For most companies, producing seasonal products often faces challenges such as short sales cycles and difficult production operations, especially in categories like candy and jelly. How to extend the sales cycle to reduce the impact of seasonal cycles on the company? Each company has its own ways and methods, but the real approach to achieve leapfrog development needs to be considered from the following three aspects.
Transform from seasonal products to 'big leisure'
The most direct way to solve seasonal sales issues is to supplement products that correspond to the season based on product characteristics. These products can be complementary in category or packaging, and companies can choose based on their actual situation.
In terms of category complementarity, candy and jelly can be combined according to season. Those who have sold candy know that candy distributors typically start stocking in September and finish clearing inventory by March of the following year, after which they no longer worry about candy sales. Jelly distributors, on the other hand, start stocking in February and finish clearing inventory by September. Given the seasonality of these two product types, combining them is a good choice.
Hsu Fu Chi was the first candy company to sell candy and jelly together. Initially, it was an experiment by General Manager Xu Cheng, but unexpectedly, it brought gratifying sales in the first year and also increased distributors' enthusiasm for selling Hsu Fu Chi jelly during the candy off-season, greatly driving industry imitation. Golden Monkey, Yake, and Ma Dajie all added jelly to their product lines, while jelly companies like Xizhilang, Qinqin, and Crayon Shinchan also began to try selling candy.
In terms of bulk packaging advantages, it can be combined with leisure foods such as bakery and dried tofu. Candy and jelly companies have established bulk packaging counters in hypermarkets, and bakery and dried tofu products are favored by consumers in recent years. Therefore, entering the bakery and dried tofu industries is also a good choice for candy and jelly companies. Hsu Fu Chi's pastries and Golden Monkey's dried tofu are both significant breakthroughs for these two companies.
Hsu Fu Chi initially entered the bakery market with products like Sachima, French biscuits, pineapple cakes, and small pancakes, which sold well nationwide, allowing Hsu Fu Chi to maintain the top position in the domestic candy and bakery categories for a long time. Golden Monkey, on the other hand, suddenly entered the soy products industry in 2009, successfully making Chan Zui Hou dried tofu the best-selling dried tofu product. Currently, Yake, Ma Dajie, Jinguan, and Crayon Shinchan have also followed suit in bakery or dried tofu, which is a positive attempt at category extension for candy and jelly companies.
In terms of category innovation, create new categories based on candy and jelly themselves. Creating new categories means categories that did not exist before. For candy and jelly companies, categories are essentially candy, chocolate, and jelly. On one hand, products need to lean towards leisure; on the other hand, they must appear as new categories. Thus, brown sugar + preserved plum became brown sugar plum; oatmeal + chocolate created Maikezi; jelly + popsicle became Bangbangbing; jelly + ice cream became Xixiding. These are all innovations that created new categories, achieving success for some companies and creating sales legends, allowing candy companies like Jinguan and Ma Dajie to grow against the overall decline in the candy industry.
The above three aspects boil down to one point: candy and jelly companies with strong seasonality should lean towards 'big leisure' food companies. This is a consensus among some senior food marketing experts in China and is also the transformation tone that most candy and jelly companies have set for themselves. Companies like Hsu Fu Chi, Golden Monkey, Yake, Ma Dajie, and Xizhilang have been relatively successful in their transformation, with off-peak and peak season sales no longer being very distinct, as they have suitable products to sell in any season.
Transform channels from single traditional to 'diversified'
The richness of channels determines the sales characteristics of products, especially for single channels. Therefore, when selecting channel partners, companies can analyze the consumer groups of the channels to achieve resource complementarity.
From single traditional channels to dual-channel operation of traditional + terminal. In the candy industry, Hsu Fu Chi should be the earliest manufacturer to operate dual channels. Because Hsu Fu Chi's growth accompanied the development of KA hypermarkets and supermarkets in China, when other manufacturers were looking for distributors to operate products, Hsu Fu Chi divided its sales into two departments: large supermarkets, second-tier supermarkets, and agents, with two managers responsible for operations. After quickly cultivating a team, it also directly operated large supermarkets, staying ahead of market changes. The performance returns speak for themselves: Hsu Fu Chi has ranked first in national candy sales for many years.
