---
title: "Fighting Strong with Weak: Guerrilla Warfare at the Terminal"
description: "This article discusses how regional FMCG brands can compete against strong national brands by focusing on terminal (retail outlet) strategies, using guerrilla tactics and hand-to-hand combat metaphors to emphasize the importance of building strongholds and engaging in close-quarter competition."
author: "张势之"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2015-03-02"
language: "en"
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# Fighting Strong with Weak: Guerrilla Warfare at the Terminal

> This article discusses how regional FMCG brands can compete against strong national brands by focusing on terminal (retail outlet) strategies, using guerrilla tactics and hand-to-hand combat metaphors to emphasize the importance of building strongholds and engaging in close-quarter competition.

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"Military tactics are like water; there are no fixed forms." In the FMCG industry, no brand is eternally strong or weak. Regardless of brand power or product quality, the decisive factor for a product's success or failure is its ability to convert into currency at the terminal. Like in war, victory is symbolized by infantry occupying ground; only when the flag is planted on the battlefield does it signify a temporary victory in that regional battle. Historically, massive air support and artillery barrages can lead to rapid advances, overwhelming key targets with devastating force. However, many have entered urban warfare only to be decimated and lose the ground they had gained. This is why some first-tier brands dominate in first-tier markets but repeatedly fail in regional markets, while regional brands maintain their strongholds and thrive.

In today's highly homogenized product market, how can one calmly face the bombardment from first-tier brands and remain steadfast? It's difficult!

First-tier brands have air superiority, ground superiority, firepower superiority, and logistical superiority. It seems there's no room for new regional brands to survive.

But that's not the case. Winning from a weak position has always been the specialty of revolutionary masses. What do we rely on? The terminal.

In regional markets and specific channels, adopt the strategy: "When the enemy advances, we retreat" (terminal display costs), and "scorched earth" (increase sales profit and recommendation power).

When the enemy retreats, we advance (quality displays, delivering rice and sweeping courtyards) to build fortress households. Don't underestimate fortress households. During the Eighth Route Army's hundred-mile insertions and behind-enemy-lines operations, without the logistical support of fortress households, it would have been extremely difficult. For example, in distributor delivery, if a route has several fortress households, the delivery cost might be covered, while other customers contribute to profit. Then that delivery route becomes viable.

In today's competitive landscape, where is the front line and where is the enemy's rear? For the beverage industry, the entire country has fallen.

So, building a base and cultivating fresh forces is not about air power or firepower confrontation, but about hand-to-hand combat. Both brand and team must grow through street fighting.

How to fight hand-to-hand? Currently, the industry tends to treat promotional activities as a sales weapon. Whoever has bigger promotions or more capable promoters wins. Some companies even treat promotions as terminal confrontation.

Many marketers believe: "All warfare is based on deception." They rack their brains to innovate and create unique promotional plans. But few succeed.

Remember: "In battle, use the normal to engage, the extraordinary to win." Battle tactics are nothing more than the normal and the extraordinary. Promotional activities that decide victory at the terminal rarely have shortcuts; they are at the stage of using the normal. Just like hand-to-hand combat, it's a real fight, move by move, back and forth, where victory or defeat is inevitable. The key is the combat strength of individual soldiers.

When watching TV, you see many Eighth Route Army soldiers carrying guns and swords on their backs. This is because the Eighth Route Army had poor equipment and was always ready for hand-to-hand combat. The Japanese bayonet fighting is world-famous, but in China, they gained no advantage.

Why? The 29th Army even established a special sword team, training only the first three moves of Wuji Dao (the 29th Army's sword technique was adapted from Wuji Dao to counter Japanese bayonet fighting). They didn't intend to use swords against machine guns and artillery. They wanted to create opportunities for close combat with the enemy, using sword techniques to strike hard. This aligns with the marketing tactic of concentrating advantages to attack the opponent's weak points. Create a favorable combat environment for yourself, thus breaking guns with swords and overpowering the strong with the weak.

Since you've drawn the opponent's competition from their advantageous domain into your relative advantage, before drawing your sword,

Similarly, when two strong competitors clash in a regional market, innocent bystanders may be hurt. But this also creates opportunities for opportunists. "Opportunist" is a derogatory term, but in market competition, any opportunity missed is a mistake, and giving up an opportunity is a crime.

The key is that every promotional activity can be described as a battle. Accumulate small victories into big ones, build morale, and fight bravely. Don't let expenses go down the drain or bullets shoot into the sky.

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