Introduction: Distributors should not simply calculate profits when representing a brand, but consider what it can bring in the long term. Author | Ren Wenqing Andy Review | Gou Gou Layout | He Wen In recent years, New Distribution has noticed a group of newcomers entering the distributor community. Unlike traditional distributors who mostly start from wholesale business, these newcomers had not previously been in the trading and circulation business, but with their unique resources and cognitive advantages, they quickly entered the distribution business and achieved in just three to four years what many traditional distributors could not achieve in one or two decades. Recently, we interviewed a Beijing distributor, Zhou Jing, founder of Gongyou Life (Beijing) Commercial Chain Co., Ltd. He started representing Genki Forest in 2021 and joined the ranks of FMCG distributors. In just three years, the sales scale of the FMCG brands he represents reached 70 million yuan. How did he do it? After in-depth communication, I found that although Zhou Jing is a distributor who came from a different background, he likes to summarize, has clear thinking, and has his own observations and thoughts on business, commerce, and brand management and sales. Every distributor's business has its uniqueness, but I believe his thoughts are also enlightening for distributor friends.
Becoming a distributor by chance
Although Zhou Jing has only been in the trading and circulation business for a few years, he has been fighting in the business world for a long time. In his early years, he served as the commercial general manager of Baisun Group, and later became the vice president of Gome North China. Starting in 2017, he operated the Postal Convenience Life Station project for the postal system, with up to 300 terminal stores at its peak, and subsequently participated in bulk commodity procurement and bidding for the postal system. Becoming a distributor was actually a coincidence. In 2019, when Genki Forest was expanding its offline business, it approached Beijing Post, which recommended Zhou Jing to represent Genki. Genki valued his access to the postal system's channels and his ability to solve the last-mile delivery problem within Beijing's Third Ring Road. But at that time, Zhou Jing had not considered the agency business and was unfamiliar with Genki, so he was hesitant. When his school-age child learned about this, he strongly recommended it, after all, Genki was quite popular among young consumers. After evaluation, he felt this business was worth trying, and thus he entered the ranks of distributors. Before doing Genki, Zhou Jing's main business was supplying goods to the postal system. He also had franchised Beijing Daoxiangcun stores and ran supermarkets and pharmacies. He was not unfamiliar with FMCG, but he had indeed never seriously been a brand distributor. In the first three months of representing Genki, he did 12 million yuan in sales. Zhou Jing admitted that this was largely due to pressure from the brand, and he had to find ways to distribute to various channels. But soon, other distributors complained that he was engaging in cross-regional selling, and Genki fined him 50,000 yuan. Zhou Jing had never been a distributor and didn't know about cross-regional selling. But since it was a rule, he had to accept the fine. However, he soon discovered that he wasn't the only one doing it; everyone was doing it. You cross into my territory, I cross into yours, and there were also outsiders crossing in. At that time, many of Genki's offline managers came from the internet and lacked offline operational experience. Their growth targets were too high, and the offline sales team was weak, leading to many problems. In the following two years, many traditional FMCG veterans joined the Genki team, and Genki's offline operations gradually became standardized. Zhou Jing learned and adjusted as he went, learning warfare through warfare, and gradually built up his trading business team. Currently, Zhou Jing's company has over 60 people. A project general manager is responsible for offline circulation business, with six sales supervisors managing six districts, each with three to five salespeople, covering more than 1,700 terminal outlets within Beijing's Third Ring Road and Fengtai District. Because of the Genki start, Zhou Jing came into contact with the FMCG distribution circle, gaining more business opportunities. In addition to Genki Forest, he also successively represented brands such as Yili, Arawana, and Fortune. It must be said that Zhou Jing's postal special channel resources and delivery capabilities within the Third Ring Road are his unique advantages, but these are just the foundation. The rapid development of his distribution business is closely related to his traits of being good at observation, learning, summarizing, and sharing.
