Feng Qingyang said: "The Nine Swords of Dugu: advance without retreat! Every move is an attack, forcing the enemy to defend, so naturally you don't need to defend yourself."
As the weather warms up overall, the annual FMCG consumption boom draws nearer. With it comes even fiercer market competition than in previous years. For manufacturers and distributors, this period is truly the golden time for annual marketing, crucial for product turnover, share grabbing, and brand promotion. How to stand out in this peak season battle? Today, from three aspects—distribution channels, retail channels, and market tactics—I'll share with you a proactive "Nine Swords of Dugu" set, hoping to truly help all heroes.
"In martial arts, speed is the key to victory"—this is the core of all secret manuals and the key to every move in this swordplay. Here, speed manifests in three aspects: quick planning, quick execution, and quick market feedback. Moves should be thought out as far in advance as possible; being prepared prevents panic in crisis. In fact, comprehensive deployment should begin in late March, evaluating overall annual strategy, category strategy, resource budgets, and past experience to frame principles and scales, then continuously refine. Ideally, finalize resources by early April. Once moves are set, it's time to strike. Those executing must fully grasp the strategic essence, break down actions, and set schedules. Small market schedules must align with the overall market schedule, ensuring standardized actions that strike effectively. It's best to set execution KPIs for assessment and incentives. "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you'll never be defeated"—after throwing a punch, if the opponent suddenly counters with weapons, we must adjust strategy immediately, assess what weapon and how many troops the opponent uses, quickly report to decision-makers for an emergency meeting to devise countermeasures and seize market initiative.
Distribution Channel Sword Moves
Motivate with Benefits, Leverage Their Strength
The distribution channel is the starting link in the circulation chain. Distribution customers bear the manufacturer's sales tasks and market service targets. Their core value is helping manufacturers deliver products more and faster to places where consumers can easily buy, grabbing market share and enhancing brand influence. This is naturally what manufacturers want, but in reality, these customers often represent multiple brands, focus more on short-term profits, and lag behind manufacturers in willingness to act. They hope manufacturers will lead, invest more resources to build the brand first, and then they can enjoy the dividends of sales growth. So, as a manufacturer, the most important task is to fully motivate customers by painting a picture and doing the math for them.
In fact, since these customers are chosen by the manufacturer, they must have their own unique strengths in market operations, such as market development, distribution efficiency, and channel control. Manufacturers certainly can't outdo them in these areas. To truly maximize promotional effectiveness, it's essential to first gain the buy-in of distributors and other channel customers. The best way is to sit down with customers, analyze industry trends and market conditions, and ultimately present the manufacturer's plan, showing customers how to make money. Let customers fully participate rather than passively receive orders. During communication, clarify the respective responsibilities of manufacturer and customer, leveraging customers' familiarity with the market and resources like people, vehicles, and warehouses to lay a foundation for efficient execution.
Once consensus is reached on ideas and plans, strike while the iron is hot to refine and implement the plan: how much stock to prepare, how many people and vehicles to deploy, which market to start with, expected targets, personnel incentives, how much the distributor contributes, how much the manufacturer contributes... List everything clearly in black and white, "shake hands and sign," creating a sense of ceremony.
Secretly Cross the Border, Know Their Strength
A single brand usually can't support a customer's entire business. While we're eyeing customers for promotions, payments, and orders, other manufacturers won't sit idle. So, when customer resources and energy are limited, we must promptly understand customers' true movements. Analyze from warehouse dynamic inventory, learn from major sub-distributors in the region, and inquire from other manufacturers' sales reps to fully understand other manufacturers' promotional policies, sales targets, shipment situations, and payment rhythms. The clearer the picture, the better we can convincingly persuade the boss to support our product through prepared, detailed comparisons, winning the initiative and grabbing resources.
