From April 1 to 3, the "2021 (6th) China FMCG Channel Innovation Conference" was successfully held in Chengdu, hosted by New Distribution, co-hosted by Innovation Retail Society, Community Forest, and Teacher Liu's New Marketing, and guided by the Distributor Branch of China Condiment Industry Association. This conference attracted over 3,000 brand owners, distributors, community group buying platforms, and related industry practitioners from across the country, with a full house and unprecedented scale. At the main forum held on the morning of April 1, Zhao Bo, founder of New Distribution, released the "2020-2021 Research Report on B2B2C Cooperation of Retail Small Stores in Lower-Tier Markets" (hereinafter referred to as the Report). The following is part of the content of the circulation version of the Report: The survey samples for this research were mainly distributed in markets in third-tier and below cities, counties, towns, and rural areas, covering 1,069 stores in 162 cities across 29 provinces nationwide. With the improvement of income levels, continuous enhancement of infrastructure construction, and the development of mobile internet, the consumption power of consumers in lower-tier markets has been boosted. From this survey, we also found that these consumers have characteristics such as: fast growth, high price sensitivity, trust in physical stores, greater trust in local networks, more rational shopping, and high entertainment value in shopping. Meanwhile, stores in lower-tier markets have characteristics such as mainly operated by mom-and-pop shops, small scale but large quantity, flexible operation methods, low risk resistance, and low professionalism. "Small but complete" is the core characteristic of small stores in lower-tier markets. Retail small stores in lower-tier markets often have small areas, but the products they sell basically cover all categories needed by consumers in daily life. In terms of category distribution, beverages, convenient snacks, leisure snacks, mineral water, and cigarettes are the main categories sold by small stores. In lower-tier markets, the trend of consumption upgrading is obvious. 60% of small store owners believe that consumers' spending power is increasing and consumption habits are changing. With the popularization of new shopping methods such as online shopping, consumers' enthusiasm for in-store shopping remains basically the same as in the past, but the amount spent per shopping trip shows a clear downward trend. In the future, 71% of surveyed small store owners said they will pay more attention to products favored by young consumers. Regarding future development, small stores in lower-tier markets have mixed feelings. 31.3% of surveyed small stores believe that business will become better in the future, while 37.5% of small store owners believe that business will become worse. The emergence of the pandemic has also had a huge impact on the offline retail industry. Compared with 2019, 12.7% of small stores in lower-tier markets saw an increase in business volume, while 40.1% of surveyed small stores believed that although the pandemic has eased this year, business is worse than last year. During the Spring Festival, the most prosperous consumption period of the year, 62% of surveyed small stores believed that pre-Spring Festival turnover was basically the same or increased compared with the same period last year. In terms of procurement channels, ordering from manufacturer (distributor) sales representatives, B2B platforms, and wholesale markets have become the main procurement channels for small stores in lower-tier markets. It is worth noting that with the development of community group buying, 26.7% of stores in lower-tier markets have begun to try ordering and purchasing from community group buying platforms. Among the surveyed stores, 73.6% have ordered on B2B platforms to varying degrees. On average, small stores use 2 B2B platforms, and 14.8% of surveyed small stores said they use more than 4 B2B platforms daily. JD Zhang Gui Bao, Alibaba Retail Link, and Yi Jiu Pi are the three major B2B platforms commonly used by small stores in lower-tier markets. In terms of store stickiness, Furong Xing Sheng-A Bi Da, Wanquan Mall, and Xin Gao Qiao have more advantages. In terms of categories, leisure snacks, convenient snacks, and beverages are the main categories purchased by retail small stores in lower-tier markets on B2B platforms. Due to differences in consumption habits, small stores in lower-tier markets have not yet developed the habit of online procurement for high-margin packaged cooked food, fruits and vegetables, fresh food, and daily fresh distribution. On different B2B platforms, small stores in lower-tier markets also show obvious differences in product procurement. On Alibaba Retail Link, small store owners purchase the most products in convenient snacks, leisure snacks, and beverages; while on JD Zhang Gui Bao, the top 3 product categories purchased by small store owners are leisure snacks, personal care and daily chemicals, and beverages. With the development of the B2B industry, small stores have gradually developed the habit of independently ordering and purchasing on B2B platforms. Due to adjustments in platform logistics policies, the average delivery time of B2B platforms is 2.3 days. Among the surveyed stores, 50.7% of small stores believed that after cooperating with B2B platforms, product categories became richer, 34.4% believed that B2B reduced store inventory levels, and 25% of surveyed small stores believed that out-of-stock situations decreased after cooperating with B2B platforms. With changes in consumption behavior, home delivery services have also become a major attempt for more and more small stores in lower-tier markets to reach consumers with products. Among the surveyed stores, about 47% of small stores provide home delivery services to consumers, 45.9% are cooperating with community group buying platforms, and 19% have connected to O2O platforms such as Ele.me, Meituan, and JD Daojia. Although the trend of returning to hometowns in lower-tier markets has begun to appear, insufficient store foot traffic remains the biggest problem facing store operations. E-commerce price impact, single procurement channels, and insufficient product diversity and popularity also plague store operations. The above is part of the content of the Report. Reply with the keyword "2021 Report" in the New Distribution official account dialog box to download the full version of the circulation report. Once the tip is adopted, a payment of 400-2000 yuan will be made.