As we enter 2026, the FMCG market remains one of the most dynamic and competitive industries. However, after years of digital transformation, changing consumption patterns, and supply chain restructuring, a severe challenge has emerged and increasingly become a bottleneck for FMCG companies' growth: talent shortage. More and more brand manufacturers are realizing that without solving the talent problem, many growth targets will remain on paper. This article offers some thoughts on this topic, hoping to inspire FMCG manufacturers. How to View It? Current State of the Talent Gap 1. Frontline positions are hard to fill. When talking with some branch sales managers, they commonly mentioned: many regional markets frequently have vacancies, especially in third- and fourth-tier cities and county markets. Fewer young people are willing to stay long-term at the grassroots level, and many supervisors have to cover multiple roles for extended periods. It's very difficult to recruit frontline salespeople now. When job postings are published, very few people actually submit resumes—less than half of what it was a few years ago. It seems that young people are no longer willing to engage in grassroots sales work. Turnover is extremely high, and even though some supervisor positions offer decent salaries, it's still hard to fill the positions. The key issue is not just recruitment, but retention. Frontline positions in the FMCG industry essentially rely on people to build the market. This includes visiting outlets, maintaining displays, fighting for shelf space, executing activities, allocating funds, collecting orders, and managing customer relationships. These tasks seem simple but are highly tedious and heavily dependent on execution. Once frontline positions are vacant for a long time, the impact quickly spreads to the market. During market visits last year, I heard many terminal retailers and wholesale bosses complain that they either couldn't see salespeople or faced constant turnover, making it difficult to reconcile expenses, leading to significant dissatisfaction with manufacturers. 2. Digital and intelligent talent is hard to find. The development of AI has accelerated the digital transformation of traditional FMCG companies. Companies are eager to analyze massive consumer behavior data to achieve precision marketing, demand forecasting, and product innovation. Dongpeng's success has also made the "five-code integration" a direction many brands want to try. The integration of online and offline channels, the expansion of instant retail, and fragmented media communication have made talent proficient in e-commerce operations, platform traffic rules, social media marketing, data analysis, and consumer insights urgently needed. However, managers who have worked within traditional companies for years often lack these new skills, and external talent with such comprehensive qualities is extremely scarce, making it difficult for companies to advance in the new traffic and digital battlefield. 3. Sales executives don't last long. In the context of economic downturn and market contraction, brand manufacturers still need to maintain or grow market share and sales volume, putting enormous pressure on business management. Currently, there is a severe shortage of executives who can truly bear this pressure and dare to challenge performance targets. The stability of externally recruited executives is also a concern for many companies, so they can only choose internal development, which requires a long time to mature. Why Is It Hard to Recruit and Retain Talent in the FMCG Industry? 1. High work intensity and pressure. Traditional sales positions require frequent visits to terminal customers, long working hours, many trivial matters, and a fast pace. They also face intense performance assessments, keeping employees under high pressure for extended periods. This is the main reason job seekers are reluctant to enter the industry. 2. Unclear salary structure and career development. Young people today prefer jobs with transparent salaries and clear promotion paths. The "base salary + commission" model in FMCG sales often leads to unstable income due to market fluctuations or performance pressure. At the same time, many companies lack clear promotion criteria, leading to severe internal friction and making employees pessimistic about career prospects in this industry. 3. Unfavorable competitive environment and trends. The rapid rise of new channels such as e-commerce and live-streaming selling has significantly diverted market share from traditional offline sales, causing some companies' sales teams to underperform or traditional businesses to be hindered. Young job seekers prefer emerging channels or digital marketing positions, believing they have more development potential and stability, and are more "prestigious." 4. Imbalance between supply and demand for professional talent. After the pandemic, the digitalization process in the FMCG industry accelerated unprecedentedly. This profound change has had a disruptive impact on the skill requirements for practitioners. However, many companies' internal training systems lag far behind the pace of technological and business model iteration, creating a huge "skills gap." External talent is familiar with technology but lacks deep understanding of traditional industries. In fact, in the eyes of many young job seekers, the traditional FMCG industry is not as "glamorous" or high-tech as the internet, finance, or new energy industries. In the eyes of middle-aged people, it is not as free or income-transparent as food delivery or ride-hailing. The emergence of these problems is partly due to the industry's inherent characteristics and partly due to internal management issues. However, the FMCG industry, which is vital to national livelihood, should be a choice for more people. The so-called "traditional" is the stable gene accumulated over decades of development, but the industry is currently in a phase of significant transformation and upgrading. This trend has not been seen by more external job seekers, or the outdated internal management models have not been taken seriously by managers. But these are all opportunities for change. What to Do? How Manufacturers Can Break the Deadlock Today, when discussing talent, we cannot only focus on how to recruit people, but also on how to retain, utilize, and develop them. The real breakthrough is not to fight a recruitment war, but to rebuild the company's talent supply capability. 1. Reduce employee turnover and conduct regular monitoring. Don't always think "the grass is greener on the other side." Pay attention to internal talent management. HR departments should conduct regular assessments. Many companies only do a 360-degree evaluation once a year, but lack regular communication with employees. They only learn about the situation when employees resign, often missing the best time to retain them. Conduct exit interviews with departing employees; their feedback is often constructive and must be taken seriously and addressed. 2. Set reasonable assessments and provide development platforms. Many manufacturers report high turnover and lack of responsibility among frontline salespeople. It is suggested they first look for reasons within themselves. Are the indicators reasonable? Are the number of assessments too many? Are the rewards achievable? Does the company have a comprehensive training system and fair promotion channels? In addition, senior executives should regularly evaluate whether middle managers have the ability and quality to lead teams. In fact, many resignations are closely related to the management style of direct supervisors, often leading to long-term team instability and employees seeing no development prospects. 3. Strengthen brand power and create a "technology + new consumption" image. To change the external stereotype of being "traditional," for example, in recruitment publicity, do not only emphasize brand history and market share, but also showcase the company's current investment plans and achievements in digital transformation and AI applications. You can also promote corporate culture and employee development opportunities through social media, industry events, and other channels, creating an open, fair, and innovation-encouraging work atmosphere, which can greatly attract potential talent. 4. Summarize talent cases and innovate training models. During interviews, provide reasonable guidance and humane communication. Prepare some internal growth and promotion cases to give to job seekers, and address their various concerns in a targeted manner. For example, "mentor-apprentice assistance system," "skills training classes," "online corporate university AI courses," "points-based promotion mechanism," etc., to show that the company cares about employees' skill improvement and future growth, enhancing their confidence in competence. 5. Expand recruitment channels, cooperate with universities, or collaborate with distributors for training. Cooperate with schools offering majors in marketing, digital marketing, new retail, etc., establish internship bases, and select suitable talent during internships. At the same time, internal teams can also enter universities for training and improvement. Manufacturers can jointly train talent with distributors, selecting and cultivating from distributor teams, and those who qualify can be transferred to manufacturer positions. In the current competitive environment, companies need to reshape their brand image in the talent market, using the identity of "technology-driven modern consumer enterprise" to actively attract and embrace a new generation of composite talent. At the same time, they should invest internal resources to build a sustainable internal talent development system that can continuously "produce blood," laying the most solid talent foundation for sustained growth in the next decade. Xing Renbao, with 18 years of marketing management experience, has served in Coca-Cola, Yili, Red Bull, and other well-known FMCG companies. He currently serves as Assistant to the Executive President of Marketing at Huabin FMCG Group, focusing on corporate marketing diagnosis, manufacturer-distributor relations, channel operations, and digital transformation.