Dealer and distributor schemes
Quantity, value, growth and display schemes, priced against margin and modelled before launch. A cycle runs one month to a quarter.
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BTL & Activation · Trade marketing · Channel programmes
Trade &channel marketing
Since 201565+ in-house team6 cities
Trade and channel marketing for brands that sell through dealers, distributors and retailers. The counter decides what gets sold, and the person who recommends you decides the counter.
A strategist calls you in one working day.
/ 01 Trade marketing agency
The counter decidesmore than your ads.
A scheme that fills the distributor's godown but not the shelf has not worked. PromotEdge, a marketing company, runs dealer schemes, loyalty programmes and trade meets across India, so more shops stock and sell your brand.
In much of India the counter decides. A plumber fits the pipe he trusts. A mechanic tops up with the oil he stocks. A kirana owner hands over the brand with the better margin.
Primary sales (company to distributor) can look healthy while the shelf stays empty. We judge programmes on secondary sales (distributor to retailer) and tertiary sales (retailer to customer). Want us to look at your channel? Ask for a free channel plan.
- 2015working with Indian brands since
- 65+in-house team: strategy, creative, media and tech
- 4pillars under one roof: strategy, advertising, digital, on-ground activation (BTL)
- 6cities: head office in Kolkata, teams in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar
/ 02 What we run
What a channel programmecovers.
Dealer and channel loyalty programmes
Points on verified purchases, tiers and rewards, with enrolment by app, WhatsApp or missed call and statements in the local language.
03Contractor, mason and mechanic meets
Territory meets with demonstrations, training and scan-and-earn rewards for masons, plumbers, electricians, painters and mechanics.
Retailer visibility programmes
Paid display, counter units and shelf contracts in the outlets that matter, checked by monthly photo audit.
Dealer meets
Annual and regional meets that launch the year's schemes and book orders before dealers leave.
06Dealer boards and shop branding
Sign boards, counter branding and POSM, delivered within the PromotEdge group and installed with photo proof.
Dealer-level digital
Google Business Profiles, social ads and WhatsApp catalogues for each dealer, so local demand finds the nearest outlet.
Claims, payouts and dashboard
Claims matched to invoices or scans and rewards paid on time. One monthly view of secondary and tertiary sales, active outlets and scheme cost.
/ 03 Common hurdles
What usually gets in the way,and the way through.
“Primary billing is up, but my distributors are sitting on months of stock.”
That is channel stuffing: more stock pushed in than the market can sell. We pay schemes on secondary or tertiary evidence wherever the data exists.
“Dealers forget the scheme a week after the launch.”
One sentence, one leaflet in the local language, WhatsApp reminders and a monthly message telling each dealer where he stands.
“Our loyalty payouts are three months late and the masons have stopped scanning.”
We set a payout calendar, verify claims against scans or invoices, and pay by bank transfer or UPI on the promised date.
“Claims are inflated and nobody checks.”
Claims are matched to invoices, pack scans or distributor data. A sample is audited in the field, and duplicates are flagged before any payout.
“Our competitor owns the mechanics in every town.”
We map who influences the purchase in each territory. Then we run meets, training and scan-based rewards, so the influencer gets better at his trade and gets paid too.
“The same scheme runs in Mumbai and in a district town in Bihar.”
Schemes are cut by channel and town class. A metro distributor, a district dealer and a village retailer need different slabs and rewards.
“We spend crores on schemes and can't say which ones paid back.”
Each scheme is measured against a baseline or comparison territory, net of its cost. You can then drop the ones that only gave away margin.
Dealers pushing a rival's brand over yours? Share your top ten territories, and we will read the pattern with you. Get a free growth plan
/ 04 How we work
How a channel programmeruns, cycle by cycle.
We believe in process: good results should repeat. Each scheme gets a baseline, a comparison territory and a cost cap before launch. Design to launch takes four to six weeks. Dealer schemes can move secondary sales in one cycle. Influencer programmes need several quarters. Not sure where to start? Talk to us.
