---
title: "New Distribution Zhao Bo: Today's Brands Need to Solve Not 'What to Buy' but 'Why Buy'?"
description: "The Chinese consumer market is undergoing a profound transformation into the 'Third Consumption Era,' where psychological and emotional factors increasingly drive purchasing decisions alongside functional needs. Brands must adapt by balancing 'transactional jobs-to-be-done' (functional efficiency) with 'psychological jobs-to-be-done' (emotional value, identity, and meaning) to achieve sustainable growth."
author: "赵波"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-06-19"
categories: "Brand Marketing, Dealer Operations"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/rLSB-uzVV9BRbdd58uqspw"
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citation: "赵波. “New Distribution Zhao Bo: Today's Brands Need to Solve Not 'What to Buy' but 'Why Buy'?.” New Distribution, 2025-06-19. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/new-distribution-zhao-bo-today-s-brands-need-to-solve-not-what-to-buy-bu-5ce767bf/"
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---

# New Distribution Zhao Bo: Today's Brands Need to Solve Not 'What to Buy' but 'Why Buy'?

> The Chinese consumer market is undergoing a profound transformation into the 'Third Consumption Era,' where psychological and emotional factors increasingly drive purchasing decisions alongside functional needs. Brands must adapt by balancing 'transactional jobs-to-be-done' (functional efficiency) with 'psychological jobs-to-be-done' (emotional value, identity, and meaning) to achieve sustainable growth.

**Consumption Transition and New Brand Challenges**
**1. The Arrival of the Third Consumption Era**
China's consumer market is undergoing an unprecedented and profound transformation. Looking back at the consumption upgrade path over the past four decades since reform and opening-up, we have gradually moved from an era of 'satisfaction consumption' characterized by extreme material scarcity to an era of 'optimization consumption' centered on quality and efficiency. Now, we are fully entering a new consumption stage driven by spirit, emotion, and meaning.
Academia and industry generally define this as the 'Third Consumption Era'—an era where the marginal utility of material goods diminishes, consumer sovereignty returns to the individual, and spiritual value and social identity are redefined.
In this new stage, consumers no longer focus solely on the functionality and price of products themselves; **they care more about the emotional value, identity recognition, and life meaning that consumption behavior can bring**. This is not only reflected in the consumption preferences of emerging groups such as Gen Z and the new middle class but is also continuously reinforced in overall social psychology and mainstream markets.
**2. The Logic Shift in Brand Management**
With the diversification and stratification of consumer demand, the traditional brand management model centered on products and oriented toward efficiency is facing unprecedented challenges. For brands to sustain growth, they must break free from the mindset that 'product = functional satisfaction' and expand their focus from single transactional jobs to higher-order need satisfaction that encompasses psychological jobs.
So-called 'transactional jobs-to-be-done' refer to explicit consumption behaviors based on rationality, efficiency, and functionality, such as quenching thirst, filling hunger, convenience, and speed. 'Psychological jobs-to-be-done' refer to the more implicit intrinsic motivations consumers seek through consumption, such as emotional release, value recognition, identity expression, belonging, and a sense of meaning. In the Third Consumption Era, these two types of jobs are not separate but show a clear trend of integration and migration.
Introducing the 'jobs-to-be-done' perspective helps brands clarify 'what problems consumers are actually solving' and 'what drives these problems,' thereby achieving a deep alignment between brand and user value. At the same time, brands face many new challenges in actual operations:
  * How to balance functional satisfaction and emotional value, avoiding 'function without soul'?
  * How to translate brand propositions into perceivable and resonant user experiences?
  * How to build a truly irreplaceable brand moat in homogeneous product competition?
**3. Differentiation and Integration of Old and New Consumption Drivers**
The fundamental difference of the 'Third Consumption Era' lies in the **profound differentiation and integration of consumption drivers**:
  * On one hand, basic transactional jobs remain the 'underlying moat' that brands cannot ignore, forming the foundation for building user trust.
  * On the other hand, with the improvement of living standards and changes in social structure, the influence of psychological jobs on brand choice has risen sharply, becoming a key driver for brand differentiation and value leap.
At this intersection of structural change and cultural transition, FMCG brands face a historic opportunity and challenge to 'do it all over again': they must both hold the functional baseline and continuously break through the value boundaries of psychology and emotion.
