For a long time, many small brands have been puzzled about whether to invest in retail outlets given their limited strength and product range. Many large brands already have mature large outlets, even super outlets (those with annual sales exceeding 500,000 yuan), but they often find that although they have many outlets, few actually contribute real profits. More often, they are just 'cheering for nothing'—gaining face but losing money. What should they do? In fact, regardless of brand size, they all face an urgent issue: how to break through and grow in the era of retail outlets.

In China, based on store area and brand footprint, outlets are typically divided into large and small terminals, using scale as the criterion. Large terminals mean large investments—entry fees, floor space fees, decoration costs, promotional staff expenses, annual sales guarantees, and frequent sponsorship of holiday fees. It seems large terminals have become an important means for shopping malls to lease property and collect rent. Small brands complain they can't get into large terminals, while large brands that do enter find it hard to achieve profitability. In short, everyone is dissatisfied.

However, if we change perspective and measure by contribution to company profits, outlets can be divided into two types: those that generate profit and those that don't. If we analyze how to handle large and small outlets using this standard, the approach becomes clear: develop as many profitable outlets as possible, regardless of size, and minimize the number of outlets that only cause losses or fail to generate profit.

A clear example: running a lavishly decorated hotel with sparse customer flow is not more respectable than a street stall selling fried dough sticks and soy milk. The latter may have a shabby facade, but it brings in ample cash flow daily, achieving profitability every day despite its small size. So, in business, making money is the ultimate principle!

With this analysis, the path becomes clear! No wonder well-known home appliance brands like Midea and Joyoung began, two years ago, to emphasize seeking profits from small outlets and secondary markets. Home appliance chain giants Gome and Suning also proposed strategic expansion into second- and third-tier markets in 2005, because in most first-tier cities in China, it's not just appliance brands that find it unprofitable; the chain giants themselves are tired of fighting each other and 'cheering for nothing'.

Therefore, valuing small outlets and seeking profits from secondary markets has become a necessary move for brands to achieve profitability. But without impressive grandeur, bustling customer flow, or huge sales volumes, how can small outlets become the favorite of both large and small brands?

Maximizing the expression of product value uniqueness is the core of Japanese brand displays.

In Japan, there is no clear distinction between large and small outlets. Wherever products are displayed, you see standardized displays and comprehensive information. The key point is conveying the maximum 'selling point' necessary for product display and sales to customers, because the biggest selling point is the added value that distinguishes it from other brands for users—the most critical factor in final purchase decisions. If this fundamental point is achieved, the brand successfully spreads its message! Once you grasp the essence of small outlets and product display, developing and enhancing them becomes much easier. With skillful effort, you can see beautiful small outlets blooming in your hands! Though small, they become increasingly lovely because of the continuous profits they generate.

In many larger regional outlets, a few major brands in the industry usually occupy the most favorable positions, and smaller brands seem helpless. But that's not the case! The glorious image of large outlets often attracts considerable customer browsing and viewing, but customers don't initially decide that big brands are their only choice. In such cases, small brands can adopt a parasitic strategy, standing in the spotlight by using colors that contrast sharply with big brands to attract attention. If the big brand is red, you choose yellow; if it's white, you choose black for your decoration. Make customers feel, 'How did I almost miss this brand here?' Make them remember you and leave a deep impression—then your goal is achieved!

For small outlet displays to stand out and enhance customer memory, color concentration is most important! Don't introduce too many colors into your products, counters, shelves, or promotional materials. Although it may look colorful, it leaves no impression on customers. When your resources are limited, concentrating firepower for a decisive battle is the best strategy!

Highlighting your image is the first step to making small outlets 'run'. Next, you must clearly define the unique value or benefit you need to convey to customers. Simply put, customers go to large outlets for brand and peace of mind, but choose small outlets for products, prices, or service. You can offer longer warranty periods or more discounts than big brands. Otherwise, customers won't even give you a second glance!

So, if your product has a more unique benefit that makes customers hesitate, that's your blessing! Therefore, at the outlet, small brands should daily consider: what is the most unique value of my product? It could be safer, more convenient, or healthier—any of these can be the core of your outlet communication. Use labels, DMs, standing cards, table cards, or jump cards, even X-banners or roll-up banners, to express it unreservedly, because this is key to touching customers' hearts. Your display space may be limited, but highlighting one major feature and selling point is enough! It's necessary to discard the least important information!

Making customers understand your uniqueness isn't enough. To capture their hearts, you also need to make the product 'run'. How? Simply put, use various means to get the product into customers' eyes, noses, ears, mouths, and hearts! After making displays vivid, to expect a purchase, you also need to do vivid product demonstrations.

Generally, in most small outlets, space is very limited, but to stand out, small brands must lobby the mall manager to secure a relatively independent product demonstration area, or even just a demo table! Because we are now in the era of the experience economy. Without full sensory experiences—visual, taste, hearing, smell, and touch—it's extremely difficult to get customers to open their wallets! So, as long as the venue allows, small brands must use all their skills: let customers operate the product themselves, show them the internal structure, offer free tastings, let them smell what's different, etc. In short, doing everything possible to let customers fully experience the product is key to making sales!

When customers feel the uniqueness of your product and start praising it and can't put it down, your product has already 'flown'. At that point, even if you offer some discounts, it's hard to stop them from buying! Joyoung experienced this when it first launched soy milk makers in 1996, and with just a few machines, it successfully captured a significant share of the small appliance market!

When Volkswagen launched the Beetle, many were pessimistic, but the classic slogan 'Think Small' made the Beetle a global hit! The same applies to small outlets! Large outlets often mean life-and-death struggles and honor battles among brands, thus bearing more operational risks and cost pressures. Small outlets, on the other hand, are about breaking the whole into parts, turning tangible into intangible, embodying the channel essence of 'like a canal guiding water, the great way has no form'. Therefore, it's natural and inevitable that they bear more responsibility for profit realization!

This world is full of opposites and contradictions: there is big because there is small. Big has its uses, small has its charm and mission. Doing everything possible through color concentration, vivid displays, and lifelike demonstrations to make your outlets 'run' and even 'fly', blooming more beautiful flowers, is our fundamental pursuit of winning at the outlet!

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