Retailer marketing · Channel and partners
Shops stock, display and recommend the brand that is easiest for them to sell.
A shop owner stocks what sells without effort. If your price list is a photo of a photo, your scheme reaches the counter as a rumour and nobody asks about the next order, the shelf goes to another brand.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Retailer marketing gives the shops that sell your product a reason and a means to stock it, show it and name it to buyers. GullySales prepares the retailer kit, the scheme wording, the WhatsApp broadcast group, the feedback record and the reordering prompts, and sets out who sends what.
This service works at the retailer: the kirana, the hardware shop, the electrical dealer, the chemist, the clothes shop, the appliance showroom. It covers what the shop receives, what it is told about a scheme, and how it is prompted to reorder.
Three neighbours are the better fit in some cases. Trade and dealer marketing suits a dealer network and its trade schemes. Retail execution and merchandising suits shelf work inside the store. Point of sale marketing suits the in-store material itself.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- FMCG and packaged food makers whose distributors reach retailers but never explain the range
- Building material, electrical and hardware makers selling through counter shops
- Pharma-adjacent goods makers selling through chemists, where the rules on claims are strict
- Apparel makers and consumer durables brands that need shops to recommend the model, not just hold it
- Brands whose retailers learn about a scheme from a field representative's memory
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Businesses that sell only online or direct to the buyer, with no shops in the route
- Makers who want to set the price a shop charges; the retailer sets the shelf price, and your own legal adviser reviews any pricing rule
- Brands with no field team, distributor or order desk to act on what retailers say
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
Common situations this work addresses.
“The shopkeeper does not know what we launched”
The distributor delivered cartons and no explanation. The new pack sits behind the old one because nobody told the shop why it matters.
“Every retailer has a different price list”
One has last quarter's sheet, another a cropped forwarded image. Your field representative spends the visit correcting the paper instead of selling.
“The scheme was announced and nobody understood it”
A circular full of slabs and conditions reached the distributor. The retailer heard half of it, so the order did not change.
“Shops go quiet after the first order”
Nobody prompts the second order, and nobody records why a shop stopped. You learn about the lapse when the distributor's sales dip.
What we do
The work we can include.
Each deliverable and the purpose it serves. Your written scope confirms what is included, who is responsible, and what it costs.
Retailer kit
The price list exactly as your firm issues it, a one-page product sheet and a display guide, in the language the shop reads. Your product owner signs off the sheet before it goes out.
Visit and sampling plan
A short script and a sample list for the field team's visits, with what to leave behind and what to note. Your sales head decides which towns and shop types are visited first.
Retailer WhatsApp broadcast group
A group or list set up for retailers who have agreed to hear from you, with a joining message that says what they will receive. Retailers who ask to leave are removed.
Scheme communication in plain words
Each scheme written as a short message and a one-page note a shopkeeper can follow, with start and end dates. Your finance or sales head supplies the scheme terms; we do not design the scheme.
Retailer feedback record
A simple sheet or form logging what each shop says about price, stock, pack size, margin and competing brands. Your order desk reads it alongside the sales records.
Reordering prompts
Short messages tied to a shop's last order and the stock it is likely to have used. Your team approves the wording and the point at which a prompt goes out.
Retailer list and consent note
A clean list of shops with owner name, contact number, the distributor that serves each, and whether they agreed to messages. The note says how the numbers were collected.
How the result is measured
- Retailers who joined the broadcast group, against retailers invited
- Retailers carrying the current price list
- Retailer feedback logged, by topic
- Reordering prompts sent and the orders that followed
- Lapsed retailers and the reason recorded for each
- Schemes explained to retailers, separate from schemes taken up
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Before you decide
Agree the work. Know how to judge it.
Retailer marketing: use these checks to prepare, choose the scope, and review what changes.
Bring the right evidence
Map existing partners, their territories, and the customers they serve. Review active selling and repeat orders separately from the number of partners signed up.
Make the scope clear
Agree partner fit, territory rules, onboarding, and support responsibilities. Clarify how direct enquiries and partner enquiries are assigned before starting recruitment.
Check the work in use
Follow a partner enquiry through to an order and the next purchase. Check whether the partner has the product knowledge and material needed to sell without repeated intervention.
Know when to change course
If current partners cannot sell because supply or support is weak, resolve that before recruiting more. A bigger network can spread the same problem further.
These are discussion points, not a fixed package. GullySales confirms the deliverables, responsibilities, fee, and term in writing after reading your brief and speaking with you.
How it works
How the retailer marketing work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Retailer route and records
After your requirements brief and conversation, we agree which shop types and towns are in scope. We read your price lists, scheme circulars and distributor orders to see what retailers actually receive today.
- 2
Kit and message approval
We draft the kit, the scheme notes and the joining message. Your product and sales owners confirm prices, claims and scheme terms in writing before any shop sees them.
- 3
Field trial
A few field representatives and distributors use the kit on live visits. Their questions show which lines retailers misread.
- 4
Broadcast group and first scheme
Retailers who agree join the group, and the first scheme goes out in plain words. Distributors are told what retailers were told, so the two accounts match.
- 5
Feedback and reorder review
Feedback records and reorder prompts are read with your order desk's sales figures. Changes to the kit and wording are proposed for the next scheme.
Before you hire anyone
Do this first yourself.
Find out what a retailer holds in hand today before you pay anyone to improve it.
- Visit five shops that stock you and photograph the price list each one is using.
- Ask each shopkeeper to explain your current scheme in their own words, and write down what they say.
- List the shops that ordered once and not again, with the distributor that serves each.
- Note which retailers already give you their WhatsApp number and whether they agreed to receive messages.
- Ask your field team what retailers complain about most, and keep the answers in one sheet.
Judge any provider
What to ask any provider of this service.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- How will retailers agree to receive our messages, and where is that agreement recorded?
- Who writes the scheme wording, and who approves it before a shop sees it?
- What do you do when a distributor and a retailer hear different versions of a scheme?
- How is a reordering prompt tied to a shop's last order rather than sent to everyone?
- What stays with us at the end: the list, the group, the kit files?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 1, prospecting and lead generation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How is this different from trade and dealer marketing?
Where does shelf work and in-store material fit?
Can you message every shop we sell to?
Will you design our schemes or fix the shelf price?
Do you send the messages and visit the shops?
What does it cost and how long does it run?
How long is the contract?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
By industry
Retailer marketing, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.