"Effortless success is a myth; failure is the norm; focusing on the next step is key. Life is broad, not without pursuits, but not blindly chasing unattainable goals, valuing the essence of life and long-term value."

From March 16-18, 2026, the CFC Conference grandly opened in Chengdu. On March 18, at the 6th China FMCG Distribution and Retail Conference, Liu Liang, General Manager of Shenzhen Guanduoduo Trading Co., Ltd., was invited to deliver a keynote speech titled "From 'Trade' to 'Operations': How Traditional Distributors Become Comprehensive Operators of New-Quality Categories."

Rooted in Shenzhen since 1997, starting with traditional trade, and now scaling to a new level of business, covering the "9+2" cities of the Greater Bay Area, Guanduoduo has traversed a highly representative path of distributor transformation.

In today's fragmented channels and efficiency limits, traditional distributors face structural crushing from "disintermediation."

Standing at the crossroads of 29 years of business practice, Mr. Liu Liang deeply deduced the logical closed loop of evolution from simple "porters" to "value creators," providing an insightful sharing on the "first principles of survival" for anxious industry peers.

From Trade to Operations: Consensus Comes from Transcending Differences

Guanduoduo started in 1997 and has experienced a complete cycle from traditional wholesale to hypermarkets, then to multi-channel and diversified development. We have truly experienced all the stages that Mr. Zhou Qun shared in the white paper.

In 2019, just before the pandemic, we initiated core organizational reform, achieving separation of operations and management. The fact that I can stand here today to share is itself a result of clear rights and responsibilities between investors and the management team, and continuous reform.

Distributors have experienced a lot; the industry changes so fast. It used to change every year, now it may change every month. Facing channel fragmentation and efficiency revolution, the industry has raised many propositions, such as: In the era of FToB (Factory to Business), do distributors still have value?

We can see that efficiency is getting higher and higher. For example, in 2012, a TV set was moved an average of 6.8 times from factory to consumer; now, with direct supply from platforms like JD.com and Taobao, the number of moves is even less than 2. Under this efficiency revolution, what role can we distributors play?

What I personally value is the transformation of overall functional value; value comes from demand. Because we are needed, we have value.

In the entire FMCG chain, distributors can be seen as a "B-end commercial service product," meaning that having a product means having value. Product value is nothing more than three layers: functional value, emotional value, and capital value.

  • Functional value: reflects practicality. For example, can we provide brand owners with faster, more stable, and more aligned operations and services that fit their business logic?
  • Emotional value: reflects trust and peace of mind. Can you make brand owners feel most assured entrusting this market to you?
  • Capital value: your channel chain itself is appraisable.

If traditional distributors simply earn price differences, where is your value? After the efficiency revolution, where is your functional value? This is a proposition left for us to think about, and it is a path Guanduoduo has summarized through continuous development.

If you simply sell goods without connecting these three layers of value, you are a "low-skilled soldier" with low combat power. Facing structural crushing, without core operational capabilities, your team and value will be rapidly weakened.

Category Operator: Dynamic Game in Three-Dimensional Channels

The difference between trade and operations is: trade earns today's money through price differences, while operations earn future money through long-term compounding.

After we chose to become category operators, at the strategic level, we reached a consensus to adopt a "three-dimensional strategy of omni-channel synergy." Strategy is not complex text, but deciding what to do, what not to do, and what to focus on.

We adhere to customer value as the core, meet real needs, and achieve a two-way closed loop between online and offline. Driven by the "four wheels" of marketing, operations, technology, and management, and coordinated with dual pillars and three levels, we create long-term value through continuous iteration.

The three-dimensional channels we mention are not a static architecture, but a dynamically evolving ecosystem.

Guanduoduo's next iteration goal is to build a data operations center, to do more valuable things for distributors—centered on customer value, achieving three-tier reach, meeting online and offline needs, forming a crisscrossing three-dimensional network, ensuring strategic foresight and detailed execution.

Comprehensive Operator of New-Quality Categories: From Commodity "Porter" to Value "Creator"

The concept of "comprehensive operator of new-quality categories" is not fabricated but forged through survival and development. Its essence is transforming from a commodity "porter" to a value "creator."

To become such an operator, one needs to focus on three areas:

  • Capability system (integration of product and operations): Traditional distributors focus on goods; we must shift to people-centered or a combination of people and goods. Break the regional boundaries set by traditional brand owners, and do business without borders.
  • Monetization logic: The essence is the efficiency and boundaries of making money. We need to inventory our resources and influence, and the core is to think about "who can you help."
  • Distribution mechanism: Why can we keep going? Because we don't rely on stacking people. Guanduoduo has a group of colleagues who accompany me; they are "super individuals" capable of independently building business units of 100 to 200 million yuan.

Our current core competitiveness is using data to drive decisions, technology to improve efficiency, and scenarios to create value. I didn't understand this before, but in practice, I found that brand owners have many surplus products. Do you have the capability to be the operator for these categories?

As an operator, do you have UGC capabilities and user operation capabilities? You need to resonate among brand owners, retailers, and consumers. This is no longer simple channel stacking and cargo transfer, but letting those who hear the gunfire command the battle.

Returning to First Principles

In an anxious era, everyone comes to the conference hoping to find breakthrough thinking. So today, I also want to share our combination of operational practice and theoretical knowledge: value maps and business canvases. Every manager should calm down and use methodologies to assess whether they can become operators.

Finally, share five "first principles":

The first principle of making money is creating value, not selling time;

The first principle of creating value is solving problems, not providing labor;

The first principle of solving problems is identifying real needs, then iterating quickly;

The first principle of rapid iteration is validating models, to better replicate systems;

The first principle of system replication is leverage thinking, amplifying systems, and escaping brute force.

To survive in the business world, you must provide value through insight into needs, reach consensus with the market, obtain resources and money, and then invest in your competitiveness.

This is the closed loop of value, consensus, and model.

In this era, we must create value, achieve consensus, obtain resources, and continuously strengthen competitiveness. Only in this way can we build a survival barrier for distributors.