Role Overview:

The Head of General Trade will be responsible for driving the company's offline sales growth across traditional trade channels. The role will focus on owning the P&L for General Trade, expanding distribution, building strong channel partnerships, improving market execution, and creating scalable GTM systems for long-term growth. This role requires someone who combines strong execution capability with strategic thinking, and has experience building and scaling FMCG brands in General Trade.

Key Responsibilities:

Business Growth & Strategy:

- Own the complete General Trade P&L.

- Lead the overall General Trade strategy across regions and markets.

- Drive primary and secondary sales growth while ensuring sustainable and profitable expansion.

- Be responsible for revenue growth, profitability, trade spends, margins, and overall channel health within the GT business.

- Identify new market opportunities, regional priorities, and expansion plans.

- Build annual, quarterly, and monthly GT business plans aligned with company goals.

Distribution & Market Expansion:

- Build and strengthen distributor, super-stockist, and retail networks across India.

- Increase numeric and weighted distribution across key markets.

- Ensure strong outlet coverage, route productivity, and market penetration.

- Drive expansion into new towns, cities, and high-potential geographies.

Market Execution Excellence:

- Ensure strong on-ground execution across visibility, merchandising, activations, and retailer engagement.

- Improve secondary sales tracking and in-market execution systems.

- Monitor stock movement, availability, and market hygiene.

- Ensure effective implementation of trade schemes and channel programs.

Team Leadership:

- Lead and manage the General Trade function across India, with all regional and field GT teams reporting into this role.

- Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing General Trade sales team across geographies.

- Ensure strong discipline, accountability, ownership, and execution standards across the GT organization.

- Create robust review mechanisms, KRAs, reporting structures, and performance management systems.

- Drive a culture of integrity, transparency, and operational excellence across teams and channel partners.

- Support capability building and coaching for regional and field sales teams.

Cross-functional Collaboration:

- Work closely with Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations teams to ensure seamless execution.

- Partner with marketing teams on trade activations, launch plans, and visibility initiatives.

- Coordinate with supply chain teams to improve fill rates and inventory management.

Commercial & Operational Discipline:

- Ensure healthy distributor ROI and commercial sustainability.

- Monitor collections, claims, trade spends, and scheme effectiveness.

- Drive data-led decision making through sales analytics, forecasting, and reporting.

- Build scalable systems and processes for long-term GT growth.

What We're Looking For:

- 8 - 15 years of experience in FMCG sales, with significant exposure to General Trade.

- Strong experience in building and scaling distribution networks.

- Proven track record of driving sales growth across multiple regions.

- Experience working with emerging or fast-growing consumer brands is preferred.

- Strong leadership, execution, negotiation, and relationship management skills.

- Ability to operate in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.

- Data-driven mindset with strong commercial understanding.

Success in This Role Would Look Like:

- Strong growth in GT sales, profitability, and distribution reach.