Solutions · 02

Your brand already sells in Spain, but the channel is not performing

When a brand already sells in Spain and the business is not growing, the cause is almost never demand. It usually sits in three places: sell-out nobody measures, pricing nobody governs, or a distributor whose incentives no longer match the brand's.

Who this page is for: Sports brand already distributing in Spain

The situation

There is revenue in Spain, but it has been flat for two or three seasons. The brand cannot see consumer sales data, does not know which stores rotate the product, and finds its goods in channels it never authorised. Conversations with the distributor have turned defensive.

The questions in front of you

The questions in front of you

Is the problem the product or the channel?

Sell-through tells them apart. If the product rotates well where it is stocked but sits in few doors, the problem is coverage and commercial effort. If it is in many doors and does not rotate, the problem is product, price or range planning. Without that data, the discussion with the distributor has no referee.

What can be done about the grey market?

The grey market is genuine product sold outside the authorised channel or territory. It is not counterfeiting and is not addressed through criminal law: it is handled contractually and through distribution control, identifying the leak in the supply chain. Left open, the reference price breaks and the legitimate retailer stops buying.

Can the model change without losing the accounts?

Yes, but sequence matters. Moving from distribution to agency without first transferring the relationship with each buyer means starting again. The transition is planned account by account and inside the sell-in calendar, not between seasons.

What usually goes wrong

Changing distributor without a diagnosis

The messenger is replaced and the problem remains: if the cause was range planning or price, the new distributor repeats the result.

Terminating without reviewing the consequences

Ending a commercial relationship in Spain carries legal and financial consequences that are worth reviewing before communicating anything.

Opening digital without control

Adding pure plays without price governance accelerates the decline of the physical specialist, which is what sustains the category.

Measuring sell-in only

The order says what the channel bought, not what the consumer bought. A brand watching only sell-in finds the problem a season late.

What Altrian does

Channel diagnosis

Analysis of sell-in against sell-out by account, real door coverage, observed pricing in physical and digital channels, and detection of grey market leaks.

Restructuring plan

Definition of the target model, range planning by channel and pricing policy, with an account-by-account transition calendar.

Execution and follow-up

Direct account management through the transition and regular reporting against agreed indicators.

Services involved

Sports retail and wholesale · Strategy consulting