---
title: "What Are the Highlights of Hard Discount in 2024?"
description: "From March 14 to 16, the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference, the 2nd China FMCG Hard Discount Conference, and the 2nd China FMCG Distributor Conference were held in Chengdu under the theme 'Supply Chain Revolution.' Liu Chunxiong, a proponent of new marketing and director of the Marketing Digitalization Research Institute, delivered a keynote speech titled 'Supply Chain Revolution, New Brand Landscape' to over 2,000 manufacturer and FMCG representatives. This article highlights key points from his speech, focusing on the current state and future of hard discount, the differences between soft and hard discount, the role of white-label products, and the need for a new path beyond single-category snacks."
author: "刘春雄"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2024-04-07"
language: "en"
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---

# What Are the Highlights of Hard Discount in 2024?

> From March 14 to 16, the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference, the 2nd China FMCG Hard Discount Conference, and the 2nd China FMCG Distributor Conference were held in Chengdu under the theme 'Supply Chain Revolution.' Liu Chunxiong, a proponent of new marketing and director of the Marketing Digitalization Research Institute, delivered a keynote speech titled 'Supply Chain Revolution, New Brand Landscape' to over 2,000 manufacturer and FMCG representatives. This article highlights key points from his speech, focusing on the current state and future of hard discount, the differences between soft and hard discount, the role of white-label products, and the need for a new path beyond single-category snacks.

From March 14 to 16, the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference, the 2nd China FMCG Hard Discount Conference, and the 2nd China FMCG Distributor Conference were held in Chengdu under the theme 'Supply Chain Revolution.'
**Liu Chunxiong, a proponent of new marketing and director of the Marketing Digitalization Research Institute**, attended as a guest speaker and delivered a keynote speech titled **'Supply Chain Revolution, New Brand Landscape'** to over 2,000 manufacturer and FMCG representatives from across the country.
New Distribution has compiled the essence of the speech for our readers.
**Key Points**
**1. Current Status and Future of Hard Discount:**
Current: The hard discount in leisure snacks has seen a single-category explosion, but no subsequent categories have followed.
Future: The mainstay of hard discount will be comprehensive private-label hard discount.
**2. Difference Between Soft and Hard Discount:** Soft discount involves well-known brands, offering consumers a sense of getting a bargain; hard discount involves new brands, offering low prices.
**3. White-label products were previously called generic brands.** After being endorsed by platforms or retailers, they become white-label. White-label products are definitely not well-known brands.
**4. The development of hard discount requires a generation of young people to become the mainstream consumers**, which may take 10 years or even longer!
**5. Three major supply chains for hard discount:** White-label supply chain; brand-exclusive supply; private label.
**6. Finding the highlights of hard discount in 2024:** 1) Young consumer business districts; 2) Direct supply of white-label products; 3) Comprehensive retail, or leisure snacks+.

