---
title: "One-on-One Communication? The Ultimate Weapon in FMCG Marketing"
description: "Technological and market changes are turning the impossible into possible, with one-product-one-code emerging as a powerful tool for FMCG CRM, injecting the latest IoT power into traditional industries. As traffic costs soar and new customer acquisition becomes increasingly expensive, the era of 'enclosure' is over, forcing everyone to focus on retaining existing customers and maximizing profits from limited resources. The growing recognition of 'customer share' has driven the rapid development of CRM in recent years, especially in e-commerce, but FMCG has remained resistant—until now."
author: "吕晨龙"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2018-10-11"
language: "en"
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# One-on-One Communication? The Ultimate Weapon in FMCG Marketing

> Technological and market changes are turning the impossible into possible, with one-product-one-code emerging as a powerful tool for FMCG CRM, injecting the latest IoT power into traditional industries. As traffic costs soar and new customer acquisition becomes increasingly expensive, the era of 'enclosure' is over, forcing everyone to focus on retaining existing customers and maximizing profits from limited resources. The growing recognition of 'customer share' has driven the rapid development of CRM in recent years, especially in e-commerce, but FMCG has remained resistant—until now.

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Technological and market changes are turning the impossible into possible, with one-product-one-code emerging as a powerful tool for FMCG CRM, injecting the latest IoT power into traditional industries.
Traffic costs are skyrocketing, and the cost of acquiring new customers is rising daily. The prosperous era of 'enclosure' is gone, forcing everyone to calm down and think carefully about how to take care of existing customers and grow more profit from limited soil.
More and more people recognize the importance of 'customer share,' which has driven the rapid development of CRM in recent years, especially in e-commerce, where membership programs and lifecycle management have become basic tools, quickly establishing a framework for CRM in practice.
But no matter how CRM stirs up the marketing field, the FMCG industry remains unmoved—as if the two are insulated. So why can't CRM take root in FMCG?
First, it's not feasible. CRM implementation requires direct contact with customers, often relying on flat sales channels like telecom, banking, services, and specialty stores. FMCG, with relatively low unit prices and customer tickets, must rely on the marginal benefits of agency distribution channels. The presence of layers of middlemen means brands cannot directly reach consumers, making CRM implementation extremely difficult.
Second, there's no motivation. The FMCG industry has always emphasized 'channel is king' but rarely talks about 'loyalty.' With low product prices and low purchase decision costs, it's better to fill every reachable place with products than to have heartfelt communication with consumers. Repeat purchase behavior is complex, and 'purchase stickiness' is something visible but intangible. Additionally, low per-customer gross profit cannot support the channel construction and loyalty incentives for one-on-one communication, making CRM a chicken-rib issue for FMCG.
However, in recent years, **technological and market changes have turned the impossible into possible, and one-product-one-code has emerged as a powerful tool for FMCG CRM, injecting the latest IoT power into traditional industries.**
**What is one-product-one-code?**
**One-product-one-code means one product has one QR code, which is like a product ID printed on the packaging, each unique.** We can embed any information we want into the QR code: anti-counterfeiting traceability, membership points, lottery rebates, promotional activities. After purchasing, consumers just scan the code with their phones, and the communication bridge between merchants and consumers is built. One-product-one-code successfully turns product packaging into a medium for two-way communication with consumers, moving the communication touchpoint online, giving all brands that rely on middlemen the opportunity to directly contact consumers and explore their own playstyles.
Xiaoming Classmate uses one bottle one code, each code is unique and can only be scanned once.
One-product-one-code initially applied digital codes for anti-counterfeiting traceability, but due to inconvenient operation, its application was narrow. With the popularity of mobile and QR code technology, QR codes gradually replaced barcodes and digital codes, being printed more on packaging. Meanwhile, WeChat's popularity provided a good parasitic environment for one-product-one-code: **In addition to the convenient 'scan' function, WeChat's open development interface for service accounts provides a suitable front-end entry, presenting member malls and activity pages as H5 or mini-programs in the service account menu, offering consumers a flat and convenient participation experience.**
Xiaoming Classmate's front-end member page based on WeChat interface.
