"During the bonus period, there is no difficult business in the world. Once the bonus period is over, there is no good business in the world." — Liu Run, founder of Runmi.

Twenty-five years ago, condiment distributors could pick any brand and make money just by shipping goods. Five years later, a Haitian salesperson told a well-known distributor in Hengshui: "Don't think Haitian is unknown now; if you take this brand, you'll definitely become a regional powerhouse in the future."

During the bonus period, this pitch successfully convinced the distributor, who was just starting out, to become a Haitian distributor. As the Haitian brand rose, this distributor also became a beneficiary of the brand's and industry's growth, successfully becoming a "regional powerhouse."

At that time, besides the general industry growth, Haitian's rapid rise was also due to a simple and crude method: use the brand to pull the market, use terminals to push sales, and use first-tier brand positioning to price at second-tier product levels...

Today, although more condiment brands are emerging, few can lead distributors to "get rich" like Haitian did.

First, the industry's macro development: the entire condiment track has entered a stage of market stock competition. Sales growth for ordinary, monotonous products is no longer created but "grabbed." This is reflected in distributors being the "sandwiched" middle link; if they mismanage, they can be killed off by inventory backlog, poor sales, and difficulty recovering payments.

Second, short-term pandemic impact: some regions have halted production and logistics. Factories shut down, logistics stalled, working from home... When the scenes from early 2020 replay, both companies and consumers have completely changed their mindsets.

Back then, many thought it was just a temporary thing and that the pandemic would pass quickly, allowing businesses to recover. Now, more people see it as a normal phenomenon; times are tough, so they have to choose conservative management and endure until they survive.

When business is hard, some keep seeking change. Some find methods and gain new life; others, in desperation, try anything and die faster. Haitian Weiye, known as the "Moutai of soy sauce," once made many of its distributors rich. Now times have changed. Can Haitian distributors' "three axes" still cut through today's market?

First Axe: Pull

Pull the market through brand influence. All manufacturers dream of becoming a brand because only then do they have influence, pricing power, channel control, and future investment capability... But before becoming a brand, all manufacturers have a long road ahead.

Pull, as the name suggests, means to attract users, making them identify with the brand emotionally and psychologically, leading to action and purchase. However, this "pull" is no longer about hard advertising or price wars; otherwise, the market becomes a tug-of-war between brands, and in the long run, no one makes money, and everyone loses.

Under the company's guidance, Haitian distributors' "pull" is both skillful and content-rich.

First, clear goals: for the catering and circulation lines, different products and different training. Catering channels account for 56% of China's condiment market sales, and Haitian's catering channels account for as much as 60%. Despite the current pandemic situation, where weak catering consumption may be the norm for the next 3-5 years, Haitian still insists on holding both catering and circulation, with both hands strong.

On one hand, Haitian cooperates with chef schools to cultivate chefs' habit of using Haitian soy sauce, and supports ground channel promotion to achieve breakthroughs in catering channels. On the other hand, Haitian establishes overseas offices to serve distributors in local markets, recruits high-quality marketing personnel for self-training to execute sales, achieving breakthroughs in regional markets.

Second, novel methods: training plans and incentive mechanisms are targeted and flexibly combined. Qianhe Weiye's 1.7 billion yuan revenue is created by over 1,000 salespeople, but Haitian, with nearly 18 billion yuan in revenue, has fewer than 2,000 salespeople, each generating an average of 10.85 million yuan annually! This is truly astonishing.

A former senior Haitian salesperson once revealed to "Tiaoliaojia" that they also went through hard times of going to the market themselves, doing training, and carrying goods piece by piece to township bosses. But later, Haitian distributors reported that the training organized by the manufacturer with massive manpower, material, and financial resources was not interesting to terminal sales staff. One clerk said: "I have to go home to take care of my kids; isn't it just selling soy sauce? It's not high-tech."

Haitian distributors, having been "slapped in the face," stopped pure product training and instead set up training modules based on terminal needs, including product knowledge, marketing knowledge, and industry trend explanations, especially sharing Haitian salespeople's ultimate management manual to help clerks grow individually. Training went from no response to voluntary participation.

Finally, advertising exposure: full-channel placement in traditional and new media, and opening "industrial tourism." Although Haitian's 2021 financial report shows slowing growth, advertising spending has not decreased. Even in the severe pandemic year of 2020, 5 of Haitian's 8 important contract items were about advertising.

In brand building, besides traditional TV ads, Haitian also set up an "industrial tourism project" at its headquarters, exposing the production process to visitors, pioneering in the food industry.

So even as Haitian continues to segment the market, many distributors who have stuck with Haitian say: "Given Haitian's overwhelming advertising, I'm increasing my stock; you do as you like."

