---
title: "Import Food Distributors Have Selling Skills! Tackle Five Major Challenges One by One!"
description: "In recent years, imported food has accounted for an increasing proportion of domestic consumers' dietary consumption, which puts more pressure on importers and distributors to sell. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of several major problems that distributors may encounter in actual operation. 1. How large should the first order be? Factors to consider include: whether the product has a market; who it will be sold to (for example, if the company has 800 sales outlets, how many can sell it and how many cannot); how long it will take from initial distribution to volume sales; and whether there is sufficient financial support for turnover."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-01-24"
language: "en"
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# Import Food Distributors Have Selling Skills! Tackle Five Major Challenges One by One!

> In recent years, imported food has accounted for an increasing proportion of domestic consumers' dietary consumption, which puts more pressure on importers and distributors to sell. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of several major problems that distributors may encounter in actual operation. 1. How large should the first order be? Factors to consider include: whether the product has a market; who it will be sold to (for example, if the company has 800 sales outlets, how many can sell it and how many cannot); how long it will take from initial distribution to volume sales; and whether there is sufficient financial support for turnover.

In recent years, imported food has accounted for an increasing proportion of domestic consumers' dietary consumption, which puts more pressure on importers and distributors to sell. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of several major problems that distributors may encounter in actual operation.

1. How large should the first order be? Factors to consider include: whether the product has a market; who it will be sold to (for example, if the company has 800 sales outlets, how many can sell it and how many cannot); how long it will take from initial distribution to volume sales; and whether there is sufficient financial support for turnover.

2. How to get distributors to accept imported food? First, be psychologically prepared for the situation of "good reviews but poor sales." Often go to the front line to understand the market situation, rather than sitting in the office and talking theoretically. Do not expect distributors to accept the product immediately. In operation, even be prepared for early losses.

After considering these issues, you can proceed to the next operational steps. For example, if there are 100 channel points willing to sell the product, you can first try 40 in the early stage. The initial order quantity can be controlled at 1.5 times the amount for 40 points, which is a relatively safe method.

3. Should publicity be done for imported food brands? Distributors and consumers have low brand sensitivity and poor awareness of imported food brands. It is difficult for them to name the top 3 brands of a certain category from a certain country. For example, Taiwan imported food is purchased in batches, and a batch may contain products of multiple brands and categories, unlike mainland operations which are brand-based.

At this time, consider moderate and targeted publicity. For example, the main consumers of imported food are high-end, sophisticated, and metropolitan people. Using social media such as Weibo, Facebook, and forums can achieve fast and effective communication.

4. What kind of partners do agents like? If both sides are general agents, they are familiar with the thresholds of product trade. Unless there are common points or past cooperation experience, cooperation is difficult. Distributors need to have professional business knowledge and clear analysis of imported products, be able to use the fastest time and appropriate transaction methods with volume guarantees, and have relatively sufficient funds.

5. How to create a model market? If considering large-scale sales of imported food in China, creating a model market in the early stage of operation can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Important strategies for operating an imported food model market include positioning of product selection and channel selection.

**Pinpoint selling points to meet the needs of the model market**

1. **Novelty** – Ensure frequent introduction of new products. Curiosity about foreign novel flavors is one of the reasons consumers buy imported food. There are enough food varieties worldwide, many of which domestic consumers may not be used to, making them unsuitable for large-scale promotion and long-term sales. When selling imported food, ensure that new foods are constantly displayed in stores, which not only satisfies consumers' desire to "try new things" but also helps find star products more suitable for domestic consumers.

2. **Taste** – Create signature star products. Among imported foods, those that best suit domestic consumers' tastes should be operated long-term to earn stable profits. But the role of star products is not just to guarantee sales. In the food industry, popular products usually have greater word-of-mouth communication effect than popular brands. Operating star products well can bring considerable customer flow and word-of-mouth effects to the store, greatly driving sales of other products.

3. **Health** – Focus on safety, nutrition, and diversity. Compared with domestic food, imported food is easier to gain consumer trust in terms of safety. Sellers should make good use of this aspect. At the same time, introduce Western health concepts as part of cultural packaging. For example, leisure foods with weight loss or body shaping effects are easily favored by women. If operating fresh ingredients, product diversity must be ensured.

4. **Social** – Dining, receptions, and service. Social function is one of the important functions of the catering industry. Imported food is very suitable for developing into experiential dining services. Compared with food retail, catering has strong service attributes, and operation should pay more attention to the consumer experience process. The service focus can be on delicious food or meeting customers' social needs.

**Multi-channel combination to break open the model market**

**Large stores** – Large stores are the main force for brand promotion of imported food. High-quality imported food already has a good brand foundation abroad and should be vigorously promoted domestically. To balance brand building, promotion, and cost control, a combination of comprehensive experience stores and ordinary specialty stores can be adopted.

**Small retail stores and supermarket counters** – Small retail stores and supermarket counters can ensure product sales coverage at relatively low cost. It is worth mentioning that experience shows that new product shelves in large supermarkets sell far more with sales guides than without. Therefore, if imported food is to be operated as a branded specialty, consider arranging sales guides at least during holidays and other times.

**E-commerce** – The core advantages of e-commerce are: (1) Sales coverage is basically not limited by geography; areas with small sales volume that are not worth opening stores can be covered through e-commerce. (2) The categories of displayed products are not limited by physical store space; even products with very small shipment volume do not need to consider shelf costs. Imported food has many categories, but the consumer group is relatively niche, so it is very suitable for opening online stores.

**Catering industry** – The catering industry has demand for imported ingredients and seasonings. Operators can run their own restaurants, coffee bars, and other catering terminals, or form close supply relationships with other restaurants and hotels.

**Gift and group buying** – Some categories of imported food, such as olive oil, are often used by enterprises and institutions as employee benefits. Operators of imported food should have a dedicated team to carry out marketing in the gift and group buying market. For gift and group buying business, actively develop agents to expand the market.

In addition to physical goods, gift cards (product redemption vouchers) are also very suitable for the gift and group buying market. Compared with physical goods, gift cards have the characteristics of convenient circulation, suitable for transfer and dissemination among consumers, and can play a quasi-financial role. The circulation of gift cards actually plays a role in brand communication and customer screening. The use of gift cards helps integrate group purchasing and member marketing channels, converting group customers' customers (employees) into merchants' members.

**Member marketing** – For consumers who may repeatedly consume, member marketing can bring convenience to both consumers and merchants. Convenience measures for members can include: price discounts, consumption information delivery, product delivery, customized services, priority participation in experience activities, etc. Through member marketing, merchants can also lock in a group of core users, achieve stable sales performance, and obtain a reliable customer database for various marketing purposes.

There are various ways to acquire members, such as database collection, online interaction, store accumulation, old customer referrals, building visits, exhibitions, social activities, etc.

Imported food is suitable for member marketing in several service areas: entertainment and catering, such as cake making courses, organic food (or other health concepts) sharing, novel overseas food tasting, leisure social gatherings, luxury goods special sales, art and cultural appreciation exchanges, etc.

There are two basic suitable member models: consumption discount – pay a certain membership fee to obtain the right to discounted shopping; stored value – launch member stored value cards.

**Creating a model market is to build a regional operation system that can be promoted, so the operation modules should be relatively comprehensive. To truly operate an imported food product or channel brand, one should also plan appropriate business scope and choose appropriate operating methods based on one's own positioning and development strategy, and must not pursue "comprehensive" without strategic guidance.**

**Reprinted from: World Food**

**-END-**

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