The era of full-coverage distribution is gradually fading, and the relationship between people, goods, and places is being redefined. Growth logic no longer relies on single-channel expansion or blockbuster products but shifts to a more complex reconstruction of systemic capabilities. In this context, enterprises face not "whether to change" but "how and what to change." So, how can brands find new growth levers? On March 16, at the main forum of the 11th China FMCG Conference (CFC), Hu Lerong, National Sales Director of Unilever's Knorr Retail, was invited to deliver a keynote speech titled "Knorr Seasoning: Using the 'Five New' Strategy to Tap Incremental Opportunities in the Fragmented Era." New Distribution is pleased to report the highlights of his speech for our readers. The Industry Is Changing Brands Must First Understand the "Change" Currently, the retail industry is undergoing profound structural reshuffling—channel restructuring, consumer stratification, and digital acceleration. Each wave is reshaping category dynamics. As frontline players, we clearly perceive every shift in the market and have identified six major trends. Only by understanding change can we find the right direction and stand firm in the new market landscape. 1. Competitive Landscape: From Incremental Dividends to Stock Game Over a decade ago, the industry was on an upward trajectory, and brand growth generally benefited from market dividends. Today, the growth logic has completely reversed; brand growth often comes at the expense of competitors' market share. The market is no longer about addition but increasingly resembles a game of grabbing cake. In this environment, Knorr has defined its breakthrough direction: only through differentiated products, marketing, and channel strategies can we overtake on curves and seize the initiative in the stock market. 2. Channel Structure: Fragmentation Is an Irreversible Trend With the rapid rise of new channels such as instant retail, O2O, B2B, and online content e-commerce, channel fragmentation has become a settled reality, and this trend is irreversible. Each fragmented channel requires targeted solutions. More notably, the boundary between online and offline is continuously dissolving: online platforms are accelerating the opening of physical stores, while offline retailers are joining instant retail platforms. Omnichannel integration has become a core feature of industry development. 3. Rise of Retailers: Intensifying Battle for Category Leadership From Pangdonglai to Aldi, and Walmart's introduction of Woquxian, more and more retailers are building differentiated core competitiveness through private labels. This means that if a brand fails to establish a dominant position in a category, the risk of being marginalized in the coming years will significantly increase. In such an environment, how to re-seek survival space has become a topic every brand must confront. 4. Distributor Transformation: Accelerating Pace of Change In recent years, many traditional channel distributors have accelerated their transformation into B2B suppliers, while modern channel distributors are gradually evolving into platform service providers. In the past, big brands empowered distributors to grow; today, many distributors are already ahead of brands in their transformation pace. This is both a warning and a revelation: Are brands' team capabilities and customer management truly aligned with the pace of distributor transformation? 5. Consumption Logic: From People Finding Goods to Scenario Triggering In the past, when discussing "people, goods, and places," "place" referred to channels and regions; today, "place" has precisely landed on specific consumption scenarios. A good product placed in the wrong channel, at the wrong time, or in the wrong scenario will still fail to convert sales. At the same time, today's consumers have long abandoned single-channel shopping habits; instead, they switch platforms across the entire domain based on different consumption needs. Furthermore, economic changes are reshaping consumer mindsets: consumers are moving from pursuing premiumization to rational consumption, and younger groups require sufficient "confidence reasons" for purchase decisions. Brands must clearly articulate: What makes my product good? What added value does it create for consumers? Only then can they truly move the market and win recognition. 6. Digitalization and AI: Not a Choice but a Must-Answer Question From consumer insights and channel management to supply chain collaboration, digital capabilities are becoming the underlying infrastructure of brand competitiveness. The accelerated penetration of AI will further reshape the connection between brands and consumers and reconstruct internal decision-making efficiency. In the future, whoever can establish a data-driven operating system first will hold the initiative in the next round of competition. Facing these changes from all dimensions of the industry, the traditional approach of "distribution + promotion + waiting for repurchase" is no longer suitable for the new market environment. Brands need to make not just partial adjustments and optimizations but a systematic iteration and upgrade of their business strategy from an overall perspective. Knorr's Response: From Full-Coverage Distribution to Precision Reach Amid industry changes, many may wonder: Is there truly no room for growth in traditional channels? The answer is clearly no. The growth dilemma of traditional channels is not that the channels have lost value, but that the market environment and consumption habits have changed; relying on old thinking makes it hard to generate increments. The core logic is simple: The era of full-coverage distribution is over; the era of precision reach is coming. Full-coverage distribution refers to the logic where brands place products in all channels and expect natural sales. This