By time node, after May, manufacturers and distributors have typically completed their first round of inventory push, with the general mindset that big sales will come at Mid-Autumn Festival. In fact, experienced merchants know that whether sales during Mid-Autumn and Spring Festival can exceed expectations depends on the key time nodes of June, July, and August. So what work should be done in these three months to achieve sales growth exceeding the same period? The author analyzes from two dimensions: time and market cultivation.
First: Key Matters by Time Node
(1) Promotions for Dragon Boat Festival and Father's Day: Focus on supermarket and tobacco & alcohol store channels, mainly consumer purchase-with-gift promotions, and can use WeChat likes-sharing to give away wine for publicity. Supermarkets mainly run consumer promotions like buying wine and getting gifts, e.g., themed "Gift for Father," where buying 2 bottles gives a wine set, and buying 4 bottles gives a tea set. Tobacco & alcohol stores mainly run consumer promotions like buying wine and getting tasting wine or cigarettes, e.g., on June 1, launch an activity where buying 4 cases gives 2 cases of bottled tasting wine, and in-store promotions like "A Cup of Fine Wine for Father," where buying 2 bottles of finished wine gets a bottle of tasting wine. Ensure terminal materials are in place. Limit the number of cases terminals can stock to maintain product prices after the event. This achieves small-scale inventory push at terminals while maintaining product activity and promoting sell-through to some extent.
(2) Promotions for Teacher Appreciation Banquets and Graduation Banquets: Last year, Beijing's first batch undergraduate admission time was July 11-16, so manufacturers or distributors should finalize all policies for these banquets by July 1 at the latest. Policies should be tailored for each, and in addition to existing policies like one bottle of tasting wine per table, can add physical gifts or travel incentives based on product market expenses. The activities can be divided into three parts:
Free gifts for publicity and traffic: Example: "Fine Wine Gift for Top Scholars - Yipin Jingzhi Gifts." After college entrance exam results are announced, target students based on the second-tier line. For example, students who score above the second-tier line can bring their ID to the distributor's location to receive 2 bottles of tasting wine for free. Share the activity on WeChat and collect 38 likes to get another bottle of tasting wine for free.
Targeted banquet policies: Choose physical gifts based on product cost space, recommended as gifts for college-bound students. For example, buy 5 cases and get a high-end trolley case; buy 8 cases and get a tablet; buy 10 cases and get a laptop; buy 15 cases and get a round-trip tour to prestigious universities in Beijing.
Terminal material promotion: Set up roll-up banners or stack displays in core supermarkets and tobacco & alcohol stores, recommended to start in mid-to-late June.
(3) Army Day Greetings and Interactive Activities: Leverage Army Day to conduct greetings to military systems, free wine for veterans, etc., to strengthen brand heat and interaction with consumers.
Second: Key Matters by Market Cultivation
▌ Case 1: Expanding New Areas – Hire People and Add Vehicles to Develop Blank Township Markets In a county-level market in Hebei, Boss Wang, who distributes regional products, has large sales in the urban area. His trading company has 8 salespeople and 6 vehicles, with 2 responsible for township markets. There are 12 surrounding townships, 4 with good sales, while the rest are farther from the city and have average sales. With urban sales growth sluggish, Boss Wang added 2 salespeople and 2 box trucks to develop township markets. The 4 townships with good sales are served directly, while among the remaining 8, he set up sub-distributors in 4 remote townships and focused direct supply development in the other 4. In May, he conducted network mapping and first-round distribution in townships; in June, he planned core outlet sell-through promotion. By the Mid-Autumn event in August, he expects incremental sales from new areas and outlets.
▌ Case 2: Core Outlet Development – Large Display Activity in Core Tobacco & Alcohol Stores During Off-Season In Feicheng County, Shandong, a Yanghe distributor launched a core outlet development activity in May. He selected 50 core tobacco & alcohol stores in the urban area, offering cash purchase with a "display as much as you buy" promotion, where the free products are given over 12 months. The author visited nearly 10 of these stores, and terminal owners gave positive feedback. Many stores displayed three or more dedicated counters, creating strong visual impact. One owner displayed 5 counters with a total of 180 bottles. According to the policy, each counter's display fee is 3 bottles per month, which is not much, but locking in core terminals and changing the conventional display policy proved effective. The annual atmosphere of core stores was effectively guaranteed, and core store owners' enthusiasm for recommendation greatly increased.
▌ Case 3: Core Consumer Cultivation – A County-Level Distributor's Sell-Through Weapon In a county market with 600,000 people, Distributor Boss Zheng represents a regional brand, with projected sales exceeding 10 million in 2014. An important weapon for promoting his mid-range products is factory tours. From March to August 2013, Boss Zheng organized over 600 terminal customers and core consumers to visit the distillery, giving each person 2 bottles of wine on return. These 2 bottles are usually used to invite a table of friends to drink, and during the meal, the host introduces the distillery's scale and strength. This is equivalent to integrating resources to hold 600 tasting sessions in the county market, indirectly influencing 6,000 people. As a result, terminal sell-through speed in the region significantly improved, and terminal stocking quantities and confidence increased rapidly. Boss Zheng plans to organize another 400 people for factory tours from June to August 2014, achieving a scale of 1,000 visitors, driving the regional market toward 20 million.
▌ Case 4: Team Building – Establish a Group Buying Department, Boss Leads Development of Wedding Banquets and Small Enterprise Group Buying General Manager Zhang of a trading company has extensive experience in operating low-end liquor. In 2013, he took on a regional distillery's 100-yuan price point product. After more than a year of operation, he tried all his low-end liquor methods, but results were still unsatisfactory. In April last year, he took his team to the factory for training and realized that mid-range products need three-dimensional cultivation, and a single circulation channel cannot quickly cultivate the market. After consideration, Zhang split his original large circulation team and established a wedding banquet and small enterprise group buying department, personally leading sales. After two months of piloting, wedding banquet events tripled, and 5 private enterprises in the county began using the product. Sales momentum began to rise, and annual sales had a solid foundation. June, July, and August are the three months for manufacturers and distributors to lay the foundation for annual sales. The author has sorted out core work from two dimensions: time nodes and market cultivation. However, different product positioning and regional market attributes require different methods. In short, there is no off-season market, only off-season thinking.
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