Click the image for details Today, for most brand owners, the channel operation issues they face are far more complex than before. There are more and more channel forms—distributor wholesale/retail channels, KA hypermarkets, maternal and infant specialty channels, e-commerce, WeChat businesses, and so on—which have long left us dazzled and overwhelmed. We now live in an era of extreme product surplus, and this trend is rapidly expanding. Markets are increasingly segmented, products are multiplying, and competition is intensifying. Every emergence and differentiation of new channels represents consumers' new choices for shopping avenues and a further demand to reduce comprehensive shopping costs (the 4C principle: consumer, cost, convenience, communication). Although C2B was a hot concept in 2015, the C2B channel form did not take shape overnight in recent years. Each time we further digest production capacity, peddle products, and capture customers, we drive a differentiation and upgrade of channel efficiency and function. At the same time, every emergence of a new channel poses a challenge and reshuffling for older-generation brand owners. During the differentiation and upgrade of new-generation channel forms, the "channel brands" of that era were born. For example, in the early 1990s, FMCG brands like Wahaha, Master Kong, Want Want, and Shuanghui rose from the differentiation of distributor wholesale/retail channels out of the original state-run supply and marketing systems and department stores. In the late 1990s, major domestic and international brands such as P&G, Unilever, Heinz, Beingmate, Yili, Mengniu, and Bright Dairy often benefited from the land grabs of multinational retail hypermarkets and local supermarkets across the country. Around 2008, the rise of baby and child brands like Biostime, Ausnutria, Engnice, Double Bear, and Newbaze benefited from the rapid development of maternal and infant channels. Today, the rise of internet brands like Three Squirrels, Xiaomi, and Handu Yishe has benefited from the traffic dividend of e-commerce. So, will the current WeChat business (community e-commerce) become the next new channel form? Opinions vary, and it remains to be seen. The C2C counterfeiting scandals in WeChat Moments have led to pessimistic views, but you cannot deny that WeChat, as the largest traffic entry point for mobile internet, is driving the rapid development of B2C brand owners and platforms—there are countless such cases. Every differentiation and development of new channels is an impact and subversion of the original channel structure. Of course, "no flower lasts a hundred days, and no one is good for a thousand days." Everything has its growth, stability, and decline periods. Even the mightiest e-commerce is no exception; from the current perspective, e-commerce platforms are likely entering a stable period. If you can enter a new channel during its growth period, you can develop new brands accordingly. Conversely, if older-generation brand owners fail to adapt well to new channels, they will gradually decline and fade. In this era where the e-commerce dividend is fading, channel forms are fragmented, and production capacity is severely overstocked with product homogenization, Today, all brands, whether now or in the future, will face an omnichannel operating environment. Of course, due to differences in brand strength and perspective, the focus varies. So, as a rising new brand and new product, how should it face this complex world? The author attempts to outline a roadmap in the following four steps to describe the promotion strategy for emerging brands, offering a modest spur to induce others to come forward with valuable contributions, hoping to inspire brand builders. Roadmap: Step 1: Community e-commerce operations and minimal experiments are the first step in omnichannel operations; Step 2: Major e-commerce platforms are a good way to consolidate results and rapidly spread; Step 3: Offline channel establishment should be steady and methodical; Step 4: Sustainable operations require managing product lines and lifecycles. 1 WeChat community e-commerce operations and minimal experiments are the first step in omnichannel operations. As a fledgling new brand and new product, do you think it's about quickly selling goods to make money? I think not. We live in an era of extremely rich products and fragmented channels. Perhaps you have already envisioned how your product's selling points will move people, who the target users are, and how channel partners will cooperate with you, but these assumptions are all hypothetical until verified. Your product may fail to make a splash in this vast ocean, or a misstep could leave you scratching your head over excess inventory on the production line. So, the first step in product operation is not selling goods, but rather quickly validating a series of assumptions—product selling points, target users, channel customers, pricing system, etc.—through effective, low-cost, and efficient methods. 1. User operation. In the C2B era where consumers reign, you must first find users willing to pay for your product. So, consider recruiting seed users through WeChat groups or WeChat service accounts. These users are the target consumers you once imagined. As for how many people to recruit and how many WeChat groups to manage—1,000 or 10,000—depends on the needs of each product to be tested. See if they give thumbs up or have criticisms when they try your product or pay for it. Then iterate and improve the original product as quickly as possible. When these initial seed users become enthusiastic, spontaneously share to their Moments, and applaud your product, then we have completed the first process. 