--- title: "The Traditional Double-Festival Order Conference Is Slowly Dying" description: "Why write about this topic? During a recent market visit, I noticed that this year's Mid-Autumn Festival (October 4) would normally be a peak time for manufacturers' order conferences, but many distributors have no intention of holding one due to high cost-effectiveness, insufficient returns, difficulty in collecting advance payments, and lack of interest from retail terminals. The article analyzes why order conferences are becoming increasingly difficult to hold, citing factors such as normalized holiday consumption, diversified consumer needs, online festival promotions, information transparency, intensified competition, lack of innovation, trust issues, chaotic marketing planning, and anti-corruption policies. It concludes with suggestions for reform." author: "朱朝阳" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2017-09-14" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-traditional-double-festival-order-conference-is-slowly-dying-00cbd891/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-traditional-double-festival-order-conference-is-slowly-dying-00cbd891.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/FzC5sqxwbehTAeP4qQZpDg" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%BC%A0%E7%BB%9F%E7%9A%84%E5%8F%8C%E8%8A%82%E8%AE%A2%E8%B4%A7%E4%BC%9A%E5%9C%A8%E6%85%A2%E6%85%A2%E6%AD%BB%E5%8E%BB-00cbd891.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-traditional-double-festival-order-conference-is-slowly-dying-00cbd891/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # The Traditional Double-Festival Order Conference Is Slowly Dying > Why write about this topic? During a recent market visit, I noticed that this year's Mid-Autumn Festival (October 4) would normally be a peak time for manufacturers' order conferences, but many distributors have no intention of holding one due to high cost-effectiveness, insufficient returns, difficulty in collecting advance payments, and lack of interest from retail terminals. The article analyzes why order conferences are becoming increasingly difficult to hold, citing factors such as normalized holiday consumption, diversified consumer needs, online festival promotions, information transparency, intensified competition, lack of innovation, trust issues, chaotic marketing planning, and anti-corruption policies. It concludes with suggestions for reform. Click the image for details. Why write about this topic? During a recent market visit, this year's October 4th is the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Compared to before, this time should be when manufacturers' order conferences come one after another. However, many distributors have no intention of holding one, citing high cost-effectiveness, insufficient returns, difficulty in collecting advance payments, and lack of interest from retail terminals. Why are order conferences becoming increasingly difficult to hold? 1. Consumer holiday consumption has become normalized; explosive consumption is a thing of the past. In the era of product scarcity, people were frugal in daily life and only splurged on good food, drinks, and new clothes during festivals. At that time, consumption concentrated during festivals, leading to explosive sales at terminals. Manufacturers' promotions, even slightly increased, would prompt terminals to stock up aggressively because they could sell through the inventory during the festival without tying up capital. 2. Consumer behavior has changed; needs are diversified and personalized. Previously, an industry was dominated by a few top brands, leaving consumers with few choices. Now, consumers have diverse and personalized options, which subtly erodes the share of main products. Even big brands are only 'big' but not necessarily 'strong'. Terminal stores often say, 'Every product sells, but none sell much; only some are relatively better.' In such cases, terminals are unwilling to stock up because sales volumes are low, and the profit from holding more inventory is not significant. 3. Online festivals erode and divide sales. Online festival promotions target consumers directly, bypassing terminals. In 2016, Alibaba's platforms on Double 11 achieved total transactions of 120.7 billion yuan, plus sales on various niche e-commerce platforms. Traditional double-festival order conferences go from manufacturer to distributor to terminal, while online festival promotions directly squeeze consumers' current and future usage. A friend once said, 'The toothpaste we bought on Double 11 will last three years; within those three years, no matter how big a promotion any manufacturer offers, I won't buy again.' This is the impact of online on offline. E-commerce platforms have powerful big data, tracking and analyzing consumer habits. When a consumer's product is about to run out, a new promotion follows, forming a closed loop. 4. Highly developed information, convenient logistics, and diversified channels for sourcing goods. Terminal store owners calculate whether an order conference's policy is worthwhile based on their sales