ECO / Effective Coverage of Outlets
The number (or percentage) of outlets that were both visited and billed at least once during a period, measuring true productive reach as opposed to mere visit compliance.
Full definition
Effective Coverage of Outlets (ECO) is the count of unique outlets where at least one productive call (order booked) occurred during a defined period, usually a month. ECO combines beat coverage and strike rate into a single metric that answers the most fundamental distribution question: how many outlets are we actually selling to?
In Indian FMCG, ECO is often expressed as a percentage of the total outlet universe. If a distributor has 1,200 outlets in their database and 900 were billed at least once during the month, ECO is 75%. Leading brands like HUL and ITC target 85%+ monthly ECO. Low ECO means the brand has "dark" outlets — shops it knows about but never sells to — representing pure lost opportunity.
ECO is the metric that separates good distribution from great distribution. A brand can have high beat coverage (salespeople visiting outlets) and still have low ECO if those visits are not converting to orders. Sales analytics platforms highlight dark outlets and enable targeted campaigns to convert them.
Real-world example
ITC's sales system tracks ECO monthly per distributor — a Kolkata distributor with 1,500 mapped outlets shows 1,200 billed (ECO 80%), with the remaining 300 flagged for DSR follow-up with targeted trade schemes.
Where it applies
Applicable industries
This term is relevant across the following SpireStock-supported industries.
How SpireStock handles it
Related SpireStock features
The concepts described above are implemented end-to-end in these product modules.
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