Guide with Support, Reward and Punish Clearly
More often, we conduct business reviews with modern trade customers, but it's also very necessary for traditional channel distributors or some core secondary wholesale customers. With rising consumption levels and intensifying industry competition, many channel customers feel increasingly anxious, especially those who started from mom-and-pop shops or tricycle vendors. They hope to hitch onto a rising brand, receive training, get manufacturer support, and carve a place in the new retail era. So, for channel customers, we must provide more market operation guidance, correct their extensive management models, and promptly encourage and advise their market behaviors, especially for newly partnered customers, gradually adapting them to the company's operational rhythm. In our peak season battle, we must purposefully "transform" customers, guiding them step by step on their cognition and market management issues. Through business reviews during execution (not necessarily with projectors in fancy meeting rooms; choose the best method based on customer conditions), training, and coaching, let customers see the market effects of their investment in time, truly help them improve their market management concepts, increase their identification with company culture, and enhance their willingness to cooperate with company market actions. This truly integrates manufacturer and customer resources, forming a virtuous cycle of customer cooperation.
Retail Channel Sword Moves
Water Flows Naturally, Service First
With the push from channel customers, it's like opening the valve to each household's tap water, but whether the water reaches every home smoothly isn't guaranteed. First, the pipes need to be laid—meaning we must have a list of core outlet customers and know their locations accurately. Second, our pipe network must be efficient, providing the best quality water and service to each household. Otherwise, we may be rejected by terminals because multiple suppliers can provide product services. Whoever offers better service and helps terminals earn more money will maintain friendlier, longer-lasting relationships. Although many manufacturers designate a single channel customer and sales rep for a region, there are still many uncontrollable outlets with independent purchasing channels that don't appreciate the service from channel customers or sales reps. This may stem from terminal issues or legacy problems, but if in later service we truly start from customer needs, help store owners analyze their business structure, and make more money, gaining terminal recognition is just a matter of time.
In the peak season battle, we must first focus on core outlets in the market, select truly productive and potential outlets, list them, and have sales reps plan daily visit routes according to the schedule and resource investment agreed with channel customers. Upon entering a store, provide quality service to target outlets, including greeting the owner, chatting, cleaning products, arranging shelves (remember not to only place your own products; tidy up any messy shelves), restocking, merchandising, negotiating display positions or freezer space, analyzing profit stories, recommending new products, scheduling next visits, and saying goodbye. Each step has its techniques, which I won't elaborate on here. What's clear is that different store owners have different preferences; don't copy mechanically. Tailor to their interests, build relationships, and aim to get the owner to cooperate as much as possible. Additionally, collect daily sales data from these stores routinely—not just as a basis for evaluating activity effectiveness, but also as evidence for effective communication with store owners.
Seize the Freezer, Set Clear Rules
The reason it's called peak season is because this time has the most factors driving consumer purchases. So, maximizing this point is the core marketing strategy at this stage: seize in-store freezer positions. If a manufacturer has sufficient funds, they can place their own cold drink equipment in stores. While this can secure larger and better display positions, managing a large number of units incurs significant management costs. In reality, after years of competition among manufacturers for in-store positions, over 80% of stores already have freezers. Investing more effort in placing equipment may not yield good results. The best approach now is to "borrow the hen to lay eggs," fully leveraging our execution (through assessments or incentives), in-store fee investments, or flexible display tools (like freezer suction cups) to grab freezer positions.
Even within a freezer, there are good and bad positions. Eye-level shelves, near the door handle, and products with prominent promotional signs have better sell-through. So, among distributor teams or our sales reps, we must establish standards for capturing in-store display opportunities: which shelf layer our product should be on, how many facings, the position relative to related products, what merchandising materials to configure, etc. With these standards, executors can operate uniformly and standardized, making it easy to quantify assessments and compare incentives.
Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom, Let a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend
Terminal channel formats are diverse, and even stores of the same type differ due to owner personalities, store layouts, and surrounding customer habits. If we encourage sales reps to fully leverage their abilities, use these differences well, constantly seek sales opportunities, and improve channel execution skills, our control over terminals will be stronger, and the team's execution atmosphere will be maximized. For example, in chess rooms or internet cafes, collaborate with owners on joint promotions, offering purchase-with-time-coupons; or if nearby customers buy lots of white liquor, set up secondary displays in the liquor section or run joint promotions with liquor brands. As long as you think creatively, ideally from the store owner's perspective, calculating a more attractive return rate, you'll get better ideas approved by owners and make your product stand out among similar ones. Distributors or manufacturers should strive to create a competitive and sharing atmosphere, at least holding a weekly experience-sharing meeting where sales reps gather to see who executes most diligently and who summarizes best. Set awards and present them through assessment, giving sales reps a sense of belonging and fully experiencing team cohesion and positive energy.
