In the eyes of distributors, what makes a "good product"? New Distribution conducted in-depth market research and summarized several key factors for judging good products:
Profit and turnover speed: products that turn over quickly and require frequent replenishment;
Brand support: products with quality endorsement and marketing activity support;
Consumer experience and word-of-mouth: reflected in repurchase rates;
Differentiation and innovation: the product's iteration speed and innovation capability. Based on these criteria, many distributors adjusted their strategies after the pandemic according to their channels and target groups. A distributor in Wuxi, Mr. Li, with annual sales exceeding 100 million yuan, primarily serves fruit chain stores, boutique stores, and mom-and-pop shops. Mr. Li said that after the pandemic, he adjusted his product line, cutting instant and filling foods, and replacing them with a large number of puffed snacks. Why? "Today's young people want both 'excitement' and 'health,' and also have the urge to take photos and share on social media." He ultimately gave Capico's "Taste of China" potato chip series three full shelves. During interviews with distributors, New Distribution observed that behind this decision lies the underlying logic of a national brand's counterattack. Strategic Upgrade from National Snack to Cultural Symbol In March this year, Capico innovatively launched the "Taste of China Series" pure-cut potato chips, adhering to the health concept of "0 trans fats," and combined the three most popular local flavors—"sour, numbing, and spicy"—to develop five flavors: Chongqing Spicy Hot Pot, Northeast BBQ, Guizhou Red Sour Soup, Old Beijing Sesame Paste, and Sichuan Sichuan Pepper Beef. While promoting Chinese food culture and spreading authentic Chinese flavors, it offers consumers a dual experience of health and deliciousness. As a domestic potato chip brand under Dali Foods Group, the slogan "Happy every moment, my Capico" is well-known. The brand focuses on "happiness," a high-frequency emotional touchpoint, precisely capturing the core need for "stress relief and relaxation" in snack consumption scenarios, conveying Capico's original intention of happiness to consumers. A closer analysis shows that this innovative product launch aligns well with current consumption trends. At this year's FMCG conference held by New Distribution, Nielsen pointed out that today's consumer market faces a dilemma: the balance of supply and demand. The inflection point of supply and demand has arrived, meaning the market has shifted from a "seller's market" to a "buyer's market." Here, "buyer's market" refers to consumers, revealing the core contradiction in the current consumer market: consumers are not short of money; they are unwilling to spend. They have higher expectations for product value and no longer pay for "mediocrity," but seek emotional resonance, cultural identity, and experience upgrades. How to make them willing to spend proactively? As one distributor put it, "In the past, distribution relied on channel push; now products need to speak for themselves." Let's look at another set of data. In Innova's 2024 Market Insights global top five flavor trends, Trend 4 mentions "Regional Trends": In 2024, two-thirds of consumers expressed willingness to try new exotic cuisines. Innova research found that 26% of global consumers want to see local dishes from their own region in food and beverages, while 22% want to see local dishes from other regions. Under this flavor revolution trend, urbanization accelerates population mobility: Northeast BBQ restaurants open in Shenzhen's CBD, Chongqing hot pot-flavored chips appear on Shanghai convenience store shelves. Local flavors are completing a nationwide taste migration with snacks as the carrier. What about the acceptance of local flavors? Taking spiciness as an example, chili industry data shows that over 650 million people can eat or love spicy food, and 57.2% of spicy food consumers repurchase 2-3 times a week, with addictiveness driving high-frequency consumption. Combined with high-frequency population movement breaking regional barriers, several major Chinese regional flavors are gaining popularity and trending in the consumer market. Swipe left to see more. Capico has seized this trend and demand insight, developing the most representative local specialty potato chip flavors around the three basic tastes of "sour, numbing, and spicy," which are popular and mainstream. It has turned Chongqing's numbing spiciness, Northeast BBQ, Guizhou's sour soup, Old Beijing's sesame paste, and Sichuan's Sichuan pepper into "national bestsellers." Building Capico's Sales Loop through "People, Goods, Place" Synergy What about the sales feedback after the new product launch? New Distribution contacted distributor Mr. Tian from Guizhou. Mr. Tian mentioned that the Capico "Taste of China" series chips are still being fully distributed, aiming to reach all terminal outlets. Currently, the best feedback comes from campus channels, with daily sales reaching nearly 10,000 yuan and high repurchase rates. Why? Mr. Tian explained that campuses are filled with young consumers who love trying new things, and they come from all over the country. The five regional flavors of Capico are classic and cover about 90% of university campus consumer groups. Indeed, Capico uses a "people-centric" customer acquisition approach, with "regional flavors + cultural empowerment + health upgrade" as the core, responding to young consumers' dual needs for emotional value and cultural identity. We can break this down using the "People, Goods, Place" model. "People": Precisely Targeting Consumer Needs, Building Emotional Resonance The core logic of today's young consumers is "paying for emotions." Capico uses regional flavors—like the numbing spiciness of Chongqing hot pot and the nostalgia of Old Beijing sesame paste—to trigger dopamine and endorphin release, satisfying stress-relief and novelty-seeking psychological needs. Data shows that 57.2% of spicy food consumers eat it 2-3 times a week, and the high repurchase rate also validates the effectiveness of emotional value. Secondly, 43% of consumers choose local flavors due to "cultural identity." For example, Guizhou Red Sour Soup replicates the Miao ethnic group's traditional fermentation process, and Sichuan Sichuan Pepper Beef inherits classic Sichuan cuisine. Consumers are not just buying snacks; they are paying for the cultural story behind them. As is well known, young people growing up in an era of national prosperity and accessible everything tend to prefer "persona-driven consumption" and "social consumption," paying more attention to the spiritual experience and emotional value behind consumption. Therefore, entering the new generation's cultural circle and resonating deeply with young people