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The market terminal is a close-quarters battlefield. Here, there is no room for grand pretensions, rigid theories, or the 'let's all get along' mentality. Your only task at the terminal is to crush and overwhelm your competitors' offensives, ensuring your product achieves the highest possible exposure, attention, and purchase rates. Therefore, it is essential to employ the unrelenting tactics of 'Snatch, Press, and Encircle.' Below, I will illustrate these tactics with our experiences conducting promotions for P&G.

Terminal Tactic One: 'Snatch'

As the name implies, 'snatch' means to seize the initiative and get ahead. So, how do you get ahead of competitors at the terminal?

What to snatch? Snatch potential consumers. Who does the snatching? Our promotional staff. How? First, by making initial contact. When conducting terminal promotions for P&G, we firmly grasped this principle.

Distribution: When distributing flyers, we did not limit ourselves to the vicinity of the store. Instead, based on our reconnaissance of the surrounding terrain, we chose to distribute flyers at all必经之路 leading to the supermarket area, implementing a potential customer interception operation. We delivered product and promotional information to customers before our competitors, creating a first-impression advantage. As for who this targeted, you can surely guess.

'Lead' and 'Drive': Slek's terminal tactics were often overwhelming, leaving no room for our P&G service promotions. Moreover, Slek's terminal tactics pleased their distributors, as continuous promotional support significantly boosted single-store sales.

Consequently, in some terminal stores, our promotional activities were even met with resistance from distributors who claimed that selling P&G products was unprofitable. They not only refused to support our promotions but also charged us higher booth fees than Slek, while providing Slek with prime locations. This left us struggling to find a foothold outside the store. To counter this, we adopted a strategy of 'leading' and 'driving' from the periphery—distributing flyers and gifts at intersections around the store to gradually draw consumers toward the store.

Intercepting Store Traffic: To further intercept Slek's customer flow, we not only set up the above measures outside the store but also deployed roaming shopping guides near Slek's counters. The goal was to intercept customers on their way to Slek's counter and redirect them to P&G's counter.

During training, we taught our promoters a technique: whenever they saw a customer holding a flyer heading toward the personal care section, they should proactively greet them loudly: 'Sir/Madam, shampoo and skincare products this way! Free gifts and multiple discounts!' The smile must begin within 3 seconds before the greeting, and eye contact must be maintained. The body language should be a 15-degree nod with a bow, and a hand gesture guiding the customer in the right direction.

This way, we managed to snatch some of Slek's incoming customers. The counter manager watching our activities nodded in approval. On our second visit, he even took the initiative to help persuade the store owner.

Occupying the Bridgehead: To avoid working for Slek's benefit and prevent customers holding P&G flyers from being intercepted by Slek midway, we painstakingly persuaded street committees or neighborhood committees in some areas to set up display tables at bicycle parking spots outside the store. We calculated 0.2 yuan per bicycle, so a table only needed 10 parking spaces, costing about 50 yuan per table per day. We placed one table on each side of the entrance, with flags flying, effectively blocking Slek's path.

To ensure we didn't miss any customers, we arranged mobile checkpoints with shopping guides both inside and outside the store, continuously directing consumers to the P&G counter. This intercepted a large portion of customers.

No need to be polite or shy. If someone approaches the promotional area, why shouldn't the first flyer or gift they receive be from P&G? Why shouldn't we make them hesitate in their decision to choose another product? We don't have to speak ill of others, but we must speak highly of ourselves.

We need to create an aggressive momentum. If competitors react and follow suit, we've already taken the lead. For customers lingering at Slek's promotional area, we naturally have other methods—our 'Press' tactic, which we'll discuss next.

Terminal Tactic Two: 'Press'

'Press' naturally means to advance step by step. How else could it be called 'press'? How to press is another skill altogether.

Press for Position: How to press? The first step is similar to the position-snatching tactic in the 'Snatch' strategy. If you want to be in front of us, fine, we'll place ourselves even further ahead (but be careful not to set up in dangerous zones where customers might step into traffic, as this would not only inconvenience customers but also attract interference from traffic police and urban management).

