As living standards rise and the consumer market grows rapidly, competition in the FMCG industry has become intense, and market operations have entered an era of precision. Marketing concepts such as accurate positioning, market segmentation, intensive channel cultivation, and winning at the point of sale have long been deeply ingrained.
The standard for measuring market excellence has also shifted from a single focus on sales volume to the terminal performance of products, including distribution rate, image promotion, pricing system, and shelf display. Especially shelf display, now almost all FMCG manufacturers deeply recognize that the shelves of supermarkets and terminal stores are where products intimately meet consumers, and thus a vigorous 'land grab' has begun.
Manufacturers are spending heavily to purchase floor displays, pillar wraps, and prime shelf positions in supermarkets, and it is not uncommon to see fierce battles over a single floor display. Many savvy manufacturers no longer rely solely on supermarket shelf staff to maintain their product facings; instead, they have added a new function to their salespeople—shelf management. Well-funded manufacturers hire dedicated shelf managers to maintain key accounts.
As a frontline marketing professional, I have worked in Northeast, North, West, and East China, and have conducted in-depth research on supermarket shelf management by grassroots salespeople. Here, I categorize 'salesperson shelf management behavior' into six types for study:
Six Types of 'Salesperson Shelf Management Behavior'
1. Irresponsible Type
Salespeople of this type typically do only two things when visiting supermarket clients: check inventory upon entering the store, and take orders and leave. If asked, 'Why don't you manage the shelves?' they will argue, 'Shelf management is the job of supermarket staff; why should I do their work? With this time, I could order dozens more cases! Orders mean money! If any store doesn't display my products well, I'll complain about their shelf staff.'
And what do supermarket staff say? 'Your products used to sell about the same as XXX, but now XXX sells at least five times more than yours.' I asked, 'Why?' The shelf staff said, 'Isn't it obvious? XXX has better shelf space than you. Their products are placed on the golden positions of shelves 2, 3, and 4, while yours are on the bottom shelf 5. Their facing is more than four times larger than yours. They are neatly arranged, clean, looking down from above, superior in quality and quantity, occupying all advantages of location and people. Of course they sell better than you! Dumb! And you call yourselves marketers!'
I grimaced and said, 'You are too partial! You give XXX such good shelf space and put us at the bottom, not even caring about expired dates. Are we stepchildren?' The shelf staff said, 'It's not entirely my fault. XXX has good service; their salesperson arranges the shelf every time they come. Initially, your shelf space was the same as XXX, but your salespeople never arrange the shelves, so naturally XXX gradually squeezed you out. I manage such a large area, and there is too much to stock; I can't take care of every brand. Besides, the total sales for this category are fixed; it doesn't matter to me who sells more or less, as my shelf contribution rate is the same. Moreover, XXX sells much more than you now, so of course I give the best positions to the best-selling products! Your products entering a vicious cycle only shows one thing—your market service is inferior to your competitors'!'
The result of such shelf management is simple: product display deteriorates, and products gradually become unsalable.
2. Going Through the Motions Type
Salespeople of this type, under company pressure, will usually go to restock the shelves when entering the supermarket, but their method is very 'efficient': they bring goods from the warehouse to the shelf, without distinguishing item or flavor, ignoring horizontal or vertical display, and not caring about FIFO (first in, first out). They just stuff the goods onto the shelf haphazardly, and once full, they clap their hands—done. Such 'efficient' restocking is worse than not doing it at all! Why? Because after a while, the back of the shelf will be full of expired products.
3. Aggressive Expansion Type
These salespeople are well aware that the larger the display facing, the greater the sales opportunity. So they often 'conquer' their products across the display area, even squeezing out popular competitors to the point of 'no place to stand.' At the same time, they are 'very methodical' in their actions—like the Japanese invading a village, they come quietly! The result is that when discovered, they often provoke public outrage, causing the supermarket section leader and competitor staff to 'attack them in groups,' sending their products to the 'cold palace.' Some powerful stores even send a fine to the salesperson's boss.
4. Meticulous and Serious Type
These salespeople are usually trained by the company and follow standardized operating procedures. While making product displays vivid according to company requirements, they also clean products and shelves, put up POP, replace damaged price tags, and handle product exchanges. The terminal performance in areas managed by such salespeople is generally well maintained.
5. Leverage Type
These salespeople are generally quick-witted, articulate, and good at communication. With a mouth sweeter than honey, they often flatter supermarket shelf staff until they are delighted, and occasionally give samples or promotional items to win them over. In general, supermarket staff are accommodating to such salespeople, and the product shelves are basically taken care of by the supermarket shelf staff without much effort from the salesperson.
6. Comprehensive and Capable Type
These salespeople have both a serious work attitude and rich shelf management experience and display skills. Most importantly, they have a competitive awareness and the goal of comprehensively surpassing competitors in terminal display, always remembering to attack competitors. When managing shelves, they quietly squeeze competitors' display space, coordinate with shelf staff to optimize product display positions, reasonably use manufacturer funds to create key image stores, and apply for free floor displays during promotional activities.
Tracing the Roots of 'Salesperson Shelf Management Behavior'
From the above, it is clear that different shelf management methods lead to completely different results. Why are there so many differences among salespeople in terminal shelf management? What is the gap? The differences are only three: attitude, method, and mindset.
Every manufacturer hopes to have salespeople who are meticulous, serious, flexible, and capable, but where does the root of these differences in work methods lie?
1. Distributors' Mindset Issues
Many distributors come from a wholesale background, with limited education, accustomed to traditional distribution models, weak in terminal control, and lacking service awareness. One of my county-level distributors had annual sales exceeding 10 million yuan, which should be considered good, but the terminal performance of the products he distributed was generally poor, and every new product he took on failed. One sentence from him made me understand: 'I never let my salespeople manage shelves, because that's the job of supermarket shelf staff, and it has nothing to do with us.' The salespeople of such distributors generally fall into two types: the irresponsible type and the leverage type.
2. Management and Operational Level Issues
Many distributors have small companies, often with one person holding multiple roles (salesperson, driver, delivery worker), lacking comprehensive management systems, and with loose personnel management. They do not focus on salesperson training, have no standardized operating procedures, and many newly hired inexperienced salespeople are sent directly to the market—experience is gained from practice. The salespeople of such distributors are generally the first three types.
3. Neglecting Employee Compensation
This type of distributor is typical of wanting the horse to run without feeding it grass! They offer low compensation but high demands, leading to 'policies from above, countermeasures from below'—the going through the motions type.
4. Family-Style Management
Traditional distributors mostly adopt family-style management or have strong family-style characteristics, often appointing people by favoritism. Non-family employees are often ostracized by family employees, eventually creating rifts, internal disunity, and low motivation among external employees.
5. New Era Distributors
For them, business is not just a business but a career; they do not focus only on immediate gains but look to the long term; they do not treat employees as money-making tools but as the cornerstone of the company's long-term development. They provide incentive-based salary models to stimulate salespeople's work enthusiasm and creativity; they pay attention to employee growth, focus on improving employees' business skills, often invite excellent sales managers from manufacturers to provide sales training to their salespeople, absorb advanced experience, and improve salespeople's operating standards and various management systems. Only such distributors can cultivate meticulous, serious, flexible, and capable business teams, and only then can they win at the point of sale in market competition.
Source: China FMCG Elite Association
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