---
title: "Major Release | 2025 China FMCG Distributor Business Status Survey Report"
description: "From August 19-21, 2025, the 7th China FMCG Conference, the 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference, and the 5th China FMCG Distributor Conference grandly opened in Shanghai! At the distributor conference held on August 21, Yuan Lai, Chief Content Officer of New Distribution, and Li Wenjun, Partner of New Distribution Research and Consulting, released the \"2025 China FMCG Distributor Business Status Survey Report\" (hereinafter referred to as the Report). Currently, the FMCG industry is facing multiple challenges such as the rise of new channels, offline retail transformation, intensified market competition, and changes in consumer demand..."
author: "袁来"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-08-24"
categories: "Dealer Operations, Industry Trends"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/YDgHeEBfBnAXVUQv0lCYXQ"
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citation: "袁来. “Major Release | 2025 China FMCG Distributor Business Status Survey Report.” New Distribution, 2025-08-24. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/major-release-2025-china-fmcg-distributor-business-status-survey-report-a56f93bc/"
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---

# Major Release | 2025 China FMCG Distributor Business Status Survey Report

> From August 19-21, 2025, the 7th China FMCG Conference, the 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference, and the 5th China FMCG Distributor Conference grandly opened in Shanghai! At the distributor conference held on August 21, Yuan Lai, Chief Content Officer of New Distribution, and Li Wenjun, Partner of New Distribution Research and Consulting, released the "2025 China FMCG Distributor Business Status Survey Report" (hereinafter referred to as the Report). Currently, the FMCG industry is facing multiple challenges such as the rise of new channels, offline retail transformation, intensified market competition, and changes in consumer demand...

From August 19-21, 2025, the 7th China FMCG Conference, the 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference, and the 5th China FMCG Distributor Conference grandly opened in Shanghai!
At the distributor conference held on August 21, Yuan Lai, Chief Content Officer of New Distribution, and Li Wenjun, Partner of New Distribution Research and Consulting, released the "2025 China FMCG Distributor Business Status Survey Report" (hereinafter referred to as the Report).
Currently, the FMCG industry is facing multiple challenges such as the rise of new channels, offline retail transformation, intensified market competition, and changes in consumer demand. Distributors are also under operational pressure. Against this backdrop, "New Distribution" conducted the "2025 China FMCG Distributor Business Status Survey Report."
Through a combination of quantitative questionnaire surveys and qualitative interviews, the report delves into distributors' business performance, current operational status, as well as challenges and opportunities, providing decision-making support for the industry.
This report is based on an in-depth survey of 366 medium and large distributors nationwide closely cooperating with "New Distribution," covering 13 core categories including beverages, snacks, dairy, daily chemicals, paper and hygiene products, and grain, oil, and condiments, spanning 144 cities. Through detailed data and case studies, it strives to present the true landscape of the distributor community in a complex market environment.
H1 Sales Target Achievement
The overall market environment is highly polarized. Among the surveyed distributors, 39.6% achieved their TOP1 brand sales target in H1, 38.8% did not meet it, and 21.6% met it. This shows that distributor business conditions are completely polarized, at a 1:1 ratio.
Additionally, by category, paper hygiene and personal care led (paper hygiene achievement rate 78.8%, personal care 76%, frozen food 70%), while grain, oil, and snacks faced pressure (grain, oil, and condiments achievement rate 47.2%, leisure snacks 56.4%).
Essential and convenience products demonstrated resilience advantages.
H1 Revenue and Profit
Similarly, revenue growth divergence intensified. 41.3% of distributors saw revenue growth, 19.4% remained flat, and 39.3% saw a decline. Furthermore, this further validates the point we have repeatedly raised: the larger the distributor, the stronger their operational capability.
The larger the business scale, the higher the proportion of "no decline"; the smaller the business scale, the lower the proportion of "no decline."
In terms of profit, there was a general narrowing. Only 26% of distributors saw profit growth; 20.5% had flat profit levels, and 53.6% of distributors saw profit decline.
Comparing revenue growth with profit growth, the industry is facing the dilemma of "increasing revenue without increasing profit."
Reasons for Revenue and Profit Decline
A downward market environment, the impact of new channels, and the shrinkage of terminal stores are the main reasons for revenue decline.
Declining gross margins on goods, overall sales volume decline, and rising operating costs are the main factors leading to profit decline. Compared with the 2024 distributor business status data, there is no significant change.
Changes in Operating Costs
Surveyed distributors were asked which operating cost proportions significantly increased in H1 2025 compared to last year. The top three costs that significantly increased were personnel, inventory, and warehousing and logistics. These are not only the highest cost proportions for distributors but also the ones with the largest increases.
By business scale, distributors below 50 million yuan face the most obvious financial capital cost pressure. The largest increase in inventory cost proportion is concentrated among medium-sized distributors with 30-50 million yuan (44.4%).
Profit Structure Transformation
45.4% of distributors still rely on product price differences as their main profit source, but 56% of them saw profit decline, higher than the industry average. Although the traditional price difference model dominates, it is clearly facing severe challenges.
Additionally, it is evident that among distributors choosing "value-added services becoming an important profit source, accounting for over 20%," 70% saw profit growth or remained flat. The potential of value-added services is beginning to show.
The larger the distributor, especially those above 100 million yuan, the higher the proportion of "diversified balanced income (price difference, manufacturer support, and value-added services in close proportion)."
Core Operational Challenges
70% of distributors listed declining gross margins on goods as the primary challenge, and 65% believe they face the dual pressure of traditional channel shrinkage and new channel impact.
Additionally, ranked third, 24.6% of distributors believe manufacturer targets and policies are unreasonable, with this being most prominent among distributors above 100 million yuan. In internal operations and management, 20% of distributors mentioned difficulties in personnel recruitment, selection, retention, and development.
In summary, FMCG distributors face three challenges: margin decline, channel transformation, and talent difficulties.
Channel Layout Overview
Traditional channels remain the core. The main channel types covered by distributors: TOP1 small and medium supermarkets 77.3%; TOP2 mom-and-pop stores 68.6%; TOP3 wholesale and farmers' markets 63.9%.
From the overall data, it is also evident that except for 4 channels with coverage rates exceeding 60%, the remaining 15 channels are all below 50%. Additionally, distributors are also riding the wave of new channels, with discount supermarkets at 32% and instant retail at 21.9%.
Channel Distribution Characteristics
More than half of distributors (55.2%) rely solely on offline channels, possibly limited by the channel strategies of their main brands, or due to distributor channel inertia and insufficient digital capabilities.
44% of distributors have achieved full coverage of both online and offline channels. Although online channels are covered by mainstream e-commerce, sales proportions are not high, indicating that distributors are breaking through growth bottlenecks through a combination of "offline + marginal online" strategies.
Overall, distributors cover anywhere from 1 to 17 channels, with an average coverage of 5.8 channels. The highest proportion of distributors covers 4-7 channels, totaling approximately 48%.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 袁来
- Published: 2025-08-24
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/major-release-2025-china-fmcg-distributor-business-status-survey-report-a56f93bc/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/YDgHeEBfBnAXVUQv0lCYXQ

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