Modern trade

Key account management for brands selling to retail chains

Large retail accounts need their own terms, POs, deliveries and claims tracked as one relationship. A practical key account management setup for consumer brands.

2 min read

For a consumer brand growing into modern trade, the first few chain accounts usually change the business. Volumes are large, terms are formal, and a single buyer's decision can add or remove a whole region of shelves. Yet many brands manage these accounts the same way they manage a kirana store — as a customer code in the billing system — and keep everything else in email.

Key account management (KAM) is the discipline of treating each large account as a relationship with its own rules, and making everything about it visible to the person responsible.

What makes a key account different

  • Terms of trade — margins, payment days, promotion contributions, listing and display fees.
  • Ordering through POs, often several a week, to multiple distribution centres or stores.
  • Delivery appointments with strict windows and receiving rules.
  • Promotions planned with the buyer, with their own pricing and claims.
  • Deductions on payment that need to be checked against all of the above.

The one-page account view

A key account manager should be able to open one place and see:

Section Contents
Terms Margins, payment terms, agreed fees and contributions
Catalogue Listed products, agreed prices, item codes the chain uses
Orders Open POs, confirmed orders, what is pending delivery
Deliveries Delivered, short, late — with proof
Money Invoices, payments received, deductions and their status
Promotions What is running, what was agreed, what was claimed
Contacts Buyers, category managers, receiving contacts

A monthly key account review

  1. Fill rate and on-time delivery for the month — see PO fill rate.
  2. Sales by product against plan.
  3. Open deductions, by reason — see modern trade deductions.
  4. Promotions — what ran, what it cost, what it sold.
  5. Next month's calendar — promotions, new listings, seasonal peaks.

How Zaqnet supports key accounts

  • Each chain is a customer in ControlRoom, with its orders, invoices and payments together.
  • POs arrive through the PO Inbox and become sales orders with the original document attached — see modern trade purchase orders.
  • Deliveries are planned as runs and closed with proof of delivery.
  • The CRM keeps contacts, deals, quotes and follow-ups for the account — see B2B sales CRM.
  • Discounts and claims go through approvals, with who approved what on record.

A key account is too important to live in someone's inbox.

Questions people ask.

What is key account management in modern trade?

Managing each large retail customer — a supermarket chain, a cash-and-carry, a large e-commerce or quick commerce buyer — as a relationship with its own terms, buyers, ordering pattern, delivery requirements, promotions and claims, rather than as one more customer in a list.

What should a key account plan include?

The account's terms of trade, listed products and prices, ordering and delivery calendar, promotion plan, targets, and the open issues — pending POs, unpaid invoices and disputed deductions — reviewed on a regular cadence with the buyer.

Who owns a key account?

One named key account manager, supported by order desk, logistics and finance. The KAM does not process every order, but they should be able to see every order, delivery, invoice and claim for the account in one place.

Keep reading.

See it with your own process.

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