Source | Jiu Shuo A sign reading "Prime location transfer, no transfer fee" outside a liquor store in Bairong has caught the attention of liquor merchants. Compared to the high transfer fees of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan in previous years, Bairong is now entering a period of calm amid the adjustment and transformation of the liquor industry. "There's no liquor that Bairong can't sell; it supplies terminal stores nationwide," a Jiu Shuo reporter noted during a recent visit. On one hand, the market wasn't as bustling as imagined, with few customers and a somewhat quiet atmosphere; on the other, it wasn't as dire as feared. Among the over 1,000 liquor vendors, some are leaving while new ones enter, unlike the mass closures seen in many famous liquor wholesale cities and old liquor shops a few years ago. "The minimum shipping cost for a case within Henan is around 3 yuan, which is more affordable than same-city courier services like Huolala," one vendor noted. In a sense, Bairong serves all of Henan, even all of China, with logistics costs and convenience being key to its nationwide reach. "Profit margins are shrinking; a regular case of liquor earns only 5-10 yuan, and even a bottle of hard-currency Feitang Moutai earns the same. Many are turning to livestreaming..." Bairong is a mirror reflecting the industry's ups and downs. A snapshot of Bairong under the wholesale liquor tide "Our main supply comes from distributors, and our customers are mainly liquor terminals nationwide, including tobacco and liquor stores and supermarkets. Our core advantage is price. Many tobacco and liquor stores find that prices from local distributors are higher than at Bairong, so they naturally shop around, as low price is the biggest draw," a shop owner shared with Jiu Shuo. Inside Bairong's liquor section, products generally fall into four categories: famous brands, regional liquors, development products, and bottle-only liquors, each catering to different demand resources. "The past two years haven't been as hot as before. During the sauce-flavor liquor boom, many Bairong shops would jointly go to Renhuai to open product codes, but that's rare now, and flights to Moutai town have ceased," noted a owner specializing in development products. "When business was good, each shop hired several loaders; now owners do it themselves," another added. "The biggest issue now is pricing. When we order, a case might yield 10-20 yuan profit, but by the time it arrives days later, profit drops to 5-10 yuan. Time and logistics costs are one thing, but prices keep falling; during the 618 shopping festival, many famous liquors hit historic lows," said a famous liquor shop manager. "Many famous liquor brands have designated points here or collaborate with shop owners. Although foot traffic has declined, we can quickly learn the latest national liquor price trends," one owner mentioned. During the visit, the reporter noticed that products on small carts outside shops were mostly clearance items, ranging from dozens of yuan per case, including low-profile brands like "Guzhen" and "Qinghua." "In the past, these carts were flexible advertising spaces; owners paid to leverage the foot traffic for sales," another owner explained. When asked why distributors dare to sell to Bairong without worrying about channel conflicts from nationwide terminal purchases, a famous liquor owner replied: "It allows for quick circulation and cash conversion. Many distributors face high turnover pressure and need cash urgently, so they come here to offload inventory." Bairong's self-rescue and transformation during the downturn Being in Bairong, one can truly feel the efficiency of commercial operations. Bairong comprises four super-large wholesale malls (A, B, C, D), each with tens of thousands of square meters. To facilitate transport, spiral ramps outside the malls allow trucks to drive to different floors. The shops in all four buildings are arranged in a "回" (hui) shape, with numerous intersections and over twenty gates forming the arteries for rapid circulation. Besides the liquor section, Bairong also houses leisure foods, tea, dried fruits, daily necessities, and more, with dazzling advertising displays. As business slows due to reduced demand and fewer customers, many shops have turned to livestreaming. Some have set up studios on the sixth floor, and many stream or create videos at night to expand their industry influence and networks. Jin Songhao, one of the earliest liquor merchants in Bairong to embrace short videos, has amassed over 400,000 followers on Douyin. He has since built an e-commerce team, focusing mainly on short videos, and has become an influential blogger. Beyond the industry downturn, the digital transformation of liquor companies, especially the five-code correlation of products, has significantly impacted Bairong's supply sources. Leading liquor companies have tightened price controls, using IoT technology for product tracking and supervision, making it easier to trace. In terms of shop ecosystem, famous liquor merchants have relatively strong financial backing, but small and new merchants are rapidly changing. In Building A, the turnover rate for shops on the second floor and above has reached nearly one-third in the past three months, and some prime ground-floor shops in the four malls are even being transferred without a fee. Bairong: From a liquor distribution hub to an industry sample of commercial ecosystem evolution The rise and fall of Bairong is never just about the rise and fall of a wholesale district; it's a microcosm of the evolution of China's commercial circulation system. When "prime location transfer" coexists with "livestream selling" under the same roof, and when trucks on spiral ramps share the dawn with livestream studio lights, this wholesale market, once labeled "low price, high volume," is undergoing a genetic recombination from "liquor porter" to "commercial infrastructure." During the industry adjustment period, Bairong's value paradox becomes clearer: on one hand, traditional wholesale models face impacts from price transparency and stronger brand control, squeezing profits into a micro-margin era where "a bottle of Moutai earns 10 yuan"; on the other hand, its accumulated logistics network (3 yuan shipping per case within the province), nationwide channel reach, and sensitivity to market prices are precisely the scarce commercial assets in the digital age. This contradiction is essentially the pain of transitioning from "bazaar-style circulation" to "smart supply chain"—just as wet markets evolve into fresh e-commerce, Bairong's livestream bases, logistics systems, and even "clearance carts" are being restructured into components of a new commercial ecosystem. Looking beyond the liquor industry, Bairong's self-rescue has already transcended "selling liquor" itself. When merchants use Douyin to gain 400,000 followers, when spiral ramps become symbols of supply chain efficiency, and when five-code correlation forces supply chain transparency, this market is proving a truth: the vitality of traditional commerce lies not in clinging to the old logic of "low-price channel diversion," but in transforming channel control into data-driven service capabilities. In the future, Bairong may no longer be "the cheapest place for liquor nationwide," but it could become "the most efficient hub for liquor circulation"—using livestreaming for brand display, logistics networks for instant delivery, and price sensitivity to inform brand strategies, ultimately evolving from a wholesale district into an integrated online-offline liquor circulation industry internet platform. This mirror reflects not only the cyclical fluctuations of the liquor industry but also the inevitable path of Chinese commerce from "scale dividends" to "efficiency dividends." Every shop change, every livestream session, and every logistics order at Bairong is a vivid footnote to traditional commerce finding its coordinates in the digital wave—and those genes that continue to evolve amid the pain will ultimately become the underlying code for industries to navigate cycles. 🔺 Details of the 7th China FMCG Conference Scan the QR code for ticket inquiries