Click to read the original text for details Lao Wang has been busy lately, not only with daily order tracking but also with various training and self-improvement. As the pandemic wanes, with the continuous surge of emerging channels, the company's internal online cloud training and live streaming about new retail have been overwhelming. Lao Wang increasingly feels that time is insufficient, and he realizes it's time to organize his work methods and energy allocation! Recently, a common saying is that in the era of new retail, all industries are worth redoing. In fact, this applies to every regional market and every frontline city manager. The core background of "worth redoing" is that the current FMCG market environment has undergone tremendous upgrades and evolution. Traditional "heavy model" deep distribution is rapidly evolving into digitally driven "light model" omni-channel distribution! Every frontline city manager should take a few days out of their busy schedule to calmly sort out and review their territory, re-understand, redesign, re-layout, and restart! Perhaps you have managed this city for over a decade, can recite every supermarket buyer's birthday, can find every terminal outlet with your eyes closed, and have become brothers with distributor bosses... But the market has truly changed! Internet-empowered new retail and new omni-channel have swept all FMCG practitioners into a gallop, and it will leave others far behind, never returning to the past. In the post-pandemic era, everyone has truly felt the increasing proportion of online business, especially with new channels like community group buying and home-delivery platform e-commerce experiencing continuous performance surges. Offline business is not just getting harder; it's becoming more helpless, a sense of losing direction. Recently, Meituan and Alibaba have successively announced entry into community group buying, while Xingsheng Youxuan and Tongcheng Life have gained capital recognition, backed by hundreds of millions in capital. In home-delivery new retail, PUPU Supermarket, Dingdong Maicai, and Miss Fresh are also bustling. These developments all indicate that the FMCG industry is undergoing drastic changes. Of course, some city managers in third- and fourth-tier markets might think that in their cities, there's no obvious change. But I want to say that not feeling it doesn't mean there's no change. It's precisely when your market hasn't been fully affected that you should have proactive awareness and crisis consciousness, seize the opportunity, and occupy the track! -01- City managers with a city under their command should feel the crisis! Just as drivers must get a license, in many other industries, every mature position requires a corresponding "certificate." Many qualifications need to be updated every two or three years to comply with new regulations, but in the FMCG industry, sales positions seem to have no tangible exams, and city managers naturally don't need certification; it's all based on the process and results of business and performance. But in fact, a city manager who commands a city should possess a very comprehensive capability system, and on this basis, continuously review, learn quickly, and constantly practice and improve. Facing new retail and new omni-channel, city managers should have a "re-employment after layoff" mindset, proactively sort out and reconstruct the omni-channel system and landing actions for managing the market. In the offline market, it's inevitable that small distributors will be reshuffled, weak ones eliminated, and large ones rise. Online, further expansion encroaching on offline is an indisputable fact. Traditional and emerging online businesses continued to show strong growth of over 40% in the second quarter just past. Here, online is no longer just traditional e-commerce like Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com, but also includes internet-based sales such as community group buying, live-streaming带货, home-delivery e-commerce, JD New Channel, Alibaba Retail Link, etc. Live-streaming带货 has been brewing and heating up since 2019, and this COVID-19 pandemic has established its status in the industry. In just half a year, the live-streaming channel is no longer new; it's becoming a "infrastructure project" for the FMCG industry. After the pandemic, it seems many people around are doing live-streaming带货, whether B2C or B2B. Live streaming has become an essential tool for FMCG manufacturers to reach customers more efficiently. As a better way of information transmission, it has leaped to become new infrastructure. To put it bluntly, with the continuous transformation and iteration of the market, not only for traditional offline distributors but also for the vast group of offline city managers, I believe this will inevitably be a reshuffling process. In the past, city managers relied on traditional marketing and management capabilities accumulated through experience, seniority, high cooperation from large distributors, and good customer relationships. If you've been around long enough and know the ropes, even if your ability is slightly weaker, it doesn't matter; you can stay in the position for many years. If you're lucky or in a remote city, you might even retire peacefully. But in the near future, as traditional offline business gradually shrinks, offline staffing will inevitably be further reduced. Continuous downsizing will become the norm offline. "Good money drives out bad money" will be the only way for frontline sales organizations to become leaner. This is both pressure and opportunity for every city manager! Those who can stay will be the new generation of city managers who can adapt to new retail omni-channel distribution. As the saying goes, "The industry is reshuffling; the more it declines, the more opportunities for good distributors to grow bigger." Similarly, as the industry declines, the more opportunities for good city managers. In one sentence: The high-gloss era for good managers is coming! So, as a city manager, how should you adjust and upgrade yourself in the face of such changes? -02- Design the overall situation from a city market perspective, rather than protecting local interests from a distributor's perspective In the past, it was obvious that in the offline market, distributors and supermarkets held pricing power in local markets. But now, with the rapid development of e-commerce, pricing power has almost been taken over online. The higher-tier the city, the more so. Offline terminal outlets can easily compare prices when stocking. In the past, small shops either bought from wholesale markets or distributors, at most getting some goods from supermarkets. City managers only needed to control these three channels, which was relatively easy; now small shops can "compare prices from six or seven sources" and buy wherever it's cheapest, leaving distributors very passive. The emergence of ERTM, new channels, and the proliferation of digital tools mean that for distributors, the traditional distribution model has gradually reached its end. If city managers still pin their hopes on distributors to help them build deep distribution networks for sustained growth, that's a pipe dream in the new retail era. Drop the ostrich