Click 'Read Original' for details Many distributor friends have called me, saying that this year's business is particularly difficult! Such words are familiar; almost every year it's the same, business gets worse year by year. In my exchanges with distributor friends, I've noticed a common trait among them: they are accustomed to 'seeking externally' and avoid 'seeking internally.' What does that mean? Once business becomes difficult, they don't first look for reasons within themselves, such as whether their management has issues, whether the performance and compensation of sales staff are problematic, whether the density of outlet distribution is insufficient, or whether product placement and display positions are correct. Instead, they habitually attribute the difficulty to external factors like industry downturn, intense market competition, and the impact of online e-commerce. Indeed, these external environments do cause sales declines, but few distributors consider whether, when facing harsh environments, there is room for optimization in their own management and refinement to pull sales back. It's understandable; pulling sales back isn't the key to solving the decline. Finding a second growth curve for the business is the focus. New opportunities under new circumstances might be the antidote distributors are looking for. This article follows the distributor's mindset and focuses on the directions when 'seeking externally,' hoping to provide some inspiration and food for thought for distributors. 01 'Seeking Externally': Cross-Online Business The online business mentioned here includes not only Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD.com, etc., but also live-streaming e-commerce and community group buying that have emerged in the past two years. The pandemic and the rise of community group buying have, I believe, had a profound impact on the offline market. This impact is not just the direct plundering of sales, but more importantly, it brings about a change in perception, educating distributors that a bottle of beverage, a bag of chips, or a carton of milk offline can indeed be transacted online. Online transactions, offline delivery—but this delivery is not the express delivery we understood in the past. Seeing these changes, many distributors have the idea of going online. Since online is the trend and the future, and it's so hot now, can I do it? Regarding whether online can be done, it can't be absolutely said no, nor absolutely yes. I'll give five dimensions to help distributors judge. If you have the following advantages, I think you can consider doing it. Conversely, if not, just think about it and forget it. First, cost advantage. The cost here includes two aspects: one is express delivery cost, the other is procurement cost. For example, some distributors are in Yiwu, Zhejiang, which clearly has an express delivery cost advantage. If you deal in high-value goods, such as daily chemicals and condiments, by leveraging the low express delivery cost, obtaining brand authorization, and operating in a standardized manner, you have opportunities to open stores on Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Tmall. Regarding procurement cost, if you are a large distributor, you can get favorable policies from upstream. Compared with the same brand online, if you have a clear price advantage, this can also be considered. Why do I still think that online business still has opportunities for distributors with cost advantages, even though traditional e-commerce is so mature? The core is that distributors who have reached scale understand company operations. In fact, many online merchants today are still mom-and-pop operations, without scale and system. Some offline trading companies with standardized operations know how to fight as a team and divide functions. Team warfare has a clear operational advantage over individual businesses. With the support of cost advantages and long-term business goals, team warfare can seize business from individual operators, so online business can be done. Of course, if a distributor's offline business is only 30-40 million or 50-60 million, I suggest not considering online. If you haven't done well in your own territory, don't think about grabbing others' business.