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Being content to be second means that in a regional market, weaker distributors develop together with stronger local distributors, willingly seeking growth under the leadership of more powerful distributors.

Being content to be second does not require distributors to be unambitious, only seeking the second brand position in the market; it is a cooperative model, and more importantly, a development path of uniting to conquer the market and integrating resources. For distributors, if they ally with strong local distributors, they not only receive help in capital, resources, brand, management, service, and operations, but more importantly, they immediately step onto an efficient and rapid development platform. For example, the 18 subsidiaries under Zhejiang Shangyuan are all distributors jointly controlled by Shangyuan. These distributors leverage Shangyuan's large platform to achieve greater and faster development.

Some people summarize the success of the large distributor Zhejiang Shangyuan Food & Beverage Co., Ltd. in one sentence: "A capital chain and a cluster of enterprises." The "enterprise cluster" here precisely refers to a "distributor joint sales body." Digging deeper into Shangyuan's story, it is "joint" that changed Shangyuan, and it is this joint that has made the distributors under Shangyuan successful.

Case 1: The Enlightenment of Shangyuan

23 years ago, Zhu Yueming first started a beer wholesale and delivery business, and riding a tricycle was what he did every day. In 1994, Zhu Yueming established Zhejiang Commercial Food & Beverage Wholesale Company. At that time, large state-owned sugar and wine wholesale companies still had significant power, and under their pressure, retail and wholesale businesses had little room for growth. At that point, Zhu Yueming turned his attention to the emerging catering market.

During the SARS outbreak in 2003, the catering industry experienced an unprecedented depression. Distributors were alarmed and withdrew funds to protect themselves. At that time, Zhu Yueming thought, "Unite regional distributors to keep each other warm." So he invested over 200 million yuan and formed joint ventures with 22 distributors in the Zhejiang market.

Shangyuan's approach was to provide its own capital, management models, and personnel to help distributors build channels and become stronger. These original downstream distributors used the investment funds from the joint ventures to purchase goods from the parent company, Shangyuan.

Among the cooperating distributors in Ningbo, one saw its joint venture company's turnover increase by 30% within a year. The partner marveled, "What would take ten years to achieve, we accomplished in less than a year with Shangyuan." Of course, Zhu Yueming had his own calculations; he wanted to "extend Shangyuan's reach further." This joint effort made him the largest distributor in Zhejiang with the most extensive network.

However, differences in market position, the distinct advantages of each distributor, and common positioning will inevitably affect such alliances. Can the alliance between distributors remain stable? How can the internal interest games and management bottlenecks be properly resolved? In fact, even if Shangyuan can provide capital, models, and personnel, it is still difficult to truly bind so many distributors to be "of one mind" with it.

The global financial crisis in 2008 once again created an opportunity for Zhu Yueming to change.

Today's business competition is not competition at a single point, but competition across the entire industry chain or supply chain. Since then, Shangyuan has deepened its cooperation with distributors: it transformed from a partner to a service provider in the supply chain for these distributors, positioning its core business philosophy on "mutual benefit." In practice, Shangyuan also finds ways to directly serve downstream distributors. For example, if a downstream distributor lacks funds, through communication, Shangyuan can help the downstream distributor directly borrow from banks (market) with Shangyuan as the guarantor. Shangyuan's services to downstream also include helping them procure the most suitable brands.

Case 2: Nanjing He Yiyuan Company

Around the Spring Festival in 2008, Nanjing He Yiyuan Company, once a model of distributor cooperation, dissolved less than two years after its establishment. This company was once the Nanjing general distributor for Anhui Bainian Wanjiu, responsible for market operations in the Nanjing area, and once achieved remarkable business performance. In the first half of 2007, due to a disagreement between the upstream manufacturer Anhui Wanjiu Group and He Yiyuan, Wanjiu Group chose another company, Dongsheng Liquor Co., Ltd., as its special distributor, and He Yiyuan was downgraded from general distributor to special distributor. Shortly thereafter, the newly established company was dissolved. Regarding the "reason for the breakup," Ye Fenjia, general manager of Nanjing Jiahongda, who experienced it, believed that it was due to resource internal friction among distributors that made cooperation unsustainable, ultimately forcing them to part ways.

It is understood that because He Yiyuan was the Nanjing general distributor for Bainian Wanjiu, the five "bosses" all served as its sub-distributors, but they mainly concentrated in the urban area. Their network channels and personal connections overlapped to a certain extent, making it impossible to completely separate operations by region. As a result, internal friction occurred among the brother companies, such as price undercutting, disrupting the product price system. Under such circumstances, the eventual dissolution of He Yiyuan was inevitable.

Summary:

We can see that under Shangyuan's joint model, Zhu Yueming and the distributors who joined his company achieved win-win results. However, Nanjing He Yiyuan ended in failure. From this, it is clear that distributors can unite, but how far they can go after uniting and what the profit model of the alliance is are the key issues.

It should be said that compared to Shangyuan's joint model, He Yiyuan's alliance was only a simple "stacking" of distributors at the most basic level. Zhejiang Shangyuan's integration practice is a transitional stage from a community of interests to a community of shared destiny. As the "leading brother," Shangyuan made many "pre-investments" in the early stage, and every transformation and change of Shangyuan followed changes in the external environment, allowing cooperating distributors to gain real benefits, thus full of drive, and ultimately forming a stable cooperative alliance.

Therefore, distributors who are content to be second must solve three problems:

Weaker distributors must be consistent with the strong distributors they ally with in terms of concepts;

Strong distributors and weaker distributors must be able to share benefits, and as a community of interests, the two must be closely connected.

It is necessary to clarify the unified operation model, but if they are only connected without being integrated, it is like good wishes that cannot yield good results.

Only by solving the above three aspects of alliance costs can distributors content to be second and strong distributors achieve win-win results and create another Shangyuan miracle!

With the transformation of the liquor industry and intensified market competition, distributors face new tests, unprecedented opportunities, and challenges. Distributors should be more aware that being content to be second can achieve good economic and social benefits.

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