Opening a new region from zero

This is a sample case study. Replace it with your own story and real numbers.

The situation

The company sold well in its home market but had never sold outside it. Leadership wanted a second region running within a year, with no budget for a local warehouse until the region proved itself.

What I did

I mapped the region’s top 200 retailers by volume and asked which distributors already served them. Instead of selling to retailers directly, I pitched the twelve strongest distributors on a margin structure that rewarded them for shelf placement, not just volume. To solve the warehouse problem, I negotiated a shared-space agreement with a third-party logistics provider on a monthly contract.

Results

Forty distributors signed in fourteen months. The region broke even in month eleven, and the shared warehouse became the template for the next two regions.

What I’d do differently

I would bring the operations team into distributor negotiations earlier. Two early contracts promised delivery windows the warehouse could not meet, and fixing those cost goodwill.