Click to read the original text for details. In recent years, online traffic has become expensive, and the decline of offline channels shows no signs of stopping. As a result, Lao Miao is often asked questions like: "Do you think my product should go online or offline?" Or those originally doing offline ask, "Should we go online?" And those doing e-commerce ask, "Should we do offline?" To be honest, this is not a good question: because it focuses on the form of the terminal, not the essence of the terminal—its function. Previously, in "Insight into the Essence of New Retail: A Terminal Classification Method Most People Don't Know," it was mentioned that currently, we should comprehensively consider product attributes, marketing objectives, logistics, and information flow to reengineer terminal business processes. Let's look at a simple example given by Professor Kotler. Bible Bread is a high-quality bread with Jewish flavor. When it was placed in hypermarkets, sales were very poor. Through research, they found that American consumers do not treat the store as a place to browse; they go straight to the planned products upon entering (note that Chinese consumers are also showing this trend now, and the communication value of stores is decreasing). The average attention rate of consumers to unfamiliar brands like Bible Bread is no more than ten seconds! And ten seconds cannot convince consumers to try a new brand. So, marketers shifted Bible Bread to terminals that allow deep communication, such as nutrition and health stores, and community stores concentrated with Jewish people (terminals that do not require much information communication), and ultimately achieved success. Product attributes: Low-value, low-attention specialty products; Marketing objectives: During the product launch period, more information needs to be conveyed; logistics requirements are low; information flow requirements are high. Result: Hypermarkets with high natural traffic are not suitable terminals at this stage, while nutrition and health stores (high information flow) and Jewish community stores (already have market education) are suitable terminals. Let's take another example from daily life, slightly more complex. Parents with parenting experience know that when babies are born, they are often fed "the first mouthful of milk" in the hospital for various reasons, which makes it difficult for them to accept other flavors of formula. Thus, hospitals that do not sell formula become the most important terminal for formula. The four major formula brands form a monopoly by occupying such terminals. We call these terminals "pre-terminals." Other formula brands wanting to capture the market must do "brand switching," which requires a great deal of information transmission. Therefore, mother-and-baby stores, which stand on a professional image, have a huge advantage, and e-commerce also has an important place because it can convey more information. Traditional supermarkets have a weaker position, and if you go to community convenience stores or mom-and-pop shops to buy infant formula, people might think you are not quite right in the head. Product attributes: Extremely high attention, high-value products; Marketing objectives: First mouthful of milk or brand switching; logistics requirements are low; information flow requirements are high. Result: Pre-terminals—medical terminals—occupy the commanding heights of the formula market, mother-and-baby stores hold half of the formula market, e-commerce, especially overseas purchasing, is significant, hypermarkets have a small share, and convenience stores have no value at all. Through these two examples, you might see a clue: **The concept of "terminal is king" is based on the era of "channel is king," and its underlying logic is to concentrate resources and throw them all at the most effective channel link; Terminal reengineering is based on the comprehensive application of product attributes, marketing objectives, and information flow and logistics. It does not just treat the terminal as a place to sell goods, but as a communicable scene. This is the marketing logic under "content is king." We still need to return to the origin of marketing: marketing and changing consumer behavior. Let's review a basic concept in consumer behavior—the five-stage model of purchase decision. Problem recognition—Information search—Evaluation of alternatives—Purchase decision—Post-purchase behavior. In the past, terminals emphasized "the final kick" and "terminal interception," hoping to place products more and more prominently in front of consumers, or to make consumers achieve "brand switching," mainly targeting the third and fourth stages of the five stages, namely evaluation of alternatives and purchase decision. But once the terminal is defined as not only carrying logistics functions but also more information flow functions, the pattern of terminals will undergo drastic changes. The boundaries between terminals, media, PR, and advertising become increasingly blurred. The medical terminal mentioned earlier for infant formula is both a pre-terminal and the most important publicity front. Again, the essential impact of the Internet on marketing is the huge change in consumer behavior. The Internet has penetrated all stages of the five-stage purchase decision model. For a product with high attention, searching on Baidu first has become indispensable. This provides a broad space for "pre-terminal interception." Search rankings, official websites, forums, etc., can all become excellent "pre-terminals." We might check into a hotel we have never been to because of Dianping, taste a restaurant we have never eaten at, watch a movie because of a review on Douban, or enter a nearby pharmacy through Baidu Maps. This is the