---
title: "Ruoyu Paper: Exploring and Practicing PB Business from Zero to 100 Million"
description: "At the 2026 China FMCG Conference, Gao Yunchao, CEO of Ruoyu Group, shared the practices of Sichuan Ruoyu Tianfu Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter \"Ruoyu\") in PB business. For Ruoyu, PB was not initially the main track but gradually became a key investment direction after continuous transformation under pressure from the original business. This business is also regarded internally as a \"top leader project\"—the boss must be involved for the business to truly succeed. Ruoyu itself is a full-category tissue manufacturer with raw materials from bamboo pulp to wood pulp."
author: "高云超"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2026-04-12"
categories: "Management & Methods, Retail Formats"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fuXZBJ_-UJh9sC1AMviuWw"
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---

# Ruoyu Paper: Exploring and Practicing PB Business from Zero to 100 Million

> At the 2026 China FMCG Conference, Gao Yunchao, CEO of Ruoyu Group, shared the practices of Sichuan Ruoyu Tianfu Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Ruoyu") in PB business. For Ruoyu, PB was not initially the main track but gradually became a key investment direction after continuous transformation under pressure from the original business. This business is also regarded internally as a "top leader project"—the boss must be involved for the business to truly succeed. Ruoyu itself is a full-category tissue manufacturer with raw materials from bamboo pulp to wood pulp.

