Getting products (especially new ones) onto shelves is easy, but achieving sell-through is hard! The speed of sell-through directly impacts market sales and profits. Typically, if a product doesn't move within three months, supermarkets will ask the manufacturer (or supplier) to exit voluntarily. In fact, from a win-win perspective, neither supermarkets, manufacturers, nor suppliers want products to linger on shelves. So the fundamental question is: how can manufacturers, suppliers, and supermarkets work together to solve the sell-through problem?
We cannot deny that well-known, popular, and mature products sell through faster in supermarkets, but usually we face products that are not well-known, not popular, and not mature. In such situations, it's not just one party's responsibility; the production, supply, and sales sides need to stand on the same line and solve it together.
First, let's talk about the manufacturer.
■ Focus on brand enhancement. When we choose "brand channels" (referring to influential distributors and supermarkets), supermarkets also value "channel brands" (products with strong brand power), because consumers' brand awareness is increasing, and products with good brand effects naturally sell better in supermarkets. This requires manufacturers not to focus only on short-term gains, not to "only make products, not build brands." Only when brand effects are established can product added value be highlighted and profit margins be larger.
■ Packaging design should consider the terminal environment. Many manufacturers think their product packaging is good, but why does it lack visual impact when placed in supermarkets? Because during packaging design, they didn't fully consider the differentiation of packaging and how to integrate with the terminal competitive environment. It's like a dancer preparing to perform: wearing a certain color at home might be striking, but on stage it doesn't attract the audience because the stage background might be similar to her outfit. So, to attract consumers in the store, our products must stand out among a dazzling array of similar products.
■ Implement support for distributors concretely. When manufacturers recruit distributors, their slogans are very attractive, but when it comes to actual market support, most find it hard to truly implement policies. This makes distributors lose confidence due to their weak position. Here, manufacturer support doesn't need to be everywhere, but even if you do one store, you must do it thoroughly. If one point is done well, it can drive a certain area.
What about distributors (suppliers)? To make products sell faster, there are also several points to note:
■ Jointly develop effective promotional strategies with manufacturers and supermarkets. Everyone knows about promotions, but not everyone can do effective ones! First, effective funds; second, effective methods; third, how manufacturers and distributors work together on execution. Usually, we feel that stores are hard to do because most discussions are about entry fees and mutual interests, rarely about how the production, supply, and sales sides can solve the sell-through strategy through effective methods.
■ Supermarket management needs attention to details. Suppliers generally don't have full-time promoters, merchandisers, and salespeople, but task arrangement and supervision must be detailed. This is not just about financial transactions, but also about market feedback such as competitor dynamics and product reactions. Supermarket management must adhere to fixed personnel, fixed stores, fixed quantities, and fixed times, and quantify standards to do effective target supermarket work thoroughly.
■ Price reduction is not an effective method. To accelerate product sell-through, especially for suppliers who buy at "bare prices," when they can't hold on, they often resort to price cuts or even "buy one get one free," which actually lowers product grade and brand image, and not many customers buy. Based on my experience, the most effective method is to enhance product awareness and conduct interactive experiential marketing; this might work better, driving store sales through "peripheral" efforts. In 2005, a liquor distributor gave away free samples to customers, which actually attracted some customers to buy proactively, for this reason.
For supermarkets themselves, competition among stores is increasingly fierce. Cooperating with manufacturers to sell products well is also beneficial for their own competition. Here are several points not to be ignored:
■ Build brand and strengthen quality. Only when supermarkets have high brand awareness and good service quality among the public can they create a good word-of-mouth effect to influence customer purchases, thereby promoting the sell-through speed of products they carry.
■ Provide more support to products with potential. Products with potential may not have the strength to occupy favorable display positions on supermarket shelves; usually, we give them inconspicuous spots. But in essence, supermarkets can also run "daily promotion" activities to test the sales prospects of new products, which helps seize opportunities for new items.
■ Streamline categories based on core consumer groups. We don't necessarily need to carry all categories, nor do we need to stock all series of a manufacturer's products. Under new consumption patterns, based on factors like the economic consumption capacity of the trade area and the consumption habits of core consumer groups, we can adjust category structure, decisively cut categories that occupy shelf space but don't sell well, and focus on mainstream products. This can also alleviate sell-through issues from a certain angle.
■ Manage product sales information. Traditionally, supermarkets focus on sales volume and profit of products they carry, but ignore collecting and feeding back sales information, such as: this month we introduced a seasoning from a certain brand; how did consumers react, what suggestions do they have? Store staff should be arranged to conduct opinion surveys and collect information; then headquarters should organize and promptly feed back to manufacturers or suppliers. This is also more conducive to the flow of new products and mutual cooperation.
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