volume, comparing prices nationwide. Almost every terminal store has industry groups; they can source at low prices without stocking up, and logistics costs are low. So, in this situation, owners are unwilling to stock up. 5. Deteriorating competitive environment and normalized channel promotions. Salespeople on the front lines often hear terminal store owners complain, 'Your promotions aren't much better than usual.' For mature products, to stabilize price, companies usually dare not offer big discounts for fear of price collapse. New products with discounts have no effect either. Competition forces companies to take measures to protect market share and sales, leading to an awkward situation where no promotion means no sales, and by the time festivals arrive, they have no ammunition left. 6. Order conferences are old-fashioned and lack novelty. Typically, order conferences involve booking a hotel, placing orders, watching performances, raffles, and eating and drinking. Year after year, terminal store owners suffer from 'order conference fatigue.' Moreover, prizes are similar—appliances, trips. Many terminal owners say, 'The appliances given at order conferences will last until my grandchildren's generation; it's a waste to sell them at low prices.' Manufacturers dare not give product gifts for fear of low-price selling by terminals. 7. Lack of trust; terminals fear distributors will run away. If things were relatively normal around 2000, in the information age, one would expect fewer incidents. But last year's industry reports suggest it became crazier. Distributors face high financing costs, poor operations, bank loan recalls, and manufacturer pressure, forcing them to 'run.' With advanced information dissemination, terminal owners have the mentality of 'once bitten, twice shy.' 8. Chaotic annual marketing planning and market management; policies change at will. Shortly after an order conference, another unprecedented promotion is launched, causing terminal complaints. Policy inconsistency leads to cross-regional dumping, with nationwide support. 9. National anti-corruption policies. Festivals are often the best excuse for people to seek favors and give gifts, increasing demand for goods. The government's strong anti-corruption campaign has reduced gift-giving, leading to a significant decline in high-end product sales at terminals during festivals. **Summary: Here, saying that traditional order conferences are slowly dying is not alarmist; it's an analysis of existing problems in the current environment. The purpose is for marketing management to reform and innovate in the new environment to make marketing actions more efficient.** Brief suggestions: 1. Design a comprehensive annual channel promotion plan to ensure systematic and coherent promotions. 2. Control market prices and logistics, stabilize prices, strictly punish cross-regional dumping, and focus on terminal sell-through. 3. Strengthen consumer development, shift to consumer-focused meetings, with terminals serving as carriers. 4. Diversify order conference formats, transforming from eating and drinking events to sharing sessions that help terminal owners solve business problems. **Source: Marketing Perspective Mirror** Click the image for details. **The 3rd (CFIC) China FMCG + Internet Conference** will be held in Chongqing in October 2017. The conference will focus on the theme 'New Forces, New Ecology' and invite **1000+ distributors, 500+ brand owners, 200+ B2B platform founders, and 100+ investment and financing institutions** to explore new chapters of cross-border integration! **Core topics of this conference:** > * How can the FMCG industry leverage B2B to achieve new growth opportunities? > > > > > > > * How should the new supply chain behind new retail be built? > > > > > > > * How can intra-city logistics help B2B achieve leapfrog development? > **Highlights of this conference:** > * The industry's first '2017 China FMCG B2B Industry Competitiveness White Paper' > > > > > * **Case sharing of excellent distributors in transformation and upgrading** > > > > > * **Upgraded conference + exhibition, Hall 6 Internet Technology Exhibition strengthens networking** > > > > > * **Alibaba Retail Link, Puhua Financial, Eternal Asia Supply Chain, Best Dianjia, Yijiupi, Unilever, Haiding Information, Yunmei Shares—leaders from various fields will deliver speeches and share pioneering views.** > > November 8-9, 2017 Chongqing International Expo Center Registration is now open. Long press the QR code below or click 'Read Original' to register. Early bird tickets before September 15 enjoy a 30% discount! Add friend with note 'Conference Registration' Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st and 2nd FMCG + Internet Conferences: 2016 'FMCG + Internet' Summit Forum 2017 (2nd) China FMCG + Internet Conference Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st and 2nd FMCG + Internet Conferences: [2016 'FMCG + Internet' Summit Forum]() -END- --- ## Copyright and AI use This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL. Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671