---
title: "How a 2-Yuan Snack Food Company Achieved Annual Sales of 50 Million?"
description: "Yiwu Keke Non-staple Food Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., founded in 2008, achieved annual sales of 50-60 million yuan within five years by selling low-priced snack foods averaging around 2 yuan per item, expanding from Yiwu to the entire East China region. General Manager Lou Junping's success is not due to luck but to strategic channel management, customer service, and market insight."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2014-07-27"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/how-a-2-yuan-snack-food-company-achieved-annual-sales-of-50-million-9810c3a4/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/how-a-2-yuan-snack-food-company-achieved-annual-sales-of-50-million-9810c3a4.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/yyk4hIUM18KaSI2S45qr8A"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/2%E5%85%83%E5%B0%8F%E9%A3%9F%E5%93%81-%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E4%B8%80%E5%B9%B4%E5%8D%96%E5%87%BA5000%E4%B8%87-9810c3a4.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/how-a-2-yuan-snack-food-company-achieved-annual-sales-of-50-million-9810c3a4/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# How a 2-Yuan Snack Food Company Achieved Annual Sales of 50 Million?

> Yiwu Keke Non-staple Food Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., founded in 2008, achieved annual sales of 50-60 million yuan within five years by selling low-priced snack foods averaging around 2 yuan per item, expanding from Yiwu to the entire East China region. General Manager Lou Junping's success is not due to luck but to strategic channel management, customer service, and market insight.

**Tip: Click the blue text above to follow "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" for more marketing and distributor management insights.**
Founded in 2008, Yiwu Keke Non-staple Food Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. achieved annual sales of 50-60 million yuan within just five years, selling snack foods with an average terminal price of around 2 yuan. Its distribution network expanded from Yiwu to the entire East China region. Lou Junping, the general manager, attributes his success not to luck but to strategic decisions.

**Initial Setback and Pivot to Snack Foods**
"I stumbled at the start, but I think it was worth it," said Lou Junping. Previously employed at a listed company, he was optimistic about the food industry's prospects. In 2008, without any experience in food distribution, he quit his job and invested over 100,000 yuan to start his own business, directly partnering with first-tier brands like Zhenxin Sunflower Seeds and旺旺 (Want Want). He believed big brands would have appeal and blindly followed the manufacturers' advice to enter supermarkets and focus on image. Within a year, due to lack of promotional skills and special display techniques, he lost money instead of making a profit, ending the year with only 6,000 yuan left.

Despite this, he remained confident in the food industry's potential. This time, he learned from his mistakes and avoided first-tier brands, shifting to provincial-level well-known products. Lou believed these products had guaranteed quality and did not impose high inventory pressure on distributors, making them easier to handle. Moreover, snack foods have low unit prices (a few yuan each) and low gross margins (around 10% for circulating products), so profits rely on volume. Lou was confident that with proper control, he could maximize net profit margins, making it more stable than dealing with big brands. As for channels, he realized that circulation channels (wholesale and small retail outlets) do not require heavy promotional activities or high entry fees like supermarkets, so he shifted from high-end supermarkets to more suitable circulation channels.

**Personal Delivery and Three Years of Market Expansion**
"Since I don't represent first-tier brands, I must be diligent and hold onto channels tightly to avoid being replaced," Lou said. Fortunately, during his first year, he built a good relationship with a manager from Want Want, who offered to show him around the market. Through these visits, Lou gained insights into which areas in Yiwu had high sales potential. Learning from his first-year failure, Lou stopped sending salespeople or delivery drivers for distribution because they wouldn't observe the market carefully, and if they left, customers could be lost. So, he started handling business personally. Using the most common yet effective method, he visited customers door-to-door and cultivated his core customer base. He had no special tricks, just visited the market more frequently and delivered goods more promptly than other distributors. From then on, he set a standard for himself and his company: "Treat all customers equally, regardless of size. Deliver orders within 12 hours unconditionally, and accept returns or exchanges without question." Because of fast and good delivery, there have been almost no returns over the years.

After three years of hard work, many terminal store owners in Yiwu became familiar friends with Lou. However, he still insists on personally delivering the first batch of goods to all new customers and personally visiting them within the first month. For those with large orders, he visits within half a month.

High-frequency market visits made many store owners familiar with Lou, and eventually, even when new salespeople approached them, they would call Lou directly to order. Moreover, the meticulous service encouraged them to recommend new customers. "More than half of the terminal retail store owners in Yiwu are almost my friends," Lou said. He believes the hard work in the first three years was worth it, as the distribution channels have become increasingly smooth.

**Focusing on Factory Stores and Refined Service**
"For snack foods, you need to focus and know where your customer base is," Lou said. His success lies in his keen insight into channels. In Yiwu, factory stores are an indispensable channel. These are similar to campus convenience stores, usually exclusive to factories, but with significant sales volume. Yiwu has tens of thousands of factories, mostly dealing in clothing, socks, accessories, packaging, and cosmetics. These relatively closed channels are ideal sales networks.

Therefore, Lou was the first to set up sales points in such closed channels. The first factory store was a coincidence; the owner was a friend he knew before. Once, when Lou visited his shop, he noticed the shelves were stocked with well-known brands. Lou, having experienced the low profit margins of first-tier brands, tentatively asked his friend if he would like to try some of Keke's snack foods.

A month later, the snack foods sold well with higher profit margins, and the owner continued ordering. He then recommended Lou's products to other factory store owners. As Lou's supply network expanded and Keke's reputation grew, more people proactively contacted them, knowing that "orders are delivered free within 12 hours, and products can be returned unconditionally if they don't sell."