Second Axe: Push

Push the market through terminal sales force. Haitian distributors' ability to push terminal sales is summed up from countless practical experiences. In the early days before Haitian's rise, most of the promotion fees given by the company went to distributors. How to use these fees well was up to each distributor, and the specific methods varied.

First, set requirements. Product placement rate, display space, avoiding negative product orientation, uniform retail prices, sales targets, payment collection requirements... These hard indicators affecting Haitian product sales are written into agreements, and tasks must be completed with a deposit paid in advance. If not completed, it affects the distributor's actual earnings.

Therefore, when pushing market sales, Haitian distributors not only rely on Haitian's strong brand influence but also on timely follow-up, supervision, and service of the channels they control.

Second, give fees. Free gifts, buy-one-get-one, discounts, gift bundles, etc., are common promotional methods. However, Haitian's rebates to distributors are never as generous as competitors', so they have to wait for Haitian's periodic price increases to leave enough profit.

Third, give methods. Product tasting, splitting large packages into small ones for flexible ordering, etc., are also proven effective methods for pushing the market.

Because Haitian distributors know well that in all retail business, the "push" link in the terminal is always the most critical. After all, soy sauce and vinegar have limited technical content; no matter how well you "pull," if you don't do the "push" well, it's in vain.

Whether in catering or circulation, you must first solve the channel's "whether to list and whether to sell" problem before solving the terminal's "whether to know, whether to buy, and whether to use" problem.

Haitian's counter-trend growth over the past three years fully confirms this.

In 2019, Haitian Weiye's market value exceeded 300 billion yuan, surpassing real estate giant Vanke for the first time, prompting Vanke's board chairman Yu Liang to admit "I'm convinced." At that time, Haitian had 5,806 distributors nationwide.

In 2020, Haitian's network covered 31 provincial-level administrative regions, over 320 prefecture-level cities, and over 2,000 county-level markets, with a total of 7,051 distributors, a net increase of 1,245, equivalent to an average net increase of about 3.4 distributors per day, achieving 100% coverage in cities at prefecture level and above.

In 2021, Haitian set a new record in distributor numbers, reaching 7,430, a net increase of 379 from the end of 2020, accelerating its channel sinking layout.

Third Axe: Gamble

Future trends depend on keen judgment.

Under the new consumption background of 2022, times are changing, technology is advancing, society is developing, the environment is changing, and the consumer market and industry environment are undergoing profound adjustments. In response, some Haitian distributors, especially those from Fujian, are constantly updating their thinking and cognition to keenly grasp future trends amid changes, move with the trend, seek change scientifically, and respond proactively.

Some distributors who built their business on Haitian, such as one in a Hebei region with a population of 10 million where Haitian soy sauce sells 60 million yuan annually, after opening channels through Haitian, resolutely chose to adjust their product structure: using 20% Haitian to open the market and 80% small and medium brands with high gross margins to earn space, to protect themselves.

Many big distributors are even seeking other paths. When Haitian announced a price increase in 2021, they took the opportunity to clear inventory, dumping Haitian products to second-tier distributors and merchants, and set up new trading companies to do other soy sauce brands.

Now, Haitian distributors' judgments about Haitian's future are all gambles, but in two opposite directions. Before the dust settles, it's hard to say who is right or wrong.

One is balance. The big distributors who tasted the sweetness early know the principle of "not putting all eggs in one basket" and are trying to balance Haitian's volume to avoid Haitian dominating.

For example, a big distributor who once had a volume of up to 40 million yuan with Haitian, at that time his Chubang sales were only 2 million. After Haitian's channel flattening, he quickly reduced Haitian's volume to 20 million, while Chubang grew against the trend to 15 million, and other soy sauce brands also doubled.

Two is competition. Small and medium distributors in the region are very optimistic about Haitian as a hot commodity because they lack strong channel control. Through a big brand like Haitian, they can open new terminal markets, and while listing Haitian, they drive sales of other products.

In short, no matter how times change, Haitian distributors' three axes still have effect, because axes can be upgraded—from wooden to silver to gold—and the time and place for cutting wood can also be chosen.

When all consumption scenarios are fragmented, you can't find a new continent with an old map, but a navigation voice can easily get you there. Everything in the world changes; the only constant is human nature. So-called sales is to find the weaknesses in human nature, cater to it, follow it, and stimulate it.

If it were you, under the current industry and era background, what market response would you make? Welcome to leave a comment to share.

Disclaimer: This article is compiled based on corporate financial reports, announcements, and public information. It only represents the original author's personal views and does not represent the platform's position. It is for industry exchange only and does not constitute investment advice.

Source: Tiaoliaojia (ID: zgtlj2019)

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