FMCG Distribution Glossary: Beat Plan, DMS, FEFO, DSO

A beat plan is the fixed schedule of retailers a salesman visits, grouped by area and day. Each beat is one route covered on a set day of the week or fortnight, so every outlet is visited on a regular cycle and no area is missed or visited twice.

It is how a distributor turns a list of shops into a working week: one salesman, one beat per day, a known set of outlets. Routes and vans are usually planned around the same beats.

Secondary sales are what a distributor sells to retailers and wholesalers, as opposed to primary sales, which are what the company sells to the distributor. They show how much stock is moving out into the market, and they are the figure most field-team targets are set on.

A distributor books primary sales as purchases from the company and secondary sales as bills to the shops it supplies. Tertiary sales, the retailer's sale to the consumer, are usually not visible to the distributor at all.

A distributor management system is software that runs a distributor's day: orders, billing, stock, collections, schemes, dispatch and reports. Some companies give their distributors a DMS to report secondary sales; others are bought by the distributor to run their own business.

The difference matters. A DMS issued by a company serves that company's reporting. A system chosen by the distributor serves the distributor's own books, stock and GST across every company they carry. See Distribution OS for how Distiqo AI approaches it.

A scheme claim is the amount a distributor asks a company to reimburse for a trade scheme it passed on to retailers, such as a discount, free quantity or slab offer. The claim needs proof: which bills carried the scheme, the quantity sold and the benefit given.

Unclaimed or badly documented schemes are money left with the company. A distributor needs each scheme tied to the bills it applied to, so the claim can be raised and reconciled later.

Days sales outstanding is the average number of days it takes to collect payment after a sale. It is outstanding receivables divided by credit sales, multiplied by the number of days in the period. A lower DSO means cash comes back from retailers faster.

For a distributor the same idea shows up as the outstanding list: who owes what, for how long. Our guide on chasing overdue payments and the one on credit limits cover what to do about it.

FEFO stands for first expiry, first out. Stock with the earliest expiry date is issued first, regardless of when it arrived. It is the standard rule for goods with a shelf life, such as food, personal care and medicines, because it cuts losses from expired stock.

FIFO, first in first out, issues the oldest arrival first. The two differ when a newer batch carries an earlier expiry date. FEFO needs batch and expiry recorded at purchase.

Outstanding is the money a retailer still owes a distributor for bills already issued. A distributor tracks it per retailer and by age, for example under 30 days or over 60 days, and uses it to decide credit limits and whom to follow up first.

Ageing is what makes it usable: a retailer who owes the same amount for 10 days and for 70 days is two different situations.

A credit note is a document a distributor issues to reduce what a retailer owes, usually for returned, damaged or expired goods, or a post-sale discount. Under GST it must be reported against the original invoice, so the tax on the sale is adjusted too.

Credit notes are also how many schemes are settled: the benefit is given to the retailer later as a credit instead of on the original bill.

An e-way bill is an electronic document that must accompany a consignment of goods moving by road above the value limit set under GST. It is generated on the government e-way bill portal and carries the invoice details, the vehicle number and the route.

The value limit and the exemptions are set by the GST authorities and change over time, so check the current rules on the official e-way bill portal before relying on a figure.

A godown is a warehouse or storage room where a distributor keeps stock. Many distributors run more than one, and the same item can sit in several places, so the useful question is not only how much stock there is but which godown holds it and in which batch.

Reorder levels, transfers between godowns and expiry checks all depend on knowing stock by location, not just in total.