---
title: "What's the Secret Behind Red Bull's Annual Sales of 20 Billion? Five Major Distributors Share Their Insights"
description: "Red Bull, as the most successful energy drink in China, has grown into the country's best-selling beverage product over the past two decades. This article compiles the market operation experiences and insights of five major Red Bull distributors, revealing how the brand achieved its remarkable success."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2018-02-12"
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# What's the Secret Behind Red Bull's Annual Sales of 20 Billion? Five Major Distributors Share Their Insights

> Red Bull, as the most successful energy drink in China, has grown into the country's best-selling beverage product over the past two decades. This article compiles the market operation experiences and insights of five major Red Bull distributors, revealing how the brand achieved its remarkable success.

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Red Bull, as the most successful energy drink in China, despite ongoing brand disputes and uncertain future trends, has undeniably grown into the country's largest-selling beverage product over the past two decades. Its product positioning, marketing strategies, and channel operations must all have outstanding aspects. Today, we have compiled the market operation experiences and insights of five major Red Bull distributors to see how the miracle of Red Bull's mega-product was forged.
**Mo Jungang, President of Guangzhou Huaxin Trading Co., Ltd.: Manufacturers and distributors should give each other time and space to develop.**
Mo Jungang, President of Huaxin Trading
"At that time, most beverages retailed at 2 yuan, but Red Bull was priced at 6 yuan per can. If we became the agent, would the market accept it?" said Mo Jungang, current President of Guangzhou Huaxin Trading Co., Ltd. At that time, Huaxin Trading had a certain influence in the FMCG industry in Guangzhou. Through a friend's introduction, China Red Bull approached Huaxin Trading, but the initial negotiation left Huaxin's management in a dilemma.
"Frankly speaking, the price of 6 yuan for a 250ml can twenty-two years ago, the market and consumer acceptance could be roughly estimated," Mo said. "After several rounds of negotiations, the confidence and sincerity shown by China Red Bull's senior management gradually dispelled Huaxin's doubts."
3,000 cases was the first order after China Red Bull signed a distribution agreement with Huaxin Trading. China Red Bull again showed its sincerity: if unsold, they could be returned. "A case of Red Bull cost over 100 yuan, and we only made a few yuan per case. If we couldn't sell them and couldn't return them, a slight backlog would mean wasted effort," Mo said. This confidence of "return if unsold" gave peace of mind to wholesalers, downstream channel partners, and mom-and-pop stores alike.
From initial market exploration to gaining consumer recognition, like most new product launches, China Red Bull encountered "acclimatization issues" in its early growth. The first year's sales target was not met, with only about 1,000 cases sold. "If it were another manufacturer, they might have sought new distributors, but China Red Bull didn't. They chose us and were willing to give us time and space to develop together, willing to take on challenges together. This is one of China Red Bull's greatest successes," Mo said.
Data shows that in 2016, China Red Bull's sales revenue in Guangzhou approached 1 billion yuan. "In 1996, it was over 10,000 cases; in 1997, over 30,000; in 1998, over 60,000; in 1999, it reached 120,000 cases; by 2010, it was 1.1 million cases; in 2011, it directly reached 2.2 million cases; and in 2016, it nearly tripled 3,000 times," Mo recalled the numbers vividly.
Meanwhile, as a primary distributor for many brands in Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta, Huaxin Trading needed to maximize its logistics and distribution capabilities. Mo became the helmsman pushing Huaxin's modern management deeper. "Apart from Red Bull, Huaxin represents tens of thousands of SKUs, and customers across the Pearl River Delta number in the hundreds of thousands. Without rapid response capabilities, we couldn't quickly and accurately meet customer needs," Mo said. Additionally, Huaxin established branch companies to flatten management and quickly adapt to customer needs. "These branches are frontline command posts, allowing us to stay close to the market and better understand customer conditions. For example, in Baiyun District alone, we established five branch companies."
Among the four first-tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen), Guangzhou doesn't have the largest population, yet its Red Bull sales are the highest, far ahead of Beijing and Shanghai. Behind Red Bull's popularity in Guangzhou is Huaxin's full coverage of 40,000 retail outlets. Wherever there's a mom-and-pop store, there's the golden figure of China Red Bull. Today, Huaxin's Red Bull sales account for over 90% of the Greater Guangzhou market share, and its annual sales have consistently ranked first among China Red Bull distributors nationwide for years.
