Industries · FMCG & distribution

Location intelligence for FMCG brands and field sales distribution

Every new outlet found in its first week, routes planned around closures, and coverage gaps on a map.

25ready-made templates
6kinds of use case
4one-minute stories
40blocks used
311hours a month saved by them all (an estimate)

Why fmcg & distribution teams use xMap Flows

Consumer goods are won outlet by outlet. New groceries, cafes and pharmacies open every week, and the first supplier through the door usually keeps the account. xMap Flows finds new outlets across your territories as they appear, removes the ones you already serve, ranks the rest by expected potential and sends each rep a list for the day. It also maps where your coverage is thin, plans van routes around road closures and the weather, and lets shop owners order on WhatsApp.

New outlets found by chance

A daily flow lists outlets that opened in each territory, so reps visit in week one instead of month three.

Coverage gaps hidden in spreadsheets

Compare the outlets in an area with your own customer list and see the streets nobody serves.

Van routes hit closures

Traffic incidents and the weather forecast warn drivers before a route is blocked or a storm arrives.

Orders by phone and paper

An AI agent on WhatsApp takes orders and answers stock questions from your own product table.

Distributors and consumer brands whose reps cover outlets: new shops, routes, channels and stock.

How a flow works for fmcg & distribution

Every flow reads left to right: something starts it (a schedule, a message, an app event or new rows), it looks at an area, gathers data, lets xMap AI make sense of it, applies your rules, and sends the result where your team works. These are the blocks fmcg & distribution templates use most.

  1. 1

    Where

    Choose the area: countries, cities, a radius around your own sites, or shapes you draw.

    Area of interest · Find nearest

  2. 2

    Data

    Bring in what is there and what is changing.

    Nearby places · Demographics · Map business scan · Weather forecast · Traffic incidents

  3. 3

    AI and your rules

    Score, rank, keep only what is new or fits, and match with your own data.

    xMap LLM · AI agent · Place classifier · Jev decision · Only new

  4. 4

    Where results go

    Send each result where your team works.

    Email · Show on a map · Reply · Google Sheets · WhatsApp Business

Use cases and templates for fmcg & distribution

Each template is a real flow on live data. Open it, change the city and the kind of place, test it and deploy it. Grouped by what the team wants to do.

Find customers and leads 11 templates

See them in the template gallery

New outlets to CRM

AIMediumDaily

New restaurants and cafes as leads in your CRM every morning, with a brief for the reps.

Every morning: restaurants and cafés not found before, as leads in your CRM, a brief for the reps and a map. New outlets are the easiest accounts to win, and the first supplier to call usually keeps them. This flow finds them the morning they appear, matches them to your products and hands the reps a brief.

Good for
A food distributor opening new outlets in three cities · A coffee roaster looking for new cafes to supply · A bakery wholesaler covering new restaurants
Each run gives
Leads in your CRM · A WhatsApp brief for the reps · A map of the new outlets
Time saved
About 30 hours a month (an estimate)

New grocery outlets on your routes, each assigned to the nearest rep, every weekday.

Every weekday: grocery and convenience stores that opened in your cities, only the new ones, prioritised by xMap AI, each matched to the nearest field rep (from your table), on WhatsApp, by email and on a map. New outlets go to whoever reaches them first. Each rep gets their own new shops on WhatsApp before the route starts.

Good for
A beverage distributor · A snacks brand · A tobacco and confectionery wholesaler
Each run gives
A WhatsApp list for reps · An email · A map
Time saved
About 22 hours a month (an estimate)

Independent pharmacies, scored, with the owner, into HubSpot every week.

Every Monday: independent pharmacies in your cities, only the new ones, scored by xMap AI, with the owner from Apollo, into HubSpot and your inbox. Independent pharmacies are a channel chains ignore. This flow lists them with the owner so reps can open accounts.

Good for
A consumer health brand · A baby care brand · A pharma distributor
Each run gives
Companies in HubSpot · An email
Time saved
About 6 hours a month (an estimate)

Hotels, restaurants and caterers matched to your products, with the buyer, in HubSpot.

Every Monday: the best hotels, restaurants and caterers in your city, only the new ones, matched to your products by xMap AI, researched by an AI agent, with the purchasing manager from Apollo, into HubSpot. HoReCa accounts buy a lot but are hard to reach. This flow finds them, matches products and names the buyer.