Second, turn up the volume. Slek's promotional points typically have a row of TVs and speakers blaring music to attract customers. We simply turned ours up louder, and we added an extra trick: using handheld loudspeakers to continuously announce, which gave us more immediate appeal than Slek's mere music.

Third, occupy the 'no-man's land.' There's a small area at the store entrance—between the main door and the store entrance—that is often unregulated. Since some stores don't allow tables there, we stationed mobile promoters and guides in this area to conduct a second interception, pulling even some potential customers holding Slek's flyers into the P&G section.

Fourth, coordinate from sky to ground, leaving no space untouched. Although Slek's promotional tables were wide, our tables were even larger. In addition to the promotional stage, we set up hot-sale and gift stations dozens of meters away, connecting them with large P&G umbrellas to create an imposing brand presence. I required that customers entering the plaza outside the store (or open area for smaller stores) see P&G symbols first.

These large umbrellas also served another purpose: they could gather crowds on sunny days and even retain customers during light rain (this was designed based on Slek's weakness—their red umbrellas often only covered the promotional table, leaving only half for customers). Additionally, in some large stores, we deliberately had team members in plain clothes take photos and videos to attract onlookers.

Fifth, occupy the first visual point in the store section. When customers arrive at a product section, there's usually a first visual point—such as a product display at the end of a shelf or an advertising board. For example, P&G set up self-service viewing of Whisper TV ads at the end of the Whisper section, and Head & Shoulders installed hair quality testers at some terminals—all effective means to capture customers' first attention and desire to try. Even if your company isn't large, as long as you can identify the first visual point, you can find a good vantage.

When executing promotions for P&G's Pringles, we paid close attention to occupying this visual point. Based on store reconnaissance, we chose locations facing the entrances and exits to place displays—near the entrance for incoming traffic and near the exit for outgoing traffic, ensuring they were directly in line of sight. This firmly controlled customers' visual attention. What if a competitor has already placed a display there? No need to be polite—place a larger one in front of theirs to block it. If you can't place a larger one, place a smaller one with a big sign inserted into the display (preferably secured to prevent theft—by competitor personnel). Either way, block them.

Fifth (continued), control the transition zone with competitors. The area between your brand's display and the competitor's is critical. Companies should find ways to benignly intercept customers' sight and movement, aiming to make them take another look at your product. For example, set up attractive visual barriers (posters, promotional price tags) in the transition zone, or place promotional mini-games or station promoters there to retain customers in your section as long as possible. Every second a customer stays in your section is a gain.

Terminal Tactic Three: 'Encircle'

'Encircle' means to surround. Surround what? How?

First, encircle space. When conducting terminal promotions for P&G, I required that the promotional site be filled with fluttering flags. We blocked the competitor's banners, posters, and promotional signs whenever possible. If you don't block them, they'll block you. So it's better to block first.

Terminal displays should be: Visible—at eye level: posters, table cards, light boxes, water signs, TV playing promotional videos; above eye level: banners, hanging flags; below eye level: product displays. Touchable—brochure racks, display stands, sample tables, etc. Audible—promoter recommendations, salesperson introductions, TV commercials. Takeaway—shopping bags, flyers, brochures, self-printed newsletters, promotional gifts. For competitors, we aim to minimize what customers see, hear, and take away.

Second, encircle with promotional slogans. Make your sales pitches louder so everyone hears. Why were restaurant 'callers' so loud in old times? To show that business was booming! So I instructed promoters to have the loudest voices continuously shout things like: 'Table 3's gifts are gone, add another box!' 'Table 5's Rejoice 2-in-1 200g is sold out, add three more!' 'This gentleman's receipt totals over 200 yuan, so he gets a free umbrella and a photo frame!' See if customers don't come.

Third, encircle with personnel. After the promotional site was fully set up, we also arranged for several people to 'fish' in the common area with Slek. Any customer walking toward the store was guaranteed to receive a P&G flyer. We had plenty of flyers—for each event in a region, headquarters would airlift a large batch. I recall an event in Ningbo, Zhejiang, where in just two months, we shipped nearly 100,000 flyers. So regardless of whether they bought, we ensured every customer in the store had a flyer. After each event, we also observed the ratio of discarded flyers on the ground—P&G vs. Slek—to estimate the number of people we reached and to plan for the next event.

