“Is there still a chance to do e-commerce now?” Recently, while visiting the market, a distributor lamented that offline business is getting harder and harder, and wondered if going online could find a way out.
To understand the situation, I chatted with several e-commerce business owners, and almost all of them mentioned one word—difficult! “It’s hard to get organic traffic now, especially for new products. To get sales, you have to invest in advertising, but that’s just losing money to make a splash. Invest 10,000 yuan, and you’ll sell about 10,000 yuan worth of goods.” one owner told me. Besides traffic costs, costs are also rising. “In previous years, the return rate was around 5%, but this year it’s at least 8%, and more and more cases of losing both goods and money.” said a boss who had tried e-commerce and later gave up. These are indeed problems, but for distributors, the primary obstacle is actually a lack of talent. “Distributors do store distribution and coverage business. Where is there talent for online operations? The boss doesn’t have the energy to research it, and the people they find may not be suitable.” Some distributors also offered a different view: “It depends on which platform you choose. The more mature and larger the platform, the less likely you are to make money. If you can find a platform with traffic dividends, there’s still a chance.” That’s true, but is there still a platform with traffic dividends? Coincidentally, I recently saw a set of data: Dewu—a platform primarily serving young people—saw a 70% year-on-year increase in the number of merchants with annual sales exceeding 100 million yuan, a 450% increase in the number of active merchants in the food category, a 400% increase in merchants with GMV exceeding 1 million yuan, and Coca-Cola, after joining Dewu for 3 months, jumped to TOP1 in the beverage category with daily orders exceeding 10,000... In the current extremely competitive market, such data is truly impressive! What kind of platform is Dewu, and why is it growing so rapidly? Is it now a dividend period? How can FMCG distributors, especially food distributors, seize this opportunity? I want to explain it in detail in this article!
Low Cost, Fast Ramp-Up:
90% Free Traffic, Sales Reaching Tens of Millions Within 3 Months of Listing
Traffic is getting more and more expensive, which is a reality all online merchants have to face. No advertising, no sales; with advertising, no profit. Food is inherently a category with thin margins and high volume, so food merchants suffer especially. But on the Dewu platform, we see a different scene, with numerous cases of explosive sales growth. For example, Coca-Cola, after joining Dewu for 3 months, jumped to TOP1 in the beverage category, with cumulative sales exceeding 10 million yuan. Yili Yousuanru collaborated with Line Friends to create a gift box, which sold out within 3 days of launch, with transaction volume exceeding 10,000 orders. In addition, during Mother’s Day (May), compared to April, daily average orders for “Ejiao” grew 11.6 times, “Bird’s Nest” grew 14.2 times, and “Chocolate Gift Box” grew 4.4 times. It’s important to note that 90% of traffic on Dewu is free! Merchants not only have low costs but can also quickly ramp up and sell out. How does Dewu achieve this? I summarize the following three reasons. First, unlike traditional e-commerce, Dewu operates on a product logic. Traditional e-commerce uses a shelf logic, where whoever can afford the fees gets exposure and clicks; in essence, it sells traffic as a resource to merchants. Dewu, on the other hand, uses a product logic, where high-quality traffic is shared among hot-selling products and products that meet user needs. As long as merchants have good products at reasonable prices, they can enjoy 90% free, high-quality traffic. Second, Dewu doesn’t force artificial promotions; the whole year can be a peak period. Dewu leverages users’ needs for self-pleasure and gifting, making specific holidays such as New Year and Valentine’s Day natural peak periods for products. For example, during Valentine’s Day, the three brands “Dove & Disney & Glico” performed outstandingly, with 100 “snack gift packs and gift boxes” themed around Valentine’s Day listed, and merchants achieved nearly 5 times the sales explosion. Third, young users have more spending power. Dewu’s consumers are very young, with 94% under 35 years old, and the vast majority are Gen Z between 19 and 25, mostly students and white-collar workers. Young people are the main consumer group for snacks and beverages, and these categories account for a high proportion of their daily spending. According to survey data, if a young person’s monthly spending is 2,000-3,000 yuan, 600-1,000 yuan of that will be spent on snacks and beverages. It is reported that the number of merchants on Dewu with annual sales exceeding 100 million yuan is growing rapidly, with a year-on-year increase of 70%. New product listings on Dewu increased by over 250% year-on-year, and merchants achieve sales from the moment they list, with an average of breaking 1 million yuan within 30 days.
