---
title: "Distributors, Stop Being 'Movers'!"
description: "A trading company owner shared on social media: 'First principles is a super method to see through phenomena to the essence! Ask what the fundamental question is, then think about what to do. In any field, stage, or environment, when feeling lost, set aside appearances, penetrate the essence, and get to the core of the problem.' In recent years, business has been tough, and many distributors are feeling lost and anxious, making mistakes in judgment and operations. It's necessary to share six daily operational issues that need to be solved with 'first principles.' The first principle of sell-through is consumer operations."
author: "高级研究员 海游"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2026-03-21"
categories: "Dealer Operations"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/distributors-stop-being-movers-3a3cdf57/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/distributors-stop-being-movers-3a3cdf57.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/BcxujGcz1PqWe3MfBPZtNg"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E5%95%86%E5%88%AB%E5%86%8D%E5%BD%93-%E6%90%AC%E8%BF%90%E5%B7%A5-%E4%BA%86-3a3cdf57.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/distributors-stop-being-movers-3a3cdf57/"
citation: "高级研究员 海游. “Distributors, Stop Being 'Movers'!.” New Distribution, 2026-03-21. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/distributors-stop-being-movers-3a3cdf57/"
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---

# Distributors, Stop Being 'Movers'!

> A trading company owner shared on social media: 'First principles is a super method to see through phenomena to the essence! Ask what the fundamental question is, then think about what to do. In any field, stage, or environment, when feeling lost, set aside appearances, penetrate the essence, and get to the core of the problem.' In recent years, business has been tough, and many distributors are feeling lost and anxious, making mistakes in judgment and operations. It's necessary to share six daily operational issues that need to be solved with 'first principles.' The first principle of sell-through is consumer operations.