With over 10,000 factory stores in Yiwu, Keke's team has only 11 business managers, of whom 5 are responsible for local factory stores, divided by area for service and contact. To achieve the best results with minimal staff, employee management is crucial. Lou insists on hiring local people because they are familiar with local customs and geography. Regardless of position, all employees must start as salespeople and undergo three years of training before promotion. Under strict standards, employees are well compensated.

Lou said, "Our business managers have relatively high salaries, with a base of 3,000-4,000 yuan, plus performance-based bonuses. Typically, they can easily earn 7,000-8,000 yuan per month, and during holidays or peak seasons, monthly income can exceed 10,000 yuan." Of course, high bonuses are only achievable if they meet targets. Lou sets a combined sales target for the 5 managers responsible for factory stores, based on current sales plus an additional 50,000 yuan. For example, if monthly sales in Yiwu are 750,000 yuan, the next month's target is around 800,000 yuan, with adjustments for peak and off-peak seasons.

Lou prefers result-oriented evaluations. Since sales targets are bundled, he doesn't strictly manage the business managers' daily activities, nor does he require a specific number of new customers per month. Instead, he gives them full autonomy to coordinate among themselves. According to Lou, factories in Yiwu can be categorized into large, medium, and small. He classifies factories with 300-500 workers as small, 500-800 as medium, and over 1,000 as large. "I don't know the exact number of factories in Yiwu, but based on reports from my business managers, we have established channels in over 10,000 small factories, at least 300-400 medium ones, and large factories are mostly in towns, with maybe 7-8 factories with over 1,000 workers per town." Thus, each factory has a monopolistic convenience store, so there are nearly 20,000 factory stores in total.

Regardless of factory size, the service is the same. For particularly large orders, business managers visit more frequently. To encourage larger orders, the more you buy, the cheaper the price; orders over 500 pieces are supplied at cost.

Another reason factory store owners are loyal to Lou is his "smart accounting and high profits." In the snack food business, gross margins are typically around 10%, and after labor costs, net profit is only about 3%. However, with Lou, they can maintain net profit margins above 5%. Lou cleverly selects a common similar product and prices it very low. For example, a biscuit with a purchase price of 1.2 yuan is priced at 2 yuan, which is cheaper than the market average, giving an impression of "affordable prices." At the same time, he selects a higher-quality, well-packaged, and less common product and prices it higher. For instance, if the manufacturer suggests a terminal price of 2 yuan, Lou boldly sets it at 3 yuan, achieving a gross margin of up to 20%. He places it in the most visible position on the shelf as a featured item. Consumers are easily persuaded to buy without comparison.

With such mature channel networks and market strategies, it's possible to surpass first-tier brands. Generally, snack food merchants don't pay much attention to product display. In campus stores, low-priced snacks like peanuts and bean sticks are often placed at the bottom shelf, hard to find. But Lou has the courage to pay for an entire shelf section. He places selected products with high profit margins and less competition in the best shelf positions. Consumers tend to remember the first product they see, especially men, who don't compare as much as women and buy directly.

Factory workers are mostly migrant workers with modest backgrounds and less brand awareness. Snack foods satisfy their taste needs without being expensive, so they sell well in factories.

This creates a positive cycle: sales increase, profits rise, and terminal store owners are happy to sell Keke's products. In this channel-driven market, there was a time when everyone only sold Keke's products, and even big brands didn't sell well.

**Delegating Authority and Developing Secondary Distributors**
"Snack foods rely on volume, so you must continuously expand your distributor base and build a sales network," Lou said. After thoroughly covering the Yiwu market, Lou turned his attention to surrounding cities. He adopted a regional management approach, assigning business managers to handle various districts and counties around Yiwu. For example, one manager is responsible for contacting secondary distributors in 8 cities in Jinhua.

Since snack foods rely on volume, he encourages secondary distributors to order more. For instance, customers ordering over 100 pieces at once receive gifts, and those ordering over 500 pieces get cost-price deals. Moreover, orders over 500 pieces are delivered directly by Keke's own logistics vehicles.

Keke has specially equipped a 7.6-meter large truck for direct delivery. "Each trip costs about 500 yuan more than using a logistics company, but I think it's worth it. Logistics companies don't go deep into lower-tier markets, but we send business managers with the truck, which enhances customer loyalty and provides timely market feedback." Because business managers accompany the deliveries, they know which products sell well in each store and which need urgent handling. If they see a product with poor sales, they have the authority to decide immediately whether to discount or offer buy-one-get-one-free deals. Accurate market judgment and timely action are also reasons why Keke has never had returns over the years.

Lou also gives salespeople full authority, with each having a monthly budget of 10,000 yuan for handling near-expiry products. As long as monthly sales targets are met, Lou rarely interferes in the process. "This is also a way to train and develop business managers, giving them more autonomy and helping them develop good planning habits." Lou also revealed a management trick: pairing new salespeople with experienced ones. Each experienced manager must bring one or two new salespeople to the market. This helps new staff quickly learn the environment and procedures, provides some supervision over experienced staff, and ensures that if an employee leaves in a certain area, a candidate can immediately fill in, preventing customer loss and channel disruption.

To date, Keke has become a distributor for over 400 snack food varieties. This year, Lou is focusing on puffed foods, believing that snack foods have great potential.

---

**Like this article? Feel free to share it on your Moments by clicking the top right corner.**

**About Us:**
WeChat ID: 快销品经销商专业咨询管理
Account Introduction: 20 years of FMCG distributor operation and management experience, specializing in distributor internal management.

Click "Read Original" below to enter our micro-community for interaction and questions.

**Learning and Exchange QQ Group: 344257092**

**Reply 1 to enter the micro-website and view historical messages.**

---


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671