**In 2023, the highlight of hard discount was leisure snacks.**
**What will be the highlight in 2024?**
Is hard discount popular?
Before the conference, I checked two relevant indices: the Douyin index was over 1,500, and the WeChat index was over 20,000.
From the data, hard discount is not very popular on the C-end, but it is relatively popular on the B-end.
Since the second half of last year, I have been thinking about a question: **How much further will hard discount go?**
In 2023, the highlight of hard discount was leisure snacks, and its popularity was undeniable. In October, the highest WeChat index was for leisure snacks, but no subsequent categories followed.
At this stage, the landscape for leisure snacks is largely settled. Even if there is still some room for development, it is only a single category. It is unrealistic to expect a single category to support the sustainable development of a track.
**In 2024, if there are no new highlights, will hard discount cool down? Or will it cool down and be temporarily marginalized?**
The answer is very likely.
How to find new highlights?
In the future, we need comprehensive private-label or leisure snacks+ hard discount. European hard discount has already reached a stage where private labels are the mainstay, with hard discount accounting for 42.7% in 2023.
This is completely different from the development stage of hard discount in China. Currently, domestic hard discount is still in the single-category explosion stage, which is insufficient to support the development of shopping malls.
Before the Spring Festival, I visited some KA stores and found that between soft and hard discount, **most Chinese household consumers tend to prefer soft discount.**
In some stores I visited, private labels were placed on the edge of shelves. However, when I went again during the Spring Festival, even the edge shelves were gone, completely abandoned. Because during peak seasons, soft discount still dominates and is more popular.
Soft discount typically involves well-known brands enjoying price advantages, giving consumers a sense of getting a bargain, while hard discount often refers to emerging brands that are cheap but lack brand effect.
Between getting a bargain and being cheap, KA store consumers chose getting a bargain.
In the short term, it is difficult to get most domestic household consumers to switch to hard discount.
Compared with foreign countries, European and American private labels have a history of over 60 years. China will not change overnight.
A book titled 'Crossing the Chasm' states: There is a chasm between the present and a beautiful future. If you cannot cross it, you will fall into it.
In 2024, the chasm for hard discount in China is right in front of us.
**In 2024, can hard discount cross the chasm?** The single-category explosion of leisure snacks is hard to replicate. **Comprehensive private-label hard discount is a new direction and the general trend for the future.** To find new highlights sufficient to cross the chasm, I began frequently visiting stores. As a leader in comprehensive categories, Le'erle has reached 4,000 stores, setting an example. Using my home as the center, I searched for nearby Le'erle stores and looked for commonalities. I found that most Le'erle stores are near schools. This gave me a great insight: these are not only school stores but also stores for young people. **Who exactly does hard discount serve?** Traditional communities may serve middle-aged and elderly people; new communities may serve young people who have just married; and urban villages may serve young migrant workers. Conversely, what label should we attach to the prosperity of hard discount in 2023? Leisure snacks? Long-tail categories? White-label? Young people? First, the leisure snacks market is relatively saturated. Second, long-tail categories with high demand, high frequency, and high gross margins, like leisure snacks, are no longer available. Excluding 'leisure snacks' and 'long-tail categories,' two labels remain: **'white-label' and 'young people.'** One of the highlights of white-label hard discount is the consumer business districts of young people, especially in newly developed residential areas or business districts, where white-label products are the main suppliers. As the scale expands, co-branding can be considered, and more and more stores are gradually shifting to comprehensive categories, such as 'leisure snacks+'.
**White-label might be a way out.** White-label is not equal to private label; it refers to products selected and endorsed by other platforms or companies. In the past, they were called generic brands. After being endorsed by platforms or retailers, they become white-label. However, whether white-label is trustworthy is a complex issue. Past experiences have taught older consumers that white-label products may have no bottom line, so people tend to buy well-known brands with quality assurance. However, with the development of China's economy, the new generation may not have such shadows. They have higher trust in Chinese manufacturing, even for white-label products. At this New Distribution conference, Mr. Qi Te mentioned a sentence: 'Only consumers who have enjoyed prosperity are mature.' I strongly agree with this view. High cost-performance products are a mature choice for consumers, and this choice requires the strong endorsement of the country. Therefore, believing in white-label is believing in China, especially as the younger generation is more confident in China. **Comprehensive hard discount is definitely the next track. From white-label to co-branded brands, and then to private labels, this is the development path for hard discount in China.** To popularize this development path, a shift in the consumer base is needed, meaning a generation of young people becoming the mainstream consumers. I initially estimate that this shift will take at least 10 years. Hard discount has three major supply chains. **The first is white-label suppliers**, which are usually the first choice for startups with small scale and incomplete supply chains. At this stage, choosing white-label means you are choosing a consumer group that recognizes white-label products. As the enterprise scale expands, it can gradually transform into co-branded brands, like Le'erle. They have successfully established co-branded brands. **The greatest value of the private-label track lies in its endorsement effect**, turning generic products into white-label products. The only difference between white-label and generic is the trustworthiness of hard discount as an endorsement, making white-label products more reliable than other generics. In addition to the above two paths, there is another. I also agree with the path Lian Jie mentioned, which is **hard discount in lower-tier markets**. It is viable in terms of business path, but not necessarily for the promotion of hard discount. Because if the positioning is too low, it may not accumulate enough momentum. Supermarkets like Hema, which started with high-profile strategies and then lowered prices, have seen considerable promotional effects when transitioning to hard discount. According to my observation, currently over 50% of Hema's SKUs are private labels. They can do private labels because, first, their brand has the capability to do private labels; second, they started with high-profile strategies and now adopt high-profile but low-price strategies, making consumers feel they are getting a bargain. In summary, my core view is that **in 2024, the hard discount market needs to find a path different from the single-category leisure snacks.** This path must be comprehensive, and to achieve comprehensiveness, it needs to develop on a large scale and find **white-label consumers.** Therefore, I believe 2024 is still the year of white-label hard discount. Because most startups have not yet reached the scale for co-branding with well-known brands, let alone private labels. **Only through white-label products can they gain endorsement, and white-label also needs to find suitable consumers.** As for whether we can cross the chasm? I think 2023 performed well, and in 2024, we look forward to our performance.

_PS: Friends interested in the on-site speech content can follow the recent posts on the New Distribution WeChat official account. We will compile and publish all guest speeches for our readers._
_Click **Read Original** to see more about the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference and the 2nd China FMCG Hard Discount Conference & the 2nd China FMCG Distributor Conference..._


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