**Lai Haibiao, Chairman of Guangxi Henghao Trading Co., Ltd.: Better to be specialized and deep than broad and comprehensive.**
Lai Haibiao, Chairman of Henghao Trading
Lai Haibiao and Henghao Trading have long been a banner among fast-moving consumer goods channel distributors in Nanning and even Guangxi. Over the past 20-plus years, his company has grown alongside Guangxi's economic development and China Red Bull, with sales continuously breaking records and climbing.
In 2010, after Guangxi Henghao diversified, it also took on the promotion of Shede liquor in Guangxi, but at that time, a profound transformation in the Red Bull Guangxi market left Lai Haibiao restless and tasteless for several months.
With the development of China Red Bull's national market and the resulting explosion in the energy drink market, Red Bull's regional distributor system urgently needed reform. Taking the Guangxi market as an example, with market expansion, the growth rate and growth amount jumped to the top five nationally within just three years, and the number of terminal outlets increased geometrically, requiring greater capital turnover and more labor costs for maintenance. The original distributor system could no longer adapt to the development speed of the Red Bull Guangxi market. After deeply cultivating Guangxi for over a decade, although Henghao had expanded its Red Bull business to half of Guangxi, it had to face a split due to Red Bull's channel strategy adjustment.
"This channel adjustment meant I had to give up most of the Guangxi market, retaining only the Nanning urban area. The market I had painstakingly cultivated was handed over to others." Initially, Lai was unwilling to cooperate and approached China Red Bull's market leaders several times, but eventually accepted Red Bull's arrangement to only handle the Nanning urban area. This period was described by Lai as an unforgettable experience and also a new turning point for the Red Bull Guangxi market.
"During that channel adjustment and split, I knew some distributors were ultimately unwilling and chose to give up, feeling it was unfair to hand over the market they had worked so hard to build. But now, many of them regret it," Lai said. At that time, China Red Bull's channel adjustment aimed to flatten the channel, allowing direct access to the terminal market through China Red Bull headquarters, branch companies, and distributors. During that period, Lai frequently communicated with the Red Bull Guangxi market leader, and the final response was: "Don't worry, even though you'll only handle the Nanning urban area, the Guangxi market will develop rapidly in the coming years, and the Nanning urban area will also do better. Exceeding 200 million yuan in two to three years is not a problem." This gave Lai peace of mind, and he began to work on more thorough channel cultivation. For Lai, shrinking from half of Guangxi meant not only increasing repeat purchase rates in the Nanning urban area but also intensifying efforts to increase network coverage density in the urban area.
Facts proved this measure correct. A specific data point is that it took over a decade for Red Bull's sales in China to grow from 0 to 10 billion yuan, but only three years to grow from 10 billion to 20 billion, thanks to channel flattening. For distributors, it concentrated resources, improved networks, and reduced financial risks.
"To increase distribution rates and ensure consumers can buy Red Bull in all consumption scenarios, we promoted stocking in various terminal channels such as Sinopec, PetroChina, supermarkets, and small shops, increasing market inventory. At the same time, the market was finely covered, occupying 7-8 million yuan in working capital. At that time, we were determined to do well in the Nanning market," Lai admitted.
Now, Henghao has stocked Red Bull in every shop, big or small, in Nanning, covering over 20,000 terminal stores. If users can think of it, Guangxi Henghao has stocked it. Lai revealed: "In Nanning, our distribution rate reached 100%, and our sales have grown from 50 million yuan at the time of the split to 200-300 million yuan. It has become the 'Nanning experience' studied and exchanged multiple times."
This experience made Lai a "loyal friend" of Red Bull. In Lai's words, market competition also requires the wisdom of giving up: rather than broad and comprehensive market coverage and expansion, increasing financial risks, it's better to cultivate the channel deeply, first solidly do well in one area, and develop steadily.
**Wu Yonghong, General Manager of Jinshunchang Trading: To do the market, you must 'walk through, check through, and do through'.**
Wu Yonghong, General Manager of Jinshunchang Trading
Wu Yonghong's Bijie market saw a turning point in 2008, with sales exceeding 10,000 cases, followed by a growth of about 60% in 2009, encountering the best opportunity in market history.
