How Beverages Can Dominate the Best Point-of-Sale Spot: The Cooler

"He who controls the cooler controls the world; the cooler is the absolute core of summer sales. Cooler shelf space equals sales!

Is there a problem with pushing so much product into the market? There are potential issues: First, if retailers can't sell it all, it can leave a lot of problems; Second, salespeople can't use this product to boost their performance in the short term!

Can this product be pushed up again? In summer, the cooler is the best point-of-sale position. Whoever gets the cooler is the boss. According to market research, coolers generally don't have more than three facings, and there's a lot of room for strategy! Should we spend display fees to grab cooler space? That's not how we play it anymore.

The distributor had over 3,000 cases of water in the warehouse, which came with each shipment from the manufacturer. The distributor was frustrated. Okay, let's use the water to play.

Anyway, the distributor made money; 3,000 cases of water cost just over 30,000 yuan. I said we'd play it my way, but we had to be creative.

Use this water as a fee to sign cooler contracts? No, regular displays are passive. Many retailers, if you leave, the next day the cooler is someone else's. Only when retailers do it voluntarily does it really matter. But that's easier said than done! Not easy doesn't mean impossible. With the same budget, if you change the approach and mindset, it might be completely different. For example, with reverse boxes, if you offer that small price difference as a display fee, they're not interested! They care about immediate benefits, just like FMCG products are impulsive. They don't care about a monthly display fee, but they're thrilled to grab a few products two or three yuan cheaper on e-commerce platforms. Isn't that the case? Actually, when we did reverse boxes, we played on that psychology. With a mix of real and fake moves, we made the water sacrifice worthwhile.

The salesperson first gave two weeks' notice that the manufacturer would come for an inspection, and that in other places, for every bottle of M beverage in the cooler, they'd give a bottle of water. But the exact time was uncertain. Of course, most retailers didn't care.

We had someone pose as a manufacturer market supervisor and conduct a surprise inspection. They checked how many M products were in the cooler and gave one bottle of water for each bottle, on the spot. The first batch gave away over 300 cases of water. They inspected over 800 terminal coolers, with an average of about 10 bottles per cooler, about 1.5 facings.

When the salesperson followed up, many retailers regretted not listening to him! The salesperson casually said, "This manager is weird; maybe he'll come back in a few days."

After 20 days, he came back. The retailers had increased the product in their coolers, but not by much. They regretted it again. This time, the effect was better, over 400 cases. Because the retailers didn't believe there would be a second time, the increase was just a conditioned response when they stocked up. But that wasn't my ultimate goal.

When the salesperson visited again, he said, "This manager is weird; no one knows when he'll come or who he'll send. I think he's targeting this area. I'd better help you display more, especially in the front. Our product is small, so it won't block the ones behind!" But retailers generally didn't allow products to be placed in front of other products! This time, we increased the facings. After two visits, more than half of one cooler shelf was our product.

Then the so-called manager came in person. He didn't bring a vehicle; he just took photos, counted, and registered, and the distributor delivered later. He promised that if someone came to check the cooler next time and one shelf was full, they'd get an extra case of water. When the salesperson went to organize next time, after a chat, not only did they fill one shelf completely, but they also replaced the front facings of other shelves with this product. Another person came to check, and the obedient retailers made a killing!

Later, he came twice more. Over three months, there were five surprise inspections. They gave away over 4,000 cases of water. After that, without the salesperson having to arrange it, the retailers voluntarily filled one shelf with the product and placed it in front of other tall bottles! With this arrangement, the entire cooler looked like it was full of this product from two shelves up. The salesperson just negotiated restocking, did vertical expansion, and promotional materials. Sales were incredible. In two months, the products pushed at the ordering meeting were basically sold out. Everywhere you looked, if someone was holding a bottle of drink, it was mostly L product!

Using less than 50,000 yuan worth of water, not only did the products that were expected to take four months to sell get sold in two months, but it also motivated retailers to actively sell our product, making it a super bestseller that surpassed mineral water! In every store, you could see dozens of cases stacked up, just like Yibao in Guangzhou, if not more. Display fees? We just changed the approach. But since we've cultivated the retailers' habit, using water to raid coolers isn't a long-term solution. In the end, we signed cooler contracts: one shelf for one case of tea per month, and the company checks that the cooler has water. If you tried to give a retailer a case of tea to use one shelf for your single product, forget it!

Later, we developed channels related to cars: car washes, repair shops, private gas stations, and parking lots. It was fun!

For repair shops, we aimed to cultivate their consumption habits. We negotiated, sent three cases of product for display, and sent one case each month. No payment upfront; they pay after selling. Then we did promotional materials at the repair shops. We never intended to collect the money. Because a few small shops near repair shops had strong sales, and the mechanics drank two or three bottles a day each. We improved the product image and promotions in the small shops around repair shops. Many might think this is crazy. Does the distributor agree? If you're the boss, and you make over 10 yuan profit per case, and overall you're profitable, as long as there's market to expand, wouldn't you be willing to spend a little?

For 4S stores, we directly sponsored M product events, with various promotional materials and a 50-case display. For every car sold, we gave a case to the customer, and we also gave five cases per month to the company. We did this for all 4S stores. 4S stores don't generate much sales; they don't rely on you for profit, and if the fee is low, it's not attractive. But it's crucial for brand building! Once sales rise, you must build the brand, otherwise it's dangerous. In this closed small county, it's possible to create a paradise. Because information is isolated and the population is not very mobile.

In the three months after the ordering meeting, sales got faster every day, but my salary didn't rise; it fell. With the market like this, the expense-to-sales ratio was so low that we couldn't spend all the budget. With enough budget, anyone could do it well. In this small place, there's only so much vision. At best, they see you as an employee, not a second boss. I didn't want to run a small business in that mountain valley! When the job is done, retire gracefully; that's the way of heaven!

At the group company, I had no customers; for two months, sales were zero! Then the critics attacked me, and the manager questioned me. So I directly opened a distributor and shipped 150,000 yuan worth of goods from the factory. Then I fought back with the critics: at lunchtime, I sent red envelopes and said, "Congratulations everyone, we finally made a sale yesterday, a 150,000 yuan order. I felt like the company's sales champion. It was great! As for those critics who taught me 'salespeople are judged by performance,' you can see in the daily reports that my two buddies have been in the top three in the region for the past two months. Isn't our per capita shipment volume the highest in the region? Do you know what comprehensive data analysis is? You can't let one person make all the money; you have to take care of the team! And you dare to show off your seniority? With your sesame-sized performance, I could do it in a week!"

The distributor's vision was limited, and the company side wasn't going anywhere. So I resigned at the end of June. Now I think I was too young and naive! A regional manager, your monthly sales of a mere million or so is nothing. Even if they lose you, they'll only lose two or three million in annual sales at most. That's nothing compared to authority and stability.

My supervisor had told me about retiring gracefully. When the company promoted him to regional manager, the big boss tried to keep him with promises of shares. Now that the market is doing well, his commission dropped from 1% to 0.5%. What about the shares promised earlier? We all know better than to mention it. The distributor's vision is small; if you have the chance, you should develop toward the manufacturer side. I'm young, so I won't wait for the boss. Be wise, and we can still be friends. The market is mature, so I resigned! Where do I go from here?

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