Marketing Compost (EAWAG) - The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

This map illustrates a typical situation in an urban setting and denotes households,
farmers, nurseries, and vegetable markets. The decentralised composting
plant is located in an urban location surrounded by houses. The organic
waste originates from households and a nearby vegetable market. Households
buy the compost directly from the plant or from a truck, which drives
through the neighbourhood once a month. However, household demand is
limited. The nurseries, located along a main road around 2 km from the composting
plant, require larger volumes of compost, often at short notice. Since
many households buy plant seedlings directly from the nurseries, nurseries
could act as retailers for your compost. The peri-urban farmers, located very
close to each other along a stream, use its water for irrigation. As their demand
is of seasonal nature, a fixed distribution date should be arranged with
several farmers to significantly minimise distribution costs. Finally, the vegetable
market could serve as a transfer point for compost; farmers who come
to the market to sell their products could return from the market with trucks
full of compost.
Such a map portrays the combined customer profile sheets developed in Section
4.5 and provides them with a geographic context. Annex 5 contains a map
developed for a compost market study in Nepal (full report: www.sandec.ch).
5.5 Distribution channels
A market map can also help optimise transport routes, for example facilitating
delivery to more than one household during a single trip. The distribution
network should be marked on a separate map to keep the maps as simple as
possible.
Figure 5.5 illustrates three common distribution methods: direct distribution,
through sales agents (in-house/external), indirect distribution.
Sales agents may include nurseries, retailers at vegetable markets or shopkeepers.
Bulk buyers include potting soil producers, fertiliser companies,
mining industries, landscapers etc.
Many compost producers claim that selling direct is important because contact
with customers provides important feedback for the business and product development.
However, retailers can offer benefits to your business because of
their specialist knowledge of the agricultural and horticultural marketplace.
Marketing Compost—Product, positioning and location 67