After a day of visiting dozens of small store terminals under the scorching sun, Lao Wang returned to the office in the evening with his team members Xiao Li and Lao Zhang to review the day's store insights. Lao Zhang looked worried: "Boss, our shampoo has too many SKUs (5) distributed in small stores. Last month, we placed two cases of goods in Hongxing Community in the north of the city, and we've only sold three bottles so far..." "Brother Wang, the price inversion on laundry detergent has lasted for over two weeks. Recently, several small store owners have been pressing me to accept returns, saying I'm selling at high prices!" Xiao Li complained while looking at Lao Wang for instructions. "Stop complaining. After visiting dozens of small stores today, we must change our distribution and sell-through strategies!" Lao Wang's attitude was resolute. Small stores are a massive presence in the domestic market. According to incomplete statistics, across more than 2,000 cities and county-level markets nationwide, there are 6 to 7 million small stores scattered in a highly fragmented manner. For high-frequency products like beverages and snacks, these small stores are the main sales channel, with extremely fierce competition. However, for low-frequency long-tail categories such as daily chemicals, paper products, and general merchandise, low turnover and slow sell-through often fail to attract much attention from frontline city managers. In the past, daily chemical manufacturers, from an operational efficiency perspective, have not paid enough attention to the small store channel and have not done well in it. Although individual store sales are low, the overall base is large in the FMCG industry, so this market represents a huge incremental opportunity for manufacturers of low-frequency standard products like daily chemicals. This article, from the perspective of low-frequency categories like daily chemicals, discusses market operation tactics for the small store channel, hoping to provide some inspiration and thoughts for frontline city managers of different FMCG brands. Facing numerous, fragmented, and widespread small stores, how should we respond to tap incremental growth? -01- Small Store Trends: Convenience, Platformization, Community Orientation Before discussing specific operational tactics, we need to look up and see the trends. Only by understanding the overall development trends of the small store channel can we act with purpose, plan ahead, and seize the market. It is evident that the current small store channel is on the path of "formalization" and "digitalization," either being absorbed by convenience store brands, connecting with JD New Path and Alibaba Retail Link, or actively transforming into community supermarkets. First, convenience is bound to be one of the important future paths for small stores. The 300,000 convenience stores nationwide are distributed across various city levels. The convenience process is rapidly advancing in first-tier cities, relatively slower in second- and third-tier cities, and in its infancy in fourth- and fifth-tier cities. The top three chains—Sinopec Easy Joy, Meiyijia, and Kunlun Haoke—each have over 20,000 stores. Of course, Sinopec Easy Joy and Kunlun Haoke, although considered small stores, are generally classified under special channels in FMCG manufacturers' channel planning. Whether the small store channel is absorbed by platforms or chain retail enterprises, or relies on the owners' own development, the trends of convenience and community orientation are unstoppable. Professional management and headquarters' centralized procurement and distribution better align with social division of labor and consumer demand for small store formats. Second, platformization. With national B2B platforms like Alibaba Retail Link and JD New Path entering the market since 2015, they have intervened in individual small stores through product supply. Small stores embracing new retail and platformization is also a clear trend. From the latest information, these two major platforms claim to cover 2 million small stores nationwide, with monthly active users of less than 1 million. In the future, covering 2 to 2.5 million may be the limit for these two platforms. After small stores become platformized, the digitalization of orders and payments is significant for brand owners because the approach to small stores can be completely different from the past. But as a city manager, you must also understand that even though these stores are platformized and gradually have the awareness to place orders independently, these 2 million small stores nationwide are extremely complex and dispersed. Without platform promotions, small store owners still won't proactively place orders. Moreover, small store owners generally have lower educational levels, and their understanding and acceptance of new retail may be limited, making it difficult to achieve truly automatic and uniform behavior in a short time. Third, community orientation. Among the 7 million small stores nationwide, excluding 300,000 convenience stores and 2 million platformized stores, there are still over 4 million small stores scattered in the capillaries of markets at all levels. These stores are also target outlets that city managers cannot shirk. These stores require greater service difficulty, finer management granularity, and more precise product distribution choices. In light of the above three trends (convenience, platformization, community orientation), facing the most extensive channel of small stores, even