Fourth, encircle store owners and staff. Encircle their emotions and their interests. One word from them is worth ten or a hundred from us to consumers. Even a slight bias from store owners or staff makes our encirclement stronger and more solid. They play a crucial role in the final value delivery at the terminal. This includes counter supervisors, salespeople, promoters, cashiers, loss prevention officers, and even security guards and cleaners in large stores. These store personnel can greatly boost product sales. With their support, sales growth is not just empty talk.

Companies can cooperate with retailers to give direct sales incentives to store personnel based on performance, or sign private agreements with key staff to set commission or bonus amounts. Additionally, deliberately assign terminal salespeople who regularly interact with them to befriend them and use personal relationships for public relations. In these interactions, learn about their hobbies, habits, and birthdays to tailor your approach and maximize product promotion at the terminal. However, these strategies must be kept within limits—do not spoil store personnel, or they may demand excessive commissions and rewards, and if anything displeases them, they might deliberately cause trouble. These issues should be anticipated and prevented.

When we were agents for P&G's terminal market promotion, we did this work for small shops. FMCG products, unlike large durable goods, are typically sold based on which offers higher retail profit. These small shops have low brand loyalty—if you have gifts today, they'll sell more of your product; if not tomorrow, they'll ignore you. They often 'wave the white flag' and switch for trivial gains. Yet these small shops are the fundamental source of profit.

I recall a project in Jiangxi where, to maintain sales performance and loyalty among small shops, P&G gave them wire product hangers, saying, 'You can hang these on your storefront; the products will look good!' The shop owners were enthusiastic and asked for more. Later, we discovered they were selling the hangers for five yuan each.

This creates a new problem: counterfeit goods. 'Rejoice' shampoo became 'Rejoice' (fake) shampoo, very cheap at 0.15 yuan per sachet. Many customers bought it, and shop owners were happy—selling P&G's Rejoice earned only 5 cents per sachet, while the fake earned 15 cents. The products looked similar, so shop owners preferred selling the fake, causing P&G to lose control over some small shops.

How to address this? We know that in rural China, if you can open a small shop, you're considered capable and influential. Such a person is well-connected and knowledgeable. If they say, 'This is good,' they'll promote it: 'This one smells nice, has more lather—without lather, it doesn't clean well! And it's cheaper—this one's 0.3 yuan, that one's 0.5 yuan. Money is hard to earn; we must be thrifty.' With such promotion and demonstration, many people will buy the fake product.

These shop owners inadvertently become 'opinion leaders' in their consumer groups. P&G realized that only by getting these opinion leaders to speak for them, demonstrate, and guide could they reverse the consumer trend. The challenge is how to make them willingly sell the more expensive genuine product instead of the cheap fake. Of course, cracking down on counterfeits is one approach, but it's proven difficult and ineffective—counterfeits are endless, and it's a negative approach. The solution must come from the shop owners themselves.

At this point, P&G launched strategies like 'Small Shop Owner Know-It-All' and 'Shop Owner Associations.' Our locally hired promoters played a significant role because they were familiar with local customs and had fewer language barriers. They went door-to-door to understand shop owners' preferences, habits, and needs, then reported back to the project headquarters, which formulated reward methods. These measures, to some extent, gradually shifted many shop owners' attitudes due to interests and emotions, increasing their efforts to promote P&G products.

The market terminal is the foundation of a company's profitability and the true test of a planner's skill. No matter how flashy your plan is, it may not work at the terminal. The terminal is no place for empty talk, sympathy for hard work, or belief in tears. Don't think others' methods are 'outdated' or unfashionable—try your fashionable ones; they might not work as well. 'Red Peach K' (a brand) avoided hard advertising and relied on seemingly insignificant terminal tactics to sell nearly 10 billion yuan and earn a well-known trademark.

There are no fixed rules for terminal combat. As the saying goes, 'No fixed methods; a thousand variations.' The 'Snatch, Press, and Encircle' tactics discussed here represent only my personal insights and experiences. To win the terminal war, you must dive deep, understand customers, competitors, and distributors' true thoughts, and adopt the mindset that 'whatever wins is a good move.'

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