The food industry is extremely challenging; the key is to excel in every detail and wholeheartedly consider consumers, ensuring every action meets their demands and dedicating full effort to work to achieve success. —— Lin Jianhua, Chairman of Tianwo International This article is republished from the WeChat public account: Sales A From low-salt, low-sugar preserved fruits to trendy bottled tea drinks, from six self-owned brands to numerous international cooperative and agency brands, from a comprehensive range of channel pathways to self-built direct-operated stores, Tianwo International, with over 20 years of experience in managing leisure foods and beverages, has built a food and beverage production and distribution kingdom where product strength, channel strength, and brand strength support each other like a tripod. It is hailed as a super aircraft carrier in the FMCG sector. The helmsman of this aircraft carrier, Tianwo International Chairman Lin Jianhua, had six years of management experience in the food and beverage sales industry before establishing Shanghai Nanpu Food Company in 1991 with a registered capital of 500,000 yuan. After moving his business from Putian, Fujian to Shanghai, Lin Jianhua expanded his product categories from initial roasted seeds and nuts to meat products, preserved fruits, beverages, and other series. In 1999, he cultivated his own brand, Tianwo. He himself transitioned from the manager of South China Subsidiary Food Co., Ltd. to the chairman of Tianwo International Holdings Limited, responsible for the group's overall strategic planning and business direction. Lin Jianhua is a sailor who deliberately navigates the "red ocean." In the turbulent Shanghai market, he honed his "two hands": one hand developed international brand agency business, establishing distribution partnerships with first-tier international brands such as Nestlé, Pernod Ricard, Campbell's, and Royal Villa; the other hand created Tianwo and operated group brands like Chuanxiang Kitchen, Zaozhoumai, and Guhe. After nearly 30 years of honing, what kind of "FMCG life" does Lin Jianhua possess? How does he reconcile the seemingly contradictory businesses of direct operation and agency? In his cross-border business model, how does he build core competitiveness? How to Forge Distributor Bargaining Power In Lin Jianhua's career, what he is most proud of is that the first bottle of Nestlé instant coffee was personally sold by him into the domestic market. According to general business logic, brand owners hold the initiative, while agents always work for others. However, Lin Jianhua has his own considerations: as long as you specialize and refine your own business, agents will possess irreplaceable core competitiveness, thereby gaining bargaining chips with brand owners. On the other hand, in the process of cooperating with international brands, although the cost is relatively high, it tempers the team and enhances business philosophy. The ultimate benefit is sales volume; as long as sales grow steadily, brand owners have to rely on agents. Behind sales volume lies the support of channels and logistics. Among these, channels are the core element of China's complex and ever-changing commercial market. Enterprises aspiring to achieve success in the Chinese market surely understand the principle that channels are king. However, whether channels or logistics, they are both unfathomable. To make achievements in this area, substantial human and financial resources are required, and even then, one may end up losing everything. Because in the FMCG battlefield, survival requires not only hard equipment but also soft skills—a precise grasp of the characteristics of different business formats and adept interpersonal connections. Lin Jianhua understands that to stand out among numerous distributors, one must have outstanding "swimming ability," and of course, pay a price for it. To enhance his own strength, Lin Jianhua gave up 49% of equity in exchange for state-owned capital support. In 2002, the company joined forces with First Food (the predecessor of Jinfeng Wine), and the registered capital suddenly increased to 130 million yuan. In the second year of the joint venture, the company began strengthening the construction of logistics centers, with annual cargo turnover funds of at least 5 billion yuan. Years later, Tianwo International had a sales network covering East China and key provincial capitals nationwide, reaching over 60,000 terminals, including traditional retail, modern supermarkets, and catering channels. It also had nearly 100,000 square meters of warehousing. This model of joint venture and risk-sharing has run through the development trajectory of the Tianwo Group. Through equity participation and other means, brands such as Guhe and Huangjiu gradually entered the Tianwo family. For the Nestlé brand, with which it had the deepest ties, Nanpu established Tiancheng Company specifically to serve it. While distributors complained endlessly about the harshness of brand owners, Nanpu had already gained its own bargaining power. The two advantages of channels and logistics forced brand owners to look at it with new respect. The successful experience of brand agency also earned Nanpu reputation and prestige. Currently, Nanpu holds dozens of brands, many of which are international first-tier brands. Conversely, this brand aggregation advantage gives Tianwo an incomparable bargaining position when negotiating with retailers, especially modern supermarket channels, compared to a single brand owner. Tianwo Aircraft Carrier Sets Sail Although China's economic downturn has become the new normal, consumers' demand for higher-quality products continues to increase, driving industrial upgrading in the food and beverage industry. The first half of 2015 report shows that Tianwo International's agency third-party brands rose 2.9% to RMB 1.476 billion, with revenue share dropping from 63.5% in the same period last year to 59.9%, while Tianwo's self-owned brand business grew 19.4% to RMB 983 million, with revenue share increasing from 36.5% to 40.1%. Lin Jianhua stated that the Tianwo Group will continue to innovate and enrich its self-owned brand products while consolidating existing product categories. To meet market demand for Tianwo's non-alcoholic beverages and the national development layout, the Tianwo Group will strategically add production equipment and build industrial parks, laying a solid foundation for the group's development in the coming years. At the same time, it will continuously optimize the distribution network, expand market coverage, and continuously expand into sub-tier cities to capture the rapidly growing purchasing power in those regions. Lin Jianhua said that the Tianwo Group will achieve sales of nearly 6 billion yuan this year. "Our products can meet market requirements and align with the group's development. I will continue to work hard for better and faster growth in the future." This article is original. 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