---
title: "County-Level Distributors Transforming to B2B: A Practical Path from Zero to One"
description: "Facing extreme pressure from manufacturers and clients, many distributors are struggling to survive. Jia Yongshun, general manager of Xuzhou Jintong Food Trading Co., Ltd., successfully transformed his traditional distribution business into a local B2B supply chain platform, achieving daily sales of over 20,000 yuan and covering more than 1,000 small stores. This article shares his practical experience and strategies for other distributors considering B2B transformation."
author: "李锋"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2023-12-10"
language: "en"
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# County-Level Distributors Transforming to B2B: A Practical Path from Zero to One

> Facing extreme pressure from manufacturers and clients, many distributors are struggling to survive. Jia Yongshun, general manager of Xuzhou Jintong Food Trading Co., Ltd., successfully transformed his traditional distribution business into a local B2B supply chain platform, achieving daily sales of over 20,000 yuan and covering more than 1,000 small stores. This article shares his practical experience and strategies for other distributors considering B2B transformation.

Currently, the business situation for most distributors is: manufacturers demand sales and push inventory, clients demand fees and delay payments, squeezing distributors' survival space to the extreme.
After three years of the pandemic, many distributors have fallen. Those who survived the pandemic are not doing well either; some distributors openly say: **they don't know if they can make it through this year.**
Recently, New Distribution interviewed Mr. Jia Yongshun, general manager of Xuzhou Jintong Food Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jintong Food). He entered the industry in 2014, starting as a complete novice, and now represents dozens of brands including Haitian, Niulanshan, Want Want, Daliyuan, and Master Kong, with annual sales exceeding 200 million yuan as a county-level major distributor.
Facing such a difficult market environment, Jia Yongshun resolutely explored new growth paths—**transforming into a local B2B supply chain platform.**
Prepared in June, launched in August, his platform now covers over 1,000 small stores, with daily active users exceeding 80 and daily sales exceeding 20,000 yuan, with sales continuously growing. The practical experience of transforming from zero to one provides valuable reference for many distributors.
**The Goal of B2B: Survival and Greater Control**
"For FMCG distributors, if there is significant room for efficiency improvement in the original track, then that track presents entrepreneurial opportunities, and distributors who engage in B2B seize this opportunity."
Why do B2B?
We often talk about the goal of industrial internet transformation: 'let some people live better, and let some people fail to survive.' This statement is cruel, but in the traditional chain, because everyone is in a state of 'cold weapon' competition, no one can squeeze others out.
**Everyone is in a 'prisoner's dilemma,' and too many intermediate traders have flooded the industry, raising channel costs.**
Therefore, the goal of distributors doing B2B is **to use civilized, smokeless warfare to drive these people out**, ultimately achieving an efficient supply chain model of 'intensification, flattening, digitalization, and intelligence.' However, without intensification, there can be no flattening; without digitalization, there can be no intelligence.
The FMCG distribution industry is also undergoing rapid transformation. Choosing to do B2B ultimately aims to reduce industry channel costs and achieve efficient connections. This is a process of good money driving out bad money.
Jia Yongshun told us that the biggest advantage of doing B2B is: not being forced by brands to stock inventory, and not having payments delayed by supermarkets—this is a business that distributors can control themselves!
Take Jia Yongshun's Jintong Yigou as an example. The platform has over 4,000 SKUs, serves over 1,000 small stores, with online payment and zero credit period.
**In the past, we sold whatever the brand had; now we sell whatever the customer needs.**
In the past, the manufacturer had the final say. Now, we have the final say—as long as we serve the small stores well.
Small store business is a goldmine. Do it well. Jia Yongshun summarized a **service triangle:**
> **First, respect, regular visits, and zero loss for stores are the foundation of doing business.**
>
> **Second, have first-tier well-known brands so customers are willing to cooperate with you.**
>
> **Third, select scarce and profitable products to bring profits to yourself and customers.**
So how to achieve the zero-to-one startup of B2B? How to upgrade the traditional trading business? And how to achieve low-cost, efficient operation?
**From Zero to One: Starting B2B**
Jia Yongshun found that many distributors want to transform to B2B and come to exchange ideas with him. Most have ideas but no methods, not knowing how to start B2B, and have taken many detours. The reason is **they haven't found a benchmark learning object.**
**On one hand, the current successful B2B platform distributors are mainly concentrated in first- and second-tier provincial capitals, where market capacity, retail formats, and competitive environments differ greatly from the second-, third-, and even fourth-tier cities where most distributors are located.**
Therefore, these transformers find it difficult to find similar learning objects in their own cities and cannot borrow their experience and success paths.
**On the other hand, some distributors started as B2B platforms from the beginning and, after years of development, have moved away from the traditional trading company framework.** For those just starting transformation, learning from these successful platforms is not easy to find an entry point; their experience and practices differ greatly from traditional trading companies.
Earlier, Jia Yongshun learned and consulted widely, but finally found that the key is to adjust and try according to one's own situation.
After several months, he finally got through. **Prepared in June this year, launched Jintong Yigou in August, now with over 1,000 terminal registrations. Daily active customers exceed 80, and daily sales exceed 20,000 yuan.** Moreover, this is pure incremental growth and is rapidly increasing.
Jia Yongshun shared several points with us:
**1. Design a new organizational structure**
"Personnel iteration is the company's development," Jia Yongshun said. New departments require redesigning new organizational structures and new teams. Many people initially care about system tools, but systems are easy to solve. Instead, building the organizational structure is the first problem to solve when starting a new project or department. Set it up well from the start, continuously adjust in the middle, and anticipate problems at different stages.
**2. Human resources issues**
Starting a new project inevitably requires human investment. If you only transfer personnel from the original company, it's unrealistic and costly. Jia Yongshun activated a mysterious team, achieving cost reduction and increased efficiency, and this team is highly efficient and execution-oriented. This helped him solve the human resources problem.
**3. Financial system issues**
Once the platform runs, the accounts to handle grow geometrically. Automated financial systems, comprehensive risk management systems, financial information transparency, and financial compliance are all essential measures.
In addition, how to plan product procurement on the platform? How to operate the platform? How to guide B-end customers to place orders independently? What pitfalls to avoid in B2B transformation? These are all problems that transforming distributors will definitely encounter. Jintong Food has stepped on many pits and summarized even more experience.
**Channel Refinement Never Goes Out of Style**
Jia Yongshun shared some views on the future development direction of distributors, believing that **in the next 3-5 years, traditional distributors, especially those representing only a single brand, will face increasingly smaller survival space, while small traders will gradually be eliminated, and large traders will become more dominant.**
Many people talk about the difficulties distributors face, but we are exactly in a rising phase, meaning opportunities still exist. In Jia Yongshun's view, the key to seizing these opportunities lies in channel refinement. For distributors, channels are core assets, i.e., outlets, and the importance of channel refinement will never go out of style.
Whether brand owners or B2B enterprises, they ultimately need to serve terminal small stores to enter the market. Channels are always in the hands of distributors, so distributor services are crucial. Jia Yongshun shared with new distributors a series of measures Jintong Food has taken around channel refinement.
**First, focus on word-of-mouth service.**
In the past, when expanding teams and brands, we neglected service awareness to terminals. Customers often stocked goods because we had a combination of many first-line brands. Therefore, this year we changed our mindset to ensure we provide services and build a good reputation.
Salespeople go to terminals not only to sell goods but also to provide value-added services, such as proactively cleaning shelves and teaching customers how to sell. We are committed to creating a service model so customers can feel the added value of service, not just the brand premium.
**Second, run our own supermarkets.**
We hold an objective attitude towards online retail, viewing it only as a tool. Only when this tool can bring incremental growth will we take action. However, many platforms currently use distributors as tools.
For this reason, Jintong Food began laying out offline retail in August 2021, and has now opened seven local retail chain supermarkets, with expected revenue of over 120 million yuan in 2023.
**Third, corporate operation.**
Improve the independent operation of financial teams, warehousing management teams, and sales teams, and focus on building logistics and distribution terminals to achieve standardized operations. The root cause of poor performance in many trading companies may be the lack of standardized operations and unclear division of labor. Therefore, corporate operation is crucial.
**Final Thoughts**
Due to space limitations, Jia Yongshun's practical experience and insightful thinking cannot be fully detailed here.
Currently, many distributor bosses are actively exploring B2B transformation. Some have been transforming for one to two years or even three years, but their business growth has stalled or they have fallen into losses. Blind exploration does not bring good results; it may only lead to more pitfalls. Lacking professional knowledge and a learning attitude, and being trapped in traditional thinking, can only make things worse. Why not stand on the shoulders of giants and reach the sky by standing on tiptoe?
**Rather than working behind closed doors, learn to 'borrow strength.'**
To help more distributors successfully achieve B2B transformation and achieve rapid growth in sales and profits.
Mr. Li Feng, Dean of the Distributor Academy, will organize an in-depth study tour on **December 16** to **Feng County, Xuzhou**, for **in-depth exchange with Mr. Jia Yongshun:**
> **How can traditional distributors start B2B from zero to one? How to design a new organizational structure? How to operate? How to attract B-end customers to order independently? What pitfalls to avoid in B2B transformation?**
County-level distributors transforming to B2B, the practical path from zero to one, Mr. Jia Yongshun will share his wisdom!
**In addition, Mr. Li Feng, Dean of the Distributor Academy, will hold a special training camp for hard growth in sales and profits on December 17 in Feng County, Xuzhou, with the theme: 'How FMCG Distributors Make Annual Plans.'**
"Don't cover strategic laziness with tactical diligence." The new year's company strategic plan determines the company's direction and the cohesion of personnel, charging together at 'one city wall.' Without goal guidance, everyone may fall into busy but inefficient embarrassment. Making a high-quality, implementable annual plan is the top priority for the company's top leader. How to formulate a high-quality, implementable annual plan?
Facing problems such as consumption upgrading, channel changes, e-commerce impact, lack of data management, and difficulty in new product promotion, Mr. Li Feng will provide specific methods to help FMCG distributors achieve digital transformation, refined management, and marketing planning; guide distributors' development direction, achieve doubled sales and profits, and realize automated company operation.
To better serve distributors, on December 17, Mr. Li Feng will teach in depth in Feng County, Xuzhou, on 'How FMCG Distributors Make Annual Plans,' with hands-on teaching, focusing on sharing specific implementation methods for annual planning. Let you come with questions, leave with solutions, and use them immediately upon return.


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