1. Inventory Loading
Almost no manufacturer skips inventory loading during peak season. Even major brands like Moutai and Wuliangye, after using the off-season to control supply and raise prices, gradually increase distribution speed as peak season arrives. Their goal in controlling supply is ultimately to sell more goods at higher prices.
Inventory loading should target distribution channels, hotel terminals, and group purchase units, not just pile goods in the general distributor's warehouse. Many manufacturers push policies and force general distributors to pay, thinking that once payment is made and goods are shipped, peak season sales are done and they can go home and sleep. If the general distributor is powerful and capable, it might be fine, but there are few such distributors nationwide. Most distributors need the manufacturer's help and support to advance market development.
Inventory loading must not cause backlog in the general distributor's warehouse; instead, warehouse inventory should be controlled to prevent distributors from overloading due to greed, as this lays hidden dangers for dumping and price erosion, and creates problems for next year's sales, affecting true profit and loss. One of our red-flag benchmark markets collapsed because of excessive pressure on the general distributor, and we are still resolving legacy issues, wasting a lot of market support funds. The initial loading already required significant support, and now dealing with inventory backlog costs more money—this is waste.
Use the peak season to actively help general distributors distribute goods, getting our sub-distributors, outlets, hotels, and group purchase units to stock as much as possible. Your policies should also tilt in this direction, with frequent checks and visits to avoid false inventory loading.
2. Inventory Clearance
Corresponding to inventory loading is inventory clearance. Every company and brand has some accumulated or slow-moving products for various reasons. These products are hard to sell or sell very slowly in normal times. If not addressed as peak season approaches, they will continue to sleep in the warehouse, waiting for the next peak season.
When clearing inventory, classify products: which can be sold with a small profit, which can be sold at cost, and which need to be sold at a loss or even given away for free. Some products in our warehouse not only fail to generate profit but also incur rent and management fees. In such cases, giving them to distributors for free is worthwhile, as it saves warehouse rent and management fees while at least earning distributors' gratitude.
Another point is to conduct thorough market research to identify which distributors are suitable for selling slow-moving products, and try to assign different categories or even single items to different distributors for exclusive handling. This maintains price system stability, avoids market damage, and protects the interests of the distributors taking the goods, preventing blind price cuts that affect everyone's earnings.
3. Price Increases
This is a common tactic for famous liquors like Moutai and Wuliangye, and famous cigarettes like Furongwang. Every peak season, especially one to two months before Spring Festival, these brands raise prices to boost profits, stimulate the market, and encourage channels to stock up appropriately.
Local products, given their strong local presence, can adopt this practice. They can raise prices on their main selling products for promotional purposes, saving market promotion costs, improving product profit margins, and giving channels stronger confidence that this price-increased product will become the peak season trend, creating market buzz.
When raising prices, pay attention to the magnitude. Do not raise prices across the board; focus on a few best-selling items. Also, evaluate the areas for price increases, controlling places where increases are not suitable. Avoid blind increases, or if you must have a unified policy, increase support in specific areas to digest the pressure from price increases.
4. Promotion
For most liquor companies, being as strong with consumers as Moutai or Wuliangye is unrealistic. As businesses increasingly pamper consumers, products without promotion and sales activities struggle to generate purchase desire. There's a saying in the industry: "Have food on ordinary days, and meat during New Year." This means giving consumers small favors in normal times, and during peak season, increasing efforts appropriately so consumers feel as comfortable and satisfied as eating meat during New Year.
Most liquor companies compete in the mid- to low-end product segment, meeting the needs of the mass consumer group. This makes it even more necessary to rely on promotion when peak season arrives. When conducting promotional activities, pay attention to several key points: First, a good promotional theme that makes consumers feel refreshed and memorable, and the theme must match the activity content without going off-topic. Second, the activity's focus should balance the interests of both consumers and activity outlets, with slightly more weight on consumers; single-point promotions lack appeal and effectiveness. Third, do sufficient publicity and momentum-building for the activity so consumers and channels feel its influence, boosting their confidence and enthusiasm, and maximizing the activity's effect.
5. Distributor Recruitment
Off-season distributor recruitment in the liquor industry is a game for strong companies and brands, while peak season recruitment is more from a pure sales perspective. The demand for liquor is real, and distributors seeking high profits always exist, providing a "mass" foundation for effective recruitment.
Peak season recruitment emphasizes matching the right partners. Talking about recruiting big distributors at this time is self-deceptive, because by the time you negotiate terms with a large distributor, the peak season might be over, and you'll have missed the peak season's share. For many companies, whether they can survive next year is unclear, so what's the point? Therefore, peak season recruitment should quickly bring in distributors suitable for your brand's development, without blindly seeking large ones or being overly ambitious. Act fast, be decisive, keep thresholds low, and the premise is to calculate your own accounts well and not be afraid of distributors making more money. Why would distributors be tempted to take your product in the short term without high profit support? Who would fall for your trap?
Of course, peak season recruitment does not mean losing principles to cheat, deceive, or swindle. Don't do unethical things. Provide reasonable support, don't make promises you can't keep, and act according to contracts and agreements. Even if there's a little unpleasantness, distributors won't hold grudges against us.
6. Incentives
Winning battles mainly depends on the team. Although the US wins wars with high-tech, precision weapons, these weapons still require people to develop and control them.
Peak season sales mainly rely on motivating the sales team. Besides spiritual incentives and promotion temptations, tangible material incentives are also essential. You can set up various peak season sales awards to encourage employees to exceed tasks and actively meet sales targets, such as Market Rapid Growth Award, Net Sales Growth Excellence Award, New Product Recruitment Award, and Social Event Organization Award. To involve the logistics department and strengthen peak season service without holding back sales, you can also set up Service Star Award and Market Management Excellence Award.
At this time, rewards should be stimulating because if peak season sales are lost, the entire year's sales will be affected. So don't be afraid of employees earning more money, because that means your sales have improved more and you gain more. Of course, avoid employees overdrawing the market due to peak season incentives. Once discovered, punish severely and don't encourage bad habits. After all, our market provides us daily sustenance, not just a single meal.
The ultimate goal of peak season sales is explosive volume growth. Without basic skills as a foundation, this explosive growth is empty talk. Therefore, the above methods are effective only under certain premises. Any opportunistic way to increase volume in peak season is a deceptive trick in this era of refined marketing, because it cannot withstand the test of time.
Source: Yuanjing Consulting -END-