Distribution Planning: Serve at the Right Cost
Our distribution planning work helps an SME route the right products to the right points — warehouses, stores, customers — at the right service level and the right cost. Between production or purchasing and the final sale, there is a flow to organise: what to send, where, when and in what quantity. Well planned, this flow avoids both points of sale in stockout and warehouses overflowing.
The problem it solves
Without distribution planning, replenishments happen piecemeal: stockouts are caught in a rush, half-empty loads are transported, stock piles up where it does not turn. The cost-to-serve climbs without anyone really deciding it — it is the sum of a thousand uncoordinated local trade-offs.
The difficulty specific to distribution is that it plays out across many small daily trade-offs: fill this truck or send it now, replenish this point or wait. Taken in isolation, each looks reasonable; added up without a framework, they drift toward more transport, more stock and yet uneven service. Our work is to replace this accumulation of local decisions with clear rules, consistent with the service level leadership has chosen. Once these rules are set, teams gain autonomy: they no longer have to reinvent the trade-off with every order, since it is already settled upstream.
Our approach to distribution planning
We structure the distribution flow: needs per point, replenishment rules, the trade-off between transport cost, service level and stock. The point is to make the cost/service compromise visible so it is decided, not endured. This compromise belongs to the decision layer of the Two-Layer Model; the replenishment rules that apply it, to the execution layer. To measure what distribution really costs, our resource cost-to-serve is a good entry point.
The deliverables
- A clear view of needs per distribution point.
- Replenishment rules consistent with the targeted service level.
- An explicit trade-off between transport cost, stock and service.
- The indicators to steer the flow (service, cost, turnover).
Who it is for
For SMEs that distribute to several points — a store network, regional depots, multiple customers — and whose logistics costs rise faster than activity. The service concerns leadership, which arbitrates the service level, as much as logistics teams, which execute the replenishments. It becomes particularly useful when the company opens new points of sale, densifies its network or finds that its transport costs are rising with no clear explanation. In these situations, rethinking the distribution rules prevents the bad habits picked up during growth from settling durably into costs. It is often the project that, once structured, keeps paying off long after the engagement.
The first step
A free forty-five-minute diagnostic session locates where your distribution loses service or money — no commitment.
Frequently asked questions
What is distribution planning?
It is the organisation of the flow of products to distribution points — what to send, where, when and in what quantity — at the right service level and the right cost.
What is the central trade-off?
The arbitration between transport cost, stock and service level: making it explicit lets you decide it instead of enduring it.
Who is this service for?
For SMEs that distribute to several points and whose logistics costs grow faster than activity.