I saw a trading company owner post this on social media: First principles is a super method to see through phenomena to the essence! First ask what the fundamental question is, then think about what to do. In any field, stage, or environment, when feeling lost, set aside appearances, penetrate the essence, and get to the core of the problem, see the truth!
In recent years, business has been tough, and many distributor friends are gradually feeling lost and anxious, making mistakes in judgment and operations. It's necessary to share six daily operational issues that need to be solved with 'first principles.'
The first principle of sell-through is consumer operations
This is a problem that troubles many distributors: my product distribution is not difficult, but it just doesn't sell through. So, habitual thinking leads to several wrong operations.
For example: increasing distribution efforts to push inventory, thinking that if the store owner takes more goods, they'll find a way to sell them; paying for display fees to increase product display area; increasing consumer promotions, giving away gifts, and offering special prices.
After all this, you've spent a lot of money, but it still doesn't sell through, so you complain that the product is no good.
Let's think about a question: if it doesn't sell through, it means consumers don't know the product and aren't willing to buy; if they have basic awareness but aren't willing to buy again; if the relationship between the product and consumers hasn't deepened, they won't buy heavily. Many distributors spend promotional money on 'wool party' (deal-seekers), and the results are predictable.
Here, we also need to call out to brand owners: don't rush new products. Well-known hits like Oriental Leaf and Tang Daren have been cultivated for at least five years. It's unrealistic to expect a new product to become a hit in three to five months.
Secondly, adjusting the product structure is not an overnight task. **Having strategic focus on products is important: launching three new products in a year is not as good as launching one new product in three years!**
The first principle of management is the partnership mechanism
I see many distributor bosses scratching their heads over personnel management: employees are getting harder to manage, old inventory is increasing, fuel costs are rising, and rewards and punishments don't work. How can we make employees view the business like the boss?
The only way is to develop excellent employees into partners and bosses. My initial judgment is that in the next five years, strong trading companies will be partnership or joint-stock companies, not due to capital shortages, but to unite people's hearts.
What is the career growth plan for salespeople?
Many distributors overlook this, leading to the departure of excellent old salespeople. Essentially, this is the biggest loss of profit, because personnel costs are the largest cost for distributors, especially during the training and correction phase for new hires. Losing trained people is the biggest profit killer for trading companies.
The core of management is to stimulate potential. I generally suggest that the career growth of a distributor's sales team be divided into four stages:
1. Employed salesperson (ordinary worker);
2. Reserve partner (salary structure adjustment);
3. Area partner (participate in profit sharing);
4. Branch partner (manage area partners).
Establishing such a partnership mechanism solves many management problems.
Remember: management is not about command, but about making the team self-driven, releasing a greater combined force than individuals.
The first principle of distributors is the quantity and quality of outlets
When sales pressure increases, many distributors start implementing policies to lay out sub-distributors or wholesalers. Some trading companies succeed, but most fall into the quagmire of sales and profit entanglement.
First, think about the purpose of establishing a second-tier distribution system.
If it's just to alleviate immediate problems, such as capital pressure, warehousing pressure, or delivery pressure, then such cooperation won't last; short-term interests cannot maintain long-term relationships.
Distributors need to think about how to establish a distribution system that matches the market through sub-distributors and wholesalers, doing good area segmentation and interest division, so that second-tier merchants can: have their own fields to cultivate, have their own businesses to work diligently, and get rewards for their labor. This is the first step.
Next is how to coordinate second-tier merchants to serve outlets well in their areas, ensure outlet coverage, and improve in-store share. Only then can distributors enhance their regional competitiveness in the long run.
Here, we also need to call out to brand owners: the purpose of manufacturers developing distributors is the same. Many manufacturer personnel (including some middle and senior managers) develop distributors just to push inventory, with the mantra 'if you don't complete the task, we'll change the customer.'
Such **non-professional managers** are the most deceptive (incompetent but promoted quickly). **The short-term sales growth from robbing Peter to pay Paul is followed by market collapse and long-term negative growth!**
The first principle of decision-making is data support
To this day, many distributors still operate the market by 'feel,' which validates the saying: money earned by luck is being lost bit by bit by ability.
Why should distributors use data for decision-making? There are three main reasons:
First, improve decision efficiency: data can quickly provide key information, help decision-makers judge quickly, and avoid unnecessary arguments;
Second, enhance decision transparency: data-driven decision processes are traceable and verifiable, making it easier for the team to understand and execute, reducing resistance;
Third, promote continuous optimization: through data feedback, decisions can be adjusted in time to adapt to changing environments.
Data is a reflection of the objective world, providing factual basis, revealing trends and risks.
Compared to decisions based on feelings, experience, or authority, data-driven decisions are more reliable and scientific, reducing subjective bias and uncertainty.
Let's take a promotional activity as an example. A distributor, to speed up sell-through, implemented a promotional bundle: buy 2 packs and get a cup. Finding the effect not obvious, they impulsively changed to buy 1 pack and get a cup. As a result, promotional costs doubled, but sales growth was minimal.
After data research, they found that their sales already accounted for over 70% of the same category in that store. Even if they spent more money, they couldn't reduce competitors to zero (and the store wouldn't allow that). Spending excessive costs only produced 'losing money for applause' results. This is the trouble caused by feelings.
Here, I also appeal to distributors: if you want to do long-term business, it's unrealistic without data support.
The first principle of profit is cost control
Many distributors say money is earned, not saved. This is based on the incremental era 15 years ago, when earning enough could cover up the shortcomings of cost control.
Today is different. We've entered a shrinking era, and distributors with this mindset have mostly been eliminated.
The essence of profit is the formula 'Profit = Revenue - Cost.' Revenue is affected by market environment, competition, and other factors, with high uncertainty; while cost is the core variable that distributors can control internally.
By precisely controlling costs, distributors can hold the profit bottom line and enhance competitiveness. Blindly pursuing revenue growth while ignoring cost control can easily fall into the 'high revenue, low profit' trap, which is a big taboo for distributor operations.
Cost control is the 'voltage stabilizer' for distributors, while revenue growth is the 'accelerator.' Both need to work together.
Distributors need to establish a long-term mechanism to make cost control a habit.
Cost control is not a one-time 'cost-cutting action,' but a long-term 'operating habit.'
From a first principles perspective, the sustainability of profit depends on the long-term effectiveness of cost control. Enterprises need to establish a comprehensive cost control mechanism, making every employee a participant in cost control.
> For example, establish a cost budget management system, clarify each department's cost budget and assessment standards, and link cost control with performance;
> Cultivate employees' cost awareness, so they proactively avoid ineffective costs in daily work (such as saving water and electricity, reducing office supplies waste, optimizing work processes);
> Regularly review cost control effectiveness, adjust and optimize strategies based on business changes, forming a closed loop of 'decompose-analyze-optimize-review.'
The first principle of category management is product structure
In general: products are the core element in the supply relationship between distributors, terminal outlets, and consumers. Above the product is the brand, and above the brand is the category. If distributors don't manage categories well, they can't control brands, let alone operate products well.
Product structure is essentially a dynamic balance system built around market demand, resource efficiency, and long-term competitiveness. So distributors need to do their homework on product structure. For example, a product structure based on consumer needs:
1. Traffic products: undertake market penetration and channel coverage functions, attracting traffic through high cost-performance and high-frequency consumption characteristics (such as Baixiang's old hen soup noodles). They need to match the distributor's existing channel resources (such as community convenience stores, supermarkets) to ensure quick sell-through.
2. Profit products: focus on high value-added categories (such as high-end grain and oil, imported snacks), improving gross margin through differentiated selling points (such as organic certification, niche formulas), usually requiring refined display and terminal promotion.
Final Thoughts
Understanding first principles is crucial for distributors' business development. The FMCG industry relies heavily on high-frequency repurchase and consumer mindshare. Products are highly homogeneous, and technical barriers are low, making price wars easy to trigger profit compression.
At this point, if distributors still can't see the underlying logic of things, their later operations will become increasingly stretched, and elimination is just a matter of time.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 高级研究员 海游
- Published: 2026-03-21
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/distributors-stop-being-movers-3a3cdf57/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/BcxujGcz1PqWe3MfBPZtNg

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