Click to read the original text for details Bistros seem to be at the forefront of trends in the past two years, sprouting up like mushrooms in large and medium-sized cities such as Chengdu, with many new openings. The emergence of the bistro format has brought considerable challenges to high-share markets like Chengdu, eroding the share of on-premise venues. It is an undeniable reality that terminal barriers cannot be effectively formed in such venues, and in-store share remains low. 01 What is a bistro? Earlier, Xiao Lan from the nightlife region organized a special research project and formed some initial consensus: targeting Generation Z as the main consumer group, light meals + alcoholic beverages, affordable prices, meeting social needs, and small but distinctive bars. Generation Z; alcohol-focused with a wide variety of beers, ranging from dozens to over a hundred; low average order value; small but each with unique operations; typically located near campuses, communities, or commercial areas; trends toward chain operations and high-end positioning are becoming clear; places where young people like to gather. Perhaps this is the sketch of a bistro. 02 How to respond to bistros? Facing the burgeoning bistro format, how should we respond? Professionalization of two teams is the prerequisite for response: Selecting individuals from the sales team who have strong learning abilities, insight, and enjoy frequenting bars to research, learn, and serve bistros is the prerequisite for an effective response. Let them truly become experts in the bistro format. Perhaps the Marine Corps of the nightlife region should start with bistros. Then, let them use their professional perspective to select professional channels that serve bistros. These channels differ from catering and are not entirely consistent with nightlife venues, potentially having higher requirements and distinct characteristics in terms of product categories, services, and channel marketing. A rich and distinctive product portfolio is the foundation for cooperation: Bistros have a wide variety of alcoholic brands, each with its own characteristics, mainly in small bottles. This combination seems to better meet consumers' differentiated and personalized needs. However, upon closer inspection, this may be a gimmick for bistros to create their uniqueness, as the products that truly sell well and have fast turnover are actually not many. How can we study the root causes behind the phenomenon, form a competitive portfolio, and capture in-store share? For example, could we feature freshness as a characteristic, pairing All-Malt Fresh and Black Lion White draft beer as a CP, using multiple taps to capture bottled beer sales? Or could we leverage the Iron Fist series, combining Heineken, U, and Red爵 brands in 5L Iron Fist formats, creating a unique opening and drinking experience that becomes a distinctive sight in the bar? Then, let the company's existing domestic and international brand small bottles be deployed across the board, using as many SKUs as possible to occupy the bar's cold display cabinets and gain more choice. Tailoring exclusive products for chain bistros, giving customized products strong internal drive in stores, might also be a good option. Channel marketing activities that support sell-through are key to increasing share: In the bistro format, the traditional method of controlling stores through expenses is no longer viable, barriers cannot be built, and simple expense investment is even less able to support store sell-through and share growth. After products enter the store, only targeted and constantly changing promotional activities can drive sell-through and share. This is actually our greatest advantage. The many brands in these stores are small in scale, have narrow channels, and lack resources, making it difficult for them to have strong scale, teams, and resources as backing like us. They are unlikely to make more efforts to support sell-through, and their consumption relies more on natural sell-through driven by brand influence. We are different. We have professional channel marketing teams and dedicated channel marketing resources, allowing us to conduct regular, targeted, and distinctive channel marketing activities. This is also strong support for attracting customers to the store. How to address the urgent needs and thoughts of the store owners, through various sell-through activities such as brand days, combo packages, and flying teams, to capture in-store sales and share, is truly a test of our capabilities. 03 How to participate in bistros? In recent years, leading beer companies have participated in the construction of the bistro format in different ways. Whether their original intention was to find new tracks or gain a deeper understanding of the format, their involvement has made the bistro scene more lively. A platform for brand promotion, community building, and KOL gathering: Through participation in bistros, the company, together with distributors, can build a batch of bars that integrate promotion, experience, and operation in different types of markets. This provides a better platform for promoting and displaying our distinctive products, offers a relatively fixed venue for community elites and KOLs to exchange ideas, and adds a touch of color to the richer nightlife. Perhaps this is our preferred way to participate. Empowering distributors and exploring a second growth curve: Encourage distributors with ideas, vision, drive, and capability to actively test the waters on the premise of understanding the logic of the format. Not only can they connect their own business chain, but they can also seize the trend and open up new blue oceans. The company can stand at a higher level with a broader vision, providing merchants with brand, management, and operational capability input, helping them truly take off in the trend. Professional entry to capture format share and enhance format status: Objectively speaking, the development of the bistro format has indeed brought considerable challenges to the safety and quality development of high-share markets. To ensure share stability, the only way is to have more say in the new format, and professional entry may be an important way to gain that say. The company can engage in professional planning, own professional brands, form a professional supply chain and business model, and through professional third-party companies, authorize cooperation or service support, letting professionals do professional work under professional guidance. Turning such bistros into core partners of the company may require more long-term and in-depth thinking. Facing the thriving bistro format, we are still elementary students, just "getting acquainted." How to truly understand it thoroughly, respond and participate effectively and actively, is both an opportunity and a challenge for beer companies and merchants. Source: 雪中煮酒 (ID: xuezhongzhujiu) -END-