---
title: "Before the New Infant Formula Policy Takes Effect, Some Manufacturers Blow Another Round of Marketing Bubbles to Trap Channel Partners!"
description: "In a pivotal year for the infant formula industry, manufacturers and customizers are using every trick to stay afloat. A recent online spat between @奶粉揭秘 and @李铁博士奶粉 has drawn countless fans, revealing intense competition. This, along with offline actions by various interest groups, has fueled a 'false prosperity' in the industry, misleading retailers and consumers and hindering the healthy development of domestic infant formula."
author: "傅先生"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-04-06"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/before-the-new-infant-formula-policy-takes-effect-some-manufacturers-blo-e2300c63.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/i5CRrXI9PSxD_KKRQ5pSPw"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%A5%B6%E7%B2%89%E6%96%B0%E6%94%BF%E8%90%BD%E5%9C%B0%E5%89%8D-%E6%9C%89%E7%9A%84%E5%8E%82%E5%AE%B6%E5%86%8D%E5%90%B9%E4%B8%80%E8%BD%AE%E8%90%A5%E9%94%80%E6%B3%A1%E6%B2%AB%E5%A5%97%E7%89%A2%E6%B8%A0%E9%81%93%E5%95%86-e2300c63.md"
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# Before the New Infant Formula Policy Takes Effect, Some Manufacturers Blow Another Round of Marketing Bubbles to Trap Channel Partners!

> In a pivotal year for the infant formula industry, manufacturers and customizers are using every trick to stay afloat. A recent online spat between @奶粉揭秘 and @李铁博士奶粉 has drawn countless fans, revealing intense competition. This, along with offline actions by various interest groups, has fueled a 'false prosperity' in the industry, misleading retailers and consumers and hindering the healthy development of domestic infant formula.

In a pivotal year for the infant formula industry, manufacturers and customizers are pulling out all the stops, using every trick in the book to make their mark. Recently, a dispute on Weibo between @奶粉揭秘 and @李铁博士奶粉 has attracted countless blind followers, laying bare the intense competition for profit.
In fact, whether it's the online battle of big V's or the various offline actions by interest representatives, together they have fueled a 'false prosperity' across the industry.
This bubble-like development has continuously misled retailers and consumers, causing Chinese consumers to lose a correct understanding of infant formula and hindering the healthy and orderly development of domestic infant formula.
**What problems lie behind this false prosperity?**
**'Experts' take the stage, fooling distributors and channel partners out of their cash flow!**
The rapid development of the formula industry has fueled the growth of the 'expert' profession. Their only function is to create buzz at various conferences and meetings by using 'non-professional' jargon, guiding and intimidating frontline channel partners, influencing their product mix, and pushing them to abandon truly valuable brands in favor of high-risk, high-profit products.
Observation reveals that these 'experts' have never held senior executive positions in China's formula industry, have no track record of successfully leading a company's rapid growth, and have no research achievements in nutrition, food, or marketing.
**'Order conference' marketing is actually a new form of hot potato—a ticking time bomb!**
Nowadays, various manufacturers and customizers are playing the inventory transfer game, shifting risk onto frontline channel partners. Treating formula as a fast-moving consumer good is the greatest disrespect to the infant formula industry. **An unknown new custom brand held a national order conference in a province, collecting nearly 30 million yuan in cash in one day, with profits close to 8 million yuan.**
Such rapid profit generation comes at the expense of millions of channel partners who bear the risk. When the product's pricing system becomes chaotic and cross-regional sales cannot be controlled, such products are doomed in the channel. Channel partners are left with high inventory and no room to maneuver—that's when the time bomb explodes.
**'Guaranteed registration approval' is the industry's biggest lie!**
To date, **the relevant national authorities have not yet issued registration numbers for any formula product,** and the registration process has not been finalized. Yet, in the market, I've seen many manufacturers issue official letters to downstream traders claiming all their products are reserved for registration. I've seen a **company with only 2 factories issue registration reservation documents for all 18 OEM products.**
What gives these companies such audacity and confidence? What allows them to make such public promises? **Now, some formula marketing personnel's first words to clients are, 'Our products are registration-reserved,' so you can sell them with confidence.** Such irresponsible marketing lies, treating national laws and regulatory oversight as a joke, will inevitably come at a bloody cost to their credibility.
**'New product strategy launch' concept marketing is rampant!**
Between 2016 and 2017, various companies held new product launches one after another, with a barrage of conceptual gimmick formulas, accompanied by exaggerated claims like 'leading,' 'innovative,' 'unique,' 'global,' and 'organic.' They'd find a few doctors to dress it up with medical jargon, hire a few foreigners to give speeches in foreign languages, and suddenly it becomes a high-end, international, forward-looking product.
In reality, among today's infant formula companies, **how many truly have the capability for clinical research on formula, have an independent breast milk research institute, have a dedicated professional team for product development and formula design, and collaborate with top universities on infant nutrition research?**
**Some companies rely on repackaging, adjusting nutrient ratios for cosmetic purposes.** They book five-star hotels for their grand debuts. They swap concepts, maximizing profits at minimal cost. In 2018, under the new national policy, all infant formula packaging must adopt a unified format, style, and font. Such concept-based endorsements will inevitably be exposed, losing market share and development opportunities.
**'De-intermediation' is the biggest pseudo-theory in the formula industry!**
Since 2014, many formula companies have proposed a de-intermediation channel management approach. The core is to cut out distributors and work directly with maternal and baby channels and terminal stores, using systems to control sales and logistics. Now, let's see: has de-intermediation succeeded?
**In fact, companies that implemented de-intermediation have seen significant sales declines.** They forgot that the Chinese market is multi-polar and diverse, and they forgot the role and value of distributors. Someone once said that a good distributor is like a branch office of the company.
During the years of rapid growth in China's formula industry, distributors played the biggest behind-the-scenes heroes. Without distributors continuously expanding warehouse capacity, without their high-interest borrowing to meet targets and pay upfront, how could companies have grown so fast?
Maternal and baby channels, in essence, are constrained by the need for balanced brand sales. They have no loyalty to any company; it's more about profit games and overstepping with companies.
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