---
title: "9 Months, 80 Square Meter Tobacco and Alcohol Store Sales Increase 300%, It's Not So Easy for the Times to Abandon You"
description: "Tobacco and alcohol stores are the most common retail outlets for alcohol near urban residential areas and communities. They used to be our first choice for purchasing cigarettes and alcohol. In recent years, their business has been declining. E-commerce has taken away a large portion of customers online, as seen by the couriers from SF, ZTO, and YTO coming and going at the community gates, indicating where previous sales have gone; offline, Alibaba and JD's retail platforms and convenience stores are also encroaching step by step, forcing some struggling stores to 'sell out'; additionally, franchise chains like 7-11 and Quanshi are expanding, leveraging brand and supply chain advantages."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2018-04-19"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/_pOR7tlZledUldDbtJtVXg"
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# 9 Months, 80 Square Meter Tobacco and Alcohol Store Sales Increase 300%, It's Not So Easy for the Times to Abandon You

> Tobacco and alcohol stores are the most common retail outlets for alcohol near urban residential areas and communities. They used to be our first choice for purchasing cigarettes and alcohol. In recent years, their business has been declining. E-commerce has taken away a large portion of customers online, as seen by the couriers from SF, ZTO, and YTO coming and going at the community gates, indicating where previous sales have gone; offline, Alibaba and JD's retail platforms and convenience stores are also encroaching step by step, forcing some struggling stores to 'sell out'; additionally, franchise chains like 7-11 and Quanshi are expanding, leveraging brand and supply chain advantages.

Tobacco and alcohol stores are the most common retail outlets for alcohol near urban residential areas and communities. They used to be our first choice for purchasing cigarettes and alcohol.
In recent years, the business of tobacco and alcohol stores has been declining. E-commerce has taken away a large portion of customers online. Look at the couriers from SF, ZTO, and YTO coming and going at the community gates, and you'll know where previous sales have gone. Offline, Alibaba and JD's retail platforms and convenience stores are also encroaching step by step, forcing some struggling stores to 'sell out'. Additionally, franchise chains like 7-11 and Quanshi are expanding, leveraging brand and supply chain advantages, making traditional tobacco and alcohol stores no match for them. Are tobacco and alcohol stores really going to be abandoned by the times?
01
**From 8 Stores to 1 Store: Forced 'Self-Transformation'**
'1998 Famous Cigarettes and Alcohol' is a tobacco and alcohol chain store in City A, Henan Province. The owner, Zhang Yong (pseudonym), started as a second-tier beer distributor. At its peak, he had opened 8 tobacco and alcohol stores in City A. From 1998 to 2013 was the golden age for Zhang Yong's development. At that time, each store he opened had a minimum annual net profit of 300,000 yuan. Relying on several stores, his annual income reached 2 million yuan.
In 2013, with the implementation of the 'Eight Regulations' and 'Drunk Driving Ban', Zhang Yong's business plummeted, forcing him to close stores. By 2016, only one 80-square-meter store remained, barely surviving.
In 2017, Zhang Yong had three options. First, close down and exit completely. But after years of operation, the store could still barely make a small profit, and Zhang Yong didn't want to give up and admit defeat. Second, embrace 'new retail' by joining Alibaba or JD's offline systems, relying on big platforms. But Zhang Yong had his own supply channels after years of operation, and joining Alibaba or JD would inevitably bring 'restrictions'. Third, self-reform and model innovation. After much thought, Zhang Yong decided to take the path of 'self-transformation' to improve single-store profitability.
02
**Embracing E-commerce: Not Just Selling Online**
Since most tobacco and alcohol store owners are older and have limited education, they have an innate fear of e-commerce, even thinking that e-commerce is just 'opening an online store' to sell goods.
With the development of mobile internet and the popularity of smartphones, the scope of e-commerce has greatly expanded. Online and offline mutual traffic, WeChat Moments interactions, communities, WeChat business, and apps can all generate business opportunities. At the same time, the threshold and difficulty of e-commerce are getting lower, allowing for 'foolproof' technical operations.