for high-frequency categories like beverages, snacks, and beer, it is a tough nut to crack, difficult to fully control, with high coverage difficulty and high maintenance costs, let alone relatively low-frequency daily chemical categories. How should our frontline city managers respond? -02- Prominent Pain Points: Define the Problem First, Then Find Solutions Against the backdrop of the three major trends in small stores, frontline city managers also face different pain points. In summary, there are three core points: First, convenience stores, although desired by city managers because they can achieve strong intervention and control through unified negotiations, also bring another challenge—do they possess professional negotiation skills? Intensified brand competition, higher negotiation thresholds, and rising system marketing costs are the touchstones for testing city managers' abilities. At the same time, although convenience systems have standardized management, strictly speaking, many small stores are not fully franchised convenience stores; some have strong control, while others are light franchises. The headquarters of convenience systems may have varying control capabilities when implemented in each store, making it difficult to effectively track single-store marketing execution. The second pain point is long-standing but seems to be intensifying. Small stores are extremely dispersed, scattered like stars, penetrating the capillaries of every city. Especially for low-frequency daily chemical products, distributors face high logistics costs, low sales, slow sell-through, and cannot achieve healthy inventory pressure. In the past, small stores sourced goods either from wholesale markets or distributors, but now it's a composite channel. Small stores can order from six to seven channels, comparing prices everywhere. This makes price management in small stores difficult to control. The more competition, the more chaotic prices become, leading to a vicious cycle over time, with price levels continuously decreasing and prices becoming more transparent. The third pain point: Community-oriented small stores are mostly in the form of "package deals." First-tier brands negotiate for primary shelving only, while second- and third-tier brands invest in people and displays. With the evolution of community trends, the fresh produce area in stores expands, and fees increase year by year. Moreover, since sell-through and turnover are slower than other categories, payment terms are also extended. These are the three key pain points that frontline city managers face in the small store channel. After defining the problems, let's see how frontline city managers should respond and tackle them one by one. -03- Different Battlefields: One-to-One Correspondence, Tackle One by One Consistent with the previous discussions on large and medium stores, this article still uses the dimensions of "people, goods, and places" to address the three trends and discuss countermeasures for frontline city managers. 1. Convenience Stores: Select Business, Differentiate Product Selection, Seize Key Promotional Periods. In terms of "people," selecting business means using the most professional frontline staff to handle headquarters negotiations. For stores, analyze business potential through data, set daily fixed visit routes, and attempt to use mobile merchandisers to maintain displays in individual stores. For communication with chain convenience store headquarters, local city managers should choose sales representatives with strong negotiation skills and logical data analysis abilities, rather than the rough-and-tumble sales reps of the past who focused on wholesale and inventory pressure. In terms of "goods," city managers should clearly differentiate product selection and layout according to different system stores. For example, Meiyijia and Furong Xingxing have different consumer positioning. Meiyijia targets more urban migrant workers, so it can sell more novel and men's products, as men account for over 60% of Meiyijia's customers. For Furong Xingxing, it's more about community residents with a wide age range and various social strata, so the most appropriate approach is to create big hits and position products for the mass market. In terms of "place," seize important marketing periods, co-create across the system, and try more digital activity mechanisms. For example, electronic discount coupons, instant purchase discounts, etc. Secondly, promptly follow up on the home delivery platform business extended by convenience stores. From the current situation, some chain convenience stores are still in the trial stage. At this time, as a manufacturer, it is very worthwhile to promote and help convenience stores try home delivery business, thereby gaining the first-mover advantage. Finally, pay attention to and participate in store POS machine activities to achieve precision marketing, thereby fully leveraging the systematic and intensive advantages of convenience stores. 