---
title: "“Channel is King” No Longer Works—Where's the Problem?"
description: "For those with over a decade in marketing, the phrase “channel is king” likely comes to mind. A decade later, this channel-centric view no longer holds. Where's the problem? This article explores how to navigate channels in the new landscape."
author: "时靖玮"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2020-05-01"
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# “Channel is King” No Longer Works—Where's the Problem?

> For those with over a decade in marketing, the phrase “channel is king” likely comes to mind. A decade later, this channel-centric view no longer holds. Where's the problem? This article explores how to navigate channels in the new landscape.

**For those with over a decade in marketing, the phrase “channel is king” likely comes to mind. A decade later, this channel-centric view no longer holds. Where's the problem? This article explores how to navigate channels in the new landscape.**

When discussing channels, we must first clarify what a channel is. As Kotler put it: “A marketing channel is the specific path or route through which a product or service moves from producer to consumer.”

Those who have systematically studied Kotler's *Marketing Management* will also note that channels encompass not only distribution channels but also communication and service channels. In my view, the sum of these three constitutes the full concept of a channel.

In China's marketing circles, particularly in FMCG and daily chemical industries, the theory of “deep distribution” was once pushed to its limits, achieving remarkable success. Since the reform and opening-up, the “channel-driven” approach in Chinese marketing has almost completely outperformed the “brand-driven” approach.

**Let's use the AIDA model from consumer behavior (Attention → Interest → Desire → Action) to explain this:**

The primary factor driving consumer purchases is “attention.” In China for a long period, when products were not so abundant, consumer attention was not so scarce.

When products became relatively abundant, whoever could do well in the “lower-tier markets” would gain scale. The logic is simple: in lower-tier markets, attention resources were also not so scarce.

So, **for decades of Chinese-style marketing, we operated in markets where attention resources were not scarce.** However, the internet, urbanization, and infrastructure development (highways, railways) have greatly accelerated the abundance of what people can see and use, making attention resources scarce.

Speaking of attention resources, we must discuss another type of channel: communication channels. In the past, a company's marketing organization was divided into two parts: the “sales department” and the “marketing department” (names may vary). **The sales department handled ground operations, building and maintaining distribution channels, while the marketing department addressed consumer awareness or attention.**

**In the past, consumers' cognitive channels and media were relatively centralized; television, newspapers, and regional print ads were the three pillars.**

For national markets, a single CCTV ad could instantly boost sales. In the Qinchun era, people often joked that you could drive an Alto into Media Center and drive out an Audi.

Newspapers and regional print ads were also key tools for building awareness in regional markets. Brain Platinum was known for its soft articles in newspapers.

Gradually, as media, especially CCTV, became increasingly expensive, marketers sought new ways to capture attention. In the liquor industry, the “plate-in-plate” model was developed, using small restaurant channels to drive the larger market. This gave rise to display fees, storefront signs, and various in-store merchandising tools.

Later, **as these in-store displays, signs, and merchandising tools became more expensive,** the “trunk” project, represented by Yanghe, emerged—the precursor to group buying. Before restrictions on official consumption, most heavy users were in government and state-owned enterprises, where competition was based on public relations and personal connections.

At this point, I want to make a point: **besides adhering to the general direction of “deep distribution,” we have been solving consumer awareness through various means. Awareness is the result of attention.**

Ultimately, it is technology that changes our lives. The rise of the internet, especially mobile internet and self-media, has fragmented people's attention. Without attention, there is no awareness; without awareness, how can there be transactions or consumption?

**On e-commerce platforms, under the principle of “user experience first,” price wars are the first to strike.**

Low prices were the earliest way for e-commerce platforms to attract attention. Some say SARS created Taobao, but I disagree. Even without SARS, e-commerce platforms wielding the big stick of low prices would have eventually achieved a “dimensional reduction strike.”

Internet media platforms, relying on the extreme of low prices—free—have intensely attracted consumer attention, then sold that batch attention to brands. Advertising revenue remains a major income source for internet giants.

Now, internet companies are waging a “battle for user time.” In essence, it's a battle for attention.

**The reason many traditional industry marketers are confused by the current situation is that they focus on distribution channels while neglecting communication channels.**

I've spent so many words to make this point because only by understanding the root cause can we prescribe the right remedy.