**Theoretical Foundation**
**The Dual Structure of Consumption Jobs**
**1. Definition and Essence of Transactional Jobs-to-be-Done**
So-called 'transactional jobs-to-be-done' refer to consumption drivers arising from consumers' realistic functional needs, rational considerations, and efficiency goals. Such jobs typically have the following characteristics:
  * **Clear behavioral goals**: such as quenching thirst, filling hunger, cleaning, convenience, and energy replenishment;
  * **Decision criteria primarily based on function and cost-performance**: pursuing product practicality, price advantage, and simplicity and efficiency in acquisition and use;
  * **High substitutability**: among homogeneous products, consumers often meet core needs at the lowest cost, resulting in low loyalty;
  * **Obvious 'pain-point orientation'**: focusing on avoiding risks, eliminating inconvenience, and meeting basic needs.
The rise of early FMCG brands relied almost entirely on the ultimate satisfaction of transactional jobs. For example, established companies like Wahaha, Master Kong, Yili, and Haitian achieved efficient coverage of rigid market demand through comprehensive channel networks, stable product quality, price control, and supply chain advantages, firmly controlling the consumption entry point.
**2. Definition and Essence of Psychological Jobs-to-be-Done**
'Psychological jobs-to-be-done' refer to consumption drivers arising from deeper emotional, cognitive, value, and social needs after material needs are met. Their main characteristics include:
  * **Emphasis on emotional and psychological satisfaction**: such as pleasure, recognition, belonging, motivation, self-expression, and ritual;
  * **Driven by 'sense of meaning' and 'emotional experience'**: consumers hope to gain identity symbols, social resonance, or spiritual comfort through consumption;
  * **High brand identification**: consumers are often willing to pay for emotional resonance and value propositions, with relatively lower price sensitivity;
  * **Huge space for differentiation**: brands can build barriers through storytelling, emotional value, and community operations.
**Performance in China's FMCG industry:**
With the rise of new consumer groups such as the middle class and Gen Z, more and more emerging brands are innovating on emotional, value, and spiritual levels. For example, Genki Forest builds its brand story around 'sugar-free health' and 'lifestyle,' Saturnbird strengthens user belonging through 'coffee ritual' and cultural tone, and Pop Mart creates emotional connections through IP trendy toys, forming high-viscosity user relationships that go beyond single functionality.
**3. The Internal Logic of Consumer Behavior Migration**
The migration of consumers from transactional to psychological jobs has profound social and psychological foundations:
(1) **Rise in Economic Foundation**
The Engel coefficient has declined, per capita national income has increased, and material scarcity has gradually been eliminated, enabling consumers to pursue 'value beyond material'.
(2) **Changes in Demographic Structure and Social Mentality**
The new middle class and Gen Z have become the main force, with better growth environments, making individuality, belonging, and expression core demands.
(3) **Upgrade of Consumption Scenarios and Information Environment**
Digitalization, social media, and content marketing promote deep interaction between brands and users, making consumption 'expressible,' 'shareable,' and 'participatory.'
4. **Psychological Compensation and the Pursuit of Meaning**
The accelerated pace of modern society, rising loneliness and anxiety, and the need for emotional compensation, spiritual comfort, and community belonging have become new rigid demands for consumption.
**5. Data and Trends**
According to data from multiple research institutions, in recent years, China's 'self-pleasing' and 'emotional' consumption markets have continued to grow rapidly, with an increasing proportion of users willing to pay a premium for emotional experiences, spiritual recognition, and brand value. Consumers show stronger repurchase and stickiness toward brands that are 'story-driven, warm, and provide a sense of belonging.'
**Phenomenon Analysis**
**Task Migration in China's FMCG Market**
**I. Empirical Analysis: Consumer Task Migration Path**
In the past, China's FMCG consumption always revolved around 'solving problems, meeting rigid needs, and improving efficiency.' Most old brands won through broad coverage, stable supply, and cost-effectiveness. However, in recent years, especially as the younger generation has become the mainstream consumer force, consumer demand has undergone a structural leap:
> Basic functionality remains important, but it is no longer the whole decision;
>
> Non-material demands such as emotion, culture, belonging, and expression have become the dominant force in more and more categories and scenarios.