first element of terminal-driven model reengineering—building pre-terminals. In 2016, the clients Lao Miao served had a common point: whether they were doing online sales or offline sales, all required Internet promotion services, not only various hard promotions but also more soft information. This is both using Internet promotion as a publicity tool and building it as a pre-terminal. Marketing depends on information, and the carrier that can provide the most effective information is the most valuable carrier. If your audience is glued to their phones all day and hasn't watched TV for half a year, but you insist on creating a big TV commercial idea, Lao Miao can only praise you as "rich," and nothing else. The second element of the terminal-driven model is to establish core terminals. According to the five-type terminal classification, core terminals must be deep communication terminals. The wine tastings mentioned earlier, Yakult's "face-to-face" sales, and the meeting sales of Zhen'ao Nucleic Acid and Zhuhai Tiannian are all core terminals that can communicate deeply. As the most typical FMCG, beverages have many suitable terminals. Wanglaoji initially chose catering terminals as its core terminals because, compared to ordinary stores, catering terminals can communicate with consumers much more deeply, especially hot pot restaurants, which can also strengthen its "fear of getting heaty" product positioning. The third element is the "post-terminal." This sounds like a new term, so let me explain: Usually, companies have a consultation hotline where consumers can call with questions, or they can go to the sales site to find company representatives, or even the company sends people for door-to-door service. Later, it evolved so that consumers can leave messages on the official website or flagship store, give a "good review" or "bad review," etc. We usually call this marketing link "after-sales service." The evolution from "after-sales service" to "post-terminal" is a fundamental change in philosophy. **After-sales service still follows the "logistics" logic, emphasizing services around the product, such as repairs and customer complaints; The "post-terminal" follows the logic of information flow, emphasizing interaction between the brand and consumers, and between consumers. In addition to traditional after-sales services such as phone, repair, membership, and online messages, it also includes emerging self-media interaction, fan interaction, and broader forum interaction. The popular "community economy" in recent years, besides being wrapped in the cloak of the Internet, in the origin of marketing, more carries the function of the "post-terminal." The first three elements mainly carry the information flow function. The fourth element is the logistics terminal, which carries another important function. This includes high-value terminals, volume terminals, and ordinary terminals in the classification. Pre-terminals, post-terminals, and core terminals solve the problem of communicating with consumers, "placing goods in consumers' hearts," while logistics terminals solve the problem of consumer purchase convenience, "placing goods in front of consumers." The first three types of terminals are the engine of the market, and logistics terminals are the wheels of the market. Consumers experience and accept products in the first three types of terminals, interact with the brand, and may complete their first purchase. Once brand familiarity, recognition, and purchase habits are formed, consumers may shift their purchase places to logistics terminals. The mistake companies often fall into is investing heavily in logistics terminals when their products have not yet been recognized by the market, attempting to win the market through "decisive terminal" and "terminal is king" tactics, but in the end, they go in the opposite direction and fall into the traps of "bloody terminal competition" and "terminal consumption." Lao Miao has watched some companies make bold investments in logistics terminals, with investment ratios reaching a frightening 1:2 or even 1:1. Business owners and marketers still bravely march forward, naively thinking that through huge investment, once product sales reach a certain level, the investment ratio will naturally decrease. They do not realize that most logistics terminals cannot bear the heavy responsibility of brand information transmission. If the product value is not recognized by consumers, the result is "big promotion, big sales; small promotion, small sales; no promotion, no sales. " The company will exhaust its last drop of blood, be abandoned by the market, and then be kicked out by the terminals that once received huge fees. The reason companies fall into such "terminal traps" is closely related to the choice of benchmark companies. P&G and Unilever in daily chemicals, Coca-Cola and Master Kong in food and beverages, and Janssen and SmithKline in pharmaceuticals are all models for domestic companies to learn from. However, in terms of terminal model construction, the difference is that these big brands have basically completed their communication with consumers through advertising, PR, and various brand promotion methods. Their terminal model construction is based on their strong brand appeal, so they emphasize the rate of meeting customers and direct visual stimulation, and there is no strict distinction between logistics terminals and information flow terminals. The so-called "display is the life of sales" does not hold for a brand lacking awareness. Even for big brands, their new products, in the absence of market awareness, are not suitable for entering ordinary logistics terminals in large quantities. In 2005, due to the immaturity of the children's fruit juice beverage