Good for
A food service distributor · A beverage company · A cleaning supplies brand
Each run gives
Companies in HubSpot · An email of leads
Time saved
About 8 hours a month (an estimate)

New outlets graded, researched and routed to the nearest rep, with what to pitch at each.

Every weekday: new food outlets in your cities not in HubSpot yet, grouped by channel, graded by Jev, researched by an AI agent, with a visit pitch from xMap AI, each assigned to the nearest rep, sent on WhatsApp and saved to a sheet. Reps waste visits on the wrong outlets and pitch the wrong products. Every morning each rep gets their own graded list with a pitch for each counter.

Good for
A snacks and drinks distributor · A dairy brand with field reps · A wholesaler covering grocery stores
Each run gives
A WhatsApp route per rep · A visit sheet · A map of the day’s routes
Time saved
About 40 hours a month (an estimate)

Schools ranked by the children around them, for canteen sales.

Every term: schools in your city with how many children live around each, the biggest first, as canteen and tuck shop leads for the snacks team. Schools with many children nearby sell the most snacks. The list ranks them for the team.

Good for
A snacks company · A juice brand · A school catering supplier
Each run gives
A Google Sheet
Time saved
About 2 hours a month (an estimate)

Fuel station shops scored for an impulse range, with a pitch.

Every month: fuel stations and convenience shops in your cities, the best-rated first, the new ones only, scored by xMap AI for an impulse range, with a listing pitch, into a sheet for the key account team. Drivers buy snacks and drinks on impulse. Fuel station shops are a channel many brands miss.

Good for
A snacks brand · A soft drinks bottler · A confectionery distributor
Each run gives
A Google Sheet
Time saved
About 1 hours a month (an estimate)

New baby shops with the buyer and a listing offer.

Every month: baby stores and children’s shops in your cities, the new ones only, with the owner or buyer from Apollo and a listing offer by xMap AI for nappies and baby food. Parents buy baby care where they shop for baby things. New baby shops pick their brands early.

Good for
A baby care brand · A baby food maker · A distributor of baby products
Each run gives
New leads in HubSpot
Time saved
About 1 hours a month (an estimate)

New independent bakeries with the owner, for flour and ingredients.

Every month: independent bakeries and pastry shops in your cities, the new ones only, with the owner from Apollo, as accounts for flour, yeast and fillings. Bakeries buy flour every week for years. New ones choose their mill in the first month.

Good for
A flour mill · A bakery ingredients distributor · A yeast brand
Each run gives
New leads in HubSpot
Time saved
About 1 hours a month (an estimate)

Diaspora grocers abroad, approved for samples.

Every quarter: Indian and Asian grocery stores in the big cities abroad, the best-rated first, with the owner from Apollo, as stockists for a food export brand. Food brands go abroad through the grocers their diaspora trusts. The best-rated are the first stockists.

Good for
A food export brand · A spice company · A snacks exporter
Each run gives
New leads in HubSpot
Time saved
About 2 hours a month (an estimate)

New offices, clinics and schools for water delivery.

Every month: offices, clinics and schools that opened in your city in the last year, with the office manager from Apollo, as accounts for bottled water delivery. Every new office needs drinking water from day one. The office manager chooses.

Good for
A bottled water company · A water cooler supplier · An office supplies distributor
Each run gives
New leads in HubSpot
Time saved
About 1 hours a month (an estimate)

Site selection and expansion 3 templates

See them in the template gallery

Blocks where people live with almost no grocery store, biggest gaps first.

Every month: blocks of your city with people but almost no grocery store within 500 m, the biggest gaps first, ranked by xMap AI for your distributors and new store partners. Underserved neighbourhoods are where a new shop, a van route or a partner store will sell from day one.

Good for
A distributor planning van routes · A brand recruiting store partners · A grocery chain
Each run gives
A map · An email
Time saved
About 24 hours a month (an estimate)

Shops scored for a branded drinks cooler, approved by trade marketing.

Every quarter: well-rated convenience stores, petrol station shops and snack bars near busy spots, scored by xMap AI for a branded drinks cooler, approved by the trade marketing manager. A cooler in the right shop sells for years. Putting them where people stop is what pays.

