Analysis of bC Integration Practice Cases
The first type is leading first-tier FMCG brands that constantly change technology service providers. Their practices mainly include three approaches:
- All business departments have begun to refuse promotions that are not online, starting to conduct digital marketing by functional department and role;
- They all require the use of one-item-one-code, one-box-one-code product online tools for digital marketing;
- They all require service providers to offer overall solutions based on the premise that the overall sales expense budget remains unchanged. These brands mainly rely on product online tools like one-item-one-code and one-box-one-code, using sales expenses as the baton, to achieve online C-end marketing and b-end promotion scenarios. With sales expenses unchanged, they let service providers propose overall solutions, and whoever can implement at lower cost and more effectively wins the bid. However, there are inevitable pitfalls, such as changing service providers annually, different system tools from different providers, lack of a unified infrastructure, and only achieving stage-based promotional digital marketing rather than continuous systematic marketing digitalization. Moreover, independent incentives and operations for each role cannot achieve bC linkage.
The second type is brands that launch premium new products through bC dual-code association. Key points:
- Find the key person (b) closest to C, and use the profit margin from premium products to better incentivize service staff to proactively recommend;
- Use more engaging and precise scanning strategies to attract consumer participation and fission;
- Then digitize service staff task indicators to encourage continuous recommendations. A beer brand, in a short 3-month new product promotion, achieved a 93% scan rate for premium new products, over 85% coverage of effective dining outlets in the promotion area, and an average of 2.7 registered service staff per dining outlet (as a sales representative assessment indicator). However, there are also issues, such as when trying to further implement online store incentives, the lack of deployed bottle-box association infrastructure on the production line prevented achieving full-channel online connectivity across F2B2b2C.
The third type: Brands achieving bC integration through the 1-yuan exchange 3.0 model. A typical representative is Eastroc Beverage. Its terminal stores can receive a cash reward of 0.5 yuan per box and about 10 "1-yuan Enjoy" exchange quotas by scanning the code when opening boxes. If consumers scan to redeem winning bottle caps, the store can further obtain a gift return voucher and a 1.58 yuan cash red packet. Therefore, if a consumer wins, the terminal store can earn an additional 2.58 yuan in cash income (consumer pays 1 yuan exchange amount, company pays 1.58 yuan cash red packet) on top of the approximately 1.5 yuan purchase-sale margin, thereby encouraging stores to open boxes and participate in exchange activities, accelerating product sales. This is currently the most mainstream model on the market.
In Mido's 1-yuan exchange solution, it can provide various combination models such as with/without explicit text, store verification, salesperson verification, and restocking with cash, based on the competitive situation in different regional markets. Moreover, in the regions where it has been implemented, good results have been achieved, with exchange rates exceeding 87%, helping companies open up F2B2b2C to achieve integrated control of factory, store, and shop, and truly full-chain shared profit distribution. Once combined with a logistics traceability system, it can also achieve precise single-store inventory, product shelf-life management, and promotion effectiveness control, making the headquarters marketing department a true digital staff department. Of course, there have been many pitfalls in certain brands or regions, such as the inability to fairly allocate expenses across channels; "perfunctory" cooperation with digital departments in pilot projects, leading to low cooperation and no sustained results; and some brands treating one-item-one-code as a stage-based promotional tool rather than a systematic project, failing to cultivate terminal habits of continuous participation.
Common Problems in Enterprise bC Integration
From the above practical cases, we have summarized several common problems for brands. First: Choosing various digital tools and technology service providers, but the underlying systems cannot be interconnected, resulting in ineffective bC integration. This is because the digital infrastructure for bC integration is not an accumulation of various tools, but a systematic project based on empowering business scenarios. Second: Different functional departments build F2B, B2b, b2C, and F2C applications from their own perspectives. The bC integration model should achieve full-chain integration of F2B2b2C, not just the sum of separate approaches. Third: Business departments report that it's ineffective, with "channel non-cooperation and poor experience." The key issue is whether the department responsible for implementation is neutral, whether it is tied to performance considerations, and whether it is a top leader's project. Fourth: The cost of bC integration implementation is too high, leading to the project eventually fizzling out. This tests the enterprise's design of channel expense profit-sharing structure and product user experience. The construction of bC integration is not achieved overnight; it requires firm belief and execution. If an enterprise unswervingly adopts the bC integration approach, the results are also very prominent: the enterprise can easily establish a real-time battle map of F2B2b2C full-chain product sales data, commodity circulation inventory analysis, terminal sales trends, and regional performance monitoring, allowing headquarters to make quick decisions based on real-time data, dynamically adjust battle plans, and command new street battles with data. This is an example diagram of national outlet distribution and terminal data statistics. Enterprises can directly view online each terminal's cumulative SKU purchases, real-time inventory status (shelf life), sales trends, pending return quantities, points, etc., thereby empowering regions and sales representatives to achieve single-store online operation.
Conditions for Successful Implementation of Enterprise bC Integration
If brands can correctly implement bC integration, they can establish a full-chain real-time data monitoring panorama of F2B2b2C, helping brands command new street battles with data. To correctly implement bC integration, the following conditions must be met.
1. Unified organizational cognition: bC integration is a systematic project that requires cooperation from all departments, re-empowering existing business scenarios and setting new expense allocation models, so it is a top leader's project.
2. Online sales expenses: To achieve full-chain connectivity of F2B2b2C, it is necessary to use sales expenses as the baton to digitize existing business scenarios.
3. Unified system infrastructure: A set of EBC systems that can digitize all business, assetize all digital assets, and digitize all assets is needed. The core of the EBC system is to be user-centric (salespeople, distributors, retailers, shopping guides, KOCs, members), penetrate core deep distribution channel business, connect and reconstruct all business involving user value creation online, and empower all business through digital asset insights to achieve bC integrated precision marketing.