approach was effective in the past, but today, its efficiency is rapidly declining. The reason is straightforward—channels are increasingly fragmented, and consumers choose different channels at different times and scenarios to meet different needs, making it difficult for brands to cover all possibilities with a one-size-fits-all approach. Therefore, what Knorr is now focusing on is the re-matching of people, goods, and places: in the right scenario, facing the right people, through the right channel, offering the right product. The dividend of full-coverage distribution has indeed faded, but this does not mean traditional channels have no growth space. The key is to "split the business into two parts"—clearly distinguishing between existing scenarios and old users, and new scenario increments hidden within old channels. Take traditional supermarkets as an example: foot traffic in the main shelf area has significantly declined, and planned consumption is being largely replaced by e-commerce. But this does not mean supermarkets are dead—what has changed is what is worth buying in supermarkets; what remains unchanged is that supermarkets are still an important scenario for reaching family consumption. So, today's successful retailers are transforming into bakery, fresh, and discount categories, bringing new growth opportunities for the seasoning industry. Knorr is also following this direction, leveraging fresh food scenarios for stronger empowerment and binding. If fresh food is about transporting ingredients from farm to consumer's home, then what Knorr aims to do is help consumers turn those ingredients into a delicious meal. Another re-activated scenario comes from the expansion of the coverage radius of traditional offline stores through instant retail. In the past, nearby convenience stores or supermarkets could only serve customers within 2 to 3 kilometers; today, with instant retail platforms, the fulfillment radius can extend to 3 to 5 kilometers. This means that while maintaining existing offline supply, adding online professional operations can also unearth new business increments from old channels. In summary, old channels are not the end but the starting point of new scenarios. What brands need to do is not wait for channels to recover naturally but proactively find their own incremental entry points in every seemingly calm stock market. Practical Implementation: New Tactics Ignite the Market For the FMCG market, distribution remains an eternal theme, but "distributing more" is no longer the core; "distributing accurately" is. Combining new channels, new consumer groups, and new scenarios to dig out new opportunities in old channels is exactly the direction Knorr is exploring amid industry changes. Knorr's cold sauce series is a practical test of this approach. Launched in 2025, this product grew from zero to nearly 100 million yuan in business volume within a few months, becoming one of the most talked-about blockbusters in the seasoning industry in recent years. The product's development path can be summarized in four steps: Step 1: Social First. Focus on seeding on Xiaohongshu and Douyin rather than pursuing massive media exposure. This builds consumer mindshare and also obtains first-hand user and consumption data, laying the foundation for subsequent actions. Step 2: Rapid Listing. After initial buzz on social platforms, quickly distribute the product into e-commerce and key account (KA) core channels, rapidly establishing price benchmarks and quality perception, stabilizing the product's base, and setting a market reference for offline distribution. Step 3: Data-Driven Downstream Distribution. Based on the user and market data accumulated in the first two steps, combined with AI data model analysis, precisely screen high-matching quality supermarkets, fresh food stores, discount stores, and warehouse stores from millions of offline terminals in China, forming a priority distribution list, then conduct targeted and orderly channel coverage, greatly improving distribution efficiency and sell-through success rate. Step 4: Scenario-Specific Marketing Logic. For the same product, facing different people in different channels, Knorr's tactics vary. On instant retail platforms, targeting younger consumers, the focus is on fitness light meals and low-fat cold dishes; in traditional offline supermarkets, targeting family users, the emphasis is on practical needs like daily meals, kids' appetites, and weekend entertaining. The same product, different scenarios—Knorr provides differentiated consumption solutions, using adapted models to resonate with corresponding audiences, making the product truly integrate into consumers' life scenarios, not just a product on the shelf. Final Thoughts The industry is becoming increasingly difficult, but difficulty does not mean no opportunities; it just means opportunities are hidden deeper and require more effort to uncover. Knorr has been deeply involved in the catering channel for nearly 40 years, with a consulting team of over 90 professional executive chefs and mature omnichannel operational capabilities. On this basis, we use new channels, new scenarios, new consumer groups, and new models as levers to continuously break through category growth bottlenecks and improve distribution efficiency. It is precisely through our solid accumulation and innovative tactics that Knorr has the confidence to navigate uncertainty and seize market initiative in the fragmented era. We welcome clients with cooperation intentions (distributors/retailers/platforms) to contact us. Key Recruitment Regions and Channels: Regions: Guangdong/Fujian/Shanghai/Jiangsu/Beijing/Tianjin/Hebei/Shandong/Shaanxi/Henan Channels: National instant retail & community group buying & B2B channels, labor protection special channels (gifts/welfare/labor protection/government-enterprise/trade unions/property/gas stations)