**My first prescription: Continue to maintain deep distribution capabilities.**

Over decades, traditional industries have accumulated their core competitiveness in deep distribution. This is their greatest strength.

During the pandemic, many traditional companies, in a panic, suddenly pivoted to community commerce, ignoring the interests of their deep distribution terminals, even breaking price discipline. This is very short-sighted.

These valuable resources are what internet companies can only dream of. Perhaps for the operators of these companies, it was a helpless move.

But ultimately, maintaining your strengths is the ultimate value and core competitiveness.

**My second prescription: Focus on every link that captures consumer attention, with awareness as the outcome.**

This prescription is complex for traditional industries, so let's break down its main components.

**1. Product Power**

**Ultimately, product power is the first tool to attract consumer attention. The product itself, its packaging, and its cultural attributes are all ways to enhance product power.**

Products also have levels: the basic level is functional attributes, the middle level is toy-oriented, and the advanced level is emotion-oriented.

Take Jiangxiaobai: the essence of liquor is its functional attribute; the middle level is participation, mixology, and toy attributes; the advanced level is the emotional resonance triggered by the content of its expression bottles.

The highest level of emotional orientation is labeling. An LV bag is functionally no different from a stall bag, but it represents a higher label. Social groups are often distinguished by these “labels.”

Labels have no hierarchy. Jiangxiaobai's label represents youth, which may differ from LV's, but that doesn't prevent Jiangxiaobai's rise against the trend.

Note that not all products need to rise to the label level. Packaging aesthetics, deepening functional attributes, and managing consumer expectations are the primary issues for today's products.

**2. Three Elements of Internet Communication: Content, Media, and Audience.**

1) The audience is undoubtedly our target consumers, preferably opinion leaders among them.
2) For media selection, the best are internet platforms where consumers spend significant time and frequency. These can be solved with money—big investments, many choices, or small investments with gradual accumulation. That's not a problem.
3) The hardest part is content. Many companies focus on “big productions,” “blockbusters,” or “heart-piercing copy.” Producing top-tier content is good, but beyond the content itself, there's the issue of sustained content production.

One solution is to wage a “people's war” on content production. Companies should motivate users to generate content themselves. At the same time, every channel node—agents, distributors, terminals, and consumers—can be both content producers and consumers.

**3. Continue to Deepen Terminal Merchandising.**

Terminal merchandising is a required course for traditional brands, so I won't elaborate much. But pay attention to setting up “scream points” and “check-in points.” Terminal merchandising must not leave consumers indifferent; it should make them scream, because screaming leads to sharing, sharing leads to spreading, and spreading brings check-in crowds. Whether consumers are willing to take photos is the specific standard for checking terminal merchandising.

**4. In the World of Communication, It's Opposite to the Real World: The Use of “Weak” Communication and “Strong” Relationships.**

A notable feature of communication is that the stronger the truth or the more mainstream the message, the harder it is to spread. So, we should focus on secondary “subculture” values in society, which are easier to spread. Communication doesn't need “truth”; it needs “emotion.”

Additionally, brand IP-ification and giving brands a “persona” is an inevitable trend. This aligns with the principle of weak communication.

Back to the real world: “strong” relationships have value; they enable strong recommendations. Why don't you want to leave WeChat? Because your “strong relationships” are there. Why do strong-relationship communities stay active, while weak-relationship communities don't even respond to red envelopes?

Online fan acquisition, offline gathering; offline activities, online spreading—these are key methods for evolving from “weak” to “strong” relationships. They are also important for moving from the original one-dimensional space to the current three-dimensional space (online, community, offline) for market interaction and operation.

**Now, let's discuss specific applications of the above prescriptions:** Kotler said a market is where buyers and sellers gather. Teacher Shi Wei said that people used to live in one-dimensional space (offline), but now they live in three-dimensional space (offline, community, online). I often say a correct cliché: **Where there are people, there is a market!**

Kotler is a master, and his definition of market is undoubtedly precise. The question is: in a market, which comes first, the buyer or the seller?

This is a philosophical question, but I think the original market must have arisen where people gathered—I trade my three sheep for your one cow. So, markets can change: they arise where people gather and disappear when people disperse. Over a longer time, markets are fluid.

