The appearance of expiring products gives distributors a big headache. How to deal with them has always been a "tough problem." In conventional methods, expiring products are mostly digested through bundling, discount sales, plaza promotions, and other sales-driving methods. These models are rigid and lack vividness, making it hard to get good market feedback. Recently, reporters learned that some distributors are thinking hard about expiring products, modifying conventional methods to fully utilize the final energy of expiring products and create as much added value as possible.
Transform into promotional resources to enhance brand reputation
With the rapid development of internet media, the focus of product promotion has gradually shifted online, while offline activities that allow direct contact with consumers have been forced to shrink in proportion. In this regard, many distributors say that if done properly, the negative concept of "expiring products" might become a favorable chess piece for products entering the market.
"Product experiences like tastings and free samples, sponsorships as prizes for lucky draws, and charitable donations are common and effective marketing methods. These activities allow deep communication with consumers. Although you might bear some losses, the resulting brand reputation and potential customers are quite considerable," said Wu Bingdan, a coconut juice distributor in Shenzhen. "We have sponsored banquets many times. Besides consuming some expiring products, we can also store the product concept and the event together in the attendees' memories. Next time there's a similar event, attendees are likely to think of coconut juice and become potential consumers. This method is simple to operate, has obvious product placement effects, and can continuously generate radiating effects."
Although promotional activities can provide momentum for the product's future development, how can distributors protect their immediate interests? Wu Bingdan explained that if the customer relationship is good and the quantity of sponsored products is small, they can try to report to the manufacturer. Generally, the manufacturer will handle it and replenish the distributor's stock, ensuring the distributor's interests are not harmed.
Strengthen terminal cooperation and deepen customer relationships
The current situation of "terminal is king" gives terminals more choices. Distributors face competitive pressure while also bearing the pressure of store placement. How to solidify customer relationships with terminals has increasingly attracted distributors' attention and thought. Reporters learned that some distributors use the appearance of expiring products as an opportunity to make a big deal out of cooperation with terminals, further improving the cooperation environment.
"To digest expiring products, distributors can try to apply for funds from the manufacturer, cooperate with supermarkets for free tastings and special sales, or organize activities where consumers can claim products with tickets, as a customer gift. If the quantity is small, the manufacturer usually pays," Wu Bingdan explained. In fact, supermarkets themselves like such activities, especially at important nodes like store anniversaries, as they can stimulate consumers' purchase desire and optimize the positive interaction between products and the supermarket. "But not all buy-one-get-one activities are fully supported by manufacturers; usually, manufacturers and distributors share the cost. If product stagnation is caused by human factors in the supermarket, it's likely that the activity expenses are shared by the manufacturer, distributor, and supermarket."
Strengthening joint interaction between distributors and terminals not only effectively achieves a win-win situation but also adds lubricant for subsequent cooperation, providing stronger guarantees for deepening cooperation. Shandong distributor Wu Ning told reporters that giving expiring products to terminals through activities not only improves terminal cooperation but also may lead terminals to give distributors discounts on supermarket fees later, which compensates for the losses from handling expiring products. "In the past, I tried directly transferring expiring products to terminals at low prices to offset shelf fees; that's also a feasible method."
Enhance employee benefits and strengthen team cohesion
An excellent internal team is a powerful engine for distributors to promote products. Looking at strong brands in the market, all rely on strong internal teams as logistical support. Reporters found that some distributors use expiring products as a breakthrough in team management, making bold attempts and achieving good results.
"Handling expiring products through low-price internal purchases, holiday benefits, and other forms can stimulate employees' sense of belonging, enhance their sense of value and honor in front of family, and thus encourage employees to integrate into the team psychologically, promoting work with an owner's attitude and enthusiasm," Wu Bingdan introduced. Distributors using their own brand's expiring products to replace other welfare items is equivalent to promoting the team in a more standardized direction at a lower cost.