**1. Typical Category Cases:**
  * **Beverage Industry**
Era dominated by transactional jobs: Coca-Cola, Wahaha, Master Kong Iced Tea, focusing on 'quenching thirst, convenience, and affordable prices.'
Rise of psychological jobs: Genki Forest's 'sugar-free health + lifestyle,' Heytea and Naixue focusing on 'ritual,' 'self-pleasing social,' and 'trendy IP'; consumers no longer pay only for thirst but for 'scenes,' 'stories,' and 'self-rewards.'
  * **Snack Industry**
Era dominated by transactional jobs: Three Squirrels, Qiaqia, etc., focusing on 'filling hunger, convenience, and cost-performance.'
Rise of psychological jobs: Liangpin Shop emphasizes 'premium snacks, healthy companionship,' and Daily Black Chocolate uses 'low GI, self-pleasing attributes' to trigger emotional resonance.
  * **Personal Care Industry**
Era dominated by transactional jobs: Lux, Liushen, etc., focusing on 'cleaning, sterilization, and practicality.'
Rise of psychological jobs: Perfect Diary, Florasis, etc., strengthen brand connection through 'national style aesthetics, identity expression, and social check-ins.'
**2. Behavioral Migration Path**
**Rigid needs as foundation** (meeting functionality) → Scenario extension (solving occasions/social/ritual) → Emotional projection (bringing companionship, reward, relaxation, ritual) → Identity expression (achieving recognition, participating in community, emotional resonance)
**II. Phenomenon Summary: Comparison of Old and New Brands**
**1. Transactional Strengths of Old Brands**
Brands like Wahaha and Master Kong have long occupied the mainstream market, relying on channel density, quality control, and low prices for rapid penetration, meeting consumers' core needs of 'affordable to drink,' 'easy to buy,' and 'good value.'
Their brand tactics are characterized by 'pragmatism and universality,' with advertising appeals focusing on 'quality assurance, affordable prices, and daily necessities.'
**2. Psychological Innovation of Emerging Brands**
Emerging brands represented by Genki Forest, Saturnbird, and Pop Mart enter through innovative scenarios and spiritual content, meeting consumers' psychological jobs such as 'self-reward,' 'emotional belonging,' and 'trendy individuality.'
Market performance no longer relies solely on 'channel advantages' but on the emotional connection of product, content, and community as a trinity. For example:
> Genki Forest: Satisfies rational needs through 'sugar-free health' while shaping emotional anchors of 'new lifestyle,' 'self-management,' and 'quality life.'
>
> Saturnbird: Sells not just coffee but 'life ritual' and 'self-expression.'
>
> Pop Mart: IP trendy toys become social currency, meeting the sense of companionship and emotional compensation in an age of loneliness.
Advertising and operational content emphasize 'participation, resonance, and belonging,' strengthening two-way emotional connections with users.
**3. Response of Old Brands**
More and more traditional brands are also beginning to focus on psychological jobs. For example, Yili launched 'Spiritual Pasture,' and Nongfu Spring emphasizes 'a slightly sweet lifestyle,' trying to break out of single functional satisfaction and strengthen the brand's emotional temperature and value.
**III. Data Support: Rise of Emotional/Spiritual Consumption**
**Market research data shows** that since 2023, in the consumer market dominated by the post-90s and post-00s generations, over 70% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for 'self-pleasing,' 'emotional,' and 'culturally identifying' products.
**Social platform research** finds that young users' first focus on brands has shifted from 'performance/price' to 'brand story/emotional resonance/community participation.'
**Repurchase and stickiness data**: Brands with higher satisfaction of psychological jobs have significantly higher user NPS (Net Promoter Score) and repurchase rates than same-category brands relying solely on functional satisfaction.
**Brand Breakthrough Methodology**
**Balancing Transactional and Psychological Jobs**
**I. Upholding the Basics: The Foundation of Transactional Jobs**
In the 'Third Consumption Era,' even though psychological jobs are increasingly important, for FMCG brands, the foundational position of transactional jobs can never be ignored.
  * **Product strength**: Stable quality, reliable supply chain, and effective channels remain the foundation of user trust.
