In the golden autumn of October, bottled water enters its off-season. According to annual budget planning, although the budget for the last quarter is relatively low, it still leaves many water company sales staff scratching their heads. To meet performance targets, common tactics include: using distributor quarterly bonuses or year-end rebates as incentives, or mortgaging next year's distribution rights to aggressively push inventory. The consequence is a large backlog of unsold products carrying over into the next year, harming both brand and profits. So, how can the last quarter be completed easily without the side effects of inventory pressure? Today, we will discuss this by combining product structure and channel characteristics, which may bring some new perspectives. It's worth telling you: when you face difficulties in performance, it indicates a bottleneck in your market operations. Remember this law: ** **No matter how bad your market is, there is only one bottleneck. Once you break through it, your performance will see significant growth. If you solve the bottleneck but performance doesn't grow substantially, it means you haven't identified the right bottleneck. Let's take an example: Suppose a 100-kilometer, 6-lane highway encounters some accidents:
- At 10 km, an accident blocks 2 lanes
- At 20 km, an accident blocks 3 lanes
- At 40 km, an accident blocks 1 lane
- At 50 km, an accident blocks 5 lanes
- At 80 km, an accident blocks 4 lanes With 5 accidents on this 100 km road, it's chaotic enough; your market is at most this messy. With limited manpower and resources, how do you break through? If you have 5 people, how do you maximize traffic flow? Option 1: Assign one person per accident. Result: No accident is handled well, and the road becomes more congested. Option 2: Focus all 5 people to handle accidents one by one from start to finish. Result: It doesn't clear the road fastest; after clearing the 10 km, 20 km, and 40 km accidents, the highway still isn't fast because at 50 km, only one lane is open. Option 3: Focus all 5 people to first handle the accident at 50 km, then 80 km, then 20 km, 10 km, and 40 km. Result: After clearing the 50 km accident, 2 lanes are open; after 80 km, 3 lanes are open, etc. This is the most efficient. Analyzing the above common methods: Option 1 is like treating the head when the head hurts and the foot when the foot hurts, grabbing everything at once. Option 2 understands resource focus but doesn't know where to focus; the focus is wrong. Option 3 combines focus with bottleneck identification, which is most efficient and shows that there is only one bottleneck. The above is key thinking for solving bottlenecks. So, how does a regional beverage manager complete their performance in the last quarter? Regional performance growth has only two growth points: First, horizontal growth. Simply put, develop new outlets. The more outlets, the more sales opportunities, and sales will naturally increase. The common method is to inventory high-potential outlets in the region, i.e., high-sales outlets of competitors, and break through one by one with a single SKU and a specific policy. Second, vertical growth. Simply put, increase the number of SKUs in existing cooperative outlets. The more SKUs sold at a single point, the larger the sales volume. The common method is to inventory the outlets you serve, compare with your product structure, identify which SKUs are missing at each point, and follow up to replenish until full SKU coverage is achieved. Based on the above, when implementing in actual work, focus on analyzing the coordination between your product structure and channel structure. What products do you have, and which channels are suitable? Emphasize the sales differences brought by product structure and channels in peak and off-seasons. In my concept, beverage sales channels can be roughly divided into four categories:
- Circulation channels: Traditional convenience stores, supermarkets, etc.
- Catering channels: All dining places that sell bottled beverages
- Special channels: Leisure bathing, transportation attractions, sports fitness, etc.
