This site is written from the brand side of the distribution table.
Twenty-two years of global business development in consumer brands — appointing distribution partners, negotiating the terms, managing the relationships, and occasionally ending them. Across Asian markets, across categories from mass to premium, across online-first entries and full local operations.
Most writing about distribution comes from consultants, law firms, or service providers. This is written by the person on the other side of that table: the one who has to choose a partner, defend the choice internally, and live with it for three years.
What this site covers
Partner selection
How brands actually evaluate distributors — what the numbers in a proposal are worth, what to verify before signing, and how to decline the partner you do not appoint.
Contracts and terms
Exclusivity, term length, performance conditions, supply price and free-goods structure — what each one costs you and when it is worth paying.
Channel and market entry
When to enter online-first, what signals justify localising, and how category and price tier decide the channel structure before any partner is chosen.
A note on specifics
Every case discussed here is real, and every case is anonymised. No company names, no brand names, no market names, no figures that could identify a counterparty. Markets appear as descriptions of their structure; results appear as direction rather than absolute numbers.
This is not caution for its own sake. The useful part of any of these cases is the reasoning, not the identity of the parties — and the reasoning transfers better without them.
What this site is not
It is not legal advice, and it is not a template library. Distribution agreements are drafted by lawyers who know the jurisdiction. What is offered here is the commercial judgment that has to happen before the drafting starts: what to ask for, what to concede, and what each concession will cost you in month eighteen.