Mastering the Six Key Points of Group Buying: Have You Got Them Right?

The traditional approach to white liquor group buying—'building relationships, selling face, and giving kickbacks'—was once the standard playbook. As the group-buying market matured and sales grew, it became a lifeline for many companies, especially local ones. But with the government's restrictions on public spending, group buying has become a tantalizing yet elusive opportunity for many.

Through extensive observation of leading companies' group-buying practices, we've found that liquor companies and group-buying distributors can achieve transformation and breakthroughs by systematically optimizing group-buying products, adjusting salary structures, and executing promotional strategies.

Part 1: Accurate Positioning, Reasonable Pricing, and Exclusive Products

1. Market Positioning Regional white liquor consumption falls into three typical categories: government consumption, business consumption, and social gatherings. For group-buying products, targeting government and business consumption is the most rational market positioning.

In terms of price tiers, align with the mainstream government and business consumption price points in the region. You can set prices slightly higher than the current mainstream tier, but not too high to avoid alienating your target consumers. For product line layout, consider offering two products as a series, one for government consumption and one for business consumption.

2. Pricing Strategy Group-buying pricing should follow the principle of 'lower than retail price, higher than wholesale price.' Setting prices below retail satisfies group-buying customers' desire for value, ensures normal profit margins for the company/distributor, and allows them to benefit from shortened distribution channels.

Setting prices above wholesale prevents group-buying products from leaking into the open market, allowing convenience stores and tobacco shops to sell them normally, thus maintaining market stability.

3. Exclusive Group-Buying Products Differentiating group-buying products from regular ones is crucial to avoid disrupting the distribution market. The starting point for product design should be the personalized, exclusive, and customized needs of the target consumer group.

Truly competitive group-buying products are those customized to meet the specific needs of the target audience. Only by achieving true customization—integrating brand culture, regional culture, consumer groups, and consumption needs—can you achieve positive market feedback.

Part 2: Experiential Consumption, Consumer Guidance, and Reasonable Compensation

1. Experiential Consumption The typical 'tasting events' in regional markets involve treating guests to meals, giving gifts, and selling products. To make these events truly effective, treat consumer leaders as experts and representatives, and actively listen to and respect their opinions and suggestions.

Small-scale tasting events—such as 6-8 person gatherings, book club tastings, literary tastings, or fishing club tastings—tend to be more effective and impactful.

2. Consumer Guidance The role of a group-buying consultant (opinion leader) is to guide consumption of products that have already been sold through group buying. Their primary function is to drive product sell-through.

By establishing this role, you can guide group-buying customers to consume products quickly, accelerating the cycle of 'product sales—product consumption—repeat sales,' and encouraging group-buying units/customers to enter a virtuous cycle of group-buying sales.

3. Reasonable Compensation Flexible and autonomous sales policies are the prerequisite for salespeople to develop group-buying clients on a case-by-case basis. A salary structure of base salary plus commission ensures controllable marketing expenses, while tiered commissions maximize salespeople's motivation and initiative, offering flexibility in market operations.

In group-buying sales, part-time salespeople often have strong selling skills but their expenses are hard to control. In such cases, allow them to operate within a price range based on the wholesale price as the floor and the retail price as the ceiling, giving them flexibility to allocate sales expenses and commissions. This resolves the tension between sales flexibility and expense control.

This approach ensures both operational flexibility and cost control, truly igniting salespeople's enthusiasm and initiative.

Product positioning, pricing space, and product differentiation are the core elements of group-buying product selection and development. Only products based on the target group can maximize satisfaction of their consumption needs. Only by guiding the target group to experience the brand and respecting opinion leaders' preferences can group-buying promotions achieve twice the results with half the effort. While conducting group-buying sales, actively promoting product sell-through ensures healthy and virtuous market expansion.

Balancing operational flexibility with expense control is the foundation of a group-buying compensation system. Within the framework of the compensation system, granting salespeople maximum operational flexibility will unleash their initiative and ensure sustainable, stable group-buying sales.

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