Good for
A soft drinks bottler · An energy drink brand · An ice cream company
Each run gives
A Google Sheet
Time saved
About 2 hours a month (an estimate)

Campuses, hospitals and stations scored for vending machines.

Every quarter: universities, hospitals and train stations in your city with how many people live around each, scored by xMap AI for snack and drink vending machines. Vending machines earn where many people pass all day. The best sites are ranked.

Good for
A vending operator · A beverage bottler · A snacks brand
Each run gives
A Google Sheet
Time saved
About 2 hours a month (an estimate)

Competitor watch 1 template

See them in the template gallery

A rival chain’s new stores and which of your outlets they hurt.

Every week: new branches of a rival’s branded stores in your cities, each with the nearest of your own outlets and a note by xMap AI for the area manager. A new rival store next to your outlets takes their sales. Knowing early lets the team respond.

Good for
A brand selling through small shops · A distributor · A supermarket chain
Each run gives
An email
Time saved
About 3 hours a month (an estimate)

Operations and alerts 4 templates

See them in the template gallery

When a heatwave is coming, stock advice for your outlets on WhatsApp.

Every morning: the 5-day forecast at your key outlets, and when a heatwave is coming, stock advice from xMap AI to your reps on WhatsApp and to the planner by email. A heatwave empties shelves of water and cold drinks. Outlets stocked early sell more and do not run out.

Good for
A water brand · A soft drinks distributor · An ice cream brand
Each run gives
A WhatsApp to reps · An email to the planner
Time saved
About 15 hours a month (an estimate)

The busiest big stores to stock before a holiday, with a note for each.

A month before a holiday: the busiest supermarkets and hypermarkets in your cities, each with a stocking note by xMap AI for the key account team, sent to Slack. Holiday weeks make the year for many brands. Extra stock and space in the busiest stores is where it is won.

Good for
A food brand’s key account team · A beverage company · A household products company
Each run gives
A Slack post
Time saved
About 1 hours a month (an estimate)

A load note for each van route from tomorrow’s weather.

Every evening: tomorrow’s forecast for each van route in your table, with a load note by xMap AI (more cold drinks in the heat, more umbrellas in the rain), sent to the drivers on WhatsApp. Heat sells cold drinks and rain sells umbrellas. Loading for the weather sells more.

Good for
A van sales distributor · A beverage bottler · An ice cream distributor
Each run gives
A WhatsApp message
Time saved
About 15 hours a month (an estimate)

Each merchandiser’s stores for the week, in the best order from the depot, around road closures.

Every Sunday evening: your top stores from the table, the road closures near each this week, the stores shared between your three merchandisers in the best visiting order from the depot (with Google Maps directions), and a plan by xMap AI, sent on WhatsApp. Merchandisers lose hours in traffic. Sharing the stores fairly, ordering each round and planning around closures gets more stores done.

Good for
A brand’s merchandising team · A field marketing agency · A distributor
Each run gives
A WhatsApp message
Time saved
About 3 hours a month (an estimate)

Market data and research 4 templates

See them in the template gallery

Every food outlet in your city, by channel, the ones not in your CRM, every month.

Every month: every grocery, convenience store and supermarket in your city, grouped by channel, the ones not in your HubSpot yet, saved to a sheet and mapped. An outlet census used to take a field team weeks. This flow keeps one up to date every month and shows the gaps.

Good for
A consumer brand entering a city · A distributor measuring coverage · A market research team
Each run gives
A census sheet · A map of outlets not in your CRM
Time saved
About 10 hours a month (an estimate)

Customers that closed, moved or changed phone this week.

Every Monday: each of your customers on the map, the ones that closed, moved or changed their phone, and what the rep should do about each from xMap AI, to your inbox and the sales channel. Shipping to a closed shop costs money. The list of changes arrives every Monday so routes and credit are updated.

Good for
A distributor with thousands of outlets · A brand with direct accounts · A wholesaler
Each run gives
An email of changes · A Slack post
Time saved
About 8 hours a month (an estimate)

Wholesalers and distributors in a new country, scored as partners.

Every quarter: wholesalers and distribution companies in the main cities of a new market, scored by xMap AI as partners, the best ones saved to a sheet and emailed. Entering a new market starts with the right distributor. This flow builds a scored shortlist in a few minutes.

