We have a distribution constraint in the world. Basically, how do you find your tribe? How do you find the people the people that share the same curiosities as you do? How does your product get to people that are willing to buy it? And how does it get to them before another product confuses them?
Distribution is a factor of many things such as the ability to create mini-storage points, the ability to translate things, break them up until you get to the final person.
Let’s say you want a cold beer. In an ideal situation, you would get this beer from the factory of Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL), somewhere in Luzira. But assuming you want a cold beer, and you are based in Gulu. How long would it take you to get that cold beer from Luzira? And would it make sense for UBL to send just one cold beer to you in Gulu over that distance.
See, that’s the distribution problem. To solve for this, UBL will have a warehouse at Luzira and then enlist other distributors around the country. These distributors can make large orders. But these distributors will also need depots. Then depots will roll out to the small shops and bars. And then an Okello can get a cold beer from a bar.
Let’s say you’re a single man in Kampala that has a foot fetish. How do you find another single lady in this country with the same fetish? You could decide to broadcast and create a social media page titled ‘The Ugandan Fetish Guy’ or you could tell your friends to help pass around the message or you could just wait for the people you date and tell them about your foot fetish. You see, distribution constraint.
The other thing about distribution is that it’s rarely a one-person game. You must get numerous people into the game. For the cold beer in Gulu, you need the banks and payment channels for the money to flow, you need a system through which orders can be made. You need the trucks that will transport that beer. Then the TukTuk to do the smaller orders around Gulu, then the Bike guy or the bar man.
Some parts of the country grow food in plenty while others starve. How do you get food from one corner of this country to another while keeping it affordable? While accounting for perishability?
If you become good at distribution, you will always run the world! But I must confess, distribution is a complex problem. Orders are nuanced, people order different quantities, different things, at different times in different locations. It’s the art of smoothening these differences.
That’s why most marketplace platforms fail. Because they start off thinking it’s a marketplace issue, only to realize it’s a distribution issue. Think of an app where you order your beer, and it gets delivered to you. Sounds easy? Right? Until you get in the thick and thin of things.
If you plan to start any business, spend some time thinking about distribution at all levels: information, storage, inventory, logistics, payment, routes, name it all.