**At the 2026 China FMCG Conference, Gao Yunchao, CEO of Ruoyu Group, shared the practices of Sichuan Ruoyu Tianfu Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Ruoyu") in PB business.**
**For Ruoyu, PB was not initially set as the main track, but gradually became a key investment direction after continuous transformation under pressure from the original business. This business is also regarded internally as a "top leader project"—the boss must be involved for the business to truly succeed.**
Ruoyu is a full-category tissue manufacturer with raw materials from bamboo pulp to wood pulp, covering offline all channels, e-commerce, sales in some overseas countries, OEM, business customization, and raw material business, and has formed a multi-base, multi-warehouse supply chain foundation.
Because of this manufacturing and supply chain capability, Ruoyu's entry into PB is not just about supplying goods, but re-understanding the relationship between retailers, private brands, and category management.
**Ruoyu's PB: Three Things First**
Looking back at Ruoyu's journey, the first thing they did was not to spread customers or grab orders, but to clarify their PB approach.
In the past year and a half, Ruoyu mainly did three things.
First, clarify the concept.
Internally, they formed a straightforward approach: benchmark quality against Sam's Club, benchmark service against Pangdonglai, and open the market with "big brand alternative" (pingti). That is, first thoroughly study the product logic that has been validated in mature brands, then combine it with the retailer's private brand needs to redo the product.
This approach sounds simple, but the real difficulty is not in "learning" but in implementation. Manufacturing enterprises do not lack production capacity; what is truly scarce is the ability to connect manufacturing capability with retail logic: quality must stand, price must be competitive, and products must adapt to specific channels. These three things must be achieved simultaneously.
Second, they quickly realized that the same product and the same approach do not work across different retail systems.
For example, Hema users, Aotle users, and Chongqing Department Store users have a low probability of overlap; even for the same category, consumer purchasing habits differ across regions and stores.
Earlier, the team experienced a phase where "the product was fine, the approach was not bad, but results differed when applied to another system." They gradually figured out that doing PB cannot just focus on the product itself; you must first look at who the channel serves, who it targets, and what suits it.
Third, they pushed "making products" a step further: first, not thinking about what to sell, but understanding what consumers really want.
Retailers have high staff turnover and manage many SKUs, so their time is very limited.
If a manufacturing enterprise just makes the product and quotes a price, it is hard to do well. A more effective way is to first help retailers understand consumers, then define products accordingly. In PB business, the competition is not about who takes orders faster, but who understands the end consumer better.
**The Real Challenge of PB: Not Making Products, but Understanding Consumers**
In this sharing, a keyword that appeared multiple times was "consumer insight."
Because PB is not about making a "universal product" that can be replicated everywhere. Different systems, regions, and consumer groups have different needs for the same category.
If a manufacturing enterprise only stands in its own product logic, it is easy to go astray; only by truly understanding channels and consumers can product definition stay focused.
The Chongqing Department Store case is typical.
In the past, in the Chongqing market, roll paper was not a strong category. The team initially followed the industry mainstream thinking and wanted to promote soft extraction (soft抽) with higher profits. Because from the industry perspective, soft extraction has a higher share, and roll paper has a lower share, this judgment seemed reasonable.
But later, when reviewing consumers, they found that the core stores of Chongqing Department Store mainly serve consumers aged 40 and above, who have a higher acceptance of roll paper, while the penetration of tissue usage habits is not as strong. The problem was not the product, but the thinking was off.
Once the direction was adjusted and new roll paper products were launched, sales quickly soared.
Behind this is the core logic of PB business: it is not about which category is more mainstream in the industry, but which category suits this channel; what really matters is which category suits these consumers.
If a manufacturing enterprise cannot infer and position products from terminal data, store behavior, and regional characteristics, it is easy to mistake "industry experience" for "channel answers."
Ruoyu's subsequent adjustments precisely show that at a certain stage of PB, the competition is not about who can make products, but who can better understand the real consumption in specific channels.
**Ruoyu Puts Service Ahead of Products**
If the first step is to clarify the direction, the second step is to deepen service.
When advancing PB business, Ruoyu opened up several capabilities that many manufacturing enterprises were previously unwilling to open.
First, support small-batch customization and direct store delivery.
Many new products need testing before launch. If the minimum order quantity is too high, development cycle is too long, and store response is too slow, the retailer's trial-and-error cost will be high, and many products will be eliminated before truly entering the validation stage.
Shortening the development cycle and improving store response speed are crucial for PB business.
Second, include new product cultivation in service content.
The case of Aotle's moisturizing paper illustrates this well. The team's first round of development was not successful. Later, they found that the problem was not just the product itself, but also pricing, specifications, packaging form, and shelf placement, which did not truly match the sales logic of this SKU.
Later, the team did not drastically change the product, but first adjusted a key action: moving the product from the original shelf position to an area more accessible to consumers, and then combining it with free trial testing. After several consecutive weeks, this single product gradually became a hit.
This case shows that often, when a product does not sell well, it is not necessarily the product's fault, but the launch path is problematic. If a manufacturing enterprise just hands over the goods, the job is only half done; truly doing PB well often requires participating in trials, display, rhythm, and sell-through logic.
Third, provide risk coverage. For retailer buyers, the most sensitive issue is always inventory risk.
Whether this risk can be absorbed often determines whether the cooperation can continue.
Because of this, Ruoyu's understanding of PB business has gone beyond just supplying goods, but pushing itself forward as a "management assistant and business consultant for the retailer's tissue category." It is not just about delivering goods to the warehouse; it is about continuously participating in reviews, product iteration, marketing rhythm, and even helping retailers plan annual single-product plans.
At this point, what a manufacturing enterprise provides to retailers is no longer just a product, but a solution closer to the business itself.
**Doing PB: Ultimately Becoming the Retailer's "Business Consultant"**
In his sharing, Mr. Gao Yunchao said: Doing PB cannot just stay at the level of selling goods, but should be viewed from a higher cooperation level.
This is why Ruoyu later pushed its role from "supplier" to "category assistant" and "business consultant."
For example, with core customers like Hema and RT-Mart, it is not just about developing a single product, but continuously participating in sales reviews, competitor analysis, product trend judgment, and subsequent product iteration planning. Truly help retailers see industry changes, external competition, and how to move forward in this category.
At this point, PB business is no longer just about "successful development."
After a benchmark customer creates a super hit, other retailers will flock in, competitors will seek cooperation, and then come practical issues like price wars, customer choosing one over another, and product upgrades and redoing.
In his sharing, Mr. Gao mentioned that in cooperation with customers like RT-Mart and Hema, such tugs-of-war occur: once a single product succeeds, it is not just growth, but continuous games around price and cooperation boundaries.
Therefore, at a later stage, PB competition is not just about development capability, but the ability to continuously respond to competition, serve customers, and iterate products. If a manufacturing enterprise just makes good products, it is at most an executor in PB; but if it can continuously help retailers build a category, its role is completely different.
This is also why traditional distributors still have opportunities. Many retailers will skip the middle layer and directly cooperate with brand owners and manufacturing enterprises, which does squeeze some space for traditional distributors.
But after Ruoyu's operations in some markets in Northeast and North China, they found that if traditional distributors are transformed into localized PB service providers, business advancement is faster. Because distributors understand the local market better, have closer relationships with stores, and know local consumer preferences better.
If manufacturing enterprises are willing to open up some service capabilities and profit space, distributors are not necessarily the replaced party, but can become an important part of PB business.
Under this logic, the role of distributors will also change: no longer just moving goods and distributing, but shifting to local services, channel coordination, and store support. For many traditional distributors, this is actually a realistic transformation path.
**Final Thoughts**
Looking back at Ruoyu's PB business path, it was not achieved by a single product or a single customer.
What really worked is the combination of several things: first clarifying the approach, then deepening consumer insight, pushing service forward, taking risks forward, and truly understanding categories and business from the retailer's perspective.
At this point, what a manufacturing enterprise provides is no longer just products, but long-term cooperation capability. It is in this sense that Ruoyu's PB business went from zero to 100 million, not by simply taking orders, but by gradually transforming itself from a manufacturer into a deeper partner of retailers.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 高云超
- Published: 2026-04-12
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/ruoyu-paper-exploring-and-practicing-pb-business-from-zero-to-100-millio-6e0790b4/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fuXZBJ_-UJh9sC1AMviuWw

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