Additionally, WeChat provides template message push and data interface functions, plus the mature standardized process of 'production, storage, management, and use' for QR codes, and the rise of commercial statistics technology. One-product-one-code now has very mature hardware facilities, capable of supporting various complex promotions and CRM activities at low cost.
With feasibility solved, let's talk about motivation: **What can one-product-one-code bring to the FMCG industry?**
**FMCG enters the era of CRM**
As mentioned earlier, FMCG emphasizes 'channel is king' but rarely talks about 'customer loyalty,' so 'customer relationship management' is out of the question. Fortunately, in recent years, both the media environment and the FMCG industry have undergone significant changes. For FMCG, channel remains king, but customer loyalty should also be put on the agenda.
**'Small and beautiful' replaces 'big single product,' brand personalities become more distinct, and consumers gradually become fans—these are the most obvious characteristics of the FMCG industry in recent years.** Ten years ago, almost all FMCG products on shelves were monopolistic. Take the beverage industry: Kangshifu mineral water, Uni-President iced tea, Lulu almond milk, Xingmu, Coca-Cola. These products almost equaled their categories, and nothing grew under the big trees. Their common features were affordable prices, CCTV brands, and broad consumer bases, fitting the economic characteristics and consumption needs of the time. Now, entering a store again, the picture is completely different: a dazzling array of brands and categories, and you can no longer name each product by its packaging. These products have exquisite packaging, distinct styles, and generally higher prices. They are in a state of feudal separatism, or content with their own corner, but no one can unify the world again. The category ladder principle seems challenged here, which is not surprising because the boundaries of categories themselves have blurred.
**The goofy Xiaoming Classmate, the literary Jiangxiaobai, the energetic Tang Daren... The growing middle class has enough security to establish unique consumption attitudes. They need brands with distinct personalities to help them stand out, especially in FMCG that permeate life details.** The products mentioned above all have angular brand tones; they may not suit everyone, but they definitely suit certain groups.
Therefore, compared to previous big single products, **the 'small and beautiful' new mainstream FMCG have clearer consumption stickiness and repeat purchase rates, making two-way communication and long-term relationships with consumers more necessary.** On the other hand, vertical target audience positioning requires FMCG to gradually adapt to a precise media environment and conduct tag-based advertising, which requires brands to understand their consumers and master the multi-dimensional data needed to build consumer profiles. However, given the complexity of FMCG channels, even top data providers may not provide this data; it's a challenge for the brand itself.
How to establish long-term interaction and incentive mechanisms with consumers? How to accurately collect multi-dimensional behavioral data? These are the two most urgent challenges in the FMCG market upheaval. **At a critical moment, one-product-one-code may be born at the right time, or it can provide timely help.**
**Kill three birds with one stone—360-degree control of circulation and sales**
Full data collection
When your product is printed with this magical unique code, you can understand and control all its movements—no matter where it is.
First, you can get data based on 'people.' When consumers scan the code for the first time, we can obtain basic data such as age, gender, and region through binding WeChat OpenID, phone verification, and membership registration. This data can describe at a basic level who your consumers are. Additionally, continuous scanning from repeat purchases generates data on purchase time, location, quantity, terminal, SKU, etc., which are the starting points for marketing insights through cross-analysis.
Besides 'people' data, you can also get 'product' data. The reason each product's QR code is unique is to track the details of each product's movement. Through the connection of one-box-one-code and one-product-one-code, or light-dark code technology, you can obtain data on production processes, channel performance, terminal performance, inventory status, promotional response, etc. This data is invaluable for channel control.
**Data is the biggest change one-product-one-code brings to the FMCG industry.** Besides using dynamic data feedback as the operational basis for CRM and PRM, data also significantly supports macro market decisions. You can use the population profiles depicted by data to find suitable advertising resources, or use circulation data to identify which potential channels need priority development. Even for new product development, promotion planning, activity themes, etc., data contains insights and support. In short, one-product-one-code truly implements big data in the FMCG industry, and real data refinement begins here.
**CRM plan**
When FMCG enters the 'small and beautiful' era, CRM becomes a must-do. We have already mastered all the winds and movements in the 4P process through dynamic data, and the foundation for CRM implementation is complete. Now, we can set game rules to make all factors develop in the desired direction.
