Click to read the original article for details Seeing this title, I suspect many distributors will sneer, thinking this is another brand-perspective piece trying to fool me into adding staff, vehicles, and capital... That's not the case at all. This sentiment comes from genuine reflections after recent exchanges with distributor friends. Let me first share the business stories from my recent conversations with several distributor friends. 1 First, Jintong Food, in Feng County, Xuzhou, a post-90s distributor who entered the trading industry in 2014. In six years, the business grew to nearly 100 million yuan. A couple of days ago, I spoke with General Manager Jia of Jintong Food. He told me that over the past year, he opened six chain stores locally; in addition to regular food, beverages, and condiments, he also took on daily chemicals. Except for the Liby brand, he covered all others, and in Feng County, Jintong basically dominates the daily chemical market. I had communicated with General Manager Jia in 2020, when his business was not yet over 100 million, but two years later, the business has undergone earth-shaking changes. I joked, "General Manager Jia, you're almost monopolizing the local trading and distribution business." He replied, "Monopoly is far off. It's mainly because the place is small; a single brand or category can only reach 10-20 million at most. So we have no choice but to continuously expand category depth." After hearing this, comparing with other distributors, I concluded: if a distributor's territory is a county-level market, the only path for business expansion is cross-category operation. A single brand or category has too limited market sales. After a brief chat with General Manager Jia, I decisively sent an invitation for him to share at the (7th) China FMCG Channel Innovation Conference in Chengdu from July 20-22, discussing how to handle so many categories in such a short time and also venture into retail. Second, I communicated with General Manager Tian, Marketing Director of Chongqing Lingyu Supply Chain, the largest FMCG distributor in the Southwest. I asked him what capabilities distributors should possess in the current market environment. He replied, the ability to sell at higher prices. What does that mean? A distributor's core goal is profitability. In the past, distributors made money in a relatively simple and crude way: by representing a well-known first-tier brand, following the brand, and profiting as the brand grew. But now, the value of first-tier brands doesn't directly bring profits, especially for their best-selling products. For distributors to profit, the best path is to sell at higher prices. Best-sellers have volume but not profit. In an era of stock, selling more is actually quite difficult. How to sell at higher prices? Launch new products and sell high-value-added products. The answer is simple, but behind launching new products and selling high-value-added products, the requirements for distributors are different. It's not just about timely delivery, regular visits, and good shelf management. Every task—store selection for new products, negotiation for entry, display arrangement, shelf placement, hanging displays, poster posting, and promotional guidance—poses higher and newer demands on distributors. Third, I spoke with General Manager Li Feng of Anshan Hongye Hengda. Hongye Hengda previously mainly distributed Yihai Kerry's series of grain, oil, rice, and flour products, with annual sales of over 300 million yuan. Its channel refinement is second to none in the trading and distribution field. In 2021, Hongye Hengda began cross-category distribution, spanning snacks, dairy drinks, and other categories. General Manager Li shared that the business is currently growing significantly. Many distributors in the past did not do a fine enough job in their categories, leaving us huge opportunities. The horizontal grain, oil, rice, and flour business has hit its ceiling, and it's impossible to completely take over competitors' business. Only through vertical category expansion and transferring operational management capabilities can we continuously grow the local business scale. Given Anshan Hongye Hengda's business expansion practice and General Manager Li Feng's 20 years of market operation experience, we invited General Manager Li to the (7th) China FMCG Channel Innovation Conference to hold a half-day training course: FMCG Distributor Special Training—Bosses' 9 Business Pain Points, Tackled One by One! Focusing on the above 9 pain points, we aim to provide fellow distributors with some thoughts and directions. Interested friends should not miss it! 2 After reading the above three stories, have you noticed that distributors' operational capabilities are continuously improving? In the 1990s, distributors only needed capital and delivery capability; around 2000, they needed a team, visit capability, and order taking; by 2010, they needed distribution, maintenance, and promotion capabilities. Now, to continuously grow their business, the above are basic skills. On top of that, they need to plan, launch new products, and cross categories... Currently, our environment is changing rapidly. Online e-commerce impacts, offline group buying grabs volume; peers are expanding, and peers are going bankrupt. The industry's reshuffling is accelerating, along with rising internal labor costs. Facing these changes, the only thing distributors can do is: respond to change. The more unstable the times, the more we must treat change as our work task, to adapt and adjust. I remember a quote from Jack Welch that left a deep impression: If the world outside your company is changing faster than the world inside, then the end is near! The external environment has changed, and distributors must change accordingly. When the environment becomes harsh, distributors must continuously enhance their ability to resist risks, reduce costs and increase efficiency, and strengthen channel barriers. In the past, distributors completed primitive capital accumulation through brands, enjoying brand and demographic dividends. Now, with fierce market competition and the battle for stock, distributors can only rely on their own strength to meet competitive challenges! From July 20-22, the (7th) China FMCG Channel Innovation Conference will grandly open in Chengdu. This conference will bring together over a thousand marketing experts, brand executives, digital service companies, and distributor bosses to discuss how to seize the "opportunity," stabilize the "market," and achieve growth.