Helping you grow your business
Breaking into new markets can be tough. Through agents or distributors, a business’ product or service can quickly go from local to global.
Agency and distribution agreements have one overriding purpose – to increase sales. Each can help a business grow and increase its turnover and profit, but in very different ways. Our expert solicitors provide agency and distribution agreement advice.
What are agency and distribution agreements?
Agents are intermediaries between the business and new customers. They use their local knowledge to help promote the product or service in specific markets and locations and negotiate deals. A distributor, on the other hand, buys the product or service from the business and sells it on, keeping any profit made from that transaction.
Any business exploring the agency or distribution route will need to think carefully about which best suits its product, its brand and its way of working. An agency relationship requires the business to be involved in the process, with the agent having only a limited degree of autonomy.
Distributors may have less regular contact with the business and, because the relationship is more distant, the business must be prepared to relinquish some control over what the distributor does and how.
Getting the right terms agreed from the very beginning of either relationship is key to the trade agreement working well. There needs to be a consensus and clarity on what the agent or distributor can and can’t do. Respective roles need to be understood and the financial arrangements must not be open to interpretation.
Our trade agreements solicitors
Our specialist commercial solicitors work with businesses from the outset, advising on the best path to take. They analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the agency and distributor options in the context of the business’ product, business model and objectives. They advise on competition law and The Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993, and help identify the right individuals for the role.
Experienced negotiators, our commercial solicitors help businesses agree the best possible terms and formalise these in thorough and watertight trade agreements. Our team also advises agents and distributors who are looking to enter into agreements with businesses.