In the channel, a change in 'product selection' is underway. Distributors are shifting from 'stocking more' to 'selecting better products'; consumers in stores repeatedly check ingredient lists, making more rational decisions; in special channels like schools, 'high-oil, high-salt, high-fat' products are explicitly restricted. These dual changes in channels and consumption are reshaping product entry barriers. Clearly, products with health attributes, clear selling points, and defined consumption scenarios are becoming the new 'passport.' As the Chengdu Spring Sugar Fair approaches, a new product cycle is unfolding. As a leading domestic food company, Dali Foods is participating in this spring fair. It is understood that Dali Foods is showcasing over 60 new products at the fair, covering core categories such as bakery, puffed snacks, and biscuits. New Distribution observed that these new products are not simply an expansion but a systematic layout centered on health, lighter burden, and multiple scenarios. To some extent, this new product launch is more like a product structure adjustment by Dali in response to current channel and consumption changes, providing a concrete sample for observing changes in the food industry. Channel Changes: Distributors' Product Selection Logic From 'Distribution' to 'Sell-Through' For a long time, the growth logic of the FMCG industry could be summarized in three words: distribution, promotion, and scale. But this logic is rapidly becoming ineffective. Distributor Mr. Zhou from Guiyang mentioned a change: 'In the past two years, everyone has had performance pressure, and new channels have been eroding traditional channel share, essentially redistributing the pie.' In this context, the role of distributors has also changed, from 'moving goods' to 'screening goods.' What are the screening criteria? Whether it aligns with consumption trends; whether it has clear selling points; whether it has sustained sell-through capability. From the structure of Dali's new products, the systematic upgrades presented by these products are highly consistent with the changes in channel product selection logic. The 60-plus new products launched by Dali this time are concentrated in the three basic categories of bakery, puffed snacks, and biscuits, but unlike the previous approach of supplementing SKUs, Mr. Zhou emphasized: Dali's logic this time is to innovate and upgrade based on existing mature categories, following consumption trends. For example, in the bakery segment, when multiple distributors mentioned the Daliyuan K17 Toast Expert series, their first concern was not the taste but 'whether it can enter the breakfast scenario.' A distributor from Wuhan said bluntly: 'Now if bread is only a snack, sell-through is slow, but products like K17 that emphasize health and nutrition are easier to recommend as breakfast.' In the puffed snack category, distributors' feedback on Copico's simple potato chips and simple fries is also representative. A distributor for campus channels mentioned: 'Now schools explicitly prohibit high-oil, high-sugar, high-salt snacks from being shelved. Products like simple fries and chips with simple ingredients and mild flavors are easier to enter.' In the biscuit segment, distributors place more importance on whether products have clear functional selling points. Taking Haochidian's high-fiber biscuits as an example, distributors generally believe that labels like high-fiber and low-GI can directly help stores explain product value to consumers. It can be seen that although Dali's new products are distributed across different categories, the common characteristics presented in the channel are: clearer selling points, more prominent health labels, and more defined consumption scenarios. In the eyes of distributors, such products are easier to recommend and more likely to form stable repeat purchases. Dali Foods' Innovative Layout in Three Core Categories If channel-side changes are external pressure, then Dali Foods' new product layout is more like the company actively adjusting its product structure to adapt to the new consumption and circulation environment. Overall, the three core categories covered by these 60-plus new products are not only the basic structure of China's snack food market but also the core tracks for long-term competition among food companies. Bakery Category: Health Upgrade Drives Bakery Products Toward Staple Food In the entire food industry, the bakery track has shown a clear trend of health and staple food in recent years. The growth of the breakfast scenario has transformed bread from a snack to a 'light staple,' while consumer demand for low sugar, low oil, and nutritional fortification continues to rise. As a well-known brand in the domestic bakery field, Dali Foods' Daliyuan has long held an important market position in this track. In this new product layout, Daliyuan focuses on launching the K17 Toast Expert series, building three product directions around health trends: simplified formula series, nutrition fortification series, and health concept series. Compared with traditional toast products, the K17 series has been systematically optimized in formula structure and nutritional design. By reducing added ingredients and strengthening dietary nutrients, the products meet taste expectations while better aligning with consumers' expectations for a healthy breakfast. Multiple distributors reported: Products with both daily consumption frequency and health labels are more likely to form stable sales at the terminal because their consumption logic has shifted from 'occasionally bought snacks' to 'breakfast that can be bought every day.' In addition, Daliyuan also launched the K17 bulk series, with independent small packages suitable for multiple meal replacement scenarios, meeting diverse needs and offering better value for money. The butter soft bread big single product and the flat croissant series, through process and taste upgrades, further enrich the bakery category's layout across different price points and consumption scenarios. It is worth mentioning that among the new products, Daliyuan also launched the food-medicine homologous series, which integrates traditional Chinese food therapy concepts with modern baking techniques to create five food therapy bread products. By combining medicinal and edible ingredients with bakery products, Dali is exploring new product innovation directions in the traditional bakery track. Looking at Daliyuan's bakery layout this time, it is no longer limited to single product upgrades. From formula simplification to nutrition fortification, from breakfast staples to meal replacement supplements, and then to innovative attempts integrating Chinese food therapy concepts, Daliyuan is promoting the transformation of pastry products from traditional snacks to 'daily essential foods.' Puffed Snack Category: Clean Labels and Raw Material Upgrades Drive Potato Snack Innovation In the puffed snack field, consumers' attention to product ingredient lists is continuously rising, and 'clean labels' are gradually becoming an important factor influencing purchase decisions. Under this trend, Copico occupies the high-end leisure track and has launched multiple potato new products, including simple