---
title: "Which Type of Distributor Will Win the Competition in the Next 10 Years?"
description: "Due to the nature of my work, I often communicate with various people in the industry. People frequently ask: 'What's new? Share something!' or 'What do you think of that model?' The industry is changing, the world is changing, and new things are emerging one after another. It's normal to feel anxious, and it's important to understand new things, but over a longer time scale, the ones who truly win the competition in the next 5 to 10 years are not those who chase new things. So, who will win in the next 10 years? How should we respond to this ever-changing world? The following three aspects are crucial."
author: "任文青Andy"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2023-03-23"
language: "en"
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---

# Which Type of Distributor Will Win the Competition in the Next 10 Years?

> Due to the nature of my work, I often communicate with various people in the industry. People frequently ask: 'What's new? Share something!' or 'What do you think of that model?' The industry is changing, the world is changing, and new things are emerging one after another. It's normal to feel anxious, and it's important to understand new things, but over a longer time scale, the ones who truly win the competition in the next 5 to 10 years are not those who chase new things. So, who will win in the next 10 years? How should we respond to this ever-changing world? The following three aspects are crucial.

Due to the nature of my work, I often communicate with various people in the industry. People frequently ask: **What's new? Share something! Or, what do you think of that model?** The industry is changing, the world is changing, and new things are emerging one after another. It's normal to feel anxious, and it's important to understand new things, but over a longer time scale, the ones who truly win the competition in the next 5 to 10 years are not those who chase new things. So, who will win in the next 10 years? How should we respond to this ever-changing world? The following three aspects are crucial.

### **Grasp the Unchanging**

Once, I chatted with a distributor boss, and he asked me a question:
What kind of compensation do you think is competitive?
I said, it should be at least 20% higher than peers.
Well, many people think that way, but I tell you, it should be at least 50% higher, even double—you need to know that only with enough attractiveness can you retain true talent, even if they are scolded, they won't leave!
If you pay that much, can your costs cover it?
I only give them a part of the incremental value they create. He looked at me and said, you see, his salary is linked to profit, high incentives bring high profits, I just give him a distribution ratio far higher than peers, so he takes more, but the company also keeps more.
After listening to him, I suddenly understood. Many bosses think every day about this design, that model, but in the end, it's just one purpose: to make employees take less money and work more. They make it too complicated, and as a result, business becomes increasingly bleak. But this boss only paid double the salary, yet obtained 2-3 times higher profits than peers.
**Management is about managing human nature; it's not that complicated.** He told me.
Management is about managing human nature. Well said.
I found that **true masters are good at simplifying complex things. And the basis of simplification is grasping the essential and unchanging things.**
In this ever-changing era, what is unchanging?
**Human nature is unchanging.**
No matter what management style you adopt, don't forget that ultimately what you need to do is satisfy and inspire people. If you can't do this, learning advanced experiences or using calculation formulas is useless.
Furthermore, precisely because human nature is unchanging, **the starting point of business—creating value for others—will not change, and the market rule that providing better services to customers yields profits will not change.**
We often see many people asking: With peer pressure and continuous loss of market share, what should we do? Offline traffic is declining, live-streaming e-commerce is hot, should we do it? Is it right to invest so much money in transformation?
But we see many excellent distributors who don't think about these issues; they think: **Can my efficiency be higher? Can my service be better?**
Because they know that no matter how the environment changes, or what so-called disruptive models appear, to survive and make profits, in the end, **you must let consumers benefit, and you must create value for customers. In fierce competition, to achieve this, you must have higher efficiency and better service.**
Masters always grasp the unchanging things, and then judge how to respond to the changing things.
Ordinary people, on the contrary, fail to see the essence behind changes, chase new things, put the cart before the horse, and no matter what tools or models, they can't learn or use them well.
Human nature is unchanging, and the essence of management and business rules will not change. New things emerge endlessly, but don't forget to firmly grasp those unchanging things.

