Key Point 1: Distributors Must Be Willing to Promote As a crucial part of new product promotion, the distributor's promotional philosophy and marketing actions significantly impact the success of a new product launch. Distributors must fully recognize the value and role of new products in their growth; new products not only offer strong profitability but also optimize product portfolios and enhance operational safety, making them essential for survival and development. Therefore, distributors must remove obstacles to new product operations, stimulate sales potential, and do their utmost to ensure successful promotion.
1. Mindset Most distributors approach new products with a trial-selling attitude, giving them insufficient attention and investment, leading to ineffective promotional measures and difficulty in opening up sales. When this mindset dominates distributor market operations, new product sales are often poor. Therefore, distributors should either not choose new products or, once chosen, fully commit to promoting them. Only with this determination and mindset can new products succeed. When new product promotion fails, the distributor suffers the greatest loss. Poor sell-through not only damages terminal store profits but also erodes the distributor's credibility with those stores. Additionally, poor sell-through dampens sales staff morale and reduces team cohesion and pioneering spirit.
2. Market Risk Distributors face two major risk concerns: whether the product will sell and whether market investment will be recouped. To address these risks, thorough product and market analysis during product selection is essential to reduce market risk. All business activities carry some risk, and risk is proportional to return. The key is for distributors to enhance their risk analysis and judgment capabilities, using systematic methods to lower market risks in product selection.
3. Marketing Methods New products require new selling methods. Many liquor distributors have years of experience and believe they have accumulated rich marketing expertise, employing various strategies. Therefore, when promoting new products, distributors should not be confined to existing marketing experience but should objectively analyze and explore suitable sales models for the new product.
4. Internal Marketing Distributor sales staff's lack of attention to new product promotion is the most fundamental marketing obstacle. Research on numerous new product launches reveals that many new products fail not in the market but in the hands of the distributor's sales staff. Sales staff's resistance to new products and lack of effort are the biggest obstacles to successful promotion, which distributors must take seriously.
5. Operational Strategy For new product launches, first, elevate it to the level of the distributor's operational strategy. All internal departments must treat promoting the new product as the core task, and all personnel must recognize that failure to successfully promote new products will lead to market elimination. Second, boost sales staff motivation. Salespeople are accustomed to selling mature products that are easy to sell, as they require minimal effort, whereas new products require a selling process, involving introducing the product, marketing plans, and profit margins to terminal store owners. Therefore, special rewards must be established for new product launches to maintain sales staff enthusiasm, such as higher commissions and incentives. Finally, distributors must ensure appropriate resource allocation, especially terminal resources like advertising and display fees, and treat new product launches as a core task across finance, warehousing, and other departments, because only distributors who can successfully promote new products will ultimately reap profits.
Key Point 2: Terminal Stores Must Be Willing to Sell To achieve good sales results at terminal stores, distributors must implement two major strategies: terminal store development strategy and terminal store willingness-to-sell strategy.
1. Terminal Store Development Strategy First, identify terminal stores suitable for selling the new product. Not all terminal stores are suitable; distributors must analyze product attributes and target consumer groups to determine which channels sell well and lock onto those stores. This is the first and most critical step for a successful launch.
Second, survey terminal outlets and classify them based on expected sales volume, using criteria such as sales scale, location, inventory levels, and product date codes to assess outlet quality.
Finally, manage the pace of terminal store development. In the early stages, concentrate resources on developing the highest-quality first-tier stores as quickly as possible; then focus on second-tier stores to maximize outlet numbers and create a strong terminal atmosphere; once the market atmosphere improves, develop third- and fourth-tier outlets as channel supplements. Throughout, distributors must prioritize quality over quantity; if they only pursue distribution coverage, the new product is doomed.
2. Terminal Store Willingness-to-Sell Strategy Profit, pressure, and relationship are the three core factors influencing terminal store owners' sales. First, ensure store owners profit by controlling retail prices, maintaining profit margins, devising effective sell-through plans, ensuring product turnover, adjusting channel promotions, and offering attractive reward schemes to boost sales enthusiasm.
Second, increase sales pressure on store owners. As the saying goes, pressure creates motivation. For distributors, this is a process of inventory loading and capital occupation. The key is to enhance sales staff's ability to load inventory, instilling a mindset that sales performance comes from loading, and using it to choke competitors. Salespeople must also project confidence, using promotional policies to load reasonably, but in a fair and sensible manner, such as using cumulative sales data to persuade store owners to stock up.
