Greetings, I am Yuan Lai from New Distribution. In the just-concluded 2025, the flames of instant retail war have spread to every corner of FMCG. If the first half of the year was still a "traffic war" waged by giants with billions in subsidies, then in the second half, the direction has completely changed. With the dense rollout of Taobao convenience stores and Meituan brand flagship stores, the industry consensus is: shifting from competing for C-end consumers to restructuring the B-end supply system. For any brand, this is a critical turning point in positioning for instant retail: warehouse-stores are becoming the new generation of terminals. In the past, brands were accustomed to competing for shelf space in KA hypermarkets and coverage in traditional trade. But in the "invisible" network of instant retail flash warehouses, traditional distribution and display tactics are becoming ineffective. In this new battlefield, brands face a new round of supply challenges: whose SKUs can enter the warehouse? How many? How fast do they move? To win in the instant retail flash warehouse channel, brands cannot go it alone; they must rely on partners with "product assortment capabilities, warehousing and distribution capabilities, coverage capabilities, and operational capabilities" that differentiate them from traditional circulation distributors—professional flash warehouse distributors. Today, we exclusively present the first batch of TOP daily chemical flash warehouse distributors. This list may serve as the "battle map" for daily chemical brands to break through in the new instant retail battlefield. Profile of TOP Flash Warehouse Distributors Based on our collected and aggregated data, we conducted an in-depth profile analysis of the first batch of TOP daily chemical flash warehouse distributors and found the following three major characteristics: First, regional distribution: dual-core driven by the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. From the inventory data, TOP distributors are highly concentrated in East China and South China. This is highly consistent with the national distribution of flash warehouses (currently, the top 5 provinces with the highest number of stores are Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Shandong, accounting for about 40% cumulatively). In high-density flash warehouse areas, they naturally gain first-mover access to market dividends. By integrating product assortments, operating with professional teams, and even dedicating independent companies to the flash warehouse channel supply. Second, scale effect: the rise of the ten-million-yuan club. In terms of revenue scale, the monthly average of 10 million yuan is the median, with an average coverage of over 1,000 warehouse-stores. We believe that even the supply business for retail flash warehouse channels is no longer a "small business" or a "local business." Cross-city and cross-province coverage is the inevitable path for professional flash warehouse distributors to achieve greater scale and share. Third, role evolution: from distribution agency to product assortment service. Professional flash warehouse distributors differ from mainstream daily chemical distributors; they are not agents for a few brands but professional product assortment providers for several sub-categories. They supply not just hundreds of SKUs but over a thousand SKUs to flash warehouses. Strictly speaking, these flash warehouse distributors are more like category supply chain management companies, aggregating hundreds of brands and thousands of SKUs to provide one-stop category supply chains for regional flash warehouses in the comprehensive daily chemical category. What they sell is not brands but "product assortment structures that can directly drive sales." At the same time, in daily operations, they provide selection services for flash warehouses and even professional services such as operational investment for some core brands. How Brands Can Leverage Professional Flash Warehouse Distributors Facing the rapid rise of instant retail flash warehouses, how should brands act?

  1. Abandon unified all-channel management and establish an independent team. Do not try to use the team that manages traditional supermarkets to interface with flash warehouse distributors. Instant retail is a high-frequency, small-batch, fulfillment-heavy business. Brands need to form a dedicated team to plan overall strategy from the flash warehouse perspective, understanding platform algorithms, activity mechanisms, and replenishment rhythms.
  2. Leverage external forces to complete the final link of "controllable supply." For the instant retail flash warehouse channel, a fully "direct-operated" model is unrealistic. The best approach is to treat these TOP flash warehouse distributors as the brand's "regional central warehouses," and through the distributor network, combined with data insights, achieve controllable supply.
  3. Data empowerment: move from "selling goods" to "business management." Deep cooperation and data sharing. Through distributor data feedback, understand which specifications sell well, which time periods have high demand, and in what scenarios. Then reverse-optimize product structures, such as small-size daily chemical packs and emergency kits for nighttime scenarios. Instant retail is not about selling "big and comprehensive" but about selling "precise responses to scenarios." In 2026, the window for instant retail is closing. For daily chemical brands, "warehouse-stores" have become a new terminal that must be captured. Whoever can establish deep links with these TOP distributors first and complete "effective positioning" in tens of thousands of flash warehouses will secure a ticket to the future in this transformation from "traffic" to "supply." The supply ecosystem of instant retail needs more excellent forces to join. This inventory is only the first batch; we are continuously searching for "hidden champions" in the industry. If you are a capable flash warehouse distributor, please contact us to be included. We will help you break information asymmetry and connect with more upstream brands and downstream flash warehouse merchants!