How to get a dealership of a company in India

Dealership, distributorship or franchise?

Before you work out how to get dealership rights, be sure a dealership is what you want. The three arrangements are often mixed up:

• Dealer: buys a company's products and sells them to end customers, usually from a showroom or counter, often with display, demonstration and after-sales service. Fans, tiles, paints, two-wheelers, tractors, solar panels and appliances are sold this way.
• Distributor: buys from the company and supplies shops in an area, with salesmen and delivery vans. Our guide to becoming a distributor covers that route.
• Franchisee: runs a business under the brand's own name and format, such as a food outlet or a coaching centre, and usually pays a fee or royalty for the right.

A dealership business suits someone who has, or can rent, a good shop front, likes dealing with customers face to face, and can hold stock.

Choosing the brand and the product line

• Start from what you know. A hardware shop owner can add electrical fittings or sanitaryware; a farm-inputs trader can add pumps or sprayers. Customers you already serve are your first sales.
• Check who sells it in your town. Look at the brand's dealer locator and ask shopkeepers. A big brand with a dealer in every market will rarely add another; a growing regional brand entering your district may welcome you.
• Think about service. Appliances, vehicles, pumps and solar systems need installation and repairs. If the company expects the dealer to provide them, you need trained staff.
• Know the licences. Seeds, fertilisers and pesticides need a licence from your state's agriculture department, and medicines a drug licence. For fuel stations and LPG distributorships, apply only through the oil companies' own official advertisements and websites, which publish the rules.

What companies ask before appointing a dealer

1. Space: a showroom on a road customers use, with enough frontage for the brand's signboard, and a godown for stock.
2. Investment: money for the first stock order, display, signage and fit-out, plus working capital for credit and slow months.
3. A security deposit: some companies take a refundable deposit, especially when they supply on credit. It should be written into the agreement.
4. Experience: years in the trade, the brands you sell now and your standing with local customers. A trading background helps.
5. Papers: GST registration, PAN, a current account in the firm's name, and often the shop's rent agreement or ownership papers.
6. People: salespeople, and service technicians where the product needs them.

How a dealership business makes money

The dealer's margin is the gap between the price the company charges you and the price you sell at, usually tied to the MRP or the company's suggested price. On top of that come target incentives, seasonal schemes and, for many products, income from installation, service, spare parts and accessories.

Margins tend to be thinner on well-known, high-value brands, where customers compare prices across shops, and wider on less-known brands that rely on the dealer to sell them. Against the margin, set rent, salaries, electricity, credit given to customers and stock that does not sell. Ask every company for its margin structure, scheme calendar and target terms in writing before you compare offers.

Fake dealership offers and how to spot them

Websites and adverts that use a famous brand's name to sell "dealership approval" are a common fraud. The pattern is familiar:

• An online form, then an "approval letter" on a copied letterhead within days, without anyone visiting you.
• A string of fees: registration, NOC, agreement, stamp duty, then a "refundable" stock deposit.
• Payment asked into a personal account or a UPI ID that is not in the company's name.
• Pressure to pay quickly before "another applicant takes your area".

Before you pay anything, find the company's real website from its product packaging, call the customer care number printed there, and check the company on the MCA portal; our company search guide shows how. If you have already paid, report it quickly on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal or the 1930 helpline.

How to get dealership of a company, step by step

1. Shortlist three to five brands that fit your shop and have no strong dealer in your town.
2. Find the decision-maker. In a large company it is the area or regional sales manager; in a small one, the owner. Use the dealer enquiry form on the company's own website as well.
3. Prepare one page: your shop's location and size with photos, the brands you sell now, the towns and customers you reach, and the investment you can make.
4. Call with a specific case. For example: "Good afternoon, I'm Meena Rathod from Akola. We run a hardware and electrical shop on the main market road and sell to around 60 electricians a month. Your LED panels aren't stocked in Akola yet. Is a dealer being appointed for our district?"
5. Choose the hour. Weekdays between 11 am and 1 pm or 3 and 5 pm. Sales managers travel, so ask when they next visit your area and offer to meet.
6. Get the terms in writing: territory and whether it is exclusive, margins and schemes, credit, targets, deposit and its refund, display support, and what happens to your stock if either side ends the arrangement.

Manufacturers with contact details

To call makers directly, our Manufacturing Companies list has 3,147 manufacturers in 22 cities. Every row has a mobile number and 77% name a person; each row says what the company makes. Two common dealership lines, electrical goods and packaged food, have makers' lists of their own:

• Manufacturing Companies 3,147 contacts · 17% email · 100% mobile ₹499
• Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers 46,367 contacts · 72% email · 50% mobile ₹1,999
• Food Processing & FMCG 20,007 contacts · 52% email · 65% mobile ₹1,999

City lists of manufacturers:

• Mumbai 925 contacts · 11% email · 100% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 494 contacts · 24% email · 100% mobile ₹499
• Pune 406 contacts · 14% email · 100% mobile ₹499

Our telecalling scripts in Hindi and English help with the first call.

Dealership questions people ask

How much investment does a dealership need?

It depends on the product. A counter for a fan or wire brand inside an existing shop needs far less than a vehicle showroom with a workshop. The company will state its first order and any deposit; add fit-out, rent, salaries, customer credit and a buffer for slow months.

Can I get a dealership without experience?

Yes, but it is easier with a smaller or newer brand. Big brands usually prefer people already in the trade. Space, capital and local contacts count for a lot, so show all three.