In recent years, with the economic rise of inland China and the continuous advancement of urbanization, the retail industry in mainland China has been provided with fertile soil and undergone earth-shaking changes. As a result, traditional and modern channels have flourished side by side. Especially the rapid development of modern channels has not only changed Chinese consumers' habits but also provided broader space and stage for the development of bulk food. Bulk food, due to its selectable and self-service characteristics, can satisfy the fun of participation in shopping and meet the demands of personalized consumption era. Therefore, it has increasingly become a new favorite among consumers and has created a number of comprehensive and distinctive brands, such as Xu X Ji, Xi X Lang, X Ke, Mi Lao X, Ma X Jie, etc. Since bulk food covers a wide range of categories, including roasted seeds and nuts, dried fruits, dried meat, preserved fruits, preserved plums, snacks, etc., and its channels are broad, involving modern and traditional channels, and its categories are numerous, from traditional agricultural products to industrial products, I will not enumerate them all here. Through years of experience in operating "bulk leisure food" (hereinafter referred to as "bulk goods") in modern channels, I would like to share my understanding of this sector with you, and welcome your criticism and correction. I. Characteristics of the Bulk Goods Industry: 1. High output per store: Whether it is a first-tier, second-tier, or third-tier brand, as long as a professional display tool is placed at the terminal, monthly sales can exceed a thousand, which is difficult to achieve for a single SKU without a display. The trend of increasing the planned area for bulk goods in modern channels fully demonstrates this point. 2. High return on investment: The bulk food industry generally has high profit margins and fast turnover. Under the premise of refined item management, returns and slow-moving inventory are rare. 3. Relatively controllable channels: Since bulk food requires large or wide display tools, only modern terminals of a certain scale can accommodate them. Therefore, ordinary non-quality stores cannot support the sales of large quantities of bulk food. 4. Easy to build brand: Most branded bulk foods have their own professional display tools. Once these dedicated display tools are placed at the terminal, the brand is established, which helps beautify the terminal's brand image. 5. Flexible cooperation methods: Most bulk food distributors are willing to operate at cost price with manufacturers, which gives them more autonomy and allows them to cooperate with terminals in various ways, such as shop-in-shop, counters, and purchase-sale, to meet the needs of different terminals. 6. Lower operational risk: Since bulk goods operation requires store selection and professional tool support, and cannot be placed arbitrarily, the channels are relatively narrow and easy to control. Coupled with good profit margins, the operational risk naturally becomes very small. II. Development Trends of the Bulk Goods Industry 1. First-tier brands adopt a dual-track approach of bulk and fixed-weight products, aggressively capturing mainstream channels. The traditional products we see in supermarkets, such as candies, jellies, and chocolates, have greatly promoted the development of the modern bulk goods industry. As a result, various bulk goods have emerged, continuously enriching and innovating items, creating a situation of flourishing competition. First-tier brands fully value the development of bulk goods in modern channels and leverage their strong brand advantages to aggressively attack modern and circulation channels, achieving success in both bulk and fixed-weight product lines. 2. Professional bulk goods operators in various cities are beginning to take shape and grow. Due to commodity surplus and market competition, marketing segmentation has become inevitable. Coupled with the acceleration of urbanization, distributors with limited resources must segment their operations and channels to fully utilize them. Therefore, distributors in various cities are constantly transforming, and professional bulk goods operators naturally emerge. We have visited many cities and have not yet found a city without such operators. 3. Bulk goods specialized operators have strong autonomous operation capabilities, possess the strength to integrate brands and manage items, and are moving towards OEM operations. Bulk goods operation requires extremely detailed business thinking, from the flavor of a small category to a large brand, all need careful consideration. Take chocolate as an example: different brands have different shapes and weights, resulting in completely different sales volumes. Therefore, this naturally trains bulk goods operators to have strong operational capabilities. Since different bulk goods categories have different seasonal factors, the investment in a dedicated tool must maximize benefits. Operators must fully consider what products sell well in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and what products must be stocked. Therefore, bulk goods operators must comprehensively consider item and brand issues. When existing brands and items cannot meet demand, they may even resort to OEM operations to maximize the benefits of counter investment. 