Working hard to be a good distributor
When he first started representing Genki, Zhou Jing felt that with decades of business experience, he would have no problem with this business. But in fact, doing offline channel business is not that simple. At first, the brand's salespeople took the orders, and he was only responsible for delivery. But as the business expanded, he had to build his own sales team: who to hire, how to train, how to divide work, how to do distribution and display, how to verify expenses with the manufacturer—all these needed to be learned. With other businesses as a stable base, Zhou Jing quickly equipped the relevant personnel. Based on his management experience at large companies, he initially divided functions very finely, but found it didn't work because many tasks were intertwined. Trading has its own logic; high-sounding things are not down-to-earth. Learning from other distributors and with the guidance and support of the brand team, he began to adjust according to the traditional trading structure. In this process, the distributor chamber of commerce played a significant role. This chamber was initially proposed by the Genki business team to solve the cross-regional selling problem. Zhou Jing, who always likes to organize and make friends, volunteered to be the president. When he initially volunteered, the brand's leader told him that being president had one requirement: be broad-minded and willing to suffer losses. Zhou Jing, having been in business for decades, said that would be no problem. The chamber played a positive role in managing cross-regional selling issues. Moreover, Zhou Jing turned it into a mutual aid organization. When the Golden Tax Phase IV came, they provided training and consultation on tax planning for members; helped distributors in need solve funding problems in their business; and provided legal training and consultation for members. These were all provided free of charge by Zhou Jing using his company's resources. In addition, Zhou Jing tried his best to solve difficulties encountered by members. For example, last year, a distributor urgently needed a warehouse for storage. Zhou Jing immediately coordinated a warehouse of about 2,000 square meters behind his office for him to use. The chamber is also a learning platform, encouraging everyone to share good market operation experiences. Zhou Jing has contributed a lot to the chamber, but he has also learned a lot. Most importantly, it connected him to many FMCG resources, which he considers the most valuable. Although he has only been a distributor for a few years, Zhou Jing has his own unique thoughts about the industry—quite different from many traditional distributors.
The least distributor-like distributor
After entering this industry, Zhou Jing found that most distributors are very conservative, sticking to their own small territory, rarely paying attention to higher-level information, and even less willing to share with others. Once, the chamber issued a policy, and Zhou Jing called a meeting. When he mentioned the policy, some distributors knew nothing about it. "If you ask him what he usually pays attention to, he says, 'I was busy until 3 a.m. last night!' Of course, this is related to the survival environment of traditional distributors. If you just want to maintain the business and earn some hard-earned money, that's fine, but if you want to develop, this state is definitely not acceptable! "I am straightforward. I share whatever resources I have. What can I do? If you think you can cooperate with me in some aspect, we can talk openly. That's my mindset." Many distributor bosses think they are in a low-end business, that they entered it out of necessity, and that they will just keep doing it day by day. But Zhou Jing thinks differently. He believes that trading and circulation is a good business because brands need to solve the 'last mile' problem, and distributors are irreplaceable at any time. Of course, whether it is you, this distributor, who does it is another matter. After entering this circle, Zhou Jing found that there are more 'third-generation' distributors like him. Of course, 'third-generation' is his own definition, referring to those who come from other industries and have advantages in level, capital, and channels. These distributors think differently from traditional ones. Zhou Jing uses himself as an example. Since stepping into the trading and circulation business, various brands have come to seek cooperation. But so far, Zhou Jing has only represented a few brands, and the vast majority have been rejected by him. "Many brands come to seek cooperation, and I ask them, 'Why should I help you sell goods?' They say, 'I'll give you a few points of profit, so you can make money.' I tell them, 'First, if I can't sell, will you give me profit? The profit is earned by myself. Second, do you have any concrete marketing policies? You don't even know how to sell it yourself, and you want me to sell it for you. If it doesn't sell, you don't care.'" Zhou Jing then asks them, 'What is your brand's philosophy?' They basically can't answer! "If they come just to sell goods, I won't cooperate, because such brand actions are often stopgap measures." This makes many brand salespeople wonder: 'Are you really a distributor? Other distributors ask about gross margin and whether they can make money, but you question me like a leader.' But they also admit that Zhou Jing makes sense. Zhou Jing says, 'Distributors should not simply calculate profits when representing a brand, but think about what it can bring in the long term. The trading and circulation industry will not be eliminated, and distributors will definitely exist, but those with better ideas will do better. Those who remain conservative and unchanged will eventually be eliminated.'
Final Thoughts
After two in-depth exchanges with Zhou Jing, my biggest impression is that compared to most traditional distributors, his cognition, thinking, and way of doing things are clearly different. Undeniably, his channel resources are an important factor in his rapid start in the distribution business. But in fact, it is his cognition, business thinking, and way of doing things that brought him these resources, which are part of his strength. In the past, while visiting distributors, I have been thinking about a question: Is it the current business state that determines a boss's cognition, or does his cognition determine the current business state? I found: If a boss's thinking is broad, clear, and organized, his business scale will not be small. He has a clear understanding of current business problems and has his own thoughts on future planning. If a boss's thinking is limited, chaotic, and vague, his business scale is mostly stuck at a certain level, or even declining, basically just struggling to maintain. Cognition is the core factor, but the current business state will in turn shape and solidify his cognition. This is why many distributors find it hard to change. The trading and circulation industry will not disappear, but the future will definitely belong to those distributors who are willing to learn, brave enough to break through themselves, and continuously improve their cognition. Further Reading