More Worry-Free Operations
Average Return Rate for Food and Beverages is Only 0.02%
For the food industry, which operates on thin margins and high volume, besides “traffic anxiety,” many merchants are also troubled by “return rates.” A boss I recently spoke with analyzed: Consumers really don’t have much money; prices must be low, but the goods must be flawless. Coupled with platform policies like “refund only,” which have been stopped but have cultivated a habit among consumers to return goods for the slightest dissatisfaction. “This year’s return rate is at least 20-30% higher than last year.” he admitted. In stark contrast, the return rates on Dewu across all categories are far below the industry average. For example, the return rate for food and beverages is only 0.02%, beauty products as low as 1%, digital 3C products about 3%-5%, and gold and jewelry only 7%... We see many cases where products sell out but have extremely low return rates. For example, “interest and self-pleasure” IP co-branded products: Strawberry Bear gift box, which climbed to TOP3 in food industry sales during Qixi Festival, with daily sales exceeding 500 orders; Glico x Sanrio co-branded gift packs and Glico product family packs, with sales going from 0 to over 1,000 orders during Qixi. “Fresh and novel” products: Sprite Jay Chou can, Costa Coffee x National Gallery co-branded coffee, Coca-Cola Olympic limited edition, peach-flavored Coca-Cola, etc. Why can Dewu achieve such low return rates? First, the platform strictly controls quality, and users trust it. Dewu has always focused on authenticity, with very strict management of product quality and sources. Starting with trendy shoes and apparel, Dewu has established a reputation for authentic, high-quality goods in consumers’ minds, and consumers have strong trust in products on the Dewu platform. Second, unlike impulse buying, users on Dewu actively search and place orders based on real consumption needs. Take snacks and beverages as an example; these products have diverse consumption scenarios, such as main meals, morning coffee and milk, afternoon snacks, office tea breaks, etc., which drive stockpiling and periodic repurchase. Third, the products sold during Dewu’s peak periods have a particularly strong gifting attribute. Targeting young people’s demands for new, trendy, cool, and dazzling products, Dewu works with merchants to focus on supplying categories like “interest and self-pleasure,” “holiday gifting,” and “fresh and novel” products. These products have a strong gifting attribute, so consumers’ return rates are very low. Instead of competing on price, they compete on quality and differentiation, with extremely low return rates. Major brands and high-quality merchants are accelerating their entry into Dewu.
Low Barrier: Even with 0 E-commerce Experience
A Team of 2-3 People Can Start
Whether it’s traffic costs or return and exchange costs, Dewu has advantages over other platforms. But in reality, the primary obstacle for distributors entering e-commerce is themselves. A distributor boss told me: “Online and offline are completely different businesses. Don’t think that just because you have products, you can do it.” Nowadays, doing e-commerce is very complex, from product selection and advertising to design and graphic work. You need to build a professional operations team of at least 6-8 people, and these professionals’ salaries are much higher than offline salespeople. Finding suitable people is one thing, but as this boss admitted: “It’s not easy to find the right people from outside. The key is that the boss doesn’t understand it himself, so you can’t tell if they’re any good.” Dewu fully considers merchants’ difficulties and offers a “semi-managed model.” According to feedback from a distributor who joined Dewu, they only have two people responsible for Dewu operations, with over 500 SKUs listed on the store, and after half a year, they achieved monthly profits of 1 million yuan. In other words, Dewu is a platform where you can succeed even with 0 e-commerce experience, and a team of 2-3 people can start. On traditional e-commerce platforms, merchants have to handle traffic, order fulfillment, and customer service themselves, which is a huge obstacle for distributors lacking e-commerce experience. The “semi-managed model” has a very low barrier; merchants only need to source products, set prices, and ship orders. They don’t need to worry about traffic or store management, there’s no complex operations, no need for graphic design, and no need to pay extra for advertising. This lightweight model is an easy-to-use solution for traditional channel merchants with limited e-commerce experience. To help merchants operate well, Dewu also offers 1v1 support services. When new merchants join, a dedicated platform operator explains the platform rules and provides detailed guidance. Even for novice questions, the operator patiently explains, greatly reducing the difficulty for Dewu merchants, especially those new to e-commerce. The 70% year-on-year increase in merchants with annual sales exceeding 100 million yuan, the 450% increase in active merchants in the food category, and the 400% increase in merchants with GMV exceeding 1 million yuan... these impressive numbers are inseparable from Dewu’s policies and support. Dewu aims to create an e-commerce platform that is “easy to operate, worry-free, and highly efficient.”
Final Thoughts
Business is very difficult right now, both online and offline. Distributors are extremely eager to avoid low-price competition and find new growth opportunities. While everyone is competing on price, Dewu is competing on quality, product differentiation, and service. For merchants, Dewu is an extremely friendly platform:
First, as long as you have good products, you can share 90% free traffic.
Second, products sell out with extremely low return rates; the food category is only 0.02%.
Third, the “semi-managed model” allows even 0 e-commerce experience and a 2-person team to operate easily.
Distributors who currently represent well-known brands, pay attention! Dewu is currently recruiting merchants enthusiastically. “New Distribution” has learned that on November 28, Dewu will hold a food and beverage recruitment conference in Shanghai, where more support policies for distributors will be announced, such as Dewu has already opened 0-yuan trial operation, and a 1% fee rate for key brand distributors, etc. At the event, operations leaders will explain in detail how to operate and make money on Dewu, and share industry dividend opportunities. Currently, whether merchants who previously focused on physical stores or those with online experience have signed up. Welcome to come and exchange ideas, and jointly find new growth paths. Food and beverage distributors, don’t miss this rare growth opportunity. If you have high-quality product supply, you can scan the QR code to fill in the form to register. Whether for joining or attending, a dedicated person will contact you to answer questions.