Following Hsu Fu Chi, companies like Golden Monkey, Yake, Ma Dajie, Xizhilang, and Crayon Shinchan also established KA departments for professional operations, which was an important supplement to channel construction and brought gratifying performance to each company.
Increase the construction of wedding candy store channels. Due to Chinese customs, the consumption of wedding candy is still strong in provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, and Shandong, and competition among candy companies in these provinces is intense. With the rise of wedding candy stores in recent years, Golden Monkey, Yake, and Hsu Fu Chi have successively joined, not only investing heavily in building wedding candy specialty stores but also developing various wedding candies to meet local needs. Several candy companies in Fujian rely entirely on wedding candy stores in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so the construction of wedding candy store channels should not be underestimated.
The construction of special channels is a further deepening of one's own performance. Special channels refer to sales channels in campus stores, restaurants, internet cafes, KTVs, cinemas, military units, prisons, and other special units. These channels are outside our main channels, but their sales cannot be ignored. Especially candy, chocolate, jelly, and other leisure foods that companies have expanded into have become hot sellers in these special channels. Due to the special nature of these channels, it is easy for some manufacturers' products to form exclusive sales. Therefore, no company can afford to ignore these special channels that require small investment but yield high returns.
Transform teams from generalists to 'specialists'
Companies producing seasonal products are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises, with teams mainly composed of versatile talents, lacking necessary channel professionals, resulting in insufficient capacity to deepen channel construction. Therefore, transforming from generalist teams to specialized teams is an important foundation for companies to change seasonal product sales.
From extensive management to refined management. When companies mainly relied on traditional circulation channels, team management was extensive. There was little detail in how teams developed customers, managed distributors, or handled travel expenses. Business owners were more concerned about how many customers were opened, how much payment was made, and how much performance was achieved. When companies transform from single channels to multi-channel or even omni-channel operations, team management must be systematic. The marketing operation process and team work processes must be more scientific and refined.
From 'multi-skilled' to 'specialized'. Before transformation, candy and jelly companies had less detailed division of labor, and personnel division was simple, so it was common for one position to have multiple skills or one person to hold multiple positions. Due to extensive management, this was relatively worry-free for companies. When companies face breakthroughs and transformation, they must emphasize one position for one job and one person for one position. Only with more specialized positions can companies achieve faster efficiency and better benefits.
Previously, an office director had to be able to develop customers, manage customers, understand planning and promotions, and handle expense verification. Such an office director was 'multi-skilled' but not 'specialized', and could only serve as a brave general for business expansion, not necessarily suitable for managing a team. During transformation, office directors must be cultivated into regional leaders who can lead a professional team with clear division of labor, including sales personnel, market supervisors, finance, and administrative staff, contributing to the company's continued glory with professional standards.
From individual fighting alone to team combat. In the early stages, candy and jelly companies had extensive personnel management, with one person responsible for several provinces, and only a few or a dozen sales personnel nationwide. This was basically the same team management model for private enterprises in the early market development. As the market changes, channel expansion also changes. To innovate, break through, and transform, companies must divide the national market by region and build regional marketing teams. The establishment of a regional marketing team not only provides better personnel service and increases numbers but also forms an internal competition mechanism at all levels, gradually forming synergy, ultimately leading to explosive performance growth.
In general, the discussion on innovation, breakthrough, and transformation for seasonal product companies like candy and jelly will continue. The above is only directional; specific steps must be considered and implemented by each company according to its own characteristics. No matter how you operate, remember the old saying: don't forget your original intention. That is, we are still candy and jelly companies. No matter how we transform, we must never give up candy and jelly, which are very professional categories for us. After all, they have built our companies and are deeply integrated into the blood of our enterprises.
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