Scan the QR code in the image to register The Year of the Ox Spring Festival passed in warm spring weather, not only the warmest Spring Festival in recent decades but also the start of confidence sprouting and growing wildly! "Prosperity in both urban and rural areas" is the keyword for this Spring Festival! Staying put for the New Year boosted urban consumption! Compensatory consumption boosted consumption in both urban and rural areas! During the 2021 Spring Festival, over 100 million people nationwide stayed put for the New Year, and the number of people staying put in 36 large and medium-sized cities increased by over 48 million. During the Spring Festival, sales of key retail and catering enterprises nationwide reached about 821 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.7%, and under the current published data, an increase of 4.9% compared with the 2019 Spring Festival golden week. From the above data, it is clear that the Spring Festival increment in the urban market has benefited from staying put for the New Year. Because the epidemic control was relatively optimistic, the number and frequency of visiting relatives and friends and gatherings in county and township markets increased significantly. Many ceremonies that were not completed last year due to the sudden epidemic were made up this year, and consumption volume was significantly higher than in 2020! -01- On the topic of whether to stock up before the New Year On January 25 before the New Year, I conducted a survey in my new beer group: The Spring Festival is approaching, the epidemic is still there, friends on the front line, let's do a survey: 1. Stock less. 2. Stock more. 3. Stock cautiously. 4. Stock boldly. 5. Don't stock. The conclusions received were varied, with about 30% of group friends choosing option 4. Judging from the performance of this Spring Festival, companies that were not resolute in stocking up before the New Year will regret it: Local stockouts have become a reality, and from the supply chain to the channel side, everyone is beginning to cry out for goods. This is in sharp contrast to last year's worries about slow sales and old-date products! 1. Confidence is worth more than gold! Before the Spring Festival, channel members and marketing teams were at a loss due to the uncertainty of the Hebei epidemic and the national epidemic, lacking confidence, worrying that stocking up would lead to an increase in short-dated and expired products, increasing operational difficulty and costs. 2. Budgets were inaccurate, and reference indicators failed! Because the epidemic started during last year's Spring Festival, many industries saw first-quarter data plummet, so when formulating the 2021 annual budget, reference data was difficult to grasp, leading to distorted budget data and a somewhat chaotic pace of marketing steps. 3. The epidemic became an excuse! Distributors and frontline marketing personnel had a universal excuse for poor 2020 performance: the impact of the epidemic. They even refused and resisted stocking up, believing that stocking up was tyranny and irrational behavior by manufacturers. Terminal store owners also used this as an excuse, leading to unreasonable channel inventory. 4. Spring Festival travel eased, and people stayed put! About 100 million people staying put for the New Year changed the geographical distribution of consumption. Urban market consumption was crowded and concentrated, channel flow became faster, and the caliber may not have expanded, leading to structural market conditions: KA, e-commerce, CVS, group buying, and other modern channels standard in cities saw a surge in sales! 5. Channels and organizations did not keep up with the pace of population migration! The situation of staying put for the New Year is abnormal and unprecedented. If companies did not anticipate or follow habitual actions, it is difficult for channels and organizations to adjust quickly to population flow trends. The existence of such "fake moves" brings threats and opportunities to some brands: prepared companies benefit, unprepared companies suffer! In summary, we can see that this Spring Festival may not be better than 2018 or 2019, but it is already many times better than 2020, at least the operating system is normal! -02- Find the lost "rhythm" If we were to summarize the entire 2020, it seems that we all lost something key in that year. What did we lose? I think it was rhythm. We should understand this rhythm from two angles. We lost the frequency of past actions and movements. This rhythm was disrupted by the epidemic. Because there was no experience, we could only adjust at any time according to market and environmental changes, inevitably leading to panic. Due to future uncertainty, many companies showed confusion or anxiety in their predictions for the future. This anxiety affected the continuity and rhythm of decision-making in the company's operations. But from this year's perspective, I believe that the uncertain factors have become certain elements. China's control of the epidemic has changed from a variable to a constant, from uncertain to certain. We