---
title: "Examining the Ordering Software and Platforms Claiming to Disrupt the Existing FMCG Distribution Model"
description: "Since last year, many online ordering platforms have emerged, such as Yingxiaotong's 'Hui Xiadan', the FMCG housekeeper in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Beijing's 008, and Tongcheng Wholesale, all operating under a B2B model for FMCG supply chain procurement. They aim to save on sales personnel and wholesalers by enabling online ordering and centralized offline delivery, thereby improving distribution efficiency. Recently, many distributors have called to ask whether these software solutions are truly effective as claimed. The author argues that while these platforms identify real pain points, they overlook the essential functions of sales personnel and the advantages of local distributors, and that the claimed cost reduction and efficiency gains remain theoretical. The article advises distributors to focus on internal management improvements and use internet tools to enhance their competitiveness."
author: "赵波"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2015-08-25"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/examining-the-ordering-software-and-platforms-claiming-to-disrupt-the-ex-63d11265/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/examining-the-ordering-software-and-platforms-claiming-to-disrupt-the-ex-63d11265.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/QzmFYihZWpU7ZW6XokKmtA"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E6%89%92%E4%B8%80%E6%89%92%E9%82%A3%E4%BA%9B%E5%8F%B7%E7%A7%B0%E9%A2%A0%E8%A6%86%E6%8E%89%E7%8E%B0%E6%9C%89%E5%BF%AB%E6%B6%88%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E6%A8%A1%E5%BC%8F%E7%9A%84%E8%AE%A2%E8%B4%A7%E8%BD%AF%E4%BB%B6%E5%8F%8A%E5%B9%B3%E5%8F%B0-63d11265.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/examining-the-ordering-software-and-platforms-claiming-to-disrupt-the-ex-63d11265/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# Examining the Ordering Software and Platforms Claiming to Disrupt the Existing FMCG Distribution Model

> Since last year, many online ordering platforms have emerged, such as Yingxiaotong's 'Hui Xiadan', the FMCG housekeeper in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Beijing's 008, and Tongcheng Wholesale, all operating under a B2B model for FMCG supply chain procurement. They aim to save on sales personnel and wholesalers by enabling online ordering and centralized offline delivery, thereby improving distribution efficiency. Recently, many distributors have called to ask whether these software solutions are truly effective as claimed. The author argues that while these platforms identify real pain points, they overlook the essential functions of sales personnel and the advantages of local distributors, and that the claimed cost reduction and efficiency gains remain theoretical. The article advises distributors to focus on internal management improvements and use internet tools to enhance their competitiveness.

Since last year, many online ordering platforms have emerged on the internet, such as Yingxiaotong's "Hui Xiadan", the FMCG housekeeper in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Beijing's 008, and Tongcheng Wholesale. All of them adopt a B2B model for FMCG supply chain procurement e-commerce, using online ordering and offline centralized delivery to save on sales personnel and wholesalers, thereby improving distribution efficiency.

Recently, many distributors have called to ask whether this software is truly effective and can deliver the results as claimed.

First, I think the pain points these software solutions identify are quite accurate. Indeed, in the FMCG industry, the cost of manual distribution is increasing. A single salesperson's monthly salary ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 yuan, and it is difficult to recruit, retain, and manage them. Secondary wholesalers' exploitation of the distribution channel squeezes the overall profits of distributors and also leads to a loss of market control. However, through online ordering platforms, products are directly displayed to merchants, allowing them to place orders independently. This saves suppliers a significant amount of labor costs.

**Wait, something seems off?**

As someone who has worked on the front lines, I know that the work of sales personnel is not limited to what is mentioned above. New product distribution, new store development, terminal merchandising, customer relationship maintenance, and complaint handling all require significant effort from sales personnel. B2B e-commerce platforms superficially solve the ordering problem, but the other functions of sales personnel remain irreplaceable. Terminals still need professional marketing personnel to visit each store one by one.

