"Two months ago, when I heard that New Distribution had set this year's conference theme as 'Advance to the C-End,' I was deeply inspired. The word 'advance' represents direction and the destination we aim to reach. In today's extremely competitive and shrinking consumer market, the C-end is no longer a supporting role in marketing but the pivot that determines survival. What we need to do is to fully and completely go all-in on the C-end."

On March 16, the CFC 2026 11th China FMCG Conference, co-hosted by New Distribution, Innovation Retail Society, and CFC Going Global, and co-organized by Anneng Zhilian, was held in Chengdu. Hou Xiaohai, COO of CP Group China and founding president of the China International Liquor Promotion Association, was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech titled "My View on the C-End, the Core Logic of the New Consumer World."

As a seasoned marketer spanning the beverage, beer, and food sectors, Mr. Hou not only reviewed his hands-on years in the 1990s but also systematically proposed the theoretical model "4P+C = Scenario King" through an in-depth analysis of the trend of the "Three Kings Coexisting" era.

He believes that in today's era of rising consumer sovereignty, if companies lack the capability to operate the C-end, their existing channel and terminal advantages will become castles in the air. This is not just a revolution in marketing terminology but a reshaping of the first principles of brand survival.

A Thirty-Year Marketing Observation: The 'Time Lag' in Beverages, Beer, and Food

Throughout my career, I have worked in three industries, and there is an interesting 'evolutionary time lag' in their understanding of the C-end.

I started in the beverage industry (PepsiCo) in the 1990s, when FMCG marketing was just taking shape in China. As one of the earliest salespeople, I carried a Pepsi bag, with a rag and a notebook route map, walking through streets and alleys, visiting grocery stores and small supermarkets one by one.

Although there was no concept of the C-end at that time, the C-end was never absent. Every step of our 8-step visit was aimed at providing better products, better prices, better displays, and better service to the C-end. My experience in the beverage industry taught me that consumer demand is both the starting point and the endpoint of marketing.

The second stage was beer. When I joined Snow Beer in 2001, the industry focused on large customers—pulling big trucks, invoicing, and hauling away... As for where the goods were sold, there was little concern.

It wasn't until 2005 that we led the construction of a comprehensive deep marketing management system from the B-end to customers to factories, ushering the beer industry into the era of 'terminal is king,' which was 5 to 10 years slower than the beverage industry.

In recent years, with the diversification of beer categories and the increasing number of consumption scenarios, especially the development of premium and craft beers, the importance of the C-end has become increasingly prominent.

At the beginning of this year, I joined my third company—CP Group. As you know, CP Group was the first wholly foreign-owned enterprise to invest in mainland China, providing Chinese consumers with healthy, safe, and nutritious food from feed and breeding to deep processing.

Through my research in these two months, I found that the food sector is about 10 years behind beer in development. Its marketing model and tactics have only recently begun to show modern marketing thinking, and now many leading companies are starting to pay attention to the C-end.

From beverages to alcohol to food, we can see that although marketing started at different times, they all went from factory to channel, from channel to terminal, and from terminal to user, with only one endpoint: the C-end.

From 'Terminal is King' to 'Three Kings Coexisting': A Logical Reversal

In the mid-1990s, 'Sales and Market' proposed 'terminal is king,' but I didn't fully agree at the time. I believed that distributors were more important; if distributors were strong, the market would be strong. But today, this logic has undergone a historic reversal.

In the current environment of intense competition and shrinking consumption, we have entered the 'era of consumer sovereignty.' In the past, it was a B2C model from factory to customer to consumer; now it has reversed to C2B. Consumers decide where to buy, how much to buy, and what to buy. This upward-reversing logic is more efficient and more likely to succeed.

Now, in the AI era, if we stick to traditional paths, we are likely to 'fail' in understanding and meeting C-end needs, let alone creating quality products and services. In a sense, the era of 'C-end is king' is on the horizon.

