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Business is hard, blame the market; products are hard to sell, blame the manufacturer; Times change, dislike the era; if you don't eliminate yourself, who will? Transformation may not succeed, but not transforming means waiting to die!
This year, more and more distributors across the country are paying attention to internet platforms. The main reason is that the business environment has changed, and distributors must change. Distributors have a relatively simple view of internet platforms: they just want to make more money, and they don't want the money-making process to be too complicated.
There are many third-party companies in the market that build platforms. When guiding distributors to build platforms, they introduce the value of the platform as having unlimited imagination. Indeed, many platforms, once built, have infinite value. But for our distributors, what we can control and grasp mainly includes the following three points.
1. Through platform construction, distributors build their own 'air force'
Traditional distributors rely on salespeople to develop and maintain the market. 'The marketplace is like a battlefield.' Salespeople on the battlefield are equivalent to the 'army' or 'ground forces.' For enterprises operating for more than 5 years, the 'army' of salespeople becomes increasingly strong, and locally, relying on this force, they have carved out a territory.
Online malls like JD.com and Tmall are like the 'air force' on the battlefield. They cover a larger and wider area, react very quickly, and can even see into every corner of the battlefield. Online shopping has no regional or time restrictions; it allows sales to penetrate every corner.
Online shopping has a significant impact on our distributors' sales, but we feel helpless and don't know how to fight back. It's like the army fighting the air force; there's no way to counter the air force's market.
The best counterattack is for distributors to have their own 'air force.' This is one of the main purposes of distributors building platforms today. By combining the 'army' (ground forces) with the 'air force,' they can serve their terminal stores together. This is an important upgrade in distributor services.
Example: A certain brand recently wants to run a promotion: buy ten get five (normally buy ten get four). Previously, this promotion relied entirely on the distributor's 'ground forces,' with salespeople going door-to-door to promote. It would take at least 2 to 4 weeks to cover all terminal stores, and only after a month could they see the results. If the distributor has built an 'air force,' the promotion can be posted on the internet platform, covering all terminal stores in just a few seconds. Terminal stores see it and can order online directly. The 'air force' completes the first batch of sales to terminal stores, then the 'ground forces' follow up, with salespeople completing the second batch of orders.
Through this 'air force' + 'army' combat model, the market can be covered more finely, accurately, and comprehensively!
The 'air force' must be self-built, not just opening a small store on third-party platforms like Taobao, Tmall, or JD.com. It must be built by the distributor themselves.
Many distributors will say they can't build it themselves: they lack a rich product line, lack technical capability, and terminal stores won't use it.
Difficulties certainly exist, but not building the 'air force' is not an option. Let professionals do professional things. Distributors are the entity, and the internet is the virtual. Only the combination of entity + virtual is a 'strong alliance.' For example, Shanghai Medline ordering platform is a good virtual entity.
2. Create the local 'largest online wholesale market'
Generally, every city has a 'wholesale market' or 'wholesale city.' Many of our distributors also have stalls in the local wholesale market, with customers being small terminal store owners or group buyers.
The merchants in the wholesale market are actually most of our distributors themselves. Conversely, we can say that our distributors, when united, form a wholesale market or wholesale city.
But business in wholesale markets is getting harder. Why? Because customers who come to the wholesale market have become 'lazy'; they want to order without coming in person. Thus, the wholesale market business has upgraded from 'sitting merchants' to 'itinerant merchants.' After a few years of itinerant operation, terminal customers start to refuse to pay up. Why? Because the service of itinerant merchants hasn't substantially improved over the years. Not improving is a regression, because terminal customers' requirements are rising.
Distributors unite to form a 'wholesale market.' Similarly, if multiple distributors combine their supply sources and distribution to build an internet platform, they can also form an 'online wholesale market' locally.
Through distributor collaboration, they can build the 'largest local online wholesale market,' forming the largest local 'air force.' Combined with each distributor's original salespeople (ground forces), they complete the largest local online + offline combined service. This allows distributors to cover all local terminal outlets, providing better service to terminal stores than the original itinerant merchants, with higher sales and greater value! It is an upgrade of the distributor business model.
Online collaboration among distributors differs from traditional collaboration (like chambers of commerce). The original collaboration had low cohesion; only when 'people' were together was it called collaboration. But now with the internet, collaboration can happen through the network. For example: Put the supply sources of collaborating distributors on the same internet ordering platform, presenting a united front to terminal customers. Terminal stores order uniformly through the platform. With unified ordering, distributors can deliver uniformly, settle funds uniformly, and each distributor settles with the platform. Such collaboration not only doesn't harm the original interests of distributors but also unites them through the internet. The bargaining power of terminal stores and market expenses will change significantly. Transform the original 'squeezing' of individual distributors into 'proactively controlling the market' through the internet.
Every city has a 'offline wholesale market,' but there is no online market. The business opportunity is right in front of us!
Distributor collaboration is easier said than done. It's very difficult because the vision, mindset, and history of distributor bosses make collaboration challenging. Without the internet, the possibility of collaboration is slim; with the internet, the opportunity is huge. The key lies in how we use the internet, a technology and mindset that can be deep or shallow.
3. Finance, financing, land grabbing, money grabbing, listing...
I think this third point is something for a year later. If distributor friends do well on points 1 and 2 above, they will be very successful. Do these two points well, and point 3 will automatically come to you.
This reminds me of a saying: 'Chasing a horse is tiring; use the time to grow a patch of grass, and the horse will come to you naturally.' If you think about financing and listing immediately after building a platform, it's very tiring. Instead, be down-to-earth, build the current platform step by step from the basics. Slowly, when you've built the platform, financing and listing institutions will naturally come to you.
Upgrading the organizational structure of factories and companies to platform-based enterprises is a trend. Platform-based enterprises are the mainstream organizational form of the future. This upgrade is a systematic project. During the upgrade, if any important link is not handled well, it may fail. In the process of building a platform, how to avoid risks? Please pay attention to the next article.
1. If you can see this article, it means your smartphone has WeChat installed, so this article will definitely be relevant to you; 2. If you happen to be a businessman, you should read this article to the end because it will overturn your experience with previous business models; 3. If your business has been taken away by Taobao and Tmall, and your store is deserted, you should definitely read it to the end because it will give you a chance to overtake on the curve!
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