Good for
A brand entering Morocco · An exporter looking for partners · A consultant running a market entry
Each run gives
A shortlist sheet · An email
Time saved
About 8 hours a month (an estimate)

Each field visit logged in a sheet becomes a briefing for the sales manager.

When a rep logs a visit in your Google Sheet: the outlet on the map with its rating, and a short briefing from xMap AI, posted to the sales channel. Visit notes rot in sheets. Each one becomes a short briefing with how customers rate the outlet and what to push next.

Good for
A field sales team · A merchandising agency · A brand ambassador program
Each run gives
A Slack post · An email
Time saved
About 33 hours a month (an estimate)

Chat assistants and APIs 2 templates

See them in the template gallery

WhatsApp assistant for shop owners

AI agentEasyWhen it happens

An AI agent that answers shop owners on WhatsApp from your product list.

Answers shop owners on WhatsApp: an AI agent checks your product list (a table in My data), answers about products and prices, remembers each shop and replies in the same chat. Shop owners order on WhatsApp at all hours. The agent answers product and price questions instantly and remembers each shop.

Good for
A wholesaler taking WhatsApp orders · A brand with a B2B line · A distributor's order desk
Each run gives
Replies in WhatsApp
Time saved
About 40 hours a month (an estimate)

Field sales helper chat

AI agentEasyWhen it happens

A chat that tells field reps which shops are near them today.

A chat for field reps: an AI agent finds shops of any kind near where the rep is and says who lives around, so reps plan their day from the phone. Reps plan their day on the phone. The chat answers where to go in seconds.

Good for
A field sales team · A van sales distributor · A trade marketing agency
Each run gives
A chat page
Time saved
About 33 hours a month (an estimate)

Stories: what teams build

One-minute narrated stories of a flow at work. The scenarios and figures are illustrative, not customer results.

Supermarkets

Water on the shelves before the heat arrives

The challenge. Khalid runs supply for a supermarket chain with forty stores across Dubai. Summer is his hardest season. When a heatwave hits, water, ice and cold drinks fly off the shelves in hours. Store managers phone in their orders too late, and the trucks are already out. Last August, nine stores ran out of water on the hottest weekend of the year.

The flow. With xMap Flows, Khalid built Shelf. Every day at five in the morning, Shelf reads the forty stores, checks the forecast at each one five days ahead, keeps the stores facing forty-five degrees or more, works out the extra water, ice and cold drinks each one needs, adds them to the restock sheet, and tells every store manager in Teams.

The result. On Sunday, Shelf sees forty-seven degrees coming on Thursday for the stores inland. Twenty-two stores get extra stock on Tuesday’s trucks, two days early. That Thursday, not one water shelf goes empty. The heat still comes to Dubai. Khalid’s shelves are just ready first.

5 daysof warning
22stores restocked early
0empty water shelves

Blocks: Schedule → My data → Weather forecast → Filter → Calculated field → Google Sheets → Microsoft Teams

Watch the one-minute story →
Food maker

Three van routes ready before the pierogi cool

The challenge. Piotr makes pierogi with his mother in a small kitchen in Warsaw. Sixty corner shops sell them. Orders land in a shared sheet all night. At five in the morning he sorts them for three drivers by hand, guessing who goes where. Drivers cross the river twice, the vans run late, and some shops sell out before the pierogi arrive.

The flow. With xMap Flows, Piotr built Horizon. When the night’s orders land in the sheet, Horizon splits the shops into three fair areas, plans the best route for each driver, sends it to each driver on WhatsApp, and keeps the delivery log up to date.

The result. At five, Piotr’s phone already shows three routes. No driver crosses the river twice. The vans are back by ten instead of noon, and every shop has fresh pierogi before the breakfast rush. Piotr used to plan routes at dawn. Now he folds dumplings.

60shops every morning
2 hless on the road
3routes ready at 5 am

Blocks: New rows → Split by territory → Route planner → WhatsApp Business → Google Sheets

Watch the one-minute story →
Furniture delivery

Not one sofa caught in the afternoon storm

The challenge. Gabriela runs a small furniture delivery business in Panama City, with two vans and a lot of sofas. In the rainy season the afternoon storms arrive like clockwork. A sofa carried through a downpour is a ruined sofa, and flooded streets trap her vans for hours. She rebooks customers one call at a time, usually too late.

