Guides for working with medical device distributors.
Short, practical guides for the person who builds a device maker's distributor network, in the order the work happens: choose the markets, find and check a partner, sign the right contract, launch and run it, and fix it when it stops working. Each guide gives the whole method, free, with Distributor Index data behind it.
The data behind them is free too: licensed distributors by country, a page per discipline such as orthopaedics, and your top 3 markets in the Market Finder.
Choose markets
Where to launch, and what kind of partner each market needs.
- Which country first? Sequencing medical device market entryRank markets by registration route, channel, size and landed cost for your device, then open two or three.
- Distributor, agent or direct: choosing a sales model per marketWhen a distributor beats your own team, what an agent can claim when you part, and when to go direct.
- Medical device tenders: how public procurement works with a distributorHow public tenders work, who can bid, and why your distributor is your tender team.
Find and select
From the licensed list to a checked shortlist.
- How to find a medical device distributor in a new countryFive steps from the regulator's licensed list to ten to fifteen candidates and a brief that gets replies.
- Medical device trade shows for finding distributorsThe shows distributors walk in 2026 and 2027, and how to book, qualify and follow up.
- Distributor selection criteria: a scorecard for medical devicesEight criteria, weights by device type, a working pass mark and a scorecard to copy.
- Portfolio fit: will this distributor actually sell your device?Read the line card: complementary and competing lines, and how much rep time your device will get.
- Distributor due diligence: licence checks, references and red flagsThe licence in the official register, reference calls, documents and anti-bribery checks, scaled to the risk.
Contract
Settle the registration, the clauses and the price before the first order.
- Who holds the registration: the clause that decides your exitWho should hold your registration abroad, how transfers work, and three clauses that keep you free to switch.
- Medical device distribution agreement: the clauses that matterA clause checklist, from territory and targets to recalls, customer data and exit.
- Exclusive or non-exclusive distributor? Make exclusivity earn its placeWhen to grant exclusivity, how to tie it to targets, and the EU and UAE rules to know.
- Distributor quality agreement: who does what after the device shipsStorage, traceability, complaints and recalls under EU MDR, with a responsibility matrix to copy.
- Distributor margins and pricing: build the price from the end user backMargin versus markup, and the price stack built back from the end-user or tender price.
Launch and run
The first 90 days, then a steady operating rhythm.
- Onboarding a new distributor: the first 90 daysTraining, quality set-up, first orders and an onboarding kit checklist.
- Manage your distributors like your own sales teamAgreed targets, ten KPIs on one page, and a weekly, monthly and quarterly review rhythm.
- How to incentivize distributors: what works in medical devicesIncentives that pay for new accounts and focus, not stock loading, within compliance limits.
- Distributor quarterly business review: agenda and templateThe pre-read, a half-day agenda, the scorecard page and what to do after a missed target.
Fix
When a partner stops performing.
- Fix or replace an underperforming distributorDiagnose the miss, run a 90-day plan, then line up the registration, stock and a successor before notice.
When you want it done for your device.
The Next 10 Markets report ranks ten markets for your device and names up to ten licensed distributors in each, ranked by fit, with the registration route and landed cost. Market Watch is free: new licensed distributors in the markets you follow, once a week.
Get the Next 10 Markets report, €490No-risk guarantee: if this report is not worth €490 to you, reply within 7 days of delivery and the fee is refunded in full; you keep the report. It is also refunded if the report names fewer than 30 licensed channel partners you did not already know.
Delivered one working day after your intake.
Guides by Bastion Hale. Counts come from the Bastion Hale Distributor Index, build of 25 October 2026 (source notes); regulatory facts link to the official source on each guide. General information, not legal advice. Registry data; Bastion Hale does not vouch for any establishment.