---
title: "Flash warehouses don't lack goods; what they lack is 'new supply' that solves pain points"
description: "In a price war, price matters, but how to gain reputation and attention is the real way to break through. What we aim to be is not necessarily the highest in order volume or gross margin, but the instant retail brand with the best reputation. At the CFC conference held in Chengdu on March 16-18, 2026, Da Zheng, founder of Zhaixiaoxiong, delivered a keynote speech on flash warehouse operations and hit product creation, sharing insights on supply logic and hit product rules in the context of intense competition."
author: "大郑"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2026-04-13"
categories: "Brand Marketing, Dealer Operations, E-commerce & Instant Retail, Industry Trends, Management & Methods"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4bmAshefN-UKorXCHlpKNA"
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citation: "大郑. “Flash warehouses don't lack goods; what they lack is 'new supply' that solves pain points.” New Distribution, 2026-04-13. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/flash-warehouses-don-t-lack-goods-what-they-lack-is-new-supply-that-solv-befe5f9e/"
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---

# Flash warehouses don't lack goods; what they lack is 'new supply' that solves pain points

> In a price war, price matters, but how to gain reputation and attention is the real way to break through. What we aim to be is not necessarily the highest in order volume or gross margin, but the instant retail brand with the best reputation. At the CFC conference held in Chengdu on March 16-18, 2026, Da Zheng, founder of Zhaixiaoxiong, delivered a keynote speech on flash warehouse operations and hit product creation, sharing insights on supply logic and hit product rules in the context of intense competition.

“In a price war, price matters, but how to gain reputation and attention is the real way to break through. What we aim to be is not necessarily the highest in order volume or gross margin, but the instant retail brand with the best reputation.”

From March 16 to 18, 2026, the CFC conference grandly opened in Chengdu. On March 16, at the SVIP private sharing session on "Creating Hit Products for Instant Retail Flash Warehouses," Da Zheng, founder of Zhaixiaoxiong, was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech titled "Flash Warehouse Operations and Hit Product Creation."

From establishing the brand in Kunming in June 2024, with the first store exceeding 10,000 orders on Meituan within 17 days of opening, to subsequently moving to Chengdu and surpassing 500 stores in just one and a half years, Zhaixiaoxiong has not only achieved rapid positioning in the instant retail track but also plans to add 1,500 new stores this year.

As an instant retail operator with anchor thinking and procurement experience, Teacher Da Zheng, from the perspective of a brand owner, deeply analyzed the supply logic and hit product rules in the context of flash warehouse involution, providing detailed practical guidance for supply chain partners on how to enter the instant retail track.

**What kind of suppliers do flash warehouses need?**

Instant retail is in a period of rapid growth, but since the second half of 2024, the industry has shifted from "competing on speed" to "competing on supply." Facing young, online C-end users, the core demands of flash warehouse owners are actually just nine words: fast turnover, stable gross margin, and less hassle.

Based on these nine words, I suggest suppliers focus on the following characteristics when entering:

1. Avoid large packaging: Flash warehouse users are mainly young people under 40, with needs characterized by "urgency" and "immediacy." For the same product, smaller specifications will always sell faster than larger ones. If you can make 50 grams, don't make 500 grams; if you can make 100 ml, don't make 500 ml.

2. Avoid low turnover: In the involution stage, competition is about service. We need to ensure stable inventory, simple after-sales, and friendly payment terms.

3. Avoid complex after-sales and price confusion: Resolutely avoid directly moving offline large packaging, avoid categories with complex after-sales, and especially avoid price confusion. If your product is supplied both offline and online, and has no price advantage online, flash warehouses will not choose such a supplier.

**How to quickly win over flash warehouses?**

How to quickly establish contact and reach cooperation? I divide strategies into two based on brand competitiveness:

1. Strong competitive brands (with IP and irreplaceability): Develop targeted KA plans and use your advantages to quickly enter top brands above the waist. These big brands are also looking for high-quality suppliers; it's a two-way street.

2. Brands without obvious advantages: Don't rush to find big brands; first conquer scattered households below the waist. As long as you have a price advantage, accumulate a base of stores first. Once you have some model support and influence, then talk to the head brands, and the probability of success will be much higher.

In terms of building connections, getting recommendations from acquaintances is the fastest way to break the ice. The biggest "acquaintance" is the platform (Meituan, JD, Taobao). If the platform thinks your supply quality is high and proactively recommends you, the efficiency is very high.

Secondly, attend industry conferences like "New Distribution" for face-to-face communication, or get recommendations from influential IPs. I personally fear cold starts with sudden visits and long talks without focus. Finding the right person and skipping the cold start period is very important.

**Solving pain points is a huge opportunity for suppliers**

Flash warehouse owners have many pain points now. Whoever can help us reduce the burden, we are willing to cooperate with.

Here I want to share a typical case of "digital empowerment." At the end of last year, a supplier of small household appliances visited. His product price was not the lowest, but a proposal he made moved me: he could help us operate the entire small appliance category.

He would analyze our 100 SKUs based on different business districts (e.g., residential vs. office areas in Nanjing) to see which price bands are missing and which products are not selling and need optimization.

Using his deep understanding of products, he provided us with refined operational suggestions. This not only saved our labor but also provided a professional perspective we lacked. This is differentiated service.

In addition, regional deep cultivation is also an opportunity. If you can't do nationwide, use regional advantages to achieve the ultimate in delivery. If you can do "half-day delivery," don't do "next-day delivery." This high turnover is extremely important for flash warehouses with limited storage.

**Creating hit products: How to make flash warehouses proactively order?**

How to make products have "self-selling power"? We need to work from the following four dimensions:

1. Focus on core categories: Focus on the four major categories of alcoholic beverages, dairy products, emergency daily necessities, and snacks, which account for about 70% of flash warehouse sales.

2. Explore scenario-based needs: Instant retail is scenario retail. Develop unique combination sets for nighttime, breakfast, and travel scenarios, such as combination packs of disposable items.

3. Data-driven "fast tracking": Keep an eye on the hit products of leading brands. If a single product sells well in a leading warehouse, quickly analyze and develop similar products with more competitive prices or packaging advantages.

4. Adapt to the physical needs of flash warehouses: Products should be "easy to open and display," the main image should highlight scenarios, and discounts and pricing should balance the weight of traffic generation and profit.

**Long-term cooperation: From "one-time supply" to "fulfillment backing"**

Flash warehouse shelves are limited, and SKUs are eliminated quickly. To survive long-term, suppliers must complete a role transformation from supplier to operational backing for flash warehouses.

This requires us to achieve: data co-construction, joint marketing, category deep cultivation, and organizational adaptation. I recently went to Japan to study at 7-Eleven, and the most impressive sentence was: develop vertically, not horizontally. Thoroughly understanding one category is much stronger than wanting to do everything.

Finally, I quote Mr. Lei's words: In a price war, price matters, but how to gain reputation and attention is the way to break through. This year, please strengthen the construction of professional instant retail teams and use true professional operational capabilities to carve up this cake.


---

## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 大郑
- Published: 2026-04-13
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/flash-warehouses-don-t-lack-goods-what-they-lack-is-new-supply-that-solv-befe5f9e/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4bmAshefN-UKorXCHlpKNA

## Copyright and AI use

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