Zhang Yong chose not to join JD for two reasons: first, JD requires a certain deposit; second, if he didn't order all products through JD's Zhanggui Bao, market support would differ. Instead, Zhang Yong chose to cooperate with a local B2B platform. He only needed to download their app to place orders on his phone, and they would deliver to his door. Since the local platform had a wide variety of beer, beverages, and liquor at reasonable prices, Zhang Yong's procurement costs were similar to those of major e-commerce franchise stores.
After joining the B2B platform, the platform required the terminal to install a terminal management software. On one hand, it could analyze data on purchases, sales, and inventory through big data to optimize the supply chain. On the other hand, the system could also locate the terminal and enable features like 'limited-time flash sales' through consumer analysis. The platform would cooperate with local life e-commerce and service platforms to carry out 'limited-time flash purchase' activities in specific time periods and regions, helping terminals move inventory, which also helped Zhang Yong attract consumers.
'1998 Famous Cigarettes and Alcohol' is surrounded by many residential communities. Previously, Zhang Yong only recorded customers' phone numbers. After WeChat became popular, Zhang Yong created groups with his old customers. Sometimes when customers were not at home to receive express deliveries or packages, he would help, building strong customer loyalty and understanding many customer needs. Many liquor companies, in order to seize terminals, would contact tobacco and alcohol stores to hold various 'tasting events'. Zhang Yong could invite customers for them, and of course, the manufacturers would provide corresponding support, allowing Zhang Yong to earn income.
The 'group buying model' is also Zhang Yong's use of e-commerce thinking, using the store as an entry point, himself as the group leader, and friends helping to bargain or buy in groups to achieve sales. Currently, residents' alcohol consumption is mainly concentrated on three major banquets: weddings, birthdays, and school entrance celebrations. Friends and relatives are very familiar with such alcohol information, so they can bundle with some platform resources, use the 'group buying model' for sales, and have customers introduce customers, achieving viral growth.
Through this approach, in 2017, Zhang Yong's store sales increased by more than 200%.
03
**Customization Innovation: Deeply Locking in Customers**
Customization is a major need for alcohol customers, but due to technical and cost constraints, customization in the past was often limited to 'secondary packaging', where liquor merchants just put a POP on the bottle to personalize the product.
With the development of mobile internet and the emergence of customization software, more convenient and faster customization methods have appeared. By simply installing customization software on a phone, you can provide customers with hundreds of template customization services, with delivery within 2 days, and the cost is only 10% higher than regular products. Currently, professional customization companies are already offering this service.
(All images are from the internet)
Zhang Yong's store sales are dominated by large annual wedding, birthday, school entrance banquets, and unit purchases. In the past, Zhang Yong could only compete with competitors on price, resulting in low profits. Through customization, he can deeply lock in customers and greatly increase the added value of products.
Take the school entrance banquet as an example. He would design popular 'trendy words' that students like, based on whether the student is male or female, and also meet consumer characteristics in the wine and outer packaging. For example, for girls, he would choose sparkling wines with beautiful appearances, paired with 'girly heart' colored handbags, which are very popular with customers.
For surrounding enterprises and institutions, Zhang Yong would also provide creative customization based on their needs. For instance, a private enterprise owner liked to promote the company's goals at any time. Zhang Yong created a four-panel comic and put it on the company's customized wine, winning their trust.
Through customization, Zhang Yong's store profits increased significantly, and he also gained many loyal customers. Although the number of customers brought by customization was not large, the gross profit exceeded 50%. More importantly, it freed him from the simple 'price war' and made him stand out among surrounding tobacco and alcohol store owners.
In March 2017, Zhang Yong's tobacco and alcohol store used the above methods for 'self-transformation'. After 9 months of exploration, his sales increased from about 50,000 yuan per month previously to 120,000 yuan in the off-season and 160,000 yuan in the peak season, with December exceeding 200,000 yuan. At the year-end settlement, '1998 Famous Cigarettes and Alcohol' sales increased by 300% year-on-year.
Famous cigarette and alcohol stores were once the mainstream way of alcohol sales. Under the impact of the internet, professional chain franchises, and B2B platforms, they seem to have become 'yesterday's flowers'. But it's not that 'the times abandon you without even saying goodbye'; the times often give you the opportunity to get on board and participate. The key is to have the concept of innovation, be willing to learn, and dare to try.
Source: Zhongshi Finance (ID: ZSCJ-360)
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