fries, simple chips, and original-cut fries. Among them, 'simple fries' and 'simple chips' feature an ultra-simple formula, with ingredients only including potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt; they use whole potato original-cut technology and VF vacuum low-temperature freshness-locking technology to lock in the natural fiber and nutrition of potatoes. This 'less is more' product expression redefines the product standard for potato snacks and is an industry first. Compared with similar products on the market, its differences in ingredient purity and process path have established a higher competitive barrier for Copico and provided a reference paradigm for the implementation of 'clean labels' in the puffed snack track. Original-cut fries further strengthen the 'authenticity of raw materials.' By retaining the original-cut form of potatoes, the natural attributes and quality feel of the product are enhanced, allowing consumers to perceive an experience 'closer to the ingredient itself' both visually and in taste. In terms of flavor innovation, Copico's pure-cut chips in golden salted egg yolk flavor, with a salted egg yolk content of 17%, replicate the classic golden flavor, strengthen flavor recognition, and provide a more distinct differentiation label for the product. In the high-fiber healthy snack track, Copico's corn chip series signals its entry into the grain snack track, based on non-fried technology and supplemented by high dietary fiber, fully opening a new era of healthy puffed snacks. Multiple distributors also mentioned during visits: 'Now selling puffed snacks is not just about taste; consumers check ingredient lists when buying snacks. Like Dali's new products this time, the ingredient lists are simple and healthy at a glance, giving terminal sales an advantage.' Undoubtedly, the launch of simple chips and simple fries is a redefinition of puffed snacks, shifting from relying on heavy flavors to driving consumption, to building consumer trust based on the ingredients themselves and clean labels, placing Copico in a leading and more proactive position in the puffed snack category. Most importantly, with the continuous layout of original-cut fries and diverse potato products, Copico has brought in new consumer groups and channel entry points, from campus channels to family consumption, which may become a new growth fulcrum for Copico. Biscuit Category: Functionality and Lighter Burden Become New Growth Directions In the traditional biscuit track, product innovation is also changing. In the past, it relied more on taste changes, but now functional attributes are becoming a new growth direction. For example, functional attributes such as high fiber, low GI, and no sucrose are gradually becoming important innovation paths for the biscuit category. In this context, Dali's brand Haochidian has launched a high-fiber biscuit series, with its three core values of low-GI certification, 0 sucrose addition, and high dietary fiber, which not only retain the leisure attributes of traditional biscuits but also better meet consumers' current demand for healthy snacks. In addition, Dali Foods has also launched multiple biscuit and bakery new products, including the Daliyuan classic pie series, seasonal limited series, Haochidian crispy cookie series, soda biscuits, and sandwich biscuit series. By continuously enriching the product structure, Dali Foods is further consolidating its category layout and industry position in the snack food market. Distributor Mr. Zhao, who has cooperated with Dali for over 20 years, commented: 'Dali's advantage is actually its full category coverage, and now it is upgrading as a whole.' The Food Industry Enters a 'Structural Upgrade Cycle' Indeed, Dali is selectively strengthening and reconstructing core categories on the basis of 'full categories'—making products more labeled, closer to scenarios, and more aligned with the current channel's sell-through logic. To some extent, this also means that 'full category coverage' is transforming from a scale advantage into a structural capability. On the one hand, this structural capability responds to the channel's practical demand for 'products that are easier to sell through,' and on the other hand, it reflects a deep transformation occurring in the food industry. Why is this round of 'structural upgrade' happening? From the market side, the most direct change is that demand is changing, but total growth is slowing. A distributor from East China mentioned: 'Now overall consumption has no obvious increment, and the profits of old products are becoming more transparent, so new products are very important for distributors because new products can bring new growth points.' But the problem is that new products can become growth points, but not necessarily sustained growth points. How to sustain? The answer is beginning to shift from the 'channel side' to the 'enterprise side.' Competition among enterprises is no longer about who launches more new products, but who can more accurately understand consumption changes, who can more systematically complete product structure adjustments, and who can continue to make effective innovations on the basis of stable supply. In other words, the core of enterprise competition is shifting from 'making products' to 'building systems.' A distributor who has cooperated with Dali for many years told New Distribution: 'Now is the time to test the company's basic skills. Dali Foods has grown from a small Fujian factory to its current scale, indicating that it is a very stable company that can assess the situation and has the ability for long-term development.' As a representative large-scale enterprise in China's snack food and bakery field, Dali Foods' production and sales system covers major regions nationwide, with a huge number of terminal outlets, especially strong penetration in second-, third-, and fourth-tier markets and township channels. Its Daliyuan bread, Copico potato chips, and Lehu energy drinks have all formed relatively strong single-product scale effects in their respective categories. More importantly, in the context of the industry entering a 'structural upgrade cycle,' Dali Foods can timely shift from the past 'scale expansion logic' to a 'structural upgrade logic,' with its new product logic shifting from 'distribution-oriented' to 'sell-through-oriented.' Such an adjustment path makes Dali a typical 'traditional leader transformation enterprise' in China's food industry, and its development path will also have certain reference significance for the industry. Final Thoughts As the industry enters a structural upgrade cycle, from March 21 to 25, Dali Foods is showcasing over 60 new products at the Chengdu Spring Sugar Fair, which is currently in full swing. The exhibition area at Chengdu Xinhua Hotel is heating up, with the immersive food experience space attracting many distributors and consumers to stop and interact. On-site, visitors can not only intuitively experience the upgrade highlights of new products in health, function, and innovation but also personally experience the brand warmth of 'food + companionship,' bringing channels new product choices that better fit consumption trends and have greater potential for sustained sell-through.