Recently, chatting with several distributor friends, everyone shared a common feeling: business is tough! Where is the difficulty? On one hand, the internal operating costs of enterprises are increasing day by day; on the other hand, the impact of traditional e-commerce online, community group buying offline, and B2B on traditional business is also growing. Under the "internal and external troubles," distributors' business is becoming increasingly difficult. While complaining about the invasion of "barbarians," everyone is also beginning to think: Will distributors' business be eliminated by the endless emergence of new retail, new commerce, and new e-commerce? Is the distribution business still worth doing? If so, how? -01- Where is the way out for distributors? Apart from the well-known functions such as advance payment, warehousing and logistics, market distribution, and market services, what other value can distributors tap into? New Distribution believes that first, distributors need to clarify their position. Distributors serve brand owners, representing the brand's interests in the region, while in front of manufacturers, they represent consumer demands. Many distributors confuse their role in the distribution chain, thinking that compared to brand owners, they have a deep understanding of the local market and richer social connections than manufacturers, so brand owners cannot bypass them to develop independently in the region. Some distributors even start to "challenge" manufacturers based on this. Not thinking about how to help brand owners do well in the market, nor how to convey consumer needs to manufacturers from the consumer's perspective, but only thinking about how to obtain more market support policies and fees, manufacturers are also busy dealing with this, causing mutual internal friction, and naturally, the market becomes worse and worse. The small size of individual distributors and weak risk resistance are important reasons why they voluntarily give up becoming consumer spokespersons. But in the Internet era, both stores and consumers are beginning to adapt to online ordering and consumption methods. If distributors still cannot use the long-tail effect of the Internet to truly listen to the voices of stores and consumers, and act as a connector between brands and stores/consumers, being eliminated by manufacturers is only a matter of time. Moreover, according to New Distribution, many brands have actually established offices in many regions, deploying regional markets through fully self-operated models. To some extent, it can even be said that brand owners are more efficient than distributors in building markets; and as for social connections, as long as one is willing to invest time, money, and energy, who doesn't have "friends all over the world"? In summary, distributors should reasonably recognize their own value, neither being arrogant and exaggerating their role, nor being self-deprecating and thinking they are highly replaceable and easily replaced by some new business model. -02- Why is distributors' business becoming increasingly difficult? New Distribution believes there are mainly the following reasons: 1. The impact of new retail business forms such as e-commerce, B2B, and community group buying Although new retail formats will not completely replace distributors, it is undeniable that with the continuous emergence of diversified, differentiated, and personalized consumer demands, and the rapid fission of channels, traditional offline retail will undoubtedly suffer increasing impact, and distributors' business will inevitably be affected. Especially in the context of the Internet era, with high information transparency and more intense price competition between different channels, many distributors are gradually entering a era of meager profits, or even no profits. 2. Consumer groups have changed, and market services require more refinement The post-90s and post-00s generations are gradually becoming the main consumers in the market. Their consumption concepts and behaviors are significantly different from the previous generation. They pursue more personalized expression and tend to prefer emotional appeals when choosing products. Among them, some post-90s and post-00s young people have even embarked on the path of opening stores and starting businesses. They are more receptive to digital ordering and procurement methods, unwilling to go to wholesale markets early and late like their parents; in terms of store services, they also need more refined services. This requires distributors not only to distribute products to stores, but also to do well in market services, change service methods, and use more efficient tools to meet store needs faster. This undoubtedly places higher demands on distributors. 3. Low efficiency in internal operation and management of distributors When a problem arises, most people tend to attribute the cause to external factors, thinking that changes in the external environment and increased competition have led to their market being divided and business becoming more difficult. But in fact, returning to the distributor business itself, the more important reason is that their internal financial, logistics, personnel, and sales management methods have not kept up with the times and remain extensive. In the early stages of business development, when product gross margins are relatively high and business grows rapidly, these problems are not harmful. However, as the market scale reaches a certain stage and sales growth slows down, the negative effects of these problems will gradually be exposed, becoming the last straw that breaks many distributors. In addition, aging business models, single channels, and product aging are also reasons that can lead to distributors' business deteriorating to varying degrees. We will not elaborate on them one by one in this article. -03- How can distributors build their own competitive barriers? Apart from the impact of objective reasons on business, New Distribution believes that distributors should actually think more about: How to start from themselves, give play to subjective initiative, build their own core advantages, and thus seize more business opportunities from the crisis! 1. Actively embrace new models and new business forms For example, developing new channels, acting as agents for new products, trying to transform and explore towards the upstream and downstream of the distribution chain, and attempting cooperation with new e-commerce platforms such as B2B, community group buying, urban distribution logistics, and O2O. Avoid being complacent and sticking to old ways. 2. Refined internal operations, using new tools to optimize old business The impact of e-commerce on traditional distributor agency business is essentially not just the impact of new channels on traditional channels, but a dimensionality reduction strike of modern production, modern distribution, and modern management on family-style management, manual operations, and extensive management! After all, how can you win a nuclear war with cold weapons? This requires distributors to keep pace with the times, use modern tools and means to arm and optimize their existing business models, team structures, and management methods, do well in operation management and data analysis, balance cost input and output, and improve operational efficiency. Moreover, in recent years, New Distribution has indeed witnessed many distributor friends making significant changes after introducing digital tools. For example, a snack food distributor in Suzhou that we visited and researched recently, which represents brands such as Daliyuan, Weilong, Three Squirrels, and Qiaqia, after using digital tools, all links such as market management, sales management, warehousing and distribution, procurement, inbound and outbound, and product management have become online and visualized. Business management, inventory management, and financial management have become clearer and more explicit. Business is no longer a "muddled account." Operational efficiency has greatly improved, with annual sales exceeding 80 million yuan, making it one of the largest and most influential trading companies in the region. Recently, Zhoupu Data, a leading domestic SaaS software service provider, officially launched a one-stop digital business management system for distributors - Zhoupu Cloud Steward. The newly launched Zhoupu Cloud Steward system supports all business scenarios for distributors in different regions and types, helping distributor friends plan the entire business process, and making the originally messy and complicated business processes online and streamlined. At the same time, it supports various operation modes such as vehicle sales and visit orders. Salespeople only need to follow the APP process when working in the market, which is not only more efficient but also more standardized, helping distributors greatly improve operational efficiency. Not only that, Zhoupu Cloud Steward also has powerful data display and analysis functions, supporting distributors to query various dimensions of daily operation and management, helping distributors efficiently track business data and business processes, and make efficient decisions. Finally, returning to the theme of this article, China's urban hierarchy is diverse, and different regions and cities have different levels of economic development. Facing the complex national market, brand owners have to rely on distributor groups to achieve market coverage, so distributors have value and significance. However, with the acceleration of urbanization and the concentration of population, the distribution strategies and methods of brand owners will inevitably change. Facing such changes, if distributors do not actively seek change and find their core competitiveness, they will inevitably be replaced by more efficient distributor groups with digital capabilities. Past business models and management methods can only help distributors earn money in the past. To earn money in the future, distributors must adopt new tools and methods. If you provide a tip, you will be paid 400-2000 yuan after it is adopted.