Advancing to the C-end does not mean denying the value of terminals, but rather recognizing that the 'pivot' of marketing has fundamentally shifted:

In the past, it was distributors; later, it was terminals; and now, the pivot has completely fallen on the C-end.

Looking at the marketing evolution over the past two decades, we are experiencing a relay from 'distributor is king' to 'terminal is king' and then to 'C-end is king.' When you open the historical scroll, you'll find that these three kings are indispensable; the weakness of any one link can lead to total failure.

In the era of the three kings coexisting, who should we target?

Actually, there's no doubt that we should target the C-end, because the C-end is the hardest to grasp, the hardest to understand, and the hardest to connect and communicate with.

If customers are not doing well, we can empower them and develop other types of customers; terminals can be surveyed and profiled through technical means on various platforms to solve the problem of 'where the goods are.'

Only the C-end is the hardest to handle; it is an infinitely segmented and evolving ocean, and it is currently the biggest pain point in digital operations.

The Connotation Shift of the 4P Logic: 4P+C = Scenario King

I often tell my colleagues that over the past 30 years, the logic of 4P (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) has not changed; many companies still fail because they don't do 4P well. However, the connotation of 4P has completely changed:

  • Product: Previously, it was basic physical satisfaction; now it's the realization of emotional and value-based needs.
  • Price: Prices are extremely complex now. Chinese companies have achieved the world's top complexity in pricing and promotion, but consumers may not necessarily want these.
  • Place: Previously, it was a place to buy things; now it's highly scenario-based, even fully integrated online and offline, including Douyin and Xiaohongshu.
  • Promotion: Previously, it was one-way publicity; now it's real-time interaction based on C-end feedback.

The old 4P was simple and could be drawn on paper; the new 4P is complex and integrated, even requiring large models to figure out. And 'C' is the soul of these 4 Ps.

I proposed a formula: 4P + C = Scenario King.

If 4P is separated from precise C-end insight, the scenario is blurred.

In the past, the C-end was homogeneous and mass-market; they drank whatever was given. Now, the C-end is individualistic and sovereign.

They 'want it all': high quality, low price, and immediate delivery. This characteristic of dominance requires us to place the C-end at the center of the scenario; otherwise, your 4P is just a pile of soulless parts.

Four Core Capabilities in the New Consumer World

Advancing to the C-end cannot just be a slogan; companies need to reshape several basic skills:

Digital intelligence capability: The C-end is highly fragmented, so we must use technology to sense it. Just like 'farming lobsters,' we need means to let data tell us what consumers are doing and what they want to do.

Technological innovation capability: The content of 4P needs to be upgraded through technology. Whether it's product iteration or experience enhancement, we must build barriers through technology.

Agile organization: The organization must have a sense of awe for the market, be able to quickly perceive crises, and 'form up' to respond. If the C-end runs ahead of the organization, your 4P loses its soul, and without scenarios, there's no business.

Return to product as king: In an era where the C-end has the final say, poor products will be eliminated first. We need to pursue ultimate quality, ultimate cost, and ultimate materials.

Future Outlook: Leapfrog Development Breaking the Chain

The river of history does not flow backward. But it's worth pondering that even as we enter the era of 'C-end is king,' the original terminals and customers remain important; they are equally indispensable 'kings.'

With the strong push of high technology, more products and categories will exhibit the new posture of '4P+C' in the future, and even more 'leapfrog' business models will emerge. Products can go directly from the factory to consumers, without passing through distributors and terminals. This kind of dramatic change, unimaginable in the past, is now gradually becoming possible.

Although the path has changed, whether through mini-programs or other digital means to achieve direct connection, the underlying 4P logic and C-end core have never disappeared; they have only changed in form or been implied and replaced by some new method.

The era of C-end as king indeed gives us more opportunity windows, but the accompanying challenges and risks are equally huge, requiring us to respond with a sharper and more professional attitude.