Every March and April, major beverage manufacturers start their water war. Pushing inventory into stores, stocking shelves, and filling coolers are the daily basics for every frontline sales rep. But there's considerable skill in how to execute these three tasks. The author has summarized six standard actions for terminal operations: lift, cut, stick, move, arrange, and stuff. These six words help our sales reps know what to do and how to do it at the store level. Lift: As the name suggests, it means pulling our products out of the small store's warehouse, but where to lift them to? That's where the skill lies. Take beverages as an example: in summer, shelves and coolers move product very fast. A cooler can typically hold 10-15 cases, and a small store with daily revenue of 3000-4000 yuan can sell through it in 1-3 days. But sales reps only visit once every 7 days, which means our products sell out quickly, and the store owner may not restock in time for various reasons, or competitors' products take over the cooler space, losing many sales opportunities. This is why our reps need to not only refill shelves and coolers but also lift some product to the floor in front of the shelves. That way, when the shelf sells out, the owner can easily grab a case to restock. If you're a bit smarter, you can even place a few cases in front of competitors' shelves. Then, when their shelves sell out, our products get a chance to be put up. Additionally, the highest-traffic area in a small store is usually the checkout counter. In mom-and-pop stores, the counter is typically a cigarette display case, and many companies compete to place display stacks there. But not every store requires a fee to get this prime spot. Generally, store owners won't mind if you lift a couple of bottles of water and place them in front of the cigarette case. That way, customers buying cigarettes or paying have water at hand and can grab a bottle if they're thirsty. There are countless similar examples. The core of lifting is flexibility and agility—seemingly casual but actually intentional. Cut: Cut refers to cutting open cases for display. There are many ways to cut cases for beverages, and the author's account has many articles and standards on case cutting. We won't go into depth here, but it's important to note that it's not just about standard case cutting. When we place our beverages in various spots in the store as mentioned above, we must break the case and remove the shrink wrap. This small action lets consumers know the products are sold individually, not just for display. Below is a PPT from Kangshifu's internal training on case cutting, which basically explains the key points. Tools: Utility knife selection and use, comparison of usage methods, steps and methods for cutting cases. Key points for "case cutting display":

  1. First, find the spot with the best visual effect—the first place consumers see when entering the store, like directly facing the entrance.
  2. Store aisles are also valuable; even a few cases by the aisle can catch consumers' attention.
  3. Cleverly use "borrowing"—for example, near or across from the checkout counter, or where the refrigerated cabinet is, as these are areas where consumers linger. Place products there to "borrow the momentum" and boost visibility.
  4. Display the main specifications of leading brands, with the front of the packaging facing consumers. The height should not be too high or too low, making it easy to grab.
  5. Preserve useful information and design on the outside of the case as much as possible. Reuse cut cases to save time and effort, and use discarded boxes as templates.
  6. After completing the display, deliberately remove a few items. This leaves gaps for customers to grab items and also suggests strong sales.
  7. If the store owner won't allow case cutting, find a reason to persuade them, like saying it looks better and boosts sales, or promise to bring some freebies next time to tie on. JDB demonstration: 1st move: Simple 2nd move: Convenient 3rd move: Stable 4th move: Best with three-dimensional staggered layers 5th move: Respect—maximize product display 6th move: Transparent layer protection principle 7th move: Cut accurately, firmly, and quickly 8th move: Calculate the stack 9th move: Clear pricing Stick: As salespeople, every marketer is familiar with putting up posters. Some might say, "It's just sticking up a poster—how much skill can that involve? I can do it perfectly with my eyes closed in minutes. What's so professional about it? It's just a basic skill for new salespeople. How can it compare to other professional marketing skills?" Basic principles for sticking posters: Inside over outside, high over low. In mom-and-pop stores, the most common spot for posters is at the entrance, at about head height. But the problem is that not only do you see these spots, all manufacturers see them too. This means the wall at the store entrance gets covered with anywhere from a dozen to dozens of posters daily. Your poster might last from a few days to just a few minutes before being covered or torn down by other brands. This increases our workload, reduces the value of our work, and wastes the manufacturer's material costs. A poster costs anywhere from 50-60 cents to 1-1.5 yuan to produce. If a sales rep has dozens covered up in a day, that's tens of yuan wasted. So when sticking, we must note that the best spots aren't necessarily the most used ones. Instead, spots that are a bit higher or lower are more likely to last. Of course, if conditions allow, stick them indoors. Eight principles for sticking posters:
  8. In mature markets, seek coverage density; in semi-mature (or less mature) markets, seek coverage effect.
  9. Prefer left over right; don't avoid key areas.
  10. The strong must suppress the local.
  11. Don't just "stick" without "speaking."
  12. If you can't win, don't provoke.
  13. Carry a rag; don't act like a rich kid, act like a beggar. Points to note during the sticking process: Check the wall before sticking: First, note the wall material. If dusty, use the back of the poster to wipe it, then stick. Smooth it out slowly while sticking: First, peel back one corner of the poster, then pull open a small section along the top edge, stick it horizontally to the wall, and with your right hand pulling the adhesive backing, use your left hand to smooth the poster flat against the wall. Wipe after sticking: After sticking, the poster isn't firmly attached. Use the adhesive backing paper crumpled into a ball to press firmly over the poster. If the wall is very dusty, it's best to secure the corners with tape. Additionally, timely "re-sticking" is important. "Re-sticking" means checking previously posted posters and doing supplementary or restorative re-posting. Specifically, the strategies include:
  14. Know the timing of competitors' re-sticking. Competitors aren't slouches when it comes to posters. It's crucial to grasp their re-sticking schedule and patterns. After thorough communication with the sales point, develop a time-following strategy—i.e., as soon as the competitor leaves, our marketing staff follows up with re-sticking. If you blindly set a fixed X-day interval for follow-up, competitors may spot the gap and exploit it.
