hi all,

would anyone like to give me a primer on how non-alcholic beverages are distributed? for example, to a convience store. how many distributors deliver to a given store? who decides what distributor carrys which products? do competeing distributors ever carry the same product? does a distributor push a product to the retailer? or is it up to the producer to create demand so that the retailer asks a distributor if they carry the product?

i know these are simple questions with complex answers. i just dont know what i dont know, if that makes sense. i dont know enough to ask more intelligent questions, at this point. thanks in advance for your help.

steve

Steve,
Your best bet would be to send me your phone number in private message and I will call you.

However, to answer your question, Beverages go to c-stores by a number of different distribution vehicles. 1. DSD (direct store distributors) such as Pepsi, Coke, Bud, Miller etc. 2. Wholesale Grocery Distributors such as Coremark, McLane and Supervalu. 3. Some stores are self distributed, so as you can see there are a number of answers to your question depending on who the retailer is.

Another option would be to meet with the retailer and sell them on your product and then they would direct their supplier to bring in your product to their stores.