mentality; the new era has arrived and cannot be stopped. Therefore, when designing the distribution model for a market, city managers should no longer design from the distributor's perspective but from the perspective of omni-channel distribution and efficiency, re-architecting and building an efficient distribution network. On one hand, seize new channels and scenarios, build channel moats immediately, and quickly occupy the track and seize opportunities. On the other hand, accelerate distributor upgrades and iterations, promoting their digital transformation. As a city manager, first, manage direct-operated terminals well, handle KC stores, and guide manufacturers to combine various digital tools for perfect execution and O2O infrastructure; second, have a more open mindset, ally with new channels and formats, such as local community group buying and home-delivery e-commerce, to borrow boats to go to sea and borrow arrows from straw boats. In the past, city managers spent most of their energy on distributors. Now, city managers must handle both: on one hand, plan business from a city perspective; on the other, help distributors with digital upgrades. Regarding distributor digital upgrades, often distributors are willing but unable, and the manufacturer headquarters is too far away to help. City managers should take on the crucial responsibility of implementing this key work. Because city managers are more able to receive professional training and guidance from the manufacturer headquarters, they are gradually acquiring the awareness and ability for omni-channel marketing and digital empowerment. They can fully leverage the bond between manufacturers and distributors to help distributors complete transformation and upgrades. -03- Be a channel expert, not a distributor management expert Specifically, how to plan the entire business from a city perspective? In my view, city managers should be channel experts, not distributor management experts. The focus of channel dimension design is the integration of old and new scenarios, online and offline. Every city manager must make the person responsible for each channel in their team an "expert" in that sub-channel or sub-scenario, driving the development of each channel. City managers should, with a channel expert's mindset, professionally and objectively analyze whether each major channel should be handled by distributors, platform operators, or direct supply. The choice for each channel must be based on data purification and experience extraction, not like in the past when everything was handed to distributors. Instead, it should be professionally measured and calculated to see who is more efficient, and then give it to them! In the omni-channel distribution era under new retail, efficiency is paramount; without efficiency, everything is nonsense and argumentative. Once there's a clear positioning, the next step is for city managers to design the operational thinking and core strategy for each channel, combined with their market characteristics. In the past, with two or three channels, city managers could do things "with their eyes closed," but now with seven or eight or even more channels, if you still treat new and old channels in a fragmented way, thinking and planning separately, it's hard to manage the entire market well, let alone digital empowerment and execution efficiency. In the coming weekends and spare time, I will share my personal views and understanding on the practical strategy deployment for each sub-channel (mainly focusing on six mainstream channels: large stores, medium stores, small stores, professional retail, wholesale, and special channels), and publish a column on New Distribution media. I will elaborate on the development evolution and recent trends of each sub-channel, how each city manager should position themselves for that channel, the misconceptions and pain points in city managers' existing cognition, how to effectively solve these misconceptions and pain points, and what the overall thinking framework for frontline city managers should be for that channel. Action breakdown, practice first, hoping to help every frontline city manager who is confused. -04- Follow the trend, grow towards the sun, and be a fresh city manager In the past, a small number of city managers always held a fluke mentality. When home-delivery e-commerce appeared, they said this model won't work; when community group buying rose, they said this channel won't survive the year; when ERTM became widespread, they said burning money subsidies won't last... They always had some resistance and were unwilling to accept new things. In fact, putting yourself in their shoes, it's understandable. Anyone initially fears the unknown, and unless absolutely necessary, many people are unwilling to accept new things and changes. Moreover, as a city manager, "the mountains are high and the emperor is far away," so if you can stay put, you do; if you can avoid learning, you do... But now, whether it's home-delivery e-commerce or community group buying, the flood has reached your feet. You can no longer disdain new retail and new omni-channel; this is the general trend. Don't reject or resist it. Going against the trend will eventually be engulfed by it. Every city manager must extend their comfort zone, starting by trying to learn new terms (such as private domain traffic, middle-platform thinking, social fission, etc.) and new language, starting from the first live stream, from the first connection with Retail Link partner透传, from the first time you fight for the first focus position on the home-delivery page with procurement... Only by making yourself feel uncomfortable and pressured can you truly break free from the constraints of past abilities and truly embrace new retail. Follow the trend, be the "freshest" city manager, throw yourself into the forefront of new formats at the first opportunity, personally get involved in sorting out the live-streaming chain, do the home-delivery platform once, cooperate with community group buying, and grasp the透传 and promotion with Retail Link and New Channel. Learn quickly and iterate quickly. In fact, new retail and new omni-channel are never embraced; they come from fighting over every execution detail, scrutinizing every key action, reviewing the gains and losses of each day, and accumulating over time. Like the capability development in old retail, there's no shortcut; only by doing it with heart and working steadily! Never just hold onto a distributor's thigh to do business; you can't do new retail with just distributors. If you invest everything in distributors, you might win their recognition and favor, but the company might eliminate you! Actually, there's no such thing as old retail or new retail; only survival of the fittest! Thinking of this, Lao Wang suddenly felt enlightened! He gave himself a quote from the popular sister variety show: "All the past is a prologue. Set sail straight, ride the wind and waves!" Bio: Xu Xiang, currently Sales Director of Unilever South China, with 20 years of experience in FMCG daily chemicals, dairy, and condiments, deeply engaged in regional market management and customer marketing. Willing to exchange and learn with peers. The above article only represents personal views.