a)      General objective of the consultancy

The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide targeted technical assistance to a leading processed food company in Sri Lanka (“the Company”) to reduce market returns and improve product freshness management across its distribution value chain. The Company currently experiences annual market returns of over 768 tonnes of food primarily due to product expiry, inventory accumulation, demand variability, and downstream distribution challenges. The Company has already developed strong internal systems, from demand planning, inventory management, sales practices and return policies, including detailed daily, weekly, and annual sales and return data, as well as Power BI dashboards that provide insights on product movement and market performance. These tools are available to sales representatives and relevant teams to support decision-making. The company promotes good inventory management practices up to distributor level and information on Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) level inventory is available up to distributor level. However, visibility on the age of stock is currently limited to the factory warehouse level, meaning the company has limited information on how long products have remained in inventory once they move beyond the factory.

However, despite the availability of data and analytical tools, challenges remain in translating insights into consistent actions across the distribution network. For example, new sales representatives or other market actors may continue to stock additional quantities of products without considering sales trends of the particular product at the store influenced by pressures from sales targets. The consultancy will therefore focus on identifying behavioural, operational, and systemic barriers and developing practical solutions to ensure that existing information, incentives, and processes effectively contribute to reducing market returns.

The consultancy will include:

• ·       Assessment of current market return drivers and root causes across the sales and distribution value chain
• ·       Deep engagement and discussions of current issues faced with relevant stakeholders, including sales teams, distributors, retailers, and relevant teams within the company
• ·       Review of existing data systems and processes to identify opportunities for better utilisation
• ·       Development of practical interventions to improve decision-making, stock management, and product freshness
• ·       Development of a scalable roadmap to reduce market returns while maintaining sales growth objectives

b)      Specific objective of the consultancy

Expertise France is seeking a consultant with expertise in FMCG supply chains, food waste prevention, market systems development, behaviour change, and inventory optimisation.

 The consultant will:

• ·   Conduct an assessment of current mitigations systems for reducing market return, including product flows, distributor and retailer practices, sales processes, incentive structures, stock management practices and traceability of aged products
• ·       Conduct consultations and deep-dive discussions with relevant stakeholders, including sales representatives, area sales managers, distributors, modern trade partners, supply chain and commercial teams
• ·   Analyse available Company data, including Power BI dashboards, sales information, market return data, SKU performance, and distributor-level information, to identify key return drivers and intervention opportunities
• ·       Assess why existing information is not consistently translated into preventive actions at market level despite accessibility for sales representatives
• ·       Recommend improvements to sales practices, distributor engagement, stock maintenance, forecasting, product freshness management and analytical tool deployment
• ·       Develop recommendations for integrating market return reduction alongside existing sales targets and incentive structures
• ·      Propose practical training and behaviour change approaches for sales representatives, considering the high turnover of field staff and the need for continuous on boarding
• ·       Identify opportunities for practical AI enabled technological and operational improvements to strengthen early identification of expiry risks
• ·       Develop a financially viable roadmap to reduce market returns and improve value retention                                                                                                                PLEASE CHECK THE ATTACHED TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR MORE DETAILS ON THE ASSIGNMENT AND EXPECTED DELIVERABLES