"Bijie is generally poor, and many young people go to Guangdong to work. They return every year, bringing back consumption habits from there. A large number of young migrant workers return home, and giving Red Bull as gifts during festivals is prestigious, and drinking Red Bull for leisure gradually became a trend," Wu said, discussing the factors driving Red Bull's growth in the Bijie market.
Red Bull's Guizhou branch keenly grasped the trend and, leveraging the favorable situation, proposed using two 'three-year plans' to make the market a major sales province in the southwest: The first three years (2010-2012) were called 'Three Years of New Leap,' focusing on horizontal growth, expanding outlet scale, and requiring the overall market growth rate to peak in 2011. The second three years (2013-2015) were called 'Three Years of New Glory,' focusing on vertical growth, increasing investment in core outlets, deepening market cultivation, and increasing overall market volume. The grand plan was a new shock and challenge for Wu at the time.
Bijie is surrounded by mountains, and there's an old saying: 'Miao people don't leave their territory, Han people don't enter the caves.' According to statistics, the road foundation bearing capacity was very poor, the road network was incomplete, with about 40 townships not connected by roads, and the total mileage of asphalt roads did not exceed 250 kilometers, accounting for only 4% of the total mileage in the region. Wu and the Red Bull joint team firmly believed that the market is created by people; if they didn't act, the two 'three-year plans' would remain a pipe dream.
"Our approach is six words: walk through, check through, and do through," Wu said.
The first step is to 'walk through,' which means understanding the situation in each township clearly. Because the roads in townships were poor at that time, it was necessary to know what kind of vehicle could deliver goods on those roads. Then, the distance mattered because Wu's team had a rule for travel expenses: within 50 kilometers was one standard, over 50 kilometers another; returning the same day was one standard, not returning the same day another. We needed to understand this clearly to optimize cost control.
The second step is to 'check through,' which means knowing the character of distributors and the specific locations of distribution points, whether the local foot traffic is high, and whether the boss is a local. Because we often sold on credit, some dishonest people would run away halfway, causing significant losses. Wu introduced: "First, we developed large second-tier distributors in towns, and through them, extended points further down, step by step." Now, not only are goods stocked in towns, but also in natural villages.
The third step is to 'do through,' which means distribution. After understanding the locations and partners, the next step is to fully stock the products, creating a sales atmosphere through consumer activities, promotional materials, and display events. Also, increase visit frequency as much as possible: remote townships twice a month, and closer townships once a week.
The forward-thinking concepts and diligent efforts finally paid off handsomely. Wu's business advanced rapidly during the 'Three Years of New Glory,' successively breaking through 200,000, 300,000, and 400,000 cases, with three new breakthroughs in three years. At the same time, the healthy development of the channel laid a good foundation for his agency of other brands' market expansion.
**Li Chuzhi, Chairman of Shenzhen Baohuilong Company: Guarding the price lifeline is the magic weapon for market success.**
Li Chuzhi, Chairman of Shenzhen Baohuilong Company
In 1999, Shenzhen Red Bull proposed the concept that 'price is the lifeline of the Shenzhen Red Bull market.' Only by maintaining prices could every link from manufacturer to distributor to partner have reasonable profits and provide good consumer service. At that time, major distributors, in order to solve inventory backlogs and quickly recover capital, did not hesitate to dump Red Bull at low prices.
"Facing the chaotic market, the Shenzhen branch leader turned the tide, ultimately taking four years and three price reform measures to bring Red Bull market prices back to the guidance price." One measure that left a deep impression on Li was that Shenzhen Red Bull integrated the entire region's operating indicators with the markets of various distributors, strictly controlling the market. All year-end preferential policies were allocated based on the proportion of each distributor. "This resolved the dilemma of distributors 'beggaring their neighbors' and made everyone pull in the same direction."
Unstable prices had caused Li to suffer losses, and during the Red Bull sales process, he became a staunch supporter of guarding Red Bull's lifeline. Even with his old customers, Li was uncompromising.
"As market investment increased, Red Bull's brand influence grew, and some unscrupulous manufacturers sold various versions of 'Red Bull' products under the guise of smuggling, most of which were illegally produced," Li discovered during market visits that one of his important distributor customers was among them. "A distributor was selling my products while also selling illegal products."