The flow. With xMap Flows, Gabriela built Skywatch. Every morning at six, Skywatch takes the day's deliveries, checks the rain forecast at each address, and where heavy rain is coming, moves the delivery to tomorrow morning in her calendar, tells the customer the new time, and plans the vans' route through the rest.

The result. On Tuesday, Skywatch sees heavy rain coming for six of her fourteen addresses. Those customers get a message at seven with a new morning slot, and the vans do the other eight before lunch. Not one sofa gets wet, and Gabriela makes no calls. Gabriela can't stop the storms. She just stopped driving into them.

6deliveries moved before rain
0sofas soaked
0rebooking calls

Blocks: Schedule → My data → Weather forecast → Branch → Google Calendar → WhatsApp Business → Route planner

Watch the one-minute story →
Electric delivery fleet

A fast charger found before the van slows down

The challenge. Hannah leads a fleet of electric delivery vans for a big grocery delivery company in San Francisco. Her drivers run low on charge mid shift and call dispatch: where is a working fast charger near me? Dispatch looks it up on three apps while the van waits by the curb. That is twenty calls a day, and each one costs a delivery window.

The flow. With xMap Flows, Hannah built Spark. When a driver writes where they are in the team's Slack, Spark reads the question, finds the working fast chargers closest to the van, finds somewhere for a coffee while it charges, and answers in the thread within seconds.

The result. At two o’clock a driver in the Mission writes that he has twelve percent left. Spark answers in eight seconds with a fast charger four blocks away and a cafe next door. Dispatch takes no charging calls now, and the vans keep their windows. Hannah's drivers stopped calling for directions. They just ask, and go.

8 sto answer a driver
0charging calls to dispatch
20calls a day, gone

Blocks: Slack event → AI agent → EV charging → Nearby places → Reply

Watch the one-minute story →

All 137 stories →

The blocks behind it

Blocks are the building pieces of every flow. These are the ones fmcg & distribution templates and stories use, most used first. Each has its own page with its settings, examples and a short film.

ScheduleTriggerStarts the flow on a timetable.EmailActionSends one email per run with all the items, or one email per item.Nearby placesxMap dataPlaces around a point from xMap’s own places database (300M+ places, refreshed every month): pick the types of place (more than 5,000, such as Restaurant, Cafe, Pharmacy, Hospital or Gas station, or aArea of interestWhereSets where the flow looks: countries, cities or specific places, or areas you draw on a map.xMap LLMxMap AITell the AI what to do in plain words.Only newLogicLets through only the items this flow has not found before, so a daily flow sends only what is new.FilterLogicKeeps only the items that match a rule.Google SheetsAppCreate, edit, and collaborate on spreadsheets onlineWhatsApp BusinessAppSend text, media and template messages from your WhatsApp Business number.ApolloYour dataThe people to talk to at each company, and the company’s details, from your own Apollo account (apollo.io): decision makers by job title with their LinkedIn and work email; or the company’s size, induHubSpotAppPowerful CRM that offers tools for sales, customer service, and marketing automation.My dataYour dataBrings in a table you uploaded or a list you saved on the My data page: your stores, customers, target accounts or sites.Show on a mapActionShows the results as points on a map, with the area of interest.Sort and limitLogicPuts the items in order, and can keep only the first ones: the 10 best rated, the 20 nearest, the highest fit scores.AI agentxMap AIAn AI agent: for each incoming message it thinks, uses the blocks you link to its Tools port (data, xMap AI, lookups, your tables, other flows, apps), remembers the conversation and writes an answer in {{reply}}.DemographicsxMap dataWho lives in an area: the number of residents, men and women, and nine age groups, from xMap’s population grid (hexagons of about 0.1 km², about 100 countries).Map business scanxMap dataFinds businesses on online maps live: name, category, rating, address, phone, website and whether it is open.SlackAppChannel-based messaging platformWeather forecastxMap dataThe weather forecast (Open-Meteo, from national weather services) for up to 16 days: temperature, rain, wind and UV.ReplyActionAnswers whoever started the flow, on the same channel: the app or system that called its Webhook / API gets the answer back, and a message from Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, Teams, SMS, Outlook or DiscorFind nearestWhereFor each place, finds the nearest of your own points from a CSV you upload, for example the nearest ambulance to each accident or the nearest branch to each new lead, and adds its name and the distance.Place classifierxMap AIAssigns clean categories and merges duplicate places.CRM lookupYour dataLooks each incoming item up in your CRM through its own search: is this company already a customer, is this email a contact?ApprovalLogicStops the run until someone says yes.Route plannerLogicPuts the places that reach it in the best order to visit them in a day, from a start you pick: one route, one for each rep (by a field such as owner), or shared out between a number of reps.New rowsTriggerStarts the flow when new rows appear in a Google Sheet or in a table in My data.Calculated fieldLogicAdds fields worked out from the others: a number, a text or a yes/no.SalesforceAppCRM software solutions and enterprise cloud computingRemove duplicatesLogicKeeps one of each item when the same one arrives more than once, for example from two searches that overlap.What changedLogicLets through only the places this flow found before whose details changed since: closed, a rating that moved, a new phone or website, a new name or address, or any field you name.WhatsApp Business eventTriggerStarts the flow when something happens in WhatsApp Business: a new record, a message, a change.Jev decisionxMap AIAsks TypeSafe’s Jev model one typed question about each place: yes or no, pick one of your options, or a score on your levels.Traffic incidentsxMap dataRoad closures, roadworks and other incidents on online maps right now, with where they are.ChatTriggerStarts the flow when someone writes in its chat: the chat window in the editor, or a chat page you can share or put on your website.Microsoft TeamsAppRuns an action in Microsoft Teams.Split by territoryLogicShares the items out between your reps by area: compact territories of about the same size, so every rep gets a fair share close together.BranchLogicSplits items in two. Items that match leave from the Yes dot, the rest from the No dot.Google CalendarAppGet organized and stay on scheduleSlack eventTriggerStarts the flow when something happens in Slack: a new record, a message, a change.EV chargingxMap dataPublic charging stations for electric vehicles from Open Charge Map, the open, worldwide register: around each incoming place with counts (stations, charge points, fast stations, the highest power, th

