General Trade
The traditional retail channel of kiranas, paan shops, and mom-and-pop stores, as opposed to organized modern trade.
Full definition
General Trade (GT) is the traditional, unorganized retail channel, kirana stores, paan shops, chemists, street vendors, standalone supermarkets. GT contrasts with Modern Trade (organized retail chains like DMart and Reliance Fresh). GT dominates Indian FMCG sales at roughly 75-80% of total volume, and it remains the channel where most brands still make most of their money.
Selling into GT is a high-touch, high-frequency, credit-heavy business. It requires beat plans, distributor networks, DSRs, and trade schemes. The margins at every layer are thinner than MT but the volume is enormous and the relationships are sticky.
A distribution platform built for India must treat GT as the primary use case, everything from scheme engine to mobile app is designed around the GT flow.
Real-world example
A dairy brand's GT channel in Bangalore covers 14,000 kirana stores, 400 paan shops, and 200 chai stalls, all served by 8 distributors through 60 DSRs.
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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