Selected work · Consumer · Distribution strategy

Finding the right route to market for an international whiskey brand

Demand was not the question. How the brand should reach the market was.

The situation: An international whiskey brand with established distribution elsewhere was evaluating Taiwan. There was interest in the market and inbound approaches from importers, but no settled view of how the brand should actually arrive.
The question: Not simply whether there was demand, but how the brand should reach the market: which channels mattered, what kind of distribution partner it needed, and how the route-to-market model should work.
What we did: We assessed the market and the competitive environment, then mapped the distribution and sales channels that actually carry the category in Taiwan — importers, on-trade, modern retail, the convenience networks and the e-commerce platforms — and examined the profiles of the partners operating in each. From that we developed a recommended route-to-market strategy tested against the brand’s own commercial criteria rather than against volume alone.
Outcome / next step: A practical framework for approaching Taiwan: where to play, what to look for in a distributor, and how to approach the next stage of market development.

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