can foresee that the first half of 2021 will be a good year for most industries, where growth will come easily. Because the data for the first half of 2020 was so poor, if we benchmark against the same period last year, the start of 2021 will definitely be a very good season. In 2021, many companies and industries will return to their original track. The original track refers to the track of 2019 or 2018. When we return to the normal track, we will find familiar flavors and rhythms. -03- Bosses go to the market, do you know how to read the market? Today is the seventh day of the new year, a day for opening doors with good luck. What should a company boss or marketing leader do? Meetings, drinking, bonding, commendations... This is probably the routine process of a company! The epidemic has eased, the front line is urgent, and going to the front line is the best choice! 1. Where to go? Look at the map (sales report) to find markets with large volume but average performance. Because time is tight at the beginning of the year, don't go to the best market or the worst market. Set the schedule, work content, and timetable. 2. Who to go with? Split into multiple routes, not with a large entourage. The supervision and market research department should arrive at the destination in advance, visit terminal routes on the ground according to standards, and obtain inventory data of our products and competitors at terminals. Count the inventory of distributors and dealers. 3. What to do? After arriving at the destination, visit the market according to route division. Internal staff and the local manager can follow, but the distributor must accompany the whole process. At the terminal, do three things: look, count, and ask. Someone is responsible for counting inventory, while the boss mainly communicates with terminal store owners to understand recent market conditions and trends! 4. What to manage? The number of personnel on duty and the quality of work are the focus of management, because after the New Year, personnel easily enter a loose state. Pay attention to supply chain preparation, factory raw materials, finished goods, and transportation capacity, including funds. 5. Calculate the market! Chat-style market visits easily become a cursory glance and can easily fall into traps of inducement. Although an experienced veteran can judge and decide based on clues, experience, and intuition, it is always unreliable! So at this time, decision support comes from data: distributor and dealer inventory, terminal placement rates of our products and competitors, and inventory numbers... Behind these data are the market stability index and flow performance! 6. Set targets. After the market visit and data collection, you basically have a clear picture. At this time, with the guidance of the data map, it is no problem to point out the way and speak confidently! Non-quantitative information obtained from chatting can be used to bluff and get by, but in the face of data, it is often merciless. Even if there are ten thousand reasons, it takes extraordinary skill to explain them convincingly in front of data! So, while looking at data and listening to reports, market improvement targets and follow-up work are easy to come up with. After setting targets, arrange the process for checking work and scoring standards. 7. Issue a bulletin. After a day of market visits, form a bulletin with data information, management indicators, and work assignments, and send it to each combat unit. The boss sets an example, and no one dares to slack off! The spring of action is not only wound by the boss, but also led by the boss! Moreover, the boss's whereabouts are unpredictable; you never know when he might descend on your humble abode. If you don't do your homework, you might be reported or punished... 8. Seize typical cases. In the market, there are gods and typical cases. Gods give feel and inspiration; typical cases give direction and guidance. Typical cases can be people or events, positive or negative, but they must be excavated from the front line. Use thunderous means with a bodhisattva's heart, combining hard and soft, so the team has direction, understands rhythm, and knows likes and dislikes... 2021 is destined to be a bumper year. The certainty of the epidemic is becoming clearer. Heaven rewards the diligent. Victory will surely belong to the boss who visits the market most, and gains will also belong to the most hardworking marketing people! Remember: Boss, go to the market! Source: New Beer (ID: newbeer_BJ) Major Conference Preview! March 1-2, Jiangsu Wuxi New Distribution will join hands with 500+ FMCG distributors from five provinces in East China to gather in Wuxi, Jiangsu, to provide brand owners and distributors with a conference aimed at product selection, cooperation, and exchange. A year's plan starts with spring. The first channel matchmaking event of 2021 is starting! Interested brand owners or distributors are welcome to contact us. Please scan the WeChat QR code below to register for participation or exhibition. Exhibition contact: Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.