Introduction: At the first Distributor Conference, we want to witness the future with you! Author 丨Yuan Lai Review 丨Gou Gou Layout 丨Zhang Yuwei

Dear friends, It's a pleasure to connect with you through this letter. I am Yuan Lai.

This year's business environment is exceptionally unique. We initially believed that the easing of pandemic restrictions would lead to a rebound in consumption. We were all optimistic that distributors' businesses would improve, but the first half of this year has been disappointing, to say the least. Supermarket business in the first half declined by 20%-30%. This is the real feedback I've received from visiting distributor bosses across various regions recently. Business is extremely difficult, hitting rock bottom. What should we do next? There are direct environmental impacts, such as the pressure on manufacturing, leading to a decline in consumer spending power and net population inflow. In one Jiangsu/Zhejiang city, condiment sales in local supermarkets dropped by 30%.

Snack discount chain stores are sweeping across regions. These snack stores are mainly located in residential communities, affecting supermarkets, hypermarkets, mom-and-pop shops, and convenience stores within a 1-1.5 km radius to varying degrees.

Preliminary research indicates: Stores near snack stores see a 30-40% decline in related product categories, some even halving or going out of business.

A distributor from Chengdu told me her business dropped about 40% in the first half, with at least 30% attributed to the impact of snack stores. A boss from a county-level city said he might not survive this year.

Discount supermarkets, community group buying, and O2O platforms are vying for offline market share, making the prospects for trading businesses seem bleak.

When profits are elusive and business seems fake, where is the direction? Against this industry backdrop, we believe that as an industry media, 'New Distribution' must step up, speak for the industry, for the circulation sector, and for distributor bosses. Those familiar with 'New Distribution' know that over the past five or six years, we have been deeply researching and reporting on the distributor community.

We've highlighted outstanding management experience, excellent transformation model cases, and learnable business management methods. Additionally, through our discussions with over 500 distributor bosses nationwide, we've continuously provided third-party perspectives on future trends for distributor businesses. We've also organized study tours and salons with benchmark distributors, shared at the annual FMCG conference's distributor forums, and recently launched a distributor membership club community. 'New Distribution' has accumulated five to six years of insights on FMCG distributors. Therefore, after comprehensive evaluation, we are upgrading and expanding the distributor forums from past conferences into the First China FMCG Distributor Conference. Instead of a forum, this conference will provide a stage for ideological exchange for distributors across the industry, offering suggestions for their future development.

What will we do at this distributor conference?

Two Major Themes

1. Development Trends Theme. We will release a business development model for distributors over the next five years, based on city X population, officially presenting 'New Distribution's' judgment on urban commercial circulation. At the same time, we will jointly release the 《2023 FMCG Distributor Survival and Development Report》 with industry partners. This will serve as a guide and lighthouse for distributors' current business operations, helping them understand where they are, what level they're at, and where they need to go.

2. Cost Reduction and Efficiency Theme. At the conference, we will invite 12 benchmark distributor bosses from across the country to share their most advanced business case studies, including transformation and upgrading, new business opportunities, and internal operational optimization. Each sharing distributor boss has been personally interviewed and visited by 'New Distribution', and we believe they represent the most advanced management practices in the industry.

Establishing an Alliance

Distributors find it hard to change or adjust because they are individually weak. Distributor businesses are typically local, city-based operations. Cross-regional peers are friends, and cross-category peers are also friends. Why not unite? Form a distributor alliance organization to share excellent experiences, good brands, advanced models, and external opportunities. A distributor business alliance, where cross-regional and cross-category distributor bosses learn from each other, discuss, and support each other. We hope this alliance can lead distributor bosses into the next decade, ensuring their businesses don't fail, continue to grow, and foster good friendships.

Since this is the first distributor conference, the quality of content is unquestionable—it will be 'nuclear-level' heavy content. We believe this conference will drive the evolution of the entire distributor circulation sector.

  • 12 benchmark distributor bosses sharing
  • Industry's first 'City X Population—Distributor Business Development Model'
  • 2023 FMCG Distributor Survival and Development Report
  • Distributor Business Alliance—Leading distributor bosses into the next decade
  • Expected 1500+ distributor bosses participating

'The First China FMCG Distributor Conference' by 'New Distribution' is not just a grand gathering of knowledge, cases, and methods, but also a conference that leads the future development of distributor businesses!

At the first Distributor Conference, we want to witness the future with you!