category, Coca-Cola's heavily promoted new brand "Qoo" failed miserably in the Chinese market. Coca-Cola's salesmen all over the market returned products to terminals and distributors bottle by bottle, box by box, truckload by truckload, and it took several months to complete. This scene is still vivid in my memory. **There is also a common situation where some low-attention products are purchased randomly and impulsively. In this case, using the product itself to convey information is the most efficient. For example, although Three Squirrels is very popular online, Lao Miao has said before, "It is not only losing money but also has no hope of profit," because for a snack, the cost of conveying information online to drive consumer behavior is higher than offline. Spreading stories and concepts online for communication is more expensive than setting up a stall on the roadside to stir-fry chestnuts and attract customers by emitting aroma. So seeing Three Squirrels also starting to go offline is a bit late, but the path is right; it depends on how they walk it. In the past two years, e-commerce has had a devastating impact on offline sales of clothing, books, cosmetics, mobile phones, small appliances, and even large appliances, and it will further intensify. However, in areas like food, beverages, and daily chemicals, the impact is minimal. Alibaba and JD.com, the two giants, are "very angry," and the consequence is that they are now focusing on building B-end e-commerce, mainly targeting FMCG products that have performed poorly on the C-end. This is determined by the attributes of such products; the most effective way to convey information is through on-site display of the product. This is the fifth element of terminal reengineering that Lao Miao advocates—scenario-based logistics terminals. If your terminal cannot communicate with consumers, for consumers, it is just a place to consume; but once you can communicate with consumers at the terminal, then that terminal becomes a consumption scenario. If you do not have advertising support or communication coordination, and you are a relatively new brand, then the only way out for your terminal construction is: Use terminal-driven model reengineering to turn shopping places into consumption scenarios. This is not a word game. A place is just a place for pure transactions; with goods and customer traffic, it is a sales place. A scenario is a place where interaction can occur, where memories can be created, and even where people are willing to share. It may have games, interesting content, helpful information, sociality, and sharing value. No more talk, let's give examples! Due to the natural attributes of foodies, restaurants easily become terminals with consumption scenarios. Just having a distinctive dish can make foodies unable to resist taking photos and posting them on WeChat Moments. If your restaurant has a story, such as being featured in "A Bite of China," then your restaurant's scenario degree is even higher. Previously, eating hot pot at Chuanguo Yanyi, the Sichuan opera performances inside left a deep impression, which is a typical example of turning a consumption place into a consumption scenario. Uniqlo once launched Uniqlo Clock and Uniqlo Calendar, combining beautiful women, music, dance, and images with Uniqlo's clothing portraits. In 2010, they started playing SNS online queuing games, then try-on activities. This series of combinations is a marketing classic globally. Even typical logistics terminals like supermarkets can be made to communicate with consumers through some means. The most common is to do "tricks" on the packaging: An ordinary cola, because of the "cute series" packaging, instantly turns a simple terminal consumption place into a communicable consumption scenario. Mengniu also launched themed bottles for Youyi C: "Big Meat Eaters," "Small Waist Elves," "Belly Generation," "Saint Acne Fighters" were also warmly received by consumers. There are also many actions that can be taken at the terminal. Liuliumei, which Lao Miao has always been jealous of, especially emphasizes "themed" displays, using various means to spread its annoying advertising theme "Eat Liuliumei when you have nothing to do." Once, it even used the terminal to convey the knowledge that "plums are the fruit of plum blossoms." Lao Miao, who prides himself on being well-informed, also learned for the first time: "Oh, so the 'green plum and bamboo horse' and 'green plum boiling wine to discuss heroes' refer to this!" This is the scenario-based logistics terminal. Okay, finally, let me summarize the "terminal-driven model reengineering" that Lao Miao has been advocating for several issues. Terminal-driven model reengineering is based on the marketing origin of "influencing and changing consumer behavior," starting from the five-stage model of consumer purchase decision. Terminal-driven model reengineering bids farewell to the traditional "channel is king" marketing logic, plans terminal layout from the function of terminals, and emphasizes both information flow and logistics functions. Pre-terminals, post-terminals, and core terminals mainly carry the information transmission function. They are the engine of the market and the key link in terminal construction. Logistics terminals carry the function of "placing goods in front of consumers." When information transmission is in place, it means an increase in sales opportunities. For products with low consumer attention and reliance on impulse purchases, relying solely on information terminals has high construction costs, so scenario-based logistics terminals are needed. The means can be packaging, themed displays, themed promotional activities, or combined online activities, etc. Source: Lao Miao Marketing Button (ID: yiheyingxiao)