"If I reported it, it would also affect my sales. 'Killing a thousand enemies costs eight hundred of your own,' but for the sake of Red Bull's overall sales, I still assisted the industrial and commercial department in investigating and seizing over 1,000 cases from them." At that time, that quantity could ruin someone financially. Li also faced threats and temptations of interest. "Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of brand manufacturers is also protecting the business interests of consumers, customers, and myself. Manufacturers and distributors must share the same fate and jointly eliminate counterfeit and illegal products," Li said.
To better control the price system and prevent cross-regional distribution by different distributors, Li also took the lead in introducing a coding system in the circulation field. "Starting in 2009, we assigned one code per customer. We bought ink and coding machines ourselves, so that each case of Red Bull from the distributor's warehouse to the second-tier market would correspond to a code, effectively preventing second-tier cross-regional sales," Li said. It was Baohuilong's beneficial attempt that subsequently led distributors across the Shenzhen region to imitate secondary coding.
Even when facing large supermarkets, Li was uncompromising. "Some large supermarkets, to grab market share and defeat street-side stores, would sell a certain proportion of daily necessities at cost price to attract resident consumers. Once we found Red Bull being sold at ultra-low prices, we would stop supplying them," Li said.
**Wu Xiaodong, General Manager of Bachu County Haotian Trading Company: Closer to terminals and consumers.**
Wu Xiaodong, General Manager of Bachu County Haotian Trading Company
When Wu Xiaodong decided to establish Haotian Trading in 2006 to specialize in Red Bull, he faced significant pressure: in 2005, Red Bull sales in the entire southern Xinjiang region were only 250,000 cases; in 2006, there were unprecedented extreme weather conditions and a complex consumption environment; Red Bull sales began to decline sharply, and many terminal stores no longer cooperated; and the Red Bull southern Xinjiang representative office's professional promotion team had just been established.
"I remember very clearly that although Red Bull entered China in 1995, due to language comprehension and regional consumption habits, around 2006, Red Bull didn't have strong brand awareness in Bachu. Since I was determined to be a good Red Bull distributor, the first thing was to do a lot of work to let most people, especially ethnic minority friends, understand this brand," Wu said.
The first thing Wu did was to increase Red Bull displays in all terminal stores owned by Han and Uyghur bosses, especially building rapport with ethnic minority bosses, prioritizing placing Red Bull products in prominent positions on their shelves, and promptly promoting. Wu often shared his personal experience: "My connection with Red Bull is the most vivid teaching material. In 2003, I was in a state-owned unit, just 30 years old. One day, I was working with workers unloading goods at night, both sleepy and tired. The ethnic minority workers were so exhausted they were about to 'strike.' This worried me greatly because if we didn't unload in time, the cost would be too high. I reluctantly spent 30 yuan (equivalent to three regular meals at that time) out of my own pocket to buy 5 cans of Red Bull for everyone to drink. It really solved my big problem. Everyone genuinely liked Red Bull because it had real effects."
Those familiar with FMCG channels know there's a saying in traditional terminal outlets: 'Goods sell like a mountain.' The first impression consumers get when entering a terminal store often determines their purchasing behavior. It was Wu Xiaodong's establishment of honest cooperative relationships with many terminal store operators, keeping his word and delivering results, that made these store owners willing to recommend Red Bull in the best positions. 'Those who win consumer trust win the world.' In 2013, Wu formally established a professional consumer cultivation team, leading all efforts. "We found that even if we stocked products in over 90% of terminal outlets, ultimately only when consumers are willing to pull the tab and drink can we finally sell the product. So, under the guidance of Red Bull Xinjiang Branch, we established a very important team with the Red Bull team: the promotion team. This is a special team, which we internally call the 'Ethnic Special Task Force,' with half of the work undertaken by our ethnic minority colleagues. It's responsible for cultivating Red Bull consumers in Bachu and also participates in public welfare activities and their planning and execution," Wu said.
Now, consuming Red Bull has become a habit for Bachu residents. Whether it's a naan bread with a can of Red Bull as breakfast for ethnic minority compatriots, or the most solemn wedding banquet where Red Bull is indispensable, Red Bull is no longer just a drink for truck drivers and cotton pickers but a familiar part of many scenes in Bachu residents' lives. "China Red Bull Xinjiang Company's annual sales rank among the top nationally. The most important experience is forging a distinctive path in the ethnic minority market, combining product function, brand experience, and ethnic-specific market promotion to achieve the best results," Wu said.
Source: Food Business Observation (FBC)


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