- 01
Map the channel
Distributors, dealers, retailers and influencers by territory, with sales, potential and what they stock of yours and of competitors.
- 02
Pick one or two behaviours
More outlets stocking, a new range placed, more recommendations or faster payment. A scheme that chases five things achieves none.
- 03
Design and model the scheme
Who qualifies, what they earn and how it is verified, modelled against margin and last year's sales, on one leaflet in the local language.
- 04
Launch and run
Dealer meets, a launch kit, WhatsApp messages and a briefing for your sales team, who explain the scheme at every outlet.
- 05
Verify and pay
Claims checked against invoices, scans or distributor data, a field sample audited, and rewards paid on the promised date.
- 06
Measure and change
Secondary and tertiary sales, active outlets and participation against the baseline and untouched territories. The next cycle changes what didn't work.
Tell us what’s not working. We’ll send you an honest one-page growth plan, free.
Go deeperMore on this
How we deliver it, and why
- We map the channel before writing a scheme. You can only change what you can see: who stocks what, and where. A territory map.
- We choose one or two behaviours. A dealer can hold only one idea at a time. A scheme on one leaflet.
- We pay on secondary or tertiary evidence. Paying on stock pushed in rewards loading the channel. Claims matched to invoices or scans.
- We pay on the promised date. Late rewards end programmes. A payout calendar.
- Our founder and CEO, Saurav Agarwal, leads the budget and ROI logic. How much margin you give away is your decision, so the numbers should be clear first. The reward pool and our fee on separate lines.
- We compare with territories outside the scheme. Otherwise you cannot tell the scheme from the season. A baseline and a comparison.
Go deeper: the Indian market, a brand, your model and AI
The market
In 2023-24, rural households spent 47.04% of their budget on food and urban households 39.68%. So everyday FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) counters in smaller towns matter.
Source: PIB, Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24, 7 January 2025
A brand that started online and still needed the counter
Mamaearth launched in 2016 and was largely online-only for four years. It reached 10,000 stores by the second half of 2020. In FY24 nearly 35% of revenue came from offline sales, mostly general trade outlets, as Inc42 reported.
Source: Inc42, read October 2026
How your business model changes the plan
FMCG: shelf space and kirana margin decide it. See FMCG.
Dealer-led B2B (business-to-business): masons, plumbers and mechanics recommend you. See building materials, lubricants, auto spare parts and industrial manufacturing.
Marketplace and quick commerce brands: stock sits in dark stores, so the work moves to availability and listings.
Dealer-level ads run with our performance marketing and WhatsApp marketing teams.
AI in trade marketing: today and next
Zoho CRM (customer relationship management) has a tool, Zia, that can rank prospects by likelihood to convert, suggest the best time and mode to contact them and flag unusual trends. For a channel, that means an early nudge when a dealer's orders dip. It only works on clean secondary-sales data, so we fix the data first.
Source: Zoho CRM Zia page, read 10 October 2026
Our beliefThink creative. Act on numbers.
Designing a scheme and want a second opinion on the payout? We will check it with you. Talk to us
/ 05 Industries
Where this works best.
01
Construction equipment
Contractors trust the machine their peers run on site more than any brochure.
02Building materials
The person who pays for the cement is rarely the one who picks the brand.
03Industrial & manufacturing
Procurement checks you out long before your sales team is invited to talk.
04Automotive
A buyer's interest fades fast when the enquiry reaches the right showroom late.
05Real estate
Enquiries are easy to buy, but the sale is won or lost at the site visit.
06FMCG
Your ad works for a rival if your product is missing from the shelf.
/ 06 Cost
What a channel programme costs.
The reward pool is shown apart from our management fee, because how much margin you give away is your decision, not ours.
What affects the cost
- Size of the reward pool, usually the largest line and set by you
- Number of dealers, retailers and influencers enrolled
- Meets: venues, travel, food and kits per territory
- Loyalty platform, app or WhatsApp set-up, and messaging costs
- Verification, field audits and shop branding
How we quote
- We start with a call on the channel you want to move and the sales data you already have.
