisor.

With such a ‘moving’ force of salesmen, after its turnover had dropped dramatically in September and October 2008 as consumers tightened their spending, the company’s turnover increased by 10% in the period between November 2008 and February 2009.

Going to alleys and side streets

In December 2008, Thuan Phat Foodstuff Joint Stock Company set up a sales team of 100 members to take the company’s products to every small shop in alleys and side streets. The decision has helped the company sell 200,000 more products a month.

Truong Lan Anh, General Director of the company, said that it was necessary to bring products to places where consumers go, groceries and markets. ”We have a distribution network with 1^st and 2^nd class agents. We provide trucks to support sales agents, and we also provide staffs to take care of customers,” Anh said.

Vissan, a processing foodstuff producer, now has 50 showrooms and 1,000 retail sales agents across the country, and has been trying to expand its sales network. In November 2008, the company signed strategic cooperation contracts with other companies, under which the companies sell each other’s products.

Analysts have also advised companies to develop sales networks to deliver products directly to every small grocery and to every family. They have pointed out that in rural areas, people don’t purchase goods because there are no goods to purchase, not because people don’t have a demand.

VietNamNet/SGTT