---
title: "4 Tricks for Distributors to Understand the Pricing of the Alcohol Market"
description: "Price is relatively important business information. To understand the core market's business secrets, it is necessary to gain the trust of the research subjects and use certain techniques for deeper understanding. Only by obtaining real research information can one have a more thorough understanding of the market and work smoothly. Trick 1: \"Empty-handed\" method, which involves making initial assumptions and letting the research subject correct them. Trick 2: \"Colloquial\" method, which uses simple language to avoid sensitive terms. Trick 3: \"Fog\" method, which compares known information about brand A to unknown information about brand B. Trick 4: \"Flashback\" method, which deduces accurate information from subtle feedback."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-02-15"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/4-tricks-for-distributors-to-understand-the-pricing-of-the-alcohol-marke-784e0130/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/4-tricks-for-distributors-to-understand-the-pricing-of-the-alcohol-marke-784e0130.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/yb12he9ryWCswKnrChnPIQ"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E5%95%864%E6%8B%9B-%E6%91%B8%E9%80%8F%E9%85%92%E6%B0%B4%E5%B8%82%E5%9C%BA%E7%9A%84%E4%BB%B7%E6%A0%BC-784e0130.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/4-tricks-for-distributors-to-understand-the-pricing-of-the-alcohol-marke-784e0130/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# 4 Tricks for Distributors to Understand the Pricing of the Alcohol Market

> Price is relatively important business information. To understand the core market's business secrets, it is necessary to gain the trust of the research subjects and use certain techniques for deeper understanding. Only by obtaining real research information can one have a more thorough understanding of the market and work smoothly. Trick 1: "Empty-handed" method, which involves making initial assumptions and letting the research subject correct them. Trick 2: "Colloquial" method, which uses simple language to avoid sensitive terms. Trick 3: "Fog" method, which compares known information about brand A to unknown information about brand B. Trick 4: "Flashback" method, which deduces accurate information from subtle feedback.

**Click the image for details**
Price is relatively important business information. How can one understand the business secrets of these core markets? This requires gaining the trust of the research subjects and using certain techniques for deeper understanding. Only by obtaining real research information can one have a more thorough understanding of the market and work smoothly.

Trick 1: "Empty-handed" method
This method involves making an initial judgment, first assuming certain market conditions, and then through conversation with the research subject, letting them correct your assumptions, thus obtaining the most reliable research data. This method is suitable for issues involving core business secrets such as product pricing systems, product sales policies, market investment status, and salaries.

However, when using this method, the researcher should first have a rough understanding of the alcohol market's pricing system; otherwise, if the assumed price deviates too much from the actual price, the research subject may become suspicious and unwilling to continue the conversation.

For example, Xiao Liu wanted to research the pricing system of Product A. Based on the product packaging design, he speculated that the terminal purchase price was about 56 yuan. So, he found a restaurant owner, Boss Wang, and asked, "Your purchase price for Product A is 56 yuan per bottle, right?" If the price is correct or close, the terminal owner will confirm: "Yes, about that." If it differs significantly from the actual situation, the terminal owner will correct: "Not just 56, it's 68 yuan per bottle."

Trick 2: "Colloquial" method
This method is mainly suitable for investigators who understand the alcohol market knowledge but use plain language to make the respondents understand, and it can also avoid sensitive words that some bosses may have, making them more willing to talk and thus revealing the truth.

For example, Xiao Wang is a business personnel for Luzhou Laojiao in Hefei market. Since it was his first time in Hefei, he was unsure about the markup rate and distributor profit margins in the Hefei market. Xiao Wang talked with the owner of "Haofu Lou" like this: "Boss Liu, our company may launch a product with a supply price of 50 yuan per bottle. What price do you think is appropriate to sell in your store?" Boss Liu thought for a moment and said, "Around 80 yuan." Xiao Wang then visited three or four more stores and found similar answers, so he could conclude that "the markup rate in Hefei restaurants is about 60%."

If Xiao Wang had directly asked, "Boss Liu, what is your store's markup rate?" the boss might not know the professional term, or if he knew, he might refuse to disclose his business secret. But using simple questioning made Xiao Wang's work more efficient.

Another example: If you want to understand the rate of customers bringing their own alcohol in the region, you should ask, "In your hotel, out of 10 tables, how many bring their own alcohol?" rather than directly asking, "What is your store's self-bring rate?"

Trick 3: "Fog" method
The "Fog" method involves first presenting the market situation of Brand A that you know, and comparing it with the situation of Brand B that you want to know. Through comparison and the feedback from the research subject, you can obtain the accurate market information you want.

When using the "Fog" method, you should first present certain facts, and let the research subject compare based on that, thus extracting accurate information. At the end of this method, you should supplement that your information is not reliable, to avoid leaving a negative impression on the research subject and causing adverse effects on future work.

For example, Zhang Wu is a business manager for a winery in Henan. He was transferred to the Zhoukou market. He was not very familiar with the market investment situation of local brand A in the alcohol market. So, he found a second-tier distributor of Brand A and talked about channel policies: "Boss Zhang San, for Brand B, the quarterly rebate is 12%, annual rebate is 3%, and they support two promotional staff salaries each month. You are a core distributor of Product A in Zhoukou, so the manufacturer must give you more policy support than that, right?" The Brand A distributor said, "Impossible, their support is stronger than ours? I get a quarterly rebate of 9% and annual rebate of 2%." Then, Zhang Wu wisely added, "I heard this from XX, the information may not be reliable."

Trick 4: "Flashback" method
The "Flashback" method is used when you already have some information about the alcohol market. Based on the subtle feedback from the research subject, you can deduce the necessary accurate market information.

For example, the retail price of Product C in a certain hotel is 98 yuan per bottle. The researcher intentionally asks, "What is the gross profit for your hundred-yuan products?" If the respondent answers around 20 yuan, we can deduce that the supply price of the product is around 70 yuan. The researcher should continue to ask about other information to divert the respondent's attention, and after asking other questions, add, "Other stores supply Product C at 75 yuan, what about your store?" Or use the "Empty-handed" method in other stores to complete the investigation of accurate product price information.

Source: Sugar, Wine, and Food Distributor Club
-END-


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671