  15. Cover as much as possible; don't tear down. Try to cover competitors' posters with ours rather than tearing them down, because tearing creates an untidy look that affects our poster's appearance. On the other hand, competitors might not see us as rivals and may only post in non-relevant areas, which doesn't affect our poster's effectiveness. Price tags and explosion tags: I generally require our team's sales reps to ensure all cut-case displays have explosion tags, and any shelf without a price tag is considered an invalid display. The information on price tags and explosion tags is one of the most critical factors in consumer perception, especially for new products or consumers who have never bought our products. Their perception starts with price. Without a price tag, you lose a lot of sales opportunities. Most companies have standard usage methods for price tags and explosion tags, so we won't go into detail here. Move: Research International (RI) once conducted a market survey: only 68% of product purchases are planned; the remaining 32% are impulsive. 75% of consumers decide which brand to buy after arriving at the store. Therefore, display (especially primary display) is crucial for product sales. Winning more display space in the store means winning more sales. Studies show: moving the same product from the bottom shelf to the golden position increases sales by 78%! From the bottom to the middle shelf, sales increase by 34%! From the middle to the golden position, sales increase by 63%! Product placement in the store significantly impacts sales. The primary display position is always the golden spot, with sales opportunities typically three times higher than secondary positions. That's why manufacturers fight tooth and nail, spending big money to get their products into prime spots. But not all display positions require money. Bribing staff with small gifts or cleaning the shelves to change positions are also effective ways to improve shelf placement. Arrange: If customers can't see the product display, the brand may lose 48% of sales. Good displays bring a good image to the company, better sales to distributors, better profits to the store, and better commissions to employees. Preferred display height: the visual height level with the consumer's line of sight, typically 1.4-1.7 meters from the ground, often called the golden visual height.
  16. Visible and easy to find: The primary condition for display is that customers and staff can easily see, find, and reach the product. Ensure every displayed item meets this basic requirement.
  17. Within arm's reach: Similar to visibility, the display height should be within easy reach of staff or customers.
  18. Front facing out, not upside down: Products should face the customer with the front label showing. This not only makes it easy for customers to notice but also reflects the store's basic management level.
  19. Price tag aligned with product: Price tags and products should correspond one-to-one to avoid creating a bad impression of price traps, which reduces customer trust, and to make it easy for customers to buy directly.
  20. Stand upright if possible, align top and bottom: Products that can stand upright should be displayed upright. This increases the visible area, boosts attention, and avoids damage from long-term lying flat.
  21. Low to high, left to right, price grouping: Generally, products should be arranged according to customer traffic flow, displaying low, medium, and high-priced items in sequence. Especially, placing low-priced items at the customer's entry point helps build a low-price image for the store.
  22. Golden position for key items: On the same shelf, different positions yield different sales due to varying customer attention. Generally, items at eye level sell the most, while those requiring customers to look up or squat down sell less.
  23. Don't block brand products: Brand products are key to driving store traffic. Based on their sales characteristics, determine whether they are key, auxiliary, or other items and adjust their positions accordingly. But don't deliberately block or hide them.
  24. Related display for good service: Plan the display layout based on customer traffic and target customer habits. Typically, place seasonal items and promotional products near the entrance (to increase entry rates), set up promotional categories at traffic flow junctions (to extend customer paths), and create related product zones inside the store based on different target customer needs.
  25. First in, first out to minimize expiry: To avoid expiry losses, display items following the first-in, first-out principle.
  26. Fixed shelf positions, no neglect: To maximize display effectiveness and solidify product management, when conditions allow, stores should gradually implement fixed shelf position management to strengthen product management.
  27. End caps for special items: Besides basic display positions, for special items like seasonal products, promotional items, or new products, increase end cap or cart displays as much as possible, within product management guidelines, to create a better in-store marketing atmosphere. Stuff: Studies show that if a store is equipped with our cooler and it's effectively chilled, sales can increase up to 8 times compared to before! This shows the importance of stuffing the cooler. Stuffing our beverages into our own coolers and competitors' coolers is the simplest, most direct, and effective way to boost sales. How to stuff? Four-word principle: seize every opportunity. When entering the store and checking the cooler, casually place a few of our bottles. Through policies like rewards for returning cooler cartons or freezing incentives, you can effectively stuff products into coolers, fill shelves, and stuff out big sales. Finally, let me end this article with a quote from Teacher Li Ke's post on his Moments: Li Ke In the FMCG industry, there's never a move competitors can't learn. The core of every awesome FMCG company is always execution. One core decision that never changes is distribution rate. The level of execution determines the company's height. 1 day ago, deleted ****************Some content in this article is sourced from the internet. If there's any infringement, please contact the editor. This platform will soon organize trips for distributors interested in transitioning to B2B platform e-commerce to visit some well-performing domestic B2B platforms for learning. Friends who want to join the editor can add the editor's WeChat. When adding, please reply with the keyword: 考察 (inspection) - END- The best FMCG distributor learning platform in China Dedicated to providing professional, practical, and actionable tutorials for companies and distributors Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly The most professional and practical knowledge base in the FMCG industry Reply with the red number below to get the corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | 001 Excellent article selection | 002 Distributor market operations | 003 Terminal visit management | 004 Sales supervisor skills | 005 Sales boost techniques | 006 Channel expansion | 007 Managing distributors | 008 Distributor development | 009 Distributor internal operations management | 010 Team management | 011 Efficient distribution techniques | 012 Sales manager's eighteen skills | 013 KA operations methods and strategies | 014 First lesson for new salespeople | 015 Internet, brands | [Long press QR code to follow]