Take secondary wholesalers, for example. Distributors engage in secondary wholesale mainly because their own personnel and vehicles cannot cover the local market adequately. Some old distributors also follow the original business model. The biggest advantage of secondary wholesalers is their local advantage, local customer relationships, and deep service in rural areas. These are advantages that online platforms cannot replace.

From the above discussion, the claim that this B2B industry software reduces costs and improves operational efficiency can only remain at the theoretical and slogan level!

**How can FMCG distributors arm themselves with Internet+?**

I think the fancy jargon makes it difficult for distributor friends to distinguish between what is real and what is fake. Whether it's about eliminating redundant middlemen or the next industry to be disrupted, you only need to judge one basic fact from the alarmist content of these trainers: Don't scare me with cases like Xiaomi, Taobao, Luoji Siwei, or Ma Jiajia. I don't want to understand extreme thinking or fan economy. Just tell me: Are there successful cases in my industry? Second, as a trainer, what successful cases have you personally operated?

In the current industry situation, there are many who deceive and bluff, but few who truly practice.

As a practitioner with experience in FMCG internet operations, I believe that to judge whether this industry can be disrupted, we must analyze from the underlying logic:

**1. Can this link be revolutionized to reduce costs and rapidly improve efficiency across the industry?**

Why can e-commerce disrupt large electronic goods like mobile phones and home appliances? As I wrote in a previous article, high-margin, low-frequency standardized products will be dominated by vertical e-commerce B2C in the future. If interested, you can check my historical articles. Even so, Huawei Honor's star products still provide offline diamond partners with a gross profit of 600-800 yuan per phone to ensure sufficient offline coverage. This year, Xiaomi has also officially stepped into traditional agency channels.

For FMCG, with low value, high consumption frequency, and full competition, the possibility of this industry being revolutionized is lower.

**2. Can the integration of the internet generate new value, new content, and new lifestyles?**

Online ordering platforms only change the way orders are placed, but the essence of product supply has not fundamentally changed. The production and circulation of goods still face oversupply, neither saving corresponding costs nor creating new value.

This is why many domestic O2O platforms see an immediate decline in business volume once they stop burning money. Subsidies only change users' original payment habits without bringing much innovation in consumption experience. When this model cannot replace and support the original model, the logic chain is not valid.

**From the above two aspects, as long as there is full competition in the market and the Chinese retail landscape does not undergo fundamental changes, the possibility of distributors being disrupted by new business models is low. Those software solutions that casually talk about disrupting the FMCG supply-demand model ignore a basic fact: in a fully competitive market, the issue to solve is the customer's delivered value, not price.**

The Chinese market is too large. If you go 200 kilometers from the city centers of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in any direction, you will find at least three different business forms. The market is diverse and pluralistic. With full competition and highly homogeneous products, the current market situation of the FMCG industry basically determines that no single business model can dominate the entire market. Rather, **within the industry, there is unlimited imagination for internal change and evolution, such as category and channel regional monopolies, cross-regional trading groups, and efficient management through capital and the internet era.**

Currently, there is still much room for improvement in distributor management in the FMCG industry. Recently, I have come into contact with some distributors born in the 1980s who are smart, pragmatic, and have advanced ideas. I believe that what will perish are those distributors who do not conform to the development of the times, are unambitious, and opportunistic. Distributors with strong learning ability and advanced ideas will quickly stand out in this industry transformation. The replacement of the old with the new is a natural law.

As mentioned above, distributors should learn to arm themselves with internet tools for revolutionary strength. Through advanced management concepts and tools, they can improve internal operational efficiency, reduce operating costs, and thus enhance competitiveness. This is the true core of Internet+ for distributors.

**Editor's PS:** From nearly 1,900 articles published on this official account, I have selected 1,067 excellent articles and divided them into 14 categories and 57 knowledge points, systematically compiling frontline marketing management content into a library for everyone's learning. From market to customers, covering practical combat and management, all are valuable. After following the official account, reply with the number "1" to browse related content.


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671