- We look at your territories, margins and past schemes.
- We write the scheme rules and how each claim will be verified.
- The quote keeps the reward pool, our fee, meets and platform costs on separate lines.
What you get in the quote
- Scheme design, with the payout rules
- Reward pool, set by you and shown on its own line
- Meets by territory, and the loyalty platform or WhatsApp set-up
- Claims checking, field audit plan and monthly channel report
To compare quotes fairly, ask whether the reward pool and the verification cost are inside the figure. Rewards and trips can attract TDS (tax deducted at source), so your finance team signs off the terms. General guidance, not tax advice.
/ 07 What happens next
What happensafter you ask.
For projects we think we can help, this is how it goes.
- 01
A strategist calls you
In one working day: a 30-minute call with one of our strategists about your business and what is not working.
- 02
You get a 1-page plan
A short, honest plan: what to fix first and what we would do. It is free.
- 03
A quote, if you want one
If you want to go ahead, we send a quote within 2 working days.
We confirm the timeline in the quote. Contracts start at 3 months, with 30 days' notice to stop.
Brands and people are named only as public examples. They are not PromotEdge clients or endorsers unless stated.
Keep exploring
Related pages.
The same work in your city and your industry, and the services that go with it.
Trade & channel marketing: specialist services
More btl services
Proof and reading
What people say
In their own words
“Hi, my name is Hitesh Malhotra. I'm working in FIVB. We are working with PromoteEdge (with Team Sayantan). I would like to give you a brief detail. …”
Hitesh MalhotraSports Development at Fédération Internationale de Volleyball - FIVB“I really want to thank Sayantan and his team from PromotEdge because what I find good in them is that, the team. When the team is wonderful, the outcome will definitely be wonderful. …”
Abhijit BhattacharyaFormer Captain Indian VolleyBall Team; and Founder of Brahmaputra Volleyball League“The PromotEdge Agency stay with us all these 3 days, since when we arrived..more, more than 3 days. Since in the airport, they stayed together with us (FIVB team). …”
GibaBrazilian Former Volleyball Player
No pressure. No sales pitch.
Tell us where the counter is failing you.We'll show you the plan.
Straight answers.
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Trade marketing is marketing to the people who sell your product: distributors, dealers, retailers and the tradespeople who recommend it. Channel marketing is the wider term and also covers resellers. Both are judged on sell-out, not on what the shop buys. Channel programmes also serve broker networks in real estate and chemist networks in healthcare.
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Start small. Get sales and distributor data by territory, name a manager who owns the programme and pick one behaviour to change. Pilot one scheme in a few territories, compare with similar ones outside it, and scale what paid back. Your field staff must explain it at every outlet.
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Start with the behaviour you want: a new range stocked, more outlets, growth over last year. Model the payout against margin and baseline sales, cap the cost, define how claims are verified, and pilot it. Pay on secondary or tertiary evidence where you can.
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Enrolment through dealers, meets or a missed-call number. Demonstrations and training happen at a dealer's counter or a local hall. Rewards link to verified purchases or pack scans, and WhatsApp updates come in the local language. Programmes that make members better at their trade last longer.
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We measure it from secondary and tertiary sales, comparing participating territories with similar ones outside. We use distributor management system data, distributor reports, pack-scan or warranty data and field audits. Where there is no data, we help set up simple collection first. Ask for examples in your category at the briefing stage.
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The main lines are the reward pool, meets and travel, branding, the loyalty platform, and verification and audit. The reward pool is usually the largest, and your call on margin. We show the reward pool apart from programme costs. You can see what is a reward to the channel and what is the price of running it.
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Yes. Our servicing team is based in cities across India. Scheme design, claims checking, payouts and reporting work the same in any state. We meet you at least every three months. Our in-house team does the work, with consultants and partner agencies where needed.
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Yes. Dealer boards, shop signage and POSM are delivered within the PromotEdge group, installed with photo proof and audited afterwards. The same look runs across your dealers, so the scheme and the shop front tell one story. See signage and retail branding.