2. Content operation. When the product is impressive in all aspects—efficacy, cost-performance, appearance, etc.—we must start considering copywriting and content operations to make the product and brand an "internet celebrity." Hire a skilled copywriter to create a hot topic, and spread it virally through social media like WeChat, Weibo, and Youku. You can also create online buzz through event nodes and support from internet celebrities. Or craft a human story, historical sentiment, or high-end emotion for the product, like "We don't produce water; we are just nature's porters," "Life has its ups and downs, but the spirit can be passed on," or "Yanghe Blue Classic, a man's sentiment." Good product + good slogan + a good story behind it—these are the three key points of content operation for most brands. 3. Potential channel partner operation. When users develop a strong interest in the product, you will surely find that some channel partners in the original WeChat groups will talk to you about cooperation. At this point, you must consider the overall channel layout—online and offline, regional and national, hypermarkets and maternal and infant specialty stores. At this time, you need to consider the next channel layout based on your target product's production capacity, supply area radius, team situation, and product development strategy. Then select the channel users from these WeChat groups and establish a channel community for the product. In this process, we validate our original ideas about channels through price control, cost-effectiveness, logistics, etc. Mature one, do one, but the general principles to follow are "online first, then offline; meat first, then bones; near first, then far." 4. Potential investor operation. Additionally, if necessary, introduce potential investors. Capital operation will accelerate the efficiency of our product operations. With strong capital support, we can increase product exposure and success probability. Of course, how much capital to introduce and when varies from person to person. 2 Major e-commerce platforms are a good way to consolidate results and rapidly spread. The successful operation of WeChat and community e-commerce has further strengthened our confidence in the product and built a channel operation team. After stabilizing results on WeChat, we must go to Tmall, JD.com, Suning.com, Gome Online, Amazon, Yihaodian, Vipshop, Jumei, Yixun, and Womai—18 mainstream B2C platforms—to expand territory and increase achievements. Compared to the relatively closed circle of friends on WeChat, the revenue that open e-commerce platforms can bring us is more attractive. Of course, the methods for platform e-commerce operations are nothing more than crowdfunding, flash sales, full reduction, full gift, full return, buy gift/bundle, cross-selling, free shipping, positive reviews with photos, points/membership, group buying, pre-sale, games/H5, cross-industry cooperation, etc. I won't elaborate here today; next time we'll discuss the pros and cons of various methods in detail. What I want to emphasize here is the balance between WeChat and platforms, as well as the control between platforms. The "three-level distribution" model that may have been used on WeChat may not be suitable for platforms, and the price system of WeChat products must find a balance point on each platform. In principle, the retail price of the same product should remain consistent, with the brand's official self-operated as the main line, maintaining the brand's tone and style. At the same time, while the main products and bestsellers are not affected, supplementing with new platform-specific models as needed is also a strategic necessity. 3 Offline channel establishment should be steady and methodical. Currently, although online retail has had a significant impact on offline retail, in the actual proportion of total retail sales, offline retail accounts for up to 90%, while online retail accounts for only 10%, and in the future, the operating costs of online and offline will become increasingly similar. Therefore, even if sales are booming on WeChat, Tmall, JD.com, and other e-commerce platforms, it is still not enough to satisfy our brand owners' ambition to expand territory. For brand owners, traditional offline channels, such as distributor wholesale/retail channels, KA hypermarkets, and maternal and infant specialty channels, are of great significance for consolidating market position through rapid expansion, with huge share and importance. Moreover, precisely because of our successful operations on online WeChat and e-commerce B2C platforms, I believe the product has already aroused strong interest from offline channel partners, giving us an inherent advantage. But should online and offline have the same products? How to develop offline-exclusive models? What kind of distributors should be recruited offline? How to manage the offline team? How to resolve conflicts between online and offline? As a new brand that started online, these are things we must consider holistically. Later, I will discuss more with actual cases. Today, I want to first let you understand the steps for offline channel development. 