The pandemic fluctuates, filled with uncertainty and disorder, which is the current situation facing dealers. Many dealers say the market is sluggish and business is hard. Even in this round of Beijing's outbreak, many dealers might not even be able to deliver goods. However, one dealer, with a tenacity of "admitting defeat but not resigning to fate," has instead achieved business growth during the pandemic. She is Gao Jingjing, general manager of Beijing Guoyingjian Trading Company. Founded in 2002, the company has cooperated with more than 10 well-known domestic and international brands. Its sales network covers over 3,000 retail customers in Beijing, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, large and medium-sized restaurants, as well as B2B and B2C e-commerce networks. The company has formed business modules with wholesale distribution as its main business, supported by logistics, engaging in agency, cooperative distribution, terminal services, product delivery, and third-party logistics. In the first episode of the [Growth Amid the Pandemic] series live broadcast by the New Distribution team on May 10, Ms. Gao shared how she and her team achieved a phased victory under the severe pandemic situation. Today, we will share the experiences and practices of Guoyingjian Trading Company during this round of the pandemic that are worth learning from. ****How did Guoyingjian prepare for the pandemic? All matters first concern people. If the team's morale is scattered, no good strategy can be executed. Facing this fierce round of the pandemic in Beijing, and with Guoyingjian located in Chaoyang District, one of the epicenters, how did they lead the team? Gao Jingjing believed that first, employees should not feel psychologically afraid, and negative energy in the team should be avoided. So, as the boss, she went to the front line to work with employees, moving goods and placing orders. Meanwhile, the team did nucleic acid tests daily, ensured protective measures with protective suits and N95 masks, and conducted daily disinfection. These actions were to make employees feel that the entire team is united. A united team is the foundation for conducting business. How did the business face operational disorder? Guoyingjian's approach can be summarized as: ensure supply, with orderly inventory; ensure transportation, with orderly logistics; ensure sales, with omni-channel operations. Guoyingjian established multiple warehouses in Beijing, including in Chaoyang and Dongcheng districts, to avoid the situation where one warehouse is locked down and the entire business is paralyzed. At the same time, they positioned inventory forward and deepened the safety pool. Originally, inventory reserves might only need to be 7+15 days, but during the pandemic, past practices clearly could not be followed because there was too much uncertainty in transit. Therefore, Guoyingjian basically placed all orders for the month at the beginning of the month to ensure the company did not run out of stock. With sufficient inventory, corresponding transportation capacity is needed. In terms of ensuring transportation, Guoyingjian first applied according to the requirements of relevant local Beijing authorities and entered the government whitelist. This way, even if the area around the warehouse was designated for static management, transport vehicles could use the approved transport permits to enter the warehouse and carry out transportation operations. Transportation is not just about moving goods from point A to point B; it is a systematic team operation. Even with permits and whitelist qualifications, to train the team's ability to operate quickly, Ms. Gao led her team in emergency drills during the pandemic, with full participation, including HR and finance. Everyone had to work a day at the warehouse each week to understand business processes and warehouse locations. As a result, every member of Ms. Gao's team can be seen as a USB-type talent, versatile, plug-and-play, and freely collaborative. For example, when one warehouse received notice of static management at noon, all staff participated, completing sorting, distribution, and delivery within 8 hours, handling 400 orders and delivering 20,000 items. When sensing the signs of the pandemic, dealers must quickly organize sales staff to distribute goods to distributors, secondary wholesalers, and terminal stores, increasing store and distributor inventory. For stores, having goods in hand calms the mind. Even if the area where a store is located is under static management, if your goods are piled up the most in that store, nearby residents will stock up more from that store, thus selling more goods. For dealers, sales are all front-loaded, which increases sales opportunities while relatively reducing logistics frequency and risk. You don't have to worry about goods piling up in the warehouse due to static management, nor about being overwhelmed by a surge in sales, because the pressure on warehousing is relatively reduced. After solving the two basic issues of inventory and transportation, the next challenge is how to maintain sales. On this point, Gao Jingjing explained how her team did it from both product and channel perspectives. First, on the product dimension, achieve a balance between diversification and focus. Guoyingjian's main business was previously drinking water, beverages, liquor, and beer. This year, they added the snack food category. Normally, snack food should be in the off-season now, but after the pandemic hit, there was a situation of off-season booming sales. Through a reasonable product mix, they achieved "not dull in off-season, even better in peak season." On the channel dimension, Guoyingjian ensures sales through full-chain operations. The reason is simple: sticking to one channel and doing it deeply and finely was feasible in the past, but now it may result in not making money or even losing money the more you sell. For example, after the Beijing outbreak, due to the ban on dine-in, the catering industry suffered a significant blow, but sales of fresh produce around communities, e-commerce, and community group buying improved. For