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Facing the impact of low-priced products, most salespeople first feel fear and then ask for policy support. Below, I will share my 15 years of practical strategies, tactics, and methods for hunting down low-priced products in three parts. These practical methods are truly "essential strategies for home travel and business success." I hope everyone can learn how well-known enterprises kill and hunt low-priced products. Those who can learn even one or two techniques will surely become industry experts, with performance soaring at the least and gaining fame at the most.

I. Terminal Sniper Kill

  1. Terminal Buyout Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★ level. To combat competitors, sign buyout agreements with terminals to prohibit them from selling competitor products.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Simple, rough, and wealthy tycoons can operate this.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★★★ level. But it can easily lead to vicious industry competition and raise market operation costs.
    • Risk: ★★★★★ level. There is suspicion of violating the "Anti-Unfair Competition Law."
    • Representative Company: A certain instant noodle industry's No. 1 brand.

  2. Terminal Coverage Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★ level. Move competitor products to unseen places (or shrink their display space, or put them in boxes, or hide them behind your own products).
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★ level. Design reasonable terminal routes, persist consistently, and maintain good customer relationships.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★★ level. Requires long-term persistence and is not easily noticed by competitors.
    • Risk: ★★★★★ level. Companies of equal strength can easily cause conflicts, as seen in many industry brawls, such as the fight between Kangshifu and Tongyi, and the hand-to-hand combat between Jia and Wang.
    • Representative Companies: Certain instant noodle industry's No. 1 and No. 2 brands; a certain beverage industry international brand; a certain frozen food industry's No. 1 brand.

  3. Label Removal Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★ level. Remove the price tags of low-priced products (or accidentally put them away, or drop them into gaps, or turn them over), greatly reducing the effect of special offers. Commonly used in modern KA supermarket channels.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★ level. The main operator needs superb practical skills, with the ability to "see and hear in all directions," making the low-priced product's label disappear invisibly.
    • Effectiveness: ★★ level. Terminals or related companies will replenish labels in time after discovery.
    • Risk: ★★★★ level. Supermarkets and terminals will penalize suppliers if discovered; related companies may cause group fights.
    • Representative Companies: A certain industry's No. 1 brand; another industry's No. 1 brand; yet another industry's No. 1 brand.

  4. Gift Tai Chi Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★★★ level. Use gifts with a large price difference to counter low-price behavior (e.g., a well-known Chinese brand's cup has a wholesale price of 1 yuan, but the terminal display price is often around 5 yuan, making consumers feel the gift cup is worth 5 yuan instead of 1 yuan), making consumers feel your product is cheaper.
    • Prerequisites: ★ level. Can be operated regardless of company size.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★★ level. Good results; the key is that gift quality must be guaranteed, and the difference between wholesale and retail prices must be large enough.
    • Risk: ☆ level. No risk; if glass products, pay attention to transportation conditions.
    • Representative Companies: Domestic dairy industry's No. 1 brand; meat products industry's No. 1 brand.

  5. Multi-point Display Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★★★ level. Limited by input-output ratio and customer relationships.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Only for willful, wealthy tycoon-level suppliers or companies; otherwise, do not easily try.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★ level. Good results, but must achieve multiple points; if low-price companies also do multi-point displays, the effect will be greatly reduced.
    • Risk: ★ level. Easily imitated by related companies.
    • Representative Companies: A certain instant noodle industry's No. 1 brand; a certain beverage industry's No. 1 brand.

  6. Blank Market Excavation Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★★★★ level. For unfamiliar fields, everyone generally feels it is difficult, and the same for blank markets; at least early investment is necessary, and mastering relevant technology early is essential.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Requires an expert in blank market development to operate; otherwise, it will not achieve results and will lose troops and money.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★★ level. If operated properly, results are good; if not, you lose money but not generals.
    • Risk: ★★ level. Without certain technical standards, non-experts should not imitate.
    • Representative Companies: No. 1 brands in multiple FMCG industries.

