"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 refinement. Marketing concepts such as precise positioning, market segmentation, intensive channel cultivation, and winning at the terminal have long been deeply ingrained." The criteria for market excellence have also shifted from mere sales volume to terminal performance, including distribution rate, image promotion, pricing system, and shelf display. Especially for shelf display, almost all FMCG manufacturers now deeply recognize that supermarket and terminal store shelves are where products intimately meet consumers, sparking a vigorous 'land grab' movement. Manufacturers are spending heavily on floor displays, pillar displays, and prime shelf positions, and it's common 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 add a new function to their salespeople's duties: shelf management. Well-funded manufacturers hire dedicated merchandisers to maintain key accounts. As a frontline marketing professional, I have worked in Northeast, North, West, and East China, conducting in-depth research on grassroots salespeople's shelf management in supermarkets. 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 accounts: check inventory upon entering and take orders before leaving. If asked, 'Why don't you manage the shelves?' they retort, 'Shelf management is the supermarket staff's job. Why should I do it for them? With that 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.' But 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 you.' I asked, 'Why?' The shelf staff replied, 'Isn't it obvious? XXX has better shelf space. Their products are on the prime second, third, and fourth shelves, while yours are on the bottom fifth shelf. Their facing is more than four times larger than yours. They're neatly arranged, clean, and positioned advantageously—overwhelming you with superiority and numbers. They have the best location and support, so of course they sell better! You're supposed to be in marketing, but you're clueless!' I grimaced and said, 'You're playing favorites! You give XXX great 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 great service; their salesperson organizes the shelves every visit. Initially, I gave you the same shelf space as XXX, but your salesperson never organizes the shelves, so gradually XXX took over. I manage such a large area and have too much to stock to 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—my shelf contribution rate is the same. And since XXX sells much more than you, of course I give the best positions to the best-selling products! Your products are in a vicious cycle, which only shows that your market service is inferior to your competitors!' The result of such shelf management is simple: product display deteriorates, and products gradually become unsellable. 2. Going Through the Motions Type Salespeople of this type, under company pressure, usually restock the shelves when entering the supermarket, but their method is very 'efficient': they bring goods from the warehouse to the shelf, ignoring item category, flavor, horizontal or vertical display, or first-in-first-out, and just stuff them onto the shelves. Once full, they clap their hands—done. Such 'efficient' restocking is worse than none! Why? Because after a while, the back of the shelf is full of expired products. 3. Aggressive Expansion Type These salespeople clearly understand that the larger the display facing, the greater the sales opportunity. So they often 'conquer' the product display area with their own products, even squeezing out best-selling competitors until they have no place to stand. At the same time, they are 'very methodical'—like guerrillas, they come quietly! The result is that when discovered, they often provoke public outrage, causing supermarket department heads and competitor staff to 'attack' them, relegating their products to the 'cold palace.' Some powerful stores even send a fine to the salesperson's boss. 4. Meticulous and Conscientious Type These salespeople are usually trained by the company and follow standardized procedures. While making product displays attractive as required, they also clean products and shelves, put up POP, replace damaged price tags, and handle exchanges. The terminal performance in their areas is generally well maintained. 5. Leveraging Others Type These salespeople are generally quick-witted, articulate, and good at communication. With a honeyed tongue, they often flatter supermarket shelf staff, and occasionally offer 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 shelf staff without much effort from the salesperson. 6. Comprehensive and Capable Type These salespeople have a serious work attitude, rich shelf management experience, and display skills. Most importantly, they have a competitive awareness and the goal of surpassing competitors in terminal display, always remembering to attack competitors. While managing shelves, they quietly squeeze competitors' display space, coordinate with shelf staff to optimize product placement, use manufacturer funds to create key image stores, and apply for free floor displays during promotions. Tracing the Roots of 'Salesperson Shelf Management Behavior' From the above, it's clear that different shelf management methods yield completely different results. Why are there so many differences among salespeople in terminal shelf management? What accounts for the gap? The differences are only three: attitude, method, and mindset. Every manufacturer hopes to have meticulous, flexible, and capable salespeople, but where do the differences in work methods originate? 1. Distributors' Mindset Issues Many distributors started as wholesalers, 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. New products always failed one after another. His words made me understand: 'I never let my salespeople do shelf management because that's the supermarket staff's job; it's none of our business.' Salespeople of such distributors generally fall into two types: irresponsible or leveraging others. 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 loose personnel management. They don't focus on salesperson training, lack standardized work procedures, and many newly hired inexperienced salespeople are sent directly to the market—experience is gained through practice. 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! They offer low compensation but demand high performance, leading to 'policies from above, countermeasures from below'—the going-through-the-motions type. 4. Family-Style Management Traditional distributors often use family-style management or have strong family-style characteristics, favoring relatives in hiring. Non-relatives are often ostracized by family employees, leading to internal discord and low morale among outside employees. 5. New-Era Distributors For them, business is not just a business but a career; they look beyond immediate gains to long-term development. They don't treat employees as money-making tools but as the foundation for the company's future, offering incentive-based compensation to stimulate salespeople's work enthusiasm and creativity. They focus on employee growth, emphasize skill improvement, often invite excellent manufacturer sales managers to train their salespeople, absorb advanced experience, and refine work procedures and management systems. Only such distributors can cultivate meticulous, flexible, and capable sales teams, and only then can they win at the terminal in market competition. Source: China FMCG Elite Association -END-