Digital Infrastructure Required for Enterprise bC Integration
To correctly implement bC integration, the correct data infrastructure system must provide empowerment. After years of practical experience, Mido has meticulously crafted an EBC system that fully meets the digital infrastructure requirements of bC integration. The system consists of a five-layer and two-ecosystem platform.
Five layers: User end layer: Provides multi-carrier client terminals for users involved in the full bC integration chain, continuously supporting the implementation of all business digitalization; Business service layer: Can realize all existing deep distribution channel business online; Low-code marketing component layer: Encapsulates common capabilities needed in brand marketing as components (like Lego blocks), enabling rapid construction of diverse marketing interaction play methods based on different products and marketing nodes (with this capability, in 2022, Mido could update one play method per month when serving Snow Beer). Middle platform service layer and platform foundation layer: These two layers mainly help brands achieve datafication of all business and provide basic support.
Two ecosystems: Gift market: Has cross-industry alliance ecosystem capabilities, quickly providing brands with diverse low-cost marketing resources; Development platform: Has international standard ecosystem capabilities, helping brands seamlessly connect internal digital systems.
Additionally, the EBC system has three super contact technical capabilities: channel router with people as contact points, one-item-one-code 4.0 with goods as contact points, and bC cloud store with scenes as contact points. In connecting people, it has multi-carrier mini-program clients for channel users, including headquarters, distributors, salespeople, store owners/clerks, shopping guides, and C-end members. In connecting goods, based on bC dual codes, it provides a higher-level F2B2b2C five-code association technology to meet efficient goods connection and implementation at all stages of bC integration. In connecting terminal scenes, it provides a bC cloud store mini-program that can fairly empower brand traffic to stores, providing a foundation for brands to achieve full-chain shared profit distribution. Therefore, the system infrastructure that meets the best practices of bC integration must meet the following basic conditions:
a. Possess the ability to connect the three super contacts of people, goods, and scenes! b. Be user-centric, penetrating all business scenarios of F2B2b2C! c. Have low-code marketing middle platform capabilities to meet the demands of rapid business application! d. Have big data engine to empower business precision marketing, allowing brands to hit where they aim!
bC Integration: Best Empowerment Strategies for Specific Business Scenarios
Based on a digital system infrastructure, brands can adopt different strategies for specific business scenarios when deploying bC integration.
1. Dining channel: The core b-end is restaurant service staff. Depending on different product coding conditions, provide solutions such as one-code bC dual-scan, bC dual-code association rebates. To better incentivize b-end proactive recommendation, we also design task systems conducive to sustained operation (including first recommendation tasks, continuous recommendation tasks, stage-based indicators, new product or multi-product recommendation tasks), and provide regional leaderboards to stimulate service staff to continuously proactively recommend consumer purchases.
2. Retail channel: For store sales scenarios, provide bottle-box association sales incentives, where stores proactively encourage consumers to scan codes to obtain more associated sales rewards. Currently, some baijiu companies, after completing the 5-code association transformation, have begun to implement high-level channel sales association rebates, supporting triggering upstream associated rebates when consumers scan codes at bottle opening or stores scan codes at box opening, and supporting returns of goods or money. Through real and transparent goods flow, online fair allocation of sales expenses is achieved. The specific implementation method is to activate part of the channel expense distribution only when terminal stores sign for receipt, and only after store signing are the corresponding upstream regional distributor and first-level general distributor rebates activated and distributed. Customers with stronger channel control can even activate this part of the expense distribution only after actual consumer bottle opening and scanning, ensuring healthy product sales.
3. KA channel: According to the special characteristics of terminal stores, first let store stock clerks scan codes when opening boxes and shelving, then use inside and outside cover bC dual-code association to incentivize promoters to proactively recommend consumers to purchase and scan codes at bottle opening. Consumer scanning also supports adding to community welfare WeChat groups based on the nearest community via scan LBS. Then, through the WeChat group, send pending scan-to-unlock cash red packet coupons to attract consumers to the nearest store for repurchase and scan to unlock red packets. This forms a three-pronged approach: offline recommendation - online scan interaction - guide offline purchase, achieving online-offline integration.
Additionally, there are other empowerment strategies for reference: 1. TT small store N-yuan exchange strategy: Provide different N-yuan exchange implementation solutions based on brand market competition and outlet distribution; 2. Display gift strategy: Change from the original control logic of salesperson taking photos of displays to a marketing logic that incentivizes terminal stores to proactively take photos and participate through rebates. Based on store online, the brand only needs to create an activity in the backend, and the system will push the task to the store owner's WeChat who meets the participation conditions with one click; the store owner accepts, takes photos, uploads, and receives rewards. This changes the previous problems of fraud and high salesperson costs. More expenses are dripped to store owners, increasing store enthusiasm and proactive online habits.
Summary
bC integration is the correct path for traditional brand marketing digitalization, but it should be noted that it is not the accumulation of digital marketing in various scattered scenarios; it is a systematic function. To correctly implement bC integration, brands need internal unified cognition and pay attention to key points: 1. It is a top leader's project, and the implementation organization must be neutral and understand the business; 2. Use sales expenses as the baton, achieve integrated control of factory, store, and shop, and full-chain shared profit distribution; 3. Have a user-centric EBC system infrastructure that penetrates all business scenarios of F2B2b2C; 4. When implementing, start from the smallest business unit, choose a business scenario, and conduct pilot bC integration through targeted distribution, point-specific ignition, and one-region-one-strategy, achieving online-offline bC integration.