Distributor vs direct.
The margin and control trade-off.

International Tool 35

Distributor
vs Direct
Export

Direct export looks attractive until you price in the hidden cost of doing it yourself: sales travel, compliance, local marketing, returns, and bad debt. This tool forces the real comparison.

1Product & Volume

Unit COGS ($)

Annual Units to Market

Target Market Sell Price ($)

2Distributor Route

Distributor Price ($)

What you sell to them

Annual Compliance / Admin ($)

Market Dev Fund (%)

% of dist revenue you fund

3Direct Export Route

Direct Sell Price ($)

Sales Travel / yr ($)

Local Marketing / yr ($)

Compliance / Duties ($)

Freight / Logistics ($)

Per unit

Bad Debt / Returns (%)

FX Hedging Cost (%)

Net Margin Advantage - direct vs distributor route

Route Comparison

Metric	Distributor	Direct	Delta

Direct Route Cost Breakdown

Revenue (direct price) -

− COGS -

− Freight/unit -

− Travel + Mktg (allocated) -

− Compliance (allocated) -

− Bad Debt + FX -

Direct Net / Unit -

TWENTY3 by TWENTY3 Intelligence

Distributor vs direct.The margin and control trade-off.

Distributor vs direct.
The margin and control trade-off.