4. Bulk goods specialized operators are trending towards building their own channels and are striving to create leisure food specialty stores. First, due to the rapid development of bulk goods items and the continuous favor of consumers; second, due to the increasing "exorbitant taxes and levies" of modern KA channels, some powerful bulk goods operators are striving to break free from dependence on modern KA and build their own leisure food kingdoms, gradually developing their own leisure food chain specialty stores. III. Operational Rules for Bulk Goods in Modern Channels – Three Core Principles, Nine Definitions In recent years, the development of modern channels has driven the development of the bulk goods industry. Through long-term contact with bulk goods operators, I have found that they follow three core principles: 1. Profit principle; 2. Display principle; 3. Inventory management. In practice, they basically implement the following nine steps. 1. Location selection (i.e., formulating sales outlets) Formulating sales outlets is the most important step in bulk goods operation. First, operators must be very clear that the placement of bulk goods must be selective and purposeful. To highlight the brand, it must be placed together with professional tools and used exclusively for the counter. They must fully understand the bulk goods capacity of the terminal and the capacity of competing products, and ensure that the outlets are effective. Operators must understand that the distribution rate in bulk goods operation refers to the share of effective stores. Therefore, detailed market research is the prerequisite for operating bulk goods well and formulating reasonable sales outlets. 2. Positioning (i.e., establishing sales location) Securing a good display position is the second important factor for operating bulk goods well. Since the bulk goods area in modern channels is large and brand competition is fierce, a poor location will not generate good sales and will not achieve the expected operational goals. Therefore, it is necessary to find a reasonable position based on the layout of each store. Pay attention to the distinction between the publicity area and the purchase area in the bulk goods section, and understand the pedestrian flow design in the bulk goods area. Avoid placing your counter in the publicity area rather than the purchase area. Generally, positions near the weighing scale and the main pedestrian thoroughfare are good choices. 3. Counter sizing (i.e., determining island counter dimensions) After doing the above two points, we need to determine the dimensions of the island counter. We must fully negotiate the area of the island counter position with the store and measure it accurately, then produce the counter based on that area to avoid waste due to careless work. 4. Item selection (i.e., determining product items) Before negotiating with the store, we must fully understand the sales status of various competing product categories, formulate a reasonable item sales plan, fully grasp the advantages and disadvantages of our products, and refine it down to each flavor, in order to achieve rapid product turnover. Fully consider the utilization rate of the island counter and the output rate of each grid. 5. Pricing (i.e., determining supply price and selling price) Price is the watershed. Before setting the selling price, we must fully consider multiple factors such as brand, competing products, and costs. If the price is too high, it will affect the normal turnover of products, leading to losses from slow sales. If the price is too low, it will seriously damage the brand image and lead to an imbalance between input and output, failing to achieve operational goals. Therefore, to ensure reasonable pricing, you can start high and gradually lower it, but never start low and then raise it, as that will create more obstacles in business negotiations. 6. Display (i.e., determining display format) Different stores require different display formats. For terminals with dedicated counters, consider whether to add a display or counter for promotional purposes. For terminals that cannot have dedicated counters, should we use display? How to display to make it expressive? These are key issues for bulk goods operators. Generally, for dedicated counters, the display should be arranged according to product size and color, following the principles of large on top, small on bottom, full and eye-catching, to create momentum and expressiveness. Also follow the principles of multi-point display and vivid display to maximize consumer contact. 7. Staffing (i.e., determining sales personnel) Sales personnel are a powerful weapon for generating sales. Bulk goods operators must not only fully train sales personnel in product knowledge and sales skills, but also provide sufficient incentives and performance management to maximize their productivity. They must also consider the number of sales personnel based on product structure, peak and off-peak seasons, and store business conditions, whether one or more. Especially during major holidays, there are many lessons where insufficient staffing allowed competitors to steal sales. 8. Promotion (i.e., determining promotional methods) Appropriate promotions and reasonable methods are effective means to spread the brand, strengthen consumer memory, and cultivate loyal customers. Due to different regional characteristics, methods vary. I believe that interactive promotions with consumers are better, preferably with a game-like nature, as they are easier to strengthen consumer memory. 9. Publicity (i.e., determining publicity methods) More brand publicity greatly helps increase sales. Bulk goods operators should formulate scientific publicity methods based on regional characteristics. For static publicity, they can fully invest in column wrapping and store signs. For dynamic publicity, they can choose holidays for large-scale outdoor publicity activities. The only purpose is to make consumers deeply remember your brand. On June 1st at 8 PM, Mr. Zhuang, CEO of Yunbao Shangmeng, will share an online live broadcast titled "The Pits We've Stepped Into in the Colorful Market in Recent Years." Interested friends can long-press the QR code below to register for free participation. 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