Breaking away from traditional models, Shenzhen distributor Liu Jinzhong made slight innovations to conventional methods, reducing profit losses while effectively motivating employees. "In short-term promotional activities for expiring products, our own salespeople handle the entire process, and product pricing is based on the backlog situation. The distributor only recovers the pre-agreed base price, and all income above the base price goes to the salesperson. This effectively motivates salespeople, speeds up the sale of expiring products, and avoids waste due to expiration." What if salespeople, seeing the benefits, increase pressure on terminals to stock up? Liu Jinzhong said that the premise of this model is innovation in reward policies, changing from "commission based on sales amount" to "commission based on profit," thus protecting the interests of both distributors and salespeople.
Expand sales channels, combining digestion and promotion
In the market context where terminals are king, the battle for sales channels has been fierce. According to reporters, the purpose of terminal grabbing is no longer simply about normal product sales; some distributors are trying to find breakthroughs in terminal channels as a "sewer" for handling expiring products.
Introduce expiring products into closed channels. According to surveys, the closed nature of special channels such as factories, military units, mines, schools, and unit canteens has become a unique advantage attracting distributors. The sales monopoly in closed spaces can provide greater possibilities for the rapid consumption of expiring products. "Once, we chose a high school to handle expiring Oriental Leaf tea. There was only one monopolistic supermarket in the school. We transferred Oriental Leaf to the boss at a special price of 2 yuan per bottle and suggested he sell it at the regular price of 4.5 yuan per bottle," Wu Ning said. "The generous profit drove the boss to move other drinks out of the fridge and only stock Oriental Leaf. Because of the hot weather, students only wanted cold drinks after class, so they had no choice but to buy Oriental Leaf. In two days, 50 cases, a total of 750 bottles, were sold."
Besides ensuring large volume and fast speed, some closed channels can also reduce distributors' profit losses to a certain extent. Shanxi dairy distributor Wang Lei introduced that because nearby mines have welfare benefits of giving workers milk, mines have become the best place for him to handle expiring products. Since the price is slightly higher than the market promotional price, it indirectly increases his profits.
Pay attention to package deals suitable for products. Currently, many restaurants, bars, KTVs, and other places include package deals that bundle beer, beverages, and other food sales. Although consumers see this as a "robbery" behavior of forced buying, for food distributors, it can also be a new point of product promotion. "We have long-term cooperation with fast-food companies because the meals ordered by units often come with drinks. You can find suitable sales channels based on your product's target audience. For example, beverages targeting white-collar workers can find fast-food companies that deliver meals to office buildings. While handling expiring products, you also carry out precise promotion to the target audience, killing two birds with one stone," introduced Nanjing distributor Jin Liming.
Places with package deals consume products in large quantities and at high speed, making them an effective way to solve expiring products. For many distributors, this is also a mysterious and attractive field. However, it is understood that package deals greatly reduce distributors' profits and are the most last-resort method, not recommended as a first choice. Xi'an distributor Yuan Yuchuan said that places with package deals will press product prices very low, but the advantage is volume and speed, and at the same time, it can achieve centralized promotion to potential customers. Although different products have different attributes and target audiences, and sales channels may vary, the concept and thinking of channel development are still worth learning from.
Develop markets insensitive to dates. With the improvement of health awareness and the increase in alternative products, consumers' pickiness has soared rapidly, and production dates have inevitably become a focus of attention. Therefore, developing insensitive consumer markets is particularly important. "Consumer groups in rural markets and wholesale departments are not sensitive to production dates. You can quickly increase volume through promotional activities, and even sell at regular prices," introduced Shenzhen distributor Cai Zhenwu. In addition, there are stores in the market that specialize in selling expiring products, and they are very popular, with a large number of loyal consumers. Cooperating with these terminals will also bring great momentum to the digestion of expiring products.
Although expiring products are an inevitable competitive product, experienced distributors can already handle them with ease through multiple methods. Nevertheless, under the trend of increasingly rational consumption, the survival space for expiring products is getting smaller. Coupled with the faster replacement of popular categories, distributors face the need to change their business thinking at any time. How to make good use of expiring products, fully utilize their final energy, and minimize loss rates is a topic worth further in-depth discussion.
Source: Food Business -END-