Finally, strengthen relationships with store owners, with service as the core. Distributors must conduct regular visits, as relationships are built through continuous face-to-face communication. Provide attentive and effective services, such as product returns/exchanges, timely delivery, and sales skill training for store owners.
Key Point 3: Make Customers Willing to Buy First, let customers feel value for money. Consumer purchase decisions rely on product quality; customers must feel they are getting good value. This requires understanding consumer psychology: "People don't buy cheap products; they buy products that feel like a bargain." Therefore, timely and varied consumer promotions, such as buy-two-get-one-free or second item half price, will increase purchase desire.
Second, excel at in-store displays. Follow four core principles: best placement (where customers can easily see and reach), maximize product display (full shelves and displays), highlight new products (place the most profitable items in the most prominent positions), and best display image (concentrate products and use promotional materials fully).
Third, create a strong point-of-sale atmosphere. This means making consumers notice the new product, feel its sales heat, and even be influenced by the vibrant atmosphere to actively engage. To achieve this, fully utilize materials like outdoor display boards, posters, banners, display boxes, indoor display boards, triangular price tags, explosive tags, and shopping bags.
Fourth, ensure effective salesperson recommendations. In supermarket-type terminal stores, in-store salespeople are key to product recommendation. They can be full-time visible promoters or store staff doing covert promotion. Strengthen their training and management to improve promotional efficiency. Training should cover promotional knowledge (company, product, and marketing knowledge) and skills (behavioral, communication, and closing skills). Once promoters master these, distributors should implement robust incentive measures, increase profit incentives for new products, and offer covert promotion commissions of over 5 yuan.
Fifth, conduct promotional activities. These are auxiliary sales models that help new products break through quickly. They must be executed according to standards to maximize effectiveness. Promotional activities have three key functions: publicity (creating on-site atmosphere to generate awareness), tasting (letting customers experience the product), and promotion (facilitating on-site sales to satisfy customers' desire for bargains).
How to Enhance Product Freshness? Three Key Points for Successful New Product Launch By mastering these three key points, you can effectively connect the entire chain, establish a high-speed channel for product flow, and achieve a successful new product launch.
Source: FMCG Distributor Consultant Activity Schedule:
8th: Arrive at designated hotel in Changsha; 9th: Visit Changsha New Gaoqiao; 10th: Visit Guangzhou No.1 Life; 11th: Visit Dongguan Caihua Commercial Trade; 12th: Return or free arrangement for sightseeing.
Distributor friends interested in transformation are welcome to join us for understanding and on-site inspection:
Organization Format
- Company visit
- Actual market case visit
- Warehouse visit
- On-site explanation / one-on-one communication
- Salon training
Participating distributors only need to pay a registration fee of 200 yuan. Other expenses are self-covered. Long press this QR code or click "Read Original" to register.
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8th Japan New Retail Inspection Group Photo, from left to right: Japan Aeon Headquarters, MINISTOP (Japan's 4th largest convenience store) store manager sharing, "MUJI Transformation" author Watanabe Yonehide giving a lecture on MUJI, and Kyoto 8001 Managing Director Hirotoshi Minami explaining the fresh produce + farm business model.
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7th B-end E-commerce Inspection Group Photo, from left to right: Maidelin, Haiding, Wangcang.
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6th B-end E-commerce Inspection Group Photo, from left to right: Zhongke Shangruan, Shuhai Supply Chain, Yunmei Shares, Yishang Logistics.
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5th B-end E-commerce Inspection Group Photo, from left to right: Huiwangxing, Beiquan, Tongying Tianxia, Quanshihui, Zhongke Shangruan.
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4th B-end E-commerce Inspection Group Photo, from left to right: Alibaba Retail Link, Qianmi Network.
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3rd B-end E-commerce Inspection Group Photo, from left to right: Yunbao Shangmeng, Weijie City Distribution, Wanshang Yizhan.
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2nd B-end E-commerce Inspection Group Photo, from left to right: Jinhuobao, Caiba, Yishang.
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1st B-end E-commerce Inspection Group Photo, from left to right: Piduoduo, Beiquan, Yishang.
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