CRM in the FMCG industry generally refers to a membership points system based on the customer lifecycle. In the membership system, targeted management is conducted based on consumer segmentation and lifecycle stage to increase their lifetime value. For new customers in their first few purchases, explicit and implicit rebate rules are given to encourage repeat purchases. In prize settings, virtual gifts (such as data, coupons, Q coins, etc.) are mainly used to solve the prize problem caused by low customer tickets. For loyal old customers under natural rules, certain social value feedback is given through scan interaction activities, such as exclusive distribution of points/data on Moments, exclusive skin privileges in UGC dissemination, etc. In short, FMCG CRM is still CRM, and the principle remains the CRM motto: give high-loyalty customers value and respect, and give other customers discounts and convenience.
The above image shows part of a snack's membership system. We can see: the explicit rule of double points for the first 4 scans is essentially a forced rebate promotion, aiming to encourage more new customers to reach the repeat purchase of four boxes. And because reaching five boxes gives a lottery chance, why not add one more box after buying four? Every five boxes gives a lottery chance, and the first lottery is guaranteed to win 300M data, worth 15 yuan, which is already the limit rebate based on product profit. Because it's an implicit rule, it creates a high winning expectation for consumers: the winning rate is so high, so let's continue buying!
**The explicit and implicit rebate rules for new customers are to promote repeat purchases, turning new customers into old ones unconsciously.** For old customers who already have considerable consumption stickiness and loyalty, it's about providing respect and service, enhancing their identity perception and exit costs. Because FMCG is hard to attach services to, as shown above, we generally add some privileges from two aspects: points rights and social rights, making it hard for consumers to give up accumulated value and switch to competitors.
The above description is just a skeleton. Actual one-product-one-code CRM relies heavily on data, and the backend logic is dense and rigorous. We'll write a dedicated article to share more in the future.
**PRM plan**
One-product-one-code emphasizes 'unique code' to master the circulation data of each product. When we can continuously collect this data, we have the conditions to build a comprehensive channel management system.
First, we can develop tiered rebate plans for distributors, agents, sub-distributors, retailers, etc., giving different levels of rebate rewards based on the performance of each channel participant to enhance circulation and sales enthusiasm. Additionally, PRM can achieve logistics management incentives, inventory management incentives, anti-diversion query, promotion management incentives, etc., while continuously adjusting and optimizing based on feedback data to achieve a virtuous cycle of cooperation with channel partners.
For certain FMCG categories that directly connect with terminals or even have franchise stores, such as health products and high-end daily chemicals, one-product-one-code can even provide business support based on an operating platform. For example: provide store managers with a standardized promotion activity framework, letting them decide when and to what extent to carry out promotions to optimize the combination of inventory, time, price, and other sales conditions. Another example: bind salespeople to product codes for sales commission rewards, helping store managers better manage and motivate salespeople. Business support is an additional function based on the operating platform, which has very positive significance for channel stability and expansion.
**Conclusion**
**One-product-one-code is the art of leveraging a small force to achieve a great effect. As long as you set a game rule and continuously adjust it based on feedback data, you can achieve continuous virtuous growth.** CRM and PRM generally complement and penetrate each other in the FMCG industry, helping you control the overall situation while gaining insight into every move, truly applying big data technology to the complex FMCG industry.
The greatest significance of one-product-one-code for the FMCG industry is data. Besides using dynamic data feedback as the operational basis for CRM and PRM, data also has far-reaching significance for macro strategy. You can use the population profiles described by data to find suitable advertising resources, even do DSP precise advertising; you can use data to identify which potential channels need priority development; you can apply data to new SKU development, promotion entry points, UGC themes, etc. In short, if you can successfully master all the data brought by one-product-one-code, you will be omnipotent.
**One-product-one-code is the real big data in the FMCG industry, a specific operational means rather than a paper-talking trend.** As a new thing, one-product-one-code has some unresolved difficulties waiting for colleagues to make achievements. As someone on the front line, I have some thoughts. If you are interested, we can talk again.
