iResearch's 2020 China FMCG B2B Industry Research Report points out: In the past two years, brand owners' willingness to cooperate with FMCG B2B platforms has shifted from rapid growth to a marked slowdown. The main reasons are that through third-party B2B platforms, brand owners obtain less data on retail stores and consumers than expected, and price chaos and cross-channel selling are frequent. Moreover, brand owners generally fear that their distribution channels will be controlled by third-party B2B platforms, causing them to lose dominance over the market. In this context, many leading brand owners have chosen to build their own B2B malls tailored to their business models, enabling direct dialogue between manufacturers and terminals, and making pricing, promotions, and market expenses more transparent. So how do they play the B2B mall game? We have summarized the practices of some clients of Waiqin 365, hoping to provide reference for brand owners and distributors.
Beverage Company A: Employee Points Rewards + Paid Displays + Vouchers Several years ago, Company A built its own information system, but it only reached the distributor level. Information asymmetry persisted across channel links, terminals were not under control, and market expense allocation and feedback were severely delayed. To ensure promotional policies and market expenses reached the terminal directly, Company A launched its own B2B mall. To incentivize salespeople to promote the B2B mall, Company A adopted a points reward system: when a salesperson guides a terminal to place its first order independently on the B2B mall, the salesperson earns five points, which can be used to purchase goods in a points mall. How to make terminal owners more willing to order on the mall? Company A regularly issues coupons to each terminal account, which can be used to deduct a certain amount when placing orders. Additionally, Company A added promotional policies specifically for mall orders (e.g., buy-one-get-one, free gifts). Company A moved all paid displays online. Terminal owners sign agreements online via the APP, and customer points encourage terminals to self-report display photos. After photos pass inspection, rewards are immediately issued to terminal accounts in the form of vouchers (for redeeming specified products), which can only be used on the mall, not for orders placed by salespeople on behalf of terminals. This not only incentivizes terminals to place repeat orders on the mall but also ensures market expenses go to the "right people"; distributors redeem vouchers with the manufacturer, greatly shortening the redemption cycle and improving efficiency.
Dairy Company B: Mini Program + Live Ordering Events + Online Payment Last year, due to the pandemic, salespeople in many regions of Company B could not visit customers door-to-door to take orders. Company B urgently needed an online platform for terminals to place orders themselves, reducing salespeople's exposure risk. Considering that getting terminal owners to download and use an APP that accounts for a small share of their business is challenging, Company B launched a mini-program version of its B2B mall. Terminals place orders directly on the mini-program, reducing labor costs and lowering the possibility of errors or omissions, significantly improving order entry efficiency. Moreover, with traditional cash-on-delivery, distributors face a long cycle from cash outflow to receiving payment. Now, when terminals place orders, they pay the distributor directly, easing the pressure on distributors' cash flow. Additionally, Waiqin 365 integrates low-fee payment channels, greatly reducing the burden of online payments for enterprises. In the past, brand owners found it difficult to obtain channel sales orders, and many orders reported to them were fake, filled in arbitrarily by salespeople. With the B2B mall, orders are linked to actual payments, ensuring the authenticity of channel orders. The rise of live streaming in recent years has also given Company B new operational ideas. They encourage distributors to try online live ordering events, using more professional explanations and more favorable promotional policies to stimulate terminal orders, and adding interactive elements like lucky draws, red envelopes, and coupons to make the events more engaging. Additionally, due to milk's short shelf life and fragility, delivery is sometimes not timely, and terminal owners have no channel for complaints. Company B added a complaint feedback channel in the mini-program. When the manufacturer receives a complaint, it promptly coordinates with the distributor to resolve the issue, which to some extent disciplines distributors and greatly enhances terminal satisfaction and loyalty to the brand.
Building Materials Company C: Red Envelope Cashback + Customer Points Rewards + Lucky Wheel Company C's terminals are mostly stores in building materials markets. To stimulate more orders, the company continuously iterates its marketing tactics. First-time orders receive cash red envelopes, all subsequent orders earn points, and now a lucky wheel is used: orders reaching a certain amount trigger a spin, with prizes of varying value such as points, home appliances, travel slots, etc., giving a sense of excitement like opening a blind box, with extremely high participation from store owners. When B2B first emerged, brand owners had a common question: would terminal store owners install apps from so many brands? Through Waiqin 365's exploration over the years, we've found this is not an issue. First, WeChat official accounts and mini-programs are highly developed, so terminal owners don't need to install another APP. Second, as long as ordering through B2B brings some benefits and convenience, store owners are very willing to use it. Some brand owners also wonder: if their products are not a large part of store purchases, will store owners use B2B? The answer is also yes. Every brand is an individual entity; as long as the mall is well-operated, store owners will pay attention. In interviews with terminal owners, we found an interesting phenomenon: many terminal owners actually prefer to place orders themselves. First, ordering time is more flexible. When sales reps visit, owners are often busy; with the ordering mall, they can order at their leisure. Second, salespeople cannot remember all SKUs and promotions, while the mall lists all products and promotions clearly, sometimes even with better deals than those offered by sales reps. Third, some owners reported that sales reps often recommended products they didn't want, and because they had good relationships with reps, they felt embarrassed to refuse face-to-face. Now with the ordering mall, they can freely choose what they need, avoiding over-ordering due to personal relationships. In some companies, terminal self-orders even exceed orders placed by sales reps. This proves that terminal acceptance of self-ordering far exceeds expectations.
Waiqin 365 helps brand owners embrace B2B ordering malls, enabling them to connect with the "last mile of the channel—the terminal," build a self-controlled distribution system, increase market penetration, and drive customer success.
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