1. Establish the brand's foothold in each region and city. Before doing this, we must first consider what kind of agents are suitable for us. From my experience, it's not necessarily that the more capital, the stronger the strength, or the more brands represented, the more suitable. So what kind of agents are suitable for us? I think first we need to see if the agent's philosophy aligns with the brand owner; second, consider whether the agent will expand territory together with the brand owner (note: generally, old agents who have grown large in a region often have a "sit-down merchant" tendency; better to choose the second or third largest, not the largest); third, visit some offline retail stores to hear their different views on these agents, including logistics capabilities, service capabilities, and reputation. Finally, verify the agent's capital strength, warehousing conditions, vehicle situation, and business team. Once we clarify the criteria for agents, we must use the offline agent database accumulated through channels like the original WeChat communities, and take advantage of opportunities like CBME industry exhibitions to recruit suitable agents. This data may be to fill blank areas or to find substitute players. 2. Focus on building model markets, exploring operational experience, and cultivating offline teams. So, when we have found enough customer resources, with so many types of offline channels, how should we develop offline channels? Still the saying: "meat first, then bones; easy first, then difficult; near first, then far." For example, there are many types of offline channels; maternal and infant products mainly include distributor wholesale/retail channels, KA hypermarkets, and maternal and infant specialty channels. For a new brand, the first step is not to "make it heavy" by hiring a large number of promoters, ground teams, and salespeople across the country, and then spend entry fees and barcode fees to develop offline KA hypermarkets; instead, use distributor customer resources as much as possible, leveraging their strength to expand wholesale/retail and maternal and infant specialty channels. When the time is right, develop KA stores and other offline channels to expand the brand's influence in the local region. Also, China is vast, with different levels of economic development and consumer psychology in different regions. Expanding nationwide at high cost all at once is clearly a high-cost, high-risk endeavor. Therefore, brand owners should focus on developing several model markets based on their talent, regional, and logistics advantages. On one hand, during offline product operations, brand owners should effectively explore and summarize the product pricing system, regional control, performance assessment, product development, and communication promotion, filling pitfalls promptly and promoting good experiences in time. On the other hand, through the construction of model markets, cultivate a direct team belonging to the brand owner, which can later be placed with agents across the country for unified management and effective control. 3. Strengthen execution capability and replicate quickly. When all experience is appropriate, brand owners will have enough confidence to expand rapidly. At the same time, as competitors continue to enter and competition intensifies, brand owners must build a sales iron army to consolidate their market position. At this point, for the offline business operation team, it is necessary to standardize performance assessment, job promotion, sales areas, etc. At this time, what we mention most is "execution," and the most used policy is the "carrot and stick" policy centered around "execution." 4 Sustainable operations require managing product lines and lifecycles. Just as I mentioned at the beginning about channel forms, any channel has its growth, stability, and decline periods. The same goes for products; products also have their lifecycles. Today, while internet brands like Three Squirrels and Xiaomi are rising, some old brands are leaving us, such as Hero Pens, Jianlibao, and Robust. Of course, some brands endure, like Coca-Cola, Red Bull, and Nongfu Spring, which are classic cases for us to study and learn from. 1. Bestsellers are the main line. In an era of increasingly rich and homogenized products, brand owners must first tell consumers/users what you do—that is, what category you belong to. For example, no matter how Coca-Cola expands, its most famous product is still its cola. Second, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and social hotspots, shift from functional appeals to emotional appeals, and even meet users' need for social respect, thereby continuously upgrading the brand's height. For example, Coca-Cola, to get closer to the new generation of internet natives, has continuously launched "lyrics bottles" and "nickname bottles," which are good cases. 2. Boston Matrix. Generally, after developing their bestseller products, brand owners will derive more different products to enrich the brand's product portfolio. For example, according to the Boston Matrix classification, star products with high growth rate and high market share, cash cow products with low growth rate and high market share, question products with high growth rate and low market share, and dog products with low growth rate and low market share should all be appropriately adjusted based on the internal and external market environment. In summary, these are my views on the omnichannel operations of a fledgling new brand and new product. I hope they are useful to everyone, and I welcome further exchange and discussion with me. Lu Xingyuan, columnist for Maternal and Infant Industry Observation. Years of experience in FMCG and maternal and infant industries, focusing on omnichannel operations of online and offline products. WeChat: xingyuanlu -END-