Product Distribution Channel Monitoring is an integral part of the overall Supply Chain Management process. It consists of the process of monitoring all available data points (internal but largely external) around the distribution of the product when it is available for sale to the general world.
Whether the product is available online or through channel partners only, whether is only available in brick and mortar store or if it is a digital product or available through all kinds of distribution channels, the amount of data may vary but it is always available to be gathered and monitored.
The data needs to be collected, cleaned and correlated (the toughest part) and analyzed for trends and markers and positively or negatively impacting factors.
Then the knowledge that is gained from all this analysis needs to be rapidly consumed by regional and upper management to use in their strategic or tactical decision making.
The visionaries in various companies (large and small) have started to take notice of the value of this data available freely and publicly on the Internet as an essential part of the full supply chain data and management.
The naysayers still bury their heads in the sand either due to lack of understanding or excuses around the reliability of this data.
The data available on the Internet isn’t clean and most thought leaders are not going to argue otherwise, but it is valuable data and there is no doubt about that either. The challenge is to actually get started.
