Growth is an unavoidable topic for companies and distributors seeking development, and discussions have intensified in recent years.

From March 14 to 16, the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference, themed 'Supply Chain Revolution,' was held in Chengdu. During the conference, over 100 speakers and more than 2,000 manufacturer representatives and FMCG professionals from across the country explored how distributors and brands can pursue growth in the current environment.

Among them, Mr. Li Zheng, Vice President of Zhoupu Data, delivered a keynote speech titled 'Data-Driven Empowerment: Digital Transformation from a Collaborative Perspective' at the main forum, sparking lively discussions among manufacturers and distributors.

This is because there is a consensus: for distributors, in the fierce market competition, only by becoming bigger and stronger can they survive; for brands, currently and in the future, the relationship between distributors and brands is more about joint collaboration to seek growth. Therefore, to achieve brand-side growth, it is essential to focus on empowering and collaborating with distributors.

Brands want growth, and distributors want growth too. How can efficiency be improved? The answer is clear: the focus must be on store expansion and terminal sales.

Zhoupu Data is a data intelligence service provider offering digital and intelligent system solutions and service solutions. Since its inception, it has been deeply involved in the FMCG field. Over 8 years, Zhoupu Data has accumulated nearly 40,000 distributor users, spanning 32 provinces and 300+ cities, and has built a distributor capability profile; 600+ ground and remote service teams cover 6 million+ terminals, generating terminal outlet sales profiles. With data at its core, it builds the offline circulation infrastructure for the FMCG industry, thereby empowering distributors and brands.

'New Distribution' is reporting on the highlights of this speech for our readers.

Terminal Insight Capabilities and Case Studies

In the past, distributors could enjoy high gross margins by selecting a good brand and building a good team, which was driven by rapid economic growth. However, as market challenges escalate, distributors' demand for refined operations, efficiency improvement, and cost control is also growing.

Throughout this process, Zhoupu Data has been adapting to changes, attempting to provide distributors with more complete integrated system solutions to help them meet the demands of high challenges and high growth.

In the past, distributors' system needs may have stopped at inventory management, but now, to reduce costs and increase efficiency, distributors have to pay attention to details and find ways to improve operational capabilities. They need inventory management, financial systems, and are also thinking about how to embrace online channels, reduce damage rates, and improve loading and delivery efficiency.

Secondly, in the context of growth, both brands and distributors have to face two questions: How to find terminals that are not yet controlled but have potential? How to penetrate more high-margin products within stores and increase their share? Zhoupu Data's solutions attempt to answer these questions.

Multi-Channel Store Integration: Mastering Terminal Dynamics

First, precise control of terminals. Li Zheng stated that as a data intelligence company, Zhoupu Data increasingly emphasizes the necessity of data accumulation for business decision-making and closed-loop processes in its interactions with clients.

In addition to digitizing all internal business data, stores are also a core focus that cannot be ignored.

Are the store data of distributors and brands standardized? With multiple sources of store data, is the data clearly organized? If increasing promotional spending, which stores are in the first tier for brand matching? What is the store activity status? Through data intelligence, better answers can be provided.

Store Data Governance: Customized Store Matching Solutions

Over the past 8 years, Zhoupu Data has accumulated precise data on over 6 million terminal stores. It has also established deep partnerships with payment providers like Alipay and map providers like Amap and Baidu, using data empowerment to customize store information processing based on different brand data characteristics.

The online matching system can be deployed locally at the distributor or brand's site for database collision. After distributors or brands normalize their existing store data and perform full-store collision, they can clearly identify which stores are uncontrolled, and then find ways to improve penetration.

Product Data Governance: Multi-Level Networked Standard Product Library, Product Mapping and Matching Engine

In addition to stores, product normalization is also a crucial point for distributors and brands. Li Zheng stated that brands and distributors already have deep product libraries, as SKU data comes from multiple dimensions such as production, market, stores, and sales, resulting in a large amount of duplication and complexity, which poses significant challenges to statistics and decision-making. Therefore, how to normalize and standardize products in the most scientific way is very important for both distributors and brands.