Source: Sales and Market (ID: cnmarket)
**October 23-24, during the Autumn Sugar and Wine Fair, the '2018 FMCG City Distribution Logistics Conference' hosted by New Distribution** will invite industry big names, FMCG warehousing and distribution experts, and distributors who have transformed to unified warehousing and distribution platforms to discuss and answer questions about future development trends of FMCG city distribution logistics and practical cases of distributor transformation, around the theme 'New Distribution, New City Distribution,' hoping to bring you different inspiration and thinking! The specific meeting topics are as follows:
**List of participating companies**
In no particular order
Hunan Zonglan Diandan Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Jingbang (Wuhan) International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd.
Mengniu Dairy
Qinghai Hanxiang E-commerce Co., Ltd.
Unilever Service (Hefei) Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch
Huicong
Hunan Xuanang Food Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Tongdaoren Information Technology Co., Ltd.
Qingdao 888 Trading Co., Ltd.
Uni-President Enterprises (China) Investment Co., Ltd.
Hunan Province Zhongxiang Gongpei Logistics Co., Ltd.
Shenglong Ingredients
COSCO Shipping Logistics Warehousing and Distribution Co., Ltd.
Guangxi Yongpai Wine Industry Co., Ltd.
Shangqiu Kangrong Trading Co., Ltd.
Jinan Dingzhong Economic and Trade Co., Ltd.
Liaoning Bimai Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.
Kunming Xiongjia Trading Co., Ltd.
Shaanxi Houheng Trading Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Dingwo Enterprise Information Consulting Co., Ltd.
Shaodong Jiajiale Commercial Firm
Boda Trading
Industrial Bank Changsha Branch
Wuhan Muchen Convenience Store Chain Co., Ltd.
Fujian Fuxing YunCang Logistics Co., Ltd.
Guizhou Yilimi E-commerce Co., Ltd.
Jiangxi Xiao Laoer E-commerce Co., Ltd.
Jinshan Koufu
Shanxi Taihang Yuanjing Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd.
Shanxi Dezhu Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd.
Shaoyang Tongdeli Trading (Xiangbang Logistics)
Huanfu
Tongda Express City Distribution
Beijing Xinjingxiang Food Co., Ltd.
Wuhan Huizhong Tianhong Wine Industry Co., Ltd.
Changsha Paide Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
Chaoan Tuqiang
Guizhou Yihe Bopin Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd.
Jiangxi Kang'en Industrial Development Co., Ltd.
Xiangtan County Yisuhe Town Yuhua Paper Store
Luoyang Yuanlang Trading Co., Ltd.
Tongchuan Yaozhou District Huayuan Supermarket Co., Ltd.
Hunan Yongfu Jiujiu Trading Co., Ltd.
Zhejiang Chengchengtong Logistics Co., Ltd.
Chongqing Kaiguo Materials Trading Co., Ltd.
Beijing Xianmaixianmai Data Technology Co., Ltd.
Hanchuan Qixing Trading Co., Ltd.
Tongxin Jiuzhi Trading Co., Ltd.
Guizhou Meiguo Guoguo Network Technology Co., Ltd.
......
**Distributor transformation representatives (proposed)**
In no particular order
Jiangsu Huashang City Distribution Network Co., Ltd. Chairman, Rong Jun
Hubei Yijiaren Logistics Co., Ltd. Chairman, Wang Bo
Sichuan Chengdu Xingrenxing Trading Co., Ltd. General Manager, Jiang Shuming
Shandong Yunbang Warehousing and Logistics Co., Ltd. Chairman, Liu Jichen
Chongqing Lingyu Consumer Goods Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Chairman, Tu Mingyu
Guangzhou Zhongshan Wanrong Marketing Co., Ltd. Chairman, Yang Su
Sichuan Bajie Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Chairman, Yuan Xia
Hubei Pengdun Meiyitian Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Co-founder, Li Qiangyun
Henan Xuchang Jiulegou E-commerce Co., Ltd. Chairman, Zhang Jianyong
Hebei Changyi Logistics Co., Ltd. Founder, Ma Haichao
Hebei (Chengde) Wulian YunCang Co., Ltd. General Manager, Meng Yucun
Xinjiang Urumqi Su'an Jinchi Logistics Co., Ltd. Chairman, Zhang Xun
Jilin Sansheng Lianguo Chairman, Zhang Hailing
Hebei Dunjie Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Founder, Qiang Huitao
Hunan Damei Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. General Manager, Liao Lei
......
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