2. Platformized Stores: Borrow the Boat to Go to Sea, Tiered Management, Focus on the Head. As the local sales commander for the manufacturer, frontline city managers have long faced the pain point that daily chemical low-frequency products are single, making it difficult for brands to achieve deep channel coverage at low cost and high efficiency. How to use an efficient B2B system and closely connect with the platform's massive partner and customer manager teams to "borrow the boat to go to sea" and achieve rapid distribution coverage is particularly important. It is worth noting that in addition to using B2B platforms, regional distributors should also be fully mobilized. In the past, distributors often represented several brands. City managers should guide distributors to expand into adjacent categories. For example, in addition to representing leading daily chemical brands, suggest that distributors add paper products, disinfection, general merchandise, and other extended categories to become category distributors. Through the combination of category structures, build a targeted product matrix around deep distribution in small stores. In terms of "goods," small stores should be managed in tiers. For head stores, continuously enrich the width of distribution and lock shelf space with products. A standard 100-150 square meter small store has monthly sales of daily chemical products hovering around 3,000-5,000 yuan, of which shampoo may account for 500 yuan, toothpaste 800 yuan... In short, a small store's total monthly daily chemical volume is limited. How to win the limited "zero-sum game" in this store is something every city manager needs to consider. Use hit products to seize every inch of limited shelf space, leaving competitors with no place to display or sell. For waist stores, it is recommended to use hit product pricing to open the way, promote store sell-through and reorders, and gradually build a battle group of hit products. For tail stores, only focus on a single hit product, target new stores and monthly active stores, not seeking width but focusing firepower on orders. Resources are always limited. Manufacturer sales personnel should spend more time on head stores, focusing on shelf share, promotional sell-through, and sales aid tools to increase per-store output. For small stores, it is not necessary to emphasize the breadth of distribution, but rather the depth, that is, quality! Quality is more important than quantity. 3. Community-Oriented Small Stores: Concentrate Forces for Breakthroughs in Community Stores, and Seize Key Sales Days in Township Stores. High-yield community-oriented small stores mainly fall into two categories: the first is community stores in urban "villages in the city," and the second is township community stores, which are local gathering places. Optimize sales personnel allocation and focus sales staff serving the small store channel on high-yield community stores, which is relatively more efficient. In terms of "goods," based on these two typical community-oriented stores, differentiate distribution, increase promotional share, and seize market share. Similarly, tiered management can also be applied to community-oriented stores. For stores with good sales, community supermarkets are crowded on weekends. Seize key sales times, lock in secondary displays as much as possible, and do not give up any opportunity for exposure. Actively seize the limited display resources of small stores, and tightly grasp key sales days and key sales times. Township roadshows with minimal manpower and material investment are worth trying. In summary, as a frontline city manager, help distributors select channels carefully, identify community-oriented small stores and convenience stores, try to capture head chains, optimize personnel, and achieve precise breakthroughs. Attach great importance to the high-efficiency management opportunities of small store platformization. In the past, each sales representative could only manage 60-100 stores. Now, by connecting with mainstream B2B platforms, they can manage hundreds or thousands of stores. Therefore, JD New Path and Alibaba Retail Link should be fully connected, accurately communicated, and not only in parallel but also in series, leveraging their strengths to deepen and broaden the small store channel. Of course, among the 7 million small stores nationwide, a large number of long-tail small stores have not yet achieved convenience, platformization, or community orientation. These massive small store terminals will likely continue to be dispersed, exist, and drift in the future. On the one hand, a new generation of digital coverage platforms may emerge; on the other hand, wholesale markets need to continue to play their role. Next week, we will discuss the past, present, and future of wholesale channels with frontline city managers, and explore wholesale channel management tactics in the new retail and new omnichannel era. "Today's small store review meeting ends here. Everyone, focus on the three heads! Do you all understand?" "Understood! That is, the head of convenience, the head of platformization, and the head of community!" The meeting ended at 10 p.m. Lao Wang decided to continue visiting nearby small stores because the later it gets, the more it is the peak time for B2B platform sales transactions. Lao Wang wanted to delve into the night market marketing scenarios of small stores. His goal was to double the number of B2B active stores in the city... Only by going deep into the front line can you smell the gunpowder; only in the trenches can you understand the challenges and opportunities on the front line. Tonight will be a fruitful night for Lao Wang... Bio: Xu Xiang, currently the Sales Director of Unilever South China, with 20 years of experience in FMCG daily chemicals, dairy, and condiments, deeply engaged in regional market management and customer marketing. Willing to exchange ideas with peers. The above article only represents personal views. Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted. 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