Introduction Hou Linhui, a veteran liquor industry professional manager, has worked at Shandong Baozhen, Yinji, Laimao, etc., and is now the head of the chain business division of Baichuan Mingpin Supply Chain Co., Ltd. Today, he has a different understanding of the booming B2B wave in the channel... ■ Channel distributors need to transition to branding For years, the baijiu industry has been dominated by manufacturer brands. Manufacturers create product brands for consumers, but there is still a lack of good communication between products and consumers, not truly connecting them. In other words, all merchants in the channel are working for manufacturer brands, but so far no strong brand has been formed. In fact, not only channel distributors, but most links in the entire baijiu industry chain serve the manufacturer's products. But from the trend of business development, this can be done when products lead the market in the early stage. However, as the economy develops to a certain stage, merchants' own brands will also have a future. In the past, manufacturers have always communicated with consumers, and products are the main carrier of communication. But merchants can also communicate with consumers. Besides products, merchants rely on themselves to communicate with consumers, and can do so more frequently and effectively. In the future, consumers will come into contact with two types of brands simultaneously: one is the manufacturer brand, and the other is the merchant brand. What is the principle? When a consumer makes a purchase, they are more likely to remember only two pieces of information: first, what I bought, which is mainly the manufacturer's responsibility; second, where I bought it, which is mainly the merchant's responsibility. What the manufacturer brand brings to consumers is mainly the value of the product; consumers buy valuable products. What the merchant brand brings to consumers is mainly the professional value of the merchant; they buy products displayed and recommended by professional merchants. The latter is the second stage of commercial brand development—merchants building their own brands. For example, large chain brands like Walmart and Carrefour are typical brands built by merchants. Guest: Hou Linhui Born in 1973 Head of Chain Business Division, Baichuan Mingpin Supply Chain Co., Ltd. ■ Not optimistic about pure B2B internet companies without physical entities** I am not optimistic about pure liquor B2B internet companies. Various B2B models on the internet often end up losing money and cannot continue. I think pure internet projects have problems; they lack physical support and are empty shells. If they succeed, fine; if not, nothing is left. Unlike traditional distributors, even if they lose, they still have some assets left, but pure internet companies have nothing left. Furthermore, the connection between B2B internet companies and terminals is very weak. It is not the connection between production entities and trading entities like between manufacturers and merchants. This connection is basically maintained by low prices; without price advantages, transactions basically do not occur. But price advantage is not the strength of internet companies; they have to collect cheap goods everywhere, otherwise terminals won't buy. Or they do OEM products, but OEM products are not equivalent to truly mainstream best-selling products. Manufacturers are just taking advantage of the situation to connect with a B2B online platform, but they do it casually, not wholeheartedly. This leads to OEM products often having unclear value and price. Moreover, some big brands already have numerous OEM products of varying quality, and consumers may not collectively buy a so-called brand. Terminals are not stupid; they fundamentally lack sufficient reasons to stock. Even if such B2B models could succeed, it would take a long time, and upstream enterprises would need to provide resources and support. Only by opening up the supply chain can there be a chance, but upstream enterprises objectively lack the motivation. So, for pure B2B internet companies to succeed, it is at least very difficult. ■ Channel reform should start with C-end users Today's channel reform is more reliable doing C-end than B-end. But if doing C-end today is not user-centric but still product-centric, it is doomed to fail. Because the value of products is created and given by manufacturer brands, they focus on that, which is not something merchants can do. What is user-centric? First, it must be affirmed that to be user-centric, products are still the basic carrier for building relationships. But it cannot be like the past, completely following the requirements of manufacturer brands, only helping manufacturer brands communicate with users. Instead, it should be to brand yourself and communicate directly with consumers. That requires merchants to be experts in selling good products, experts in appraising, selecting, and recommending products. These expert-level values are created for users, not for manufacturers. ** Another thing to mention is creating value-added services for users. The value-added services here are definitely not timely delivery; timely delivery can only be called basic services attached when selling products, which is actually what merchants think is "value-added." Value-added services in the eyes of users must be unexpected value. But timely delivery, especially limited-time delivery, once promised, if not done, people will scold you, saying your service is not good, but they never thank you for delivering on time. Services that can be clearly told to consumers are not value-added services; they are just a tight curse on yourself. Take Haidilao as an example. Everyone says Haidilao has good service, but how many of Haidilao's services are based on its own industry? Haidilao provides services that are unexpected to consumers, random, interactive, and cross-industry. This kind of creative, unexpected service is probably what can truly be called "value-added" service for consumers. Why can Haidilao do it? Because it stands at the front end with the most frequent interaction with consumers, and the more frequent the interaction, the more unexpected services can be created. This shows a key truth: this kind of value-added service cannot be provided by manufacturer brands at the back end; only merchant brands at the front end can provide it. Merchant brands in the liquor channel are still in their infancy today. But I believe the emergence of some truly strong merchant brands is the value that the liquor channel needs to undertake in the future. Source: Jiushishan 679 Viewpoint Club (ID: new-food) At the request of many distributor friends, the fourth B-end e-commerce inspection class of this public platform will be held on August 15-18 to visit Qianmi.com and Alibaba Retail Link in Nanjing and Hangzhou. Distributor friends interested in transformation can join us for on-site inspection: Activity process: Time: August 15-18
August 15-18
Nanjing·Hangzhou 15th: Report at designated hotel in Nanjing; 16th: On-site inspection of Qianmi.com, afternoon high-speed rail to Hangzhou; 17th: Participate in the "FMCG Distributor B2B Transformation Exchange Summit"; 18th: On-site inspection of Alibaba Retail Link in Hangzhou; Welcome distributor friends interested in transformation to join us to learn and inspect on-site: Organization form ************1. Company visit
- Actual market case visit
- On-site explanation
- One-on-one communication************ Participating distributor friends only need to pay a registration fee of 200 yuan Other expenses are self-paid Note: This inspection is limited to distributors Interested distributor friends can register by long-pressing the QR code below. When adding, please note: "Fourth Phase Registration". Non-participants please do not disturb Group photos of previous inspections: Group photo of the 3rd B-end e-commerce inspection, from top to bottom: Yunbao Shangmeng, Weijie Chengpei, Wanshang Yizhan. Group photo of the 2nd B-end e-commerce inspection, from top to bottom: Jinhuobao, Caiba, Yishang. Group photo of the 1st B-end e-commerce inspection, from top to bottom: Piduoduo, Beiquan, Yishang. -END- The best FMCG distributor learning platform in China Focusing on providing professional, practical, and applicable tutorials for enterprises and distributors Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly The most professional and practical knowledge base in the FMCG industry Reply with the red number below to get the corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | 001 Excellent article selection | 002 Distributor market operation | 003 Terminal visit management | 004 Sales supervisor skills | 005 Sales improvement techniques | 006 Channel expansion | 007 Managing distributors | 008 Distributor development | 009 Distributor internal operation management | 010 Team management | 011 Efficient distribution techniques | 012 Sales manager's eighteen skills | 013 KA operation methods and strategies | 014 First lesson for new salespeople | 015 Internet, brand | 016 Distributor B2B transformation | [Long press QR code to follow]