  * **Efficiency and cost-performance**: The threshold for consumption decisions still exists, especially in lower-tier markets and price-sensitive user groups, where 'rigid demand attributes' remain the basic market.
  * **Service and experience**: After-sales service, logistics and distribution, and purchase convenience are still the 'foundation' for maintaining brand reputation.
**Method recommendations**:
  * Regularly self-check the stability of supply chain and product quality;
  * Keep the basic attributes of products prominent and clear; do not blur the 'rigid demand function' of brand positioning in pursuit of emotional value;
  * Use digital tools to optimize inventory, logistics, and customer service experience to achieve cost reduction and efficiency in transactional experience.
**II. Innovation: Value Creation of Psychological Jobs**
The 'leap' of a brand must, on the basis of transactional jobs, innovatively satisfy psychological jobs and build the brand's spiritual assets and emotional barriers.
**1. Build Emotional Anchors and Spiritual Symbols**
Clarify the core emotions the brand is to carry (such as healing, belonging, trend, growth, self-discipline, etc.) and integrate them into brand slogans, advertising copy, packaging design, and IP content.
Use visual symbols, story-driven content, brand ambassadors, and other means to continuously deepen users' emotional impressions.
**2. Deconstruct the User's 'Psychological Job List'**
For target user profiles, systematically identify their emotional distress, identity needs, and social needs, and establish a job library (such as self-pleasing, companionship, achievement, expression, community, care, etc.).
Use 'scenario-based experiences' to make psychological demands concrete: such as check-in places, community interactions, and brand ritual activities.
**3. Content Marketing and IP Operations**
Build a brand content matrix (social media, short videos, live streaming, user stories, etc.) to turn the brand's 'emotional gene' into high-frequency touchpoints in daily life.
Establish brand-specific IPs (such as co-branded toys, virtual characters, cultural derivatives) to allow users to participate in co-creation and dissemination.
Through UGC and community operations, give users a sense of participation and belonging, making the brand a platform for circle social interaction and self-expression.
**III. Practical Operational Suggestions for Brand Teams**
**1. Establish a 'Job-Motivation' Insight Model**
Through user interviews, data research, and community observation, sort out the transactional and psychological job structures of the brand's target users.
Use the 'Job-Motivation Matrix' tool to clearly stratify the brand's services and products, identifying improvement points and innovation space.
**2. Cross-Departmental Collaborative Innovation**
Market, product, content, and community teams work together to translate the brand's core emotional proposition into specific product innovations and operational activities.
Use agile trial-and-error and rapid iteration models to capture emerging psychological demands of users.
**3. Digital Operation of Brand Assets**
Use digital tools to monitor changes in consumer emotions and psychological needs, and adjust brand content and interaction methods in real time.
Establish a quantifiable evaluation system for 'emotional value' and 'user recognition' to drive continuous optimization.
**4. Continuously Strengthen Brand Story and Content Operations**
Maintain consistency, continuity, and contemporary relevance in brand propositions and content expression, and continuously use 'new stories' to move users.
**Summary**:
In the FMCG track, a brand's long-term competitiveness comes from the dual-axis drive of 'functional integrity + emotional innovation.' Whoever can first build a brand ecosystem covering the full chain of users' transactional and psychological jobs will truly stand on the high ground of the 'Third Consumption Era.'
**Future Outlook**
**A New Paradigm for Brand Management in the Third Consumption Era**
**I. The Value Leap Logic of FMCG Brands**
With the accelerated arrival of the 'Third Consumption Era,' the brand management paradigm in China's FMCG industry is undergoing structural reconstruction. It is shifting from the past 'functional competition' centered on products, channel dominance, price wars, and speed, to 'ecosystem competition' centered on users, value diversity, and deep connections.
The core of the **value leap** is that brands must evolve from 'meeting what users need to do' (functional needs) to 'helping users find why they do it, who they do it with, and what spiritual rewards they gain after doing it.'
Brands are no longer mere product providers but become important carriers of user identity recognition, emotional belonging, and the pursuit of meaning.
**The core logic is summarized as follows:**
> Functional needs are the cornerstone of trust, emotional value is the core of premium pricing, and spiritual resonance is the moat of long-termism;
>
> User focus is shifting from 'product performance, price tags' to 'brand philosophy, emotional experience, community belonging';
>
> Consumption behavior is no longer a one-way purchase but a full-chain value experience spanning 'discovery-co-creation-participation-sharing-belonging-repurchase.'