Create Models, Spark a Prairie Fire
In the industry, this is a clichéd move. But because it works well in market operations, many manufacturers and distributor partners still use it. Models are examples, including model stores, model routes, and model regions. By packaging and developing a potential store from store signs, shelves, freezers, stacked boxes, merchandising, and promotional notices, we set a benchmark and fully stimulate sales potential. By capturing opportunities inside and outside the store, we provide execution standards for sales reps and successful cases for communicating with store owners. Gradually, from point to line, from line to area, we form a stronger brand promotion effect, making consumers see, love to buy, and buy easily, creating sales pull. Combined with channel push and consumer promotions, we can capture consumer minds in a short time, forming a prairie fire.
Market Sword Moves
Prepare Supplies Before Troops Move
As everyone knows, supplies are crucial for soldiers on the march. In the peak season battle, this manifests as merchandising materials like posters, barriers, price tags, fridge stickers, neck hangers, freezer suction cups, countertop racks, promotional gifts, and other market supplies that boost sales, as well as daily visit essentials for sales reps like scissors, rags, and tape. These supplies must be designed, planned, and produced simultaneously with the activity plan, ensuring they arrive at distributor warehouses or offices before the activity starts. Details determine success or failure. Consumer purchases are largely impulsive and random. Many companies, when supplies don't arrive at the front line on time, severely impact activity effectiveness. If consumers enter a store and even the best promotion isn't visible at first glance, amid a dazzling array of shelves, if your product doesn't attract attention, it won't become the consumer's first choice—how can you talk about winning the battle?
Synchronize Up and Down, Comprehensive Communication
Currently, the concept of "new retail" is being hyped by several e-commerce giants, with various mergers and innovations, seemingly poised to disrupt traditional industries. Behind this is the rapid development of mobile internet, catering to and stimulating personalized needs of consumers and supply chain links. Technological innovation brings the possibility of meeting personalized needs, gradually eliminating information asymmetry barriers, and diversifying ways consumers access information. The proposal of "new retail" aligns with economic and social development trends and meets public consumer demands. So, none of our market strategies should deviate from this trend; we should proactively apply it.
During peak season execution, besides considering traditional online media investments like TV ads, bus stop ads, and vehicle ads, there are more important online communication channels like WeChat official accounts, WeChat sharing, and mobile ringback tones. Also, during offline activities, mainstream e-commerce platforms should simultaneously run promotions on the same theme, letting consumers feel the vibrant activity atmosphere from all information receivers. Some modern trade outlets like supermarkets and convenience stores, as well as entertainment channels like internet cafes and cinemas, can also do personnel promotions. During activities, add elements like games, lucky draws, and photo-sharing for likes to attract more consumer participation, focus product popularity, enhance brand influence, and gradually cultivate potential consumers' purchase and drinking habits. Many details offer innovation opportunities. When strolling through markets, observe more, don't limit yourself to your own industry. For product online promotion channels and methods, this is the best era. What we need to do is observe diligently, innovate boldly, and position precisely.
The "Nine Swords of Dugu" manual is now revealed, with over a thousand words of moves and thoughts. But the world of martial arts changes endlessly, not bound by rules. If swordsmen want to achieve their goals, they must savor the essence of the manual, grasp its core, and integrate it. Yet times change swiftly like a white horse passing a gap; we must keep pace with the times, continuously improve, and accumulate strength to strike, only then can we stand undefeated. Let's encourage each other.
Introduction: Xing Renbao, with 11 years of marketing management experience, has worked at Coca-Cola, Yili, Red Bull, and other well-known FMCG companies, focusing on marketing diagnosis, strategic planning, product positioning, consumer behavior, and sales team building and management for food and beverage companies.
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