Teacher Shi Wei is also a teacher I deeply respect. I regard his three-dimensional space theory as a guideline. But I think his theory has a premise: “time.” So, I understand his theory as a consumer time allocation theory.

Back to my cliché: where there are people, there is a market. So, where are the people? At work, at play, in life. For different products, people are in different places.

**1. Communities are key gathering places, and community convenience stores are important nodes.** Establishing a community group centered on a community convenience store, covering the community, is an important method for navigating channels in the new landscape.

Consumers' physical environment is the community, and proximity is one factor for strong relationships. Most of consumers' time (attention) is spent online and in communities.

So, community groups are a crucial battlefield for solving awareness, transactions, and relationships.

Through online community groups, awareness is formed; offline activities reinforce it.

Through the limited shelves of community convenience stores and the “mini-programs” equipped for them, the transaction problem of unlimited shelves is solved.

Online weak relationships are converted into offline strong relationships, with the convenience store owner serving as the hub for maintenance and connection.

Therefore, as I emphasized in a previous article, community commerce is not just a battlefield for community e-commerce or community group buying, but an important battlefield for future business. This is determined by its natural attributes.

Brands should use this battlefield to solve the “awareness” problem, not the transaction problem. Because once brands transact directly with consumers, the interests of community store owners and agents are deprived, breaking the entire value chain.

Agents should use this battlefield to solve “awareness” and “sell-through” (by cooperating with store owners, similar to traditional ground promotion).

Convenience stores should use this battlefield to solve the problem of turning limited shelves into unlimited shelves and maximizing revenue.

**2. On the Use of Online Public Domain Traffic, Commercial Domain Traffic, and Private Domain Traffic.**

Public domain traffic, in my understanding, is traffic that can be obtained for free, such as self-media accounts on various platforms. The key is sustained content production.

As mentioned earlier, content production needs a “people's war” to solve the problem of sustained production.

Commercial domain traffic, in my understanding, is traffic that requires money. Whether it's obtained from traffic pools like Douyin, WeChat, or Kuaishou, or from e-commerce platforms like Taobao, JD, or Pinduoduo, it's a matter of calculation—different people have different views. It depends on specific operational methods.

What I want to emphasize is private domain traffic, or the mindset of private domain traffic. My personal understanding is: obtain once, free forever. Why do I call it a mindset?

Drucker said the purpose of business is to create customers. In the past, due to limitations of technology and tools, once a consumer bought a product, the transaction ended, and the relationship ended with it.

Now, with current technology and tools, after a consumer buys a product, the relationship can continue. So, we should use various tools to move from a one-time purchase consumer to obtaining the consumer's lifetime value through operation and maintenance. In other words, the transaction is just the beginning of the consumer relationship.

**3. On the Conflict of Interests Between Online and Offline.**

Brands can actively embrace the internet, but there are two key points: the conflict of interests between offline and online, and the price conflict.

Price conflicts can be resolved mainly in two ways. First, most customers are either offline or online; the overlap is extremely low, and even if there is an impact, it's minimal.

Reflect: whether users buy online or offline, aren't they buying our products? Second, we can solve this by separating products for offline and online.

The most critical is the conflict of interests between offline and online. I believe brands need to embrace new things, truly integrate online and offline, and share profits with agents to achieve a true manufacturer-dealer alliance. The Sanqi Xiansheng brand I serve is a company that makes raw Sanqi fruits, powder, and derivative products (Sanqi toothpaste, Sanqi flower tea, Sanqi wine).

All our online orders are shipped through offline agents, and the company uses a reverse settlement principle, sharing online profits with agents.

Based on this principle, many agents have achieved a “lie flat and earn money” model, which also reduces their concerns in offline operations, and even allows offline traffic to feed back online, truly achieving manufacturer-dealer integration.

A long article of thousands of words cannot fully explain the transformation of Chinese marketing. The history of world marketing is only a little over a hundred years since its inception, and Chinese marketing history is only a few decades.

Laozi said: “The Tao follows nature.” Tao is the law. Laws also need continuous summarization and refinement by all marketers. Whether you agree with our views or not, you are welcome to participate in the discussion and offer valuable opinions! Those who are in the game are all our peers.

Source: Jingwei Column (ID: jingweizhuanlan)

Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan upon adoption.


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