II. Channel Hunting Kill

  1. Product Portfolio Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★★★★ level. If your product line is long enough and the leading product is prominent, it is easier to operate; otherwise, you need to cultivate a leading product first.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Need a leading product that terminals must sell; use the leading product to drive high-priced products to combat low-priced products.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★★★ level. The art of killing with a blunt knife.
    • Risk: ☆ level. No risk; truly a good way to kill the enemy invisibly.
    • Representative Company: A certain meat products industry's No. 1 brand.

  2. War to Sustain War Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★★★★ level. More difficult than the product portfolio method; not only need multiple leading products, but these products must have high profit margins; use high-profit products to subsidize competitive products and directly hunt low-priced products.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Long-term vision, big brother-level boldness, and a general who knows Sun Tzu's Art of War by heart and likes to show off (war to sustain war).
    • Effectiveness: ★★★★★ level. The art of killing with a fast knife.
    • Risk: ★★ level. In the early stages, keep information closed; during operation, speed up; "as still as a virgin, as swift as a rabbit," instantly cutting the enemy down.
    • Representative Company: A certain meat products industry's No. 1 brand.

  3. Cutting Off the Fuel Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★★★★ level. Reduce channel levels and strengthen terminal control.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Willing to invest and have long-term vision.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★★★ level. Slow fire and small cooking, killing the enemy invisibly.
    • Risk: ★★ level. Very covert.
    • Representative Companies: Most current No. 1 FMCG brands in the market have used this method; in fact, Taobao and e-commerce channels also succeeded by following this idea.

  4. Warehouse Occupation Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★★★★ level. Occupy funds, inventory, and personnel; specific methods include shelf occupation, route occupation, terminal occupation, second-tier wholesale occupation, and distributor occupation.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Need precise timing; otherwise, if you miss, there will be many troubles.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★★★ level. Combining the above occupation methods requires the operator to have a thorough understanding and insight into the relevant industry; the effect is very good.
    • Risk: ★★ level. Need to pay timely attention to competitor counterattacks and imitation.
    • Representative Companies: This method is sophisticated and unique; no FMCG company does not use it, but only a few can flexibly apply several occupation methods; there are few experts. For example, a certain domestic beverage industry's No. 1 brand.

  5. Mutual Destruction Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★★★★ level. Develop a suicide product to directly attack competitors' low-priced products.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Tycoon-level companies with a thorough understanding of low-priced product consumer needs and strong market control.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★ level. Ordinary companies should not imitate.
    • Risk: ★★★★ level. Easily causes "kill a thousand enemies, lose eight hundred" and may even make wedding clothes for low-priced products.
    • Representative Companies: I only know two companies that can flexibly use this method and achieve results: one is the international company "Coca-Cola," and the other is the domestic famous company "Shuanghui."

  6. Price System Disruption Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★ level. Disrupt the price system of low-priced products, making channel members have no profit to operate and automatically give up.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Tycoon-level companies and big brother-level figures ensure low-priced companies dare not counterattack.
    • Effectiveness: ★★★ level. Does not conform to market laws; this method is usually best for intimidation.
    • Risk: ★★★★ level. If strength is insufficient, it is easily imitated by low-priced companies.
    • Representative Companies: A weapon used by many second-tier brands with big brother characteristics against third-tier brands.

  7. Negative Publicity Method:

    • Technical Difficulty: ★★ level. Discover negative information about a company's products and actively publicize it.
    • Prerequisites: ★★★★★ level. Have in-depth research on media communication.
    • Effectiveness: ★★ level. Produces some effect locally; if over-hyped, it can hurt yourself.
    • Risk: ★★★★★ level. May be physically attacked by related companies; generally, do not operate without a huge strength gap.
    • Representative Company: A well-known company in Jiangsu with annual revenue of over 10 billion; this method is truly superb, but its salespeople have been beaten by related company salespeople numerous times.

The above tactics are "quick in effect, poor in long-term, and easy to imitate." Please use them according to your own company's actual situation. If used improperly and causing self-harm, the consequences are your own; I am not responsible!

Source: Sales and Market

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