is a long-term strategy for Capico's brand rejuvenation. "Goods": Product Innovation with Social Attributes A successful product must meet four consumer needs: emotion, addiction, social interaction, and health. First, in terms of product craftsmanship, Capico's "Taste of China Series" pure-cut chips achieve 0 trans fats, use fresh potato slicing technology, with real potato slices ≤1.5mm thick, balancing taste and health, covering health-conscious groups like white-collar workers and mothers. Secondly, chips themselves are addictive. Puffed snacks are a remedy for psychological issues; when feeling depressed, unhappy, or lonely, the "crunchy" sound is itself a stress-relieving experience. In this regard, distributor Mr. Wang from Shaanxi mentioned that the core advantages of this new product are: first, its health selling point; second, a clear positioning for young consumer groups; and third, attractive packaging with cultural symbols. Mr. Wang explained that the distribution path for the new product prioritizes community stores and campus channels where young consumers gather, first penetrating these channels before radiating to others. The bright packaging is eye-catching, giving young consumers the desire to buy and try. The names carry regional characteristics, aligning with young people's psychology of sharing on social media and strengthening regional recognition. In the long run, he has great confidence in the terminal sales of this new product. "Place": Multi-Scenario Consumption Penetration In fact, snacks themselves have many consumption scenarios: outdoor travel, work breaks, afternoon tea, including crispy textures and heavy salt and spice, all are sought after by consumers. Stress-Relief and Binge-Watching Scenarios: Personal indulgence and emotional regulation, such as Chongqing hot pot and Sichuan Sichuan pepper flavors triggering endorphin release, satisfying addictive needs. 57.2% of consumers eat them 2-3 times a week, suitable for solo moments like work breaks or late-night binge-watching. Family Sharing Scenarios: Coverage of north-south flavors, with Northeast BBQ and Old Beijing sesame paste flavors suitable for family gatherings and weekend movie nights, meeting taste preferences across age groups, and conveying regional food culture through regional tastes, combining consumption with parent-child cultural education. Cultural Tourism Integration Scenarios: As snacks for local tourist attractions, such as Guizhou Red Sour Soup flavor linked with local tourism IPs, purchased by tourists as "portable regional cultural symbols." According to Kantar Worldpanel's monitoring, the out-of-home consumption market recovered rapidly in 2023, with tourism/travel, shopping, and sports outdoor scenarios significantly rebounding quarter by quarter. Among them, ice cream, puffed snacks, and biscuits showed obvious recovery in out-of-home scenarios. Clearly, the strong correlation between product, scenario, and people brings a strong consumption experience perception. Under this sales logic, Capico has achieved rapid breakthroughs in core channels. Successful Channel Execution Strategy: "Available, Visible, Willing to Buy" Unlike current channel tactics, in the past, brands only needed to produce products and distribute them to channels to drive sales. But now the consumer market has changed: sales channels are increasingly fragmented, and similar products are abundant. Simply relying on distribution no longer works. Brands need to shift their thinking: for C-end consumers, products must have heart-touching features; for B-end sales channels, consumers should be able to buy products anytime they want. From the "People, Goods, Place" model analysis, it's clear that Capico is rebuilding the relationship between brand and consumers, evolving from "people looking for goods" to "goods looking for people," tapping into consumers' potential needs, refining product operations, and implementing successful channel execution strategies. Lu Xiuqiong, global expert partner at Bain & Company, proposed that a successful channel execution strategy should be "available, visible, and willing to buy." Available: Make products ubiquitous. For different channels and scenarios, Capico offers different packaging sizes. On food delivery platforms, it provides portable 30g small packs; in campus channels, it focuses on 56g and 100g sizes. Visible: Make products easy to discover. Online, Capico has partnered for the first time with the China College Students' Advertising Art Festival Academy Awards to launch the "Capico College Student Live Streaming Competition." Through live-streaming entrepreneurship, it recruits 100+ live-streaming teams from universities nationwide, enhancing the visibility of the new "Taste of China" series pure-cut chips while achieving high-frequency online presence and full coverage of campus channels. Willing to Buy: Stimulate purchase desire. Offline, after 2024 saw 300+ events across 100+ universities, generating billions of exposures, Capico's "Taste of China" series pure-cut chips are the competition product, with the theme "0 trans fats, pure-cut, thin and crispy, more happiness." It invites college students nationwide to participate, planning to recruit 240 student teams and hold 500 campus events, precisely reaching terminals and boosting offline conversion. According to New Distribution, the "Taste of China" series is not only a product innovation but also a long-term strategic optimization for the brand. In today's volatile consumer market, brands need top-down empowerment and precise activation of terminal markets to continuously navigate cycles. Moreover, for this category, it remains a thriving trend. Data shows that in 2024, the online snack market showed a good growth trend over the past year, with sales reaching 16.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%, and sales volume up 26.8% year-on-year. Among them, puffed snacks, as the third-largest category, have a scale exceeding 130 billion yuan. If Capico captures 1% of this 130 billion yuan market share, that's a 1.3 billion yuan business scale. So a large track and high momentum equal big opportunities. A Hangzhou distributor, Mr. Wang, who deals in leisure snacks with an annual scale of 200-300 million yuan, bases his product selection on three dimensions: first, brand power—having a certain reputation and influence in the industry; second, the category must have a large market capacity, high consumer awareness, and significant growth potential; third, the product must have social attributes. Clearly, Capico's development space in this category is promising. This innovative practice by Capico provides a healthy sales loop path for the channel side, offering a benchmark for traditional snack brands to break through and validating the strategic feasibility of "national genes + youthful expression."