- Household channels: Household water, community group buying, e-commerce, etc. With limited human and material resources, how do you identify the bottleneck and break through quickly? Let's analyze the characteristics of each channel. First, circulation channels: As temperatures drop, the body's perspiration decreases, reducing the demand for water, so sales in immediate consumption places naturally decline. This is a demand-driven decline, not the bottleneck for meeting performance targets. It's not advisable to invest more manpower and market expenses here, as it would be counterproductive. Second, catering channels: Consumer output in catering is relatively stable; diners don't reduce meal frequency due to temperature. The dining environment temperature is relatively constant, so the impact on beverage sales is minimal. Third, special channels: Although lower temperatures increase consumers for leisure bathing, tea drinking, and chatting, special channel sales are only a supplement to channels and brands. Their overall sales share is lower compared to other channels. You can increase investment, but it's not the bottleneck for meeting sales targets. Finally, household channels: Every beverage professional knows the 80/20 principle. In peak season, circulation channels are the main source of sales, focusing on frozen displays, cut-case displays, and other multi-point displays, leaving little time for household channels. Also, household channel sales are a drop in the bucket for peak season targets. But in the off-season, it's different: sales targets drop significantly, and this channel's sales will determine your distribution speed and become the bottleneck for meeting targets. I've said that the market sales bottleneck is unique. As long as you solve the household channel sales problem, you solve your off-season sales target problem. Note: the bottleneck is the key factor for solving sales, but it doesn't mean other channels are unimportant. How can bottled water quickly increase household channel sales from the two dimensions of horizontal and vertical growth to overcome this bottleneck? I previously operated my market in the following steps, and I'll share them with you. Entering October, immediate-consumption bottled water sales decline rapidly, while household water sales rise quickly. Thirty years ago, bottled water was rare; people thought water and air were free resources. Ten years ago, bottled water gradually took a leading position in the beverage market. Now, bottled water is not only the absolute leader in the immediate-consumption market but has also penetrated every household. With improved quality of life, tap water is mainly for daily washing; guests are now served bottled water; cooking and tea brewing use 4L and above one-time-use barrel water. China has 1.4 billion people, approximately 430 million households? The market size is enormous. If a regional market captures just 1% of household water customers, in a provincial capital city, it could generate tens of millions in monthly sales. Household water can be broken through via the following channels. 1. Community barrel water stations: With consumption upgrades and increasing awareness of water, household water is also upgrading: from tap water to 20L barrel water, to coexistence of barrel water and purifiers, and now to rapid growth of one-time-use large-pack bottled water. This shows the direction of household water. From the 4P marketing theory, with the same product, price, and promotion, which channels are more conducive to capturing this market share? Supermarkets? Community convenience stores? Other places? Consumer surveys show that factors influencing the purchase of 4L-5L large-pack bottled water are: 61% of consumers consider convenience, unwilling to carry it far from home; 28% pay attention to price but won't buy if it's too far; 8% focus on capacity; 3% consider other factors. It's clear that the bottleneck for large-pack water is the channel. So, the question is: should we build new channels or cooperate with existing ones? The answer is obvious—community water stations. Over the past decade, community barrel water stations have evolved through competition and survival of the fittest, forming a self-contained system. Whether it's new product promotion, delivery, or after-sales service, they are mature. For example, in first-tier cities, there are no fewer than 3,000 community water stations with stable customer resources and good cooperative relationships, making them ideal channels for introducing large-pack bottled water. 2. Property management companies: High-end residential property services are very user-friendly, almost nanny-style, regularly organizing community events, introducing product recommendation meetings, and building trust with residents. They rarely profit from products, promoting them as services or resident rewards. There was a case: A high-end community offered a free 4L water per household for paying a year's property fee. With 8,000 households, the initial sales were 8,000 units. Later, residents experienced the product and continued purchasing through the property company. The community's monthly sales stabilized at around 1,000 units. There are many similar communities. 3. Community convenience stores + store-in-store: The sales model I'm talking about isn't just placing a bucket display or cut-case display in a community convenience store; that's ineffective. Learn from the liquor sales model: open a store-in-store, schedule promotions, lease in-store sales space. High-end communities have few convenience stores, usually only 1-2, but these stores are relatively large, well-managed, clean, tidy, with attentive service and a comfortable shopping environment, making them ideal sales venues. Example: In a high-end community, there was only one convenience store of over 200 square meters. Following the liquor model, they leased a wall 3 meters high and 2.5 meters wide, built a special display shelf about 35 cm deep. The bottom 5 shelves displayed products, and a TV above played product ads at specific times. The store promised home delivery. As a result, the store's stable monthly sales of 4L water reached about 600 units. 4. Community underground parking lots: Underground parking in mid-to-high-end communities now offers more than parking, including car washing and auto beauty services. This is an ideal place to promote household water. Consumers waiting are bored, making product promotion easy to accept. Simply placing products near the elevator entrance in the parking lot solves the convenience issue. 5. Community group buying: This is a new-generation marketing model. You can join mature group-buying platforms and establish cooperative relationships. I won't elaborate further here. In conclusion Bottled water practitioners, especially managers, must view the market long-term and not focus solely on immediate gains. Although performance is the lifeline for sales staff, don't be short-sighted or kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Ensure healthy market development. When performance pressure arises, consider where the bottleneck constraining your growth is. Remember, there is only one bottleneck. Find it, break through it, and performance will surely grow significantly. 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