dealers, the scary thing is not not making money, but not knowing how to make money. Many dealers are confused about how to profit, as if their company's profitability is in a black box, somewhat like a farmer relying on the weather for a harvest. Therefore, in internal organizational management, Gao Jingjing adopts data-driven, refined methods to quantify personnel efficiency and capital efficiency, including the output ratio of stores and products, knowing the source and destination of every penny. The power of data lies in broadening the dimensions of viewing things, enhancing the company's vision, brainpower, and action, abstracting commonalities from fragments, and enabling a clearer view of the future. ****Be pragmatic, not fanciful For many dealers, limited by their own conditions and environment, they may not be able to achieve the omni-channel operation capability and diversified product structure like Guoyingjian. What deserves attention from Gao Jingjing and her team is not only the specific measures mentioned above but also the methodological foundation behind these practices, namely risk-awareness. Whether it is preparing sub-warehouses in advance, conducting logistics drills, or adjusting product structure, all are about reducing uncontrollability through risk diversification. Don't put all eggs in one basket—many understand this principle, but how many actually do it? Many dealers believe that the macro environment cannot be changed, and the only thing they can do is resign to fate. But Gao Jingjing completely lacks this mentality. Even though she was at the center of this round of the pandemic in Beijing, she never thought of giving up. When the pandemic first showed signs, she actively thought about potential problems in every link, made plans for every detail, and led by example, fighting on the front line with her team. "Crisis is opportunity, and opportunity is crisis," Gao Jingjing said during the live broadcast. Success is not about solving a specific problem, because behind solving a problem often arises the next problem; after solving the next, another emerges. The key to success is having the ability to face problems. Ms. Gao jokingly said in the live broadcast: "We started as a grassroots trading company, previously like a bandit army, and now we've been honed into a local Eighth Route Army." But this is precisely another major reason why Ms. Gao can be an excellent dealer: the self-drive for growth. The excellent leadership and team at Guoyingjian did not fall from the sky or come without effort; they were forged through many mistakes and falls, by summarizing and reviewing the past. In the past, Guoyingjian operated over 4,000 SKUs without data, using primitive methods, manual bookkeeping, and spending great effort to earn small money. The boss seemed aloof in management, deciding everything, but actually bore all the burdens. This inverted pyramid structure, once the base point of force had a problem, could lead to overall collapse. At that time, Guoyingjian sold whatever customers needed, more like a retailer than a dealer with deep distribution and brand promotion capabilities. Previously, if a small shop owner needed mineral water, Guoyingjian would find mineral water, regardless of brand. But now, if a small shop owner needs mineral water, Guoyingjian has the ability to persuade the owner to stock a specific brand of mineral water. In management, Guoyingjian no longer adopts a patriarchal system, but instead sets up various teams, with the team as the leadership core, allowing them to formulate their own plans and rely on the wisdom and efforts of all members to achieve goals. Through this approach, every front-line employee can become a protagonist, actively participating in management, thereby realizing the Amoeba model of "all employees participate in management." Formal division is easy, but to make it operate, it must be supported by systems and data. Abandon the thankless pure manual bookkeeping and let data speak, thus laying the foundation for increasing revenue, reducing expenditure, and refined management. "If accounts are not clear, money cannot be distributed well," Gao Jingjing said in the live broadcast when discussing data management. With data, the team can clearly know their unit output, gross profit, net profit, costs, and where costs are incurred—whether it's logistics, warehousing, turnover, taxes, capital turnover, or others—and which of these items can be compressed. All of the above requires data support. ****Summary Gao Jingjing led her team to do many things during the pandemic, covering all aspects of the business. She did these things not because she knew they would ultimately succeed, but because only by doing them was there a possibility of success. What these actions reflect is Gao Jingjing's extremely keen risk-awareness as a decision-maker, her preparedness for environmental changes, and her positive response mentality. The formation of these awarenesses is closely related to the pragmatic spirit and growth drive that the Guoyingjian team has always had. Gao Jingjing's excellence is reflected, on one hand, in comparison with other dealers: refusing to do nothing, actively exploring and being pragmatic; on the other hand, in comparison with her past self: from relying on direct experience to manage the business, to relying on tools, methods, and logic to manage the enterprise. Facing the pandemic, Gao Jingjing has also felt disappointed. To match the expansion of the business, she opened new warehouses, which increased costs and personnel, but whether growth would meet expectations was unknown. "But we cannot have this negative mentality. There are many worse off than us—tourism, catering, etc. Since we are still profitable, we should be more positive and optimistic to lift the team's morale," she said in the live broadcast, with optimism in her eyes. In the trough, have the courage not to be swallowed by despair; at the peak, remain humble and rational. The ups and downs of the times cannot be changed by external forces, so why not be a rational optimist, persist in doing difficult but correct things, and trust the answer of time. -END-