Through store data governance, multi-source data can be integrated, with a store deduplication rate of nearly 67%, invalid store filtering of over 40%, and rapid identification of tens of billions in business growth points;

Through product data governance, a standard product library can be established, with a unified product ID system and labeling system, 80% of products can be automatically normalized, barcode auto-correction, and recognition granularity precise to SKU;

Through sales data governance, the authenticity and reasonableness of order data can be cross-validated, filtering out approximately 6% of abnormal orders, resulting in highly usable analytical datasets.

Offline Intelligent Distribution and Case Studies

Should a new flavor of cola be sold in stores near office buildings or near schools? Which areas should receive priority investment? Brands are concerned about these questions, and so are distributors.

Now, comprehensive solutions can help achieve this level of granularity, in several steps.

1. Regional Value Positioning.

For brands or distributors looking to expand into new cities, the primary issue is finding high-value markets and allocating limited resources to key regions (cities or provinces) to obtain optimal ROI. Zhoupu Data uses multi-dimensional indicators such as population environment, economic level, channel quality, and competitive landscape to comprehensively score regions, quickly identifying high-value markets.

For example, Shanghai's market is good, but it is saturated; investing resources there may not yield results. However, in slightly lower-tier cities like Nanjing, the model drawn from actual cases indicates a high-potential area, which can be prioritized for layout.

2. Store Sales Capability Assessment.

Currently, brands are finding it increasingly difficult to expand offline. The relationship between brands and distributors is no longer one-sided pressure and control; distributors can use digital systems to improve their own efficiency and offline expansion capabilities, increasing their bargaining power.

Zhoupu can use big data, Amap human geography data, and Alipay payment data for integrated computation, analyzing the surrounding population and regional sales models, then conducting AI model training, point-of-sale value insights, screening potential market points, and assessing the sales capability of potential points, thereby helping brands and distributors formulate different strategies for different store categories.

3. Store Product Selection.

After selecting stores, different stores match different products. Using store sample data and consumer profile data, the contribution of different consumer characteristics to the sales of a particular product can be attributed, optimizing product selection strategies and achieving precise product placement for each store.

4. Distribution Effect Monitoring. Analyze distribution effects, monitor long-term, and optimize intelligent distribution strategies.

Overall, city assessment is not particularly complex; it involves evaluating population environment, economic level, channel quality, etc. If a new product is to be launched in a region, does the region have distributors with matching scale, size, and logistics models? Are distributors willing to cooperate? Have they signed exclusivity agreements with competitors? These are also issues brands need to consider.

Of course, the competitive landscape is also very important. Prioritize cities with high category matching and insufficient competitor layout to seize growth opportunities faster.

Collaborative Empowerment: More Efficient Solutions in the Digital Era

In the past, distributors representing multiple brands might use Brand A's inventory management software and Brand B's warehouse and distribution management software, making it difficult to coordinate returned goods into appropriate storage locations. Integrated solutions can help distributors solve this problem effectively.

In addressing collaborative empowerment for distributors, in addition to integrated data management, Zhoupu Data can also provide distributors with support for all models and categories, including inventory management, warehousing, B2B, and data intelligence.

Store value classification, key market tagging, priority category recommendations, and identification of controlled and uncontrolled stores are all empowered by data. Through systematic closed-loop monitoring, coupled with 7×15-hour responsive customer service, this is a more efficient collaborative solution for both distributors and brands.

The purpose of digitalization is essentially threefold. First, manage goods well—know which products are profitable and which are not, where daily losses occur, and whether they can be reduced; second, manage people well—know where salespeople are and whether they are working effectively and efficiently; third, manage customers well—classify customers into high-value and low-value segments. Doing all channels, including new channels, well is the most basic function digitalization provides to distributors.

Further data upgrades and the digital integration of manufacturers and distributors will create tremendous chemical reactions, which is the greatest imagination space for China's FMCG industry.

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