Every block →

More templates that fit fmcg & distribution

Made for other roles, useful here too.

Learn and get help

The ideas behind these flows, step-by-step guides and help articles for the blocks this industry uses most. More in Resources, or see how xMap Flows compares with other tools.

Guides and decks

Questions

How does xMap Flows find new retail outlets?

A flow searches the places database or live listings in your territories for groceries, minimarkets, cafes, pharmacies or any of 5,000+ kinds of place, keeps the ones not seen before and sends them to your CRM or straight to each rep.

Can it skip outlets we already supply?

Yes. Match with my table compares each outlet with your customer table or CRM by name, phone or website, and keeps only the ones you do not serve yet.

Does it help field sales on the day?

Yes. Each morning a rep can get their list on WhatsApp or Slack, with the address, phone, map link and why xMap AI scored it high.

Which data is live?

Live: xMap's places database (300M+ places of more than 5,000 kinds), live business listings from online maps, job postings, road incidents, ships (AIS), satellite pictures, weather forecasts, news from the feeds and pages you choose, travel-time areas and routes on the road network, and residents by age (Demographics, in about 100 countries), live road speeds and congestion (Traffic Flow; it does not count cars), footfall around each place (Mobility Footfall, in most of the world, about 10 days behind), plus regional datasets where xMap offers them, such as cars counted on the roads of the United Arab Emirates (Road traffic history). Catchment returns sample figures for now, and every result made from it says so.

Do I need to write code?

No. A flow is built from blocks on a canvas, from a ready-made template, or by describing it to Ask xMap in a sentence; Ask xMap builds it, tests it and fixes what fails. Developers can also use the API and the MCP server.

How fast can a fmcg & distribution team start?

Hire one of the AI employees above: answer two questions (the city and the kind of place), or write one sentence to make it yours ("for dental clinics in Lyon, to WhatsApp every Monday"), and it runs in your own account with results you can see. A new account can also type its website and meet three AI employees already tried in its city. Or try the home page first: no account needed.

Can an agency or consultancy offer this to its clients?

Yes. Your logo and colour on the app, emails and reports, emails from your own domain, the app on your own address, and a read-only page for each client with its results, map and weekly report. See the Partners page.

Related industries

All 40 industries →

See it on your own city

Run a live search on the home page without an account, or let Ask xMap build the flow from one sentence.