**II. Continuous Innovation as a Task-Driven Strategy**
In future FMCG competition, brands need to possess three major capabilities:
**1. Data-Driven Insight and Dynamic Response Capability**
> Use big data, AI, and other digital tools to capture subtle changes in consumer jobs, motivations, and emotions in real time;
>
> Create a 'user holographic portrait' to achieve agile response to consumption behavior, emotional needs, and community trends;
>
> Dynamically adjust products, content, and channels to achieve personalization and precise reach.
**2. Continuous Co-Creation Capability for Products and Content**
> Link product R&D with dynamic user needs, transforming 'psychological jobs' into perceivable, experiential, and social product features and content expressions;
>
> Build open brand communities, promote user participation in content production, brand co-creation, and value resonance, forming a 'self-growing' brand ecosystem;
>
> Shift from 'brand storytelling' to 'users co-creating stories together,' continuously incubating hot topics and circle culture.
**3. Humanistic Care and Rediscovery of Local Culture**
> In the context of globalization and localization, be adept at mining 'emotional commonalities' and 'spiritual origins' in Chinese culture, social psychology, and consumption scenarios;
>
> Use keywords like 'warmth,' 'belonging,' and 'meaning' to build the brand's humanistic sentiment and social responsibility;
>
> Actively participate in social issues and cultural innovation to achieve a leap in the brand's social influence and cultural carrying capacity.
**III. Systematic Upgrade Path for Brand Management**
  * **Strategic height**: Brand vision echoes users' spiritual demands, becoming a 'spiritual community' with warmth, attitude, and faith;
  * **Organizational capability**: Cross-departmental collaborative innovation, breaking down barriers between market, product, content, and operations, forming an organizational ecosystem of 'value resonance';
  * **Innovation mechanism**: Move from single-point innovation to systematic innovation, continuously expanding scenarios, co-creating content, and optimizing services around 'jobs-motivation.'
**Summary**:
The FMCG industry is at a critical historical juncture, and brand management is also undergoing a paradigm shift from 'product-centric' to 'user-centric, spiritual resonance.'
Those brands that can insightfully identify and satisfy consumers' dual transactional and psychological jobs, and possess the capabilities of dynamic innovation, emotional connection, and cultural resonance, will become the true winners of the Third Consumption Era. The future has arrived; only through proactive transformation and systematic upgrading can brands transcend cycles and achieve long-term sustainable growth.
Conclusion: In the Third Consumption Era, consumers are no longer passive responders to needs but active participants in meaning construction. Consumption is not only about material satisfaction but also carries identity expression, emotional adjustment, and expectations of self-realization. Brands face not just 'option competition' in product differentiation but a deep 'meaning shaping' and 'spiritual resonance' co-created with users.
The 'task migration' behind this is the result of China's socio-economic leap, generational value differentiation, and the reshaping of social psychological structures. Brands must deeply understand this trend, proactively step out of their comfort zones, and build multi-dimensional connections with consumers through content, community, emotion, and culture beyond the product. **Only those brands that can both hold the basic market of transactional jobs and continuously innovate the value expression of psychological jobs can truly win users' minds and the future.**
For brand executives and marketing professionals, the job-motivation dual axis is not only an analytical tool but should become a strategic consensus and the common language for team collaboration. The long-termism of a brand lies in continuous self-iteration, resonating with the times, co-creating with users, and resonating with society.
**Proactively adapting to migration trends and systematically upgrading brand management capabilities—the winners of the Third Consumption Era will inevitably be the new brands that possess 'dual perspectives,' 'dual-track drive,' and 'emotional temperature.'**
Appendix 1: Psychological Job Type Decomposition Model
Appendix 2: Brand 'Job-Motivation' Diagnostic Checklist
Appendix 3: Typical User Persona × Task Flow Path Map
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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 赵波
- Published: 2025-06-19
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/new-distribution-zhao-bo-today-s-brands-need-to-solve-not-what-to-buy-bu-5ce767bf/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/rLSB-uzVV9BRbdd58uqspw

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