As a distributor, the manufacturer is selling direct to my retail customers at a lower price than what they charge me, undercutting my sales and making my inventory obsolete.

Workarounds Described

• Asks manufacturer to take back unsold inventory manually
• Salesperson discovers direct pricing through customer conversation
• Distributor requests pricing info from rep and is refused

Implied Software Gaps

• Automated alert system for manufacturer direct sales undercutting distributor pricing
• Platform for distributors to collectively negotiate with manufacturers
• Inventory management that flags products being bypassed by direct sales

DistributorShield

DistributorShield is a platform that tracks manufacturer direct sales and pricing, alerting distributors to conflicts and enabling collective negotiation leverage. It provides market intelligence on downstream sales and helps distributors optimize inventory based on which products are being bypassed.