---
title: "New Products Die Too Fast Because Distribution Rate Is Too High"
description: "A senior executive from an industry giant said that distribution is no longer a problem, but sell-through is. This is not an isolated phenomenon but a common one. The reason is that most companies still follow traditional deep distribution practices: distribution plus sell-through. Since distribution is easy, the real issue lies in product cognition during upgrades, which requires precise distribution, experience, and word-of-mouth."
author: "刘春雄"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-02-20"
language: "en"
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# New Products Die Too Fast Because Distribution Rate Is Too High

> A senior executive from an industry giant said that distribution is no longer a problem, but sell-through is. This is not an isolated phenomenon but a common one. The reason is that most companies still follow traditional deep distribution practices: distribution plus sell-through. Since distribution is easy, the real issue lies in product cognition during upgrades, which requires precise distribution, experience, and word-of-mouth.

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A senior executive from an industry giant said that distribution is no longer a problem, but sell-through is.
This is not an isolated phenomenon but a common one.
The reason is that **most companies still follow traditional deep distribution practices: distribution plus sell-through.**
Distribution is not difficult; as long as you want to distribute, you can always get the products out. After all, store owners have no pressure; if products don't sell, they can be taken back. So distribution is not a challenge now.
Some even say that the better the relationship with store owners, the harder the sell-through. Think about it carefully, and it makes sense. Because with good relationships, distribution happens almost without negotiation. Without negotiation, store owners don't pay much attention, and the sell-through effect is poor.
Since distribution is not a problem, what is the problem?
**01**
Let me tell a story from the past.
19 years ago, when serving a company, the problem we encountered was the difficulty of selling new products. It was the opposite of now.
In the summer of 1998, both the Yangtze River and the Songhua River flooded, and we were worried about new product sales. Because the new products were priced high, they didn't sell.
At that time, nationwide campaigns were launched to donate money and goods to disaster areas. Some companies donated their slow-moving products, but we donated our best products. Since it was a donation, it was free for people to use. Distributors also donated goods in the same way.
Unexpectedly, after the flood, the products became miraculously popular.
Looking back, it was precisely because we donated the best products for consumers to try for free that had a magical effect on cognition.
Consumers tasted such good products and then went to retail stores to buy them.
**If someone buys, someone will sell.** In China, marketing is about buying and selling.
**02**
The problem now seems opposite to 19 years ago, but the logic behind it is actually the same.
**What is the logic? It is that during product upgrades, because the cognition problem is not solved, sell-through is difficult.**
In the past, sales were difficult, and the pressure was on the stores. They dared not stock up because sell-through was hard.
Now distribution is easy, and the pressure is on manufacturers and distributors; stores have no pressure. Whether products sell or not, stores don't care.
Some might say that in the past, "distribution plus promotion" always worked, so why doesn't it work now? I think this is a unique phenomenon during product upgrades.
Cognition during product upgrades is much harder and more complex than usual product cognition.
**03**
Let me give another example.
A new distributor, who had only been in the business for two years, naturally didn't get big brands. However, he was doing better than other distributors, with sales growing continuously. He had three different approaches.
**First, he selected products online.** Channels are both pathways and barriers. When new products enter channels, they face "layer-by-layer rejection" from the channel; good products may be rejected before they even meet consumers. E-commerce is B2C, where new products meet consumers directly, and whether they are good products has already been verified by consumers.
**Second, he only did business with some relatively high-end stores.** High-end stores have a symbiotic relationship with high-end consumers. Since upgraded new products are niche, they can only be distributed to key stores.
**Third, he offered tastings.** **A more fashionable term is experience.** Whenever someone doubts the new product, he immediately lets them taste it, whether it's the store owner or a consumer. Good products are not afraid of tasting.
**04**
**As long as it's an upgraded product, it's niche. There are few truly niche products in China; doing niche is just to conquer the mass market. Starting from niche, the goal is the mass market.** Some niche products are just "mass market" failures that are retroactively called niche; these are "fake niche."
Since it's niche, talking about distribution rate is wrong. The premise of distribution rate is mass market. For product upgrades, a high distribution rate means distributing to the wrong stores. For example, a 5-yuan drinking water, when the mainstream is only 1-2 yuan, if distributed everywhere, the result is naturally large-scale returns. A 5-yuan drinking water is several levels above the current mainstream.
Instead of assessing distribution rate, product upgrades must assess precise distribution, placing products in appropriate stores. Only what is appropriate is correct.
**05**
The last issue is product cognition. In the past, promotion was enough; product cognition was not a big problem because similar products had little cognitive difference.
Now with product upgrades, cognition is a big problem. Of course, cognition is not just about tasting.
Distribution alone is not enough; there must be scenarios. Tasting alone is not enough; there must be experience. First experience, then spread.
Store owners accepting distribution is not enough; there must be first recommendation, making the owner the "chief salesperson" for the new product.
Once this system is fully applied, new product sell-through will no longer be a problem, and brand communication will not be difficult either.
In short, this is a new marketing system. Just as deep distribution was fresh more than 10 years ago, this system is also fresh.
Source: Teacher Liu's Forum
New Distribution will hold the **2019 (5th) FMCG + Internet Conference** during the Chengdu Spring Sugar Fair from March 16 to March 18. At this conference, we will have in-depth discussions with many brand owners, supply chain service providers, distributors, and retailers around the topic of **"Breaking the Game"** .
Compared to previous conferences, this summit will be fully upgraded. In addition to original topics such as **channel innovation, city distribution logistics, and distributor transformation** , we have added multiple parallel forums including **new marketing cases, IP + FMCG empowerment, community group buying, and innovative retail** . Through three days of ten high-density, high-quality expert sharing sessions, we believe every brand owner and distributor can learn the latest business models, expert opinions, and practical methods, finding new tools and methods to break the game in 2019 and return to the track of high-speed growth.
Review of Previous Conferences
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