### **Actively Embrace New Tools**

But you might say, I can't ignore new things.
Yes, human nature is unchanging, but the ways to satisfy human nature are always changing. So every once in a while, new concepts, methods, and models appear, and we certainly can't ignore them. But what we should really focus on is not these phenomena and forms, but what's behind them.
What is it?
Technology and tools.
Remember, **among all changes, the one we must not overlook is the change in new productive tools.**
Why?
**Because tools are levers; using them well gives you a true efficiency advantage.**
For example.
Recently, ChatGPT is very popular, flooding social media. Many people are discussing whether AI will make many mental workers unemployed.
Someone asked me if I'm worried about being replaced by AI.
Honestly, I'm not. I've been using it recently, and I find it a very efficient productive tool that I can use.
Some say: **AI won't make you unemployed, but in the future, those who use AI will make you unemployed.**
I strongly agree!
With technological progress, new productive tools are put into use. Those who don't use them are eliminated, while those who use them gain efficiency advantages. Survival of the fittest—this is the essence of world change and industry development iteration.
I once wrote a case.
A distributor established only two years ago, without any local market resources, achieved annual sales of 200 million yuan in frozen food. How?
By using a combination of mini-programs, enterprise WeChat, and internal software, they digitized the entire business process from internal management to market development. They output their service and fulfillment capabilities in a systematic and standardized way.
It can be said that internet people entered the traditional distribution field and used new tools to transform traditional business models. Or it can be said that distributors with some traditional industry experience introduced new concepts and tools.
Today, when we talk about digitalization, it seems unrelated to traditional distributors. Not only unrelated, but distributors might even be a group that gets short-circuited.
But in reality, **new tools have become infrastructure; they are not weapons to revolutionize you, but tools to empower your career development.**
Recently, we've been talking about B2b. A group of regional traditional distributors are striving on the road to B2b transformation, and many people dismiss it.
But I suggest that in this industry, you should still understand and pay attention.
Directly connecting thousands or even tens of thousands of terminals, through large-scale coverage, concentrating demand, and then establishing business relationships with more upstream manufacturers, helping hundreds of brands complete the large-scale distribution of thousands of SKUs.
Efficiency advantage → profit → better service → scale advantage → further cost reduction, this is a positive feedback system.
**Tools are levers, and digital tools are the strongest levers today. The efficiency advantage of digital distribution will be overwhelming to traditional distribution.**
Grasp the unchanging things—that is human nature, essence, and rules. On this basis, actively embrace new technologies and tools. **Everyone must think about how to use new technologies and tools to better leverage their core capabilities and satisfy human needs, including the needs of employees, external partners, and customers.**
Those so-called new models and concepts—if they truly have value—behind them is this principle. Seeing this clearly, you will have better judgment.
These are the first two points I want to express, but that's not enough. Let me share another story.

### **Cultivate Your Patience**

In Africa, there is a plant called sharp spear grass. This grass can grow very tall, earning the title "King of Grasslands." But its growth process is very special.
In the first six months, sharp spear grass is almost the shortest plant on the African savanna, only 1 inch tall. Any wild grass on the savanna grows more vigorously, and no one pays attention to it. But once the rainy season comes, sharp spear grass grows rapidly at a rate of half a meter per day, as if enchanted, reaching a height of 1.6 to 2 meters in 3 to 5 days.
Why this change?
Actually, during its inconspicuous period, sharp spear grass is not idle; it is rooting downward, and its roots can grow up to 28 meters long. Sharp spear grass has been growing silently, but people just can't see it.
Why tell this story?
Because change and uncertainty bring anxiety, **and anxiety leads to rash actions, so people chase new things, always wanting to be faster, always seeking shortcuts.**
In fact, many things can be done well if we return to common sense.
For example, how can you make money?
It's simple: create value for others. Creating value earns money; creating value that others can't provide earns more money.
This is common sense.
Why do many people chase so-called new methods? Because they don't want to follow common sense—common sense requires slow effort.
Think about it: creating value for others requires real skills, which you must cultivate slowly. You need to think about how to find customers and serve them well.
But many people deviate from common sense, always seeking shortcuts. Is it because they don't understand common sense? Actually, no. It's because they are unwilling to pay the price, don't want to build slow skills, and lack patience.
**But to truly grasp the future, patience is indispensable.**
In 2022, I visited a distributor who built a B2b platform at the end of 2019. It was very difficult, but he didn't give up. He said he was willing to lose money for 3 years to exchange for the next 10 years.
Why such patience?
He said that in the past, the market was dominated by manufacturers. Brands, as the source, treated distributors as reservoirs and middlemen to distribute products. But the problem is that products are now highly homogeneous, and truly good products are rare. When manufacturers put a large number of products on shelves, consumers almost can't see them. Competition is now about stock, and we should view it from the dimensions of offline vs. online and different retail models, not just store vs. store or distributor vs. distributor.
His thinking is clear: based on full-category supply and small store operation consulting services, he moves from B2b to B2b2C. In the past, it was mainly distribution and shelf placement; in the future, it's about helping small stores with product selection, sales promotion, and serving consumers well.
**Because everyone talks about change and speed, patience has become a scarce commodity.**
Where does patience come from?
**It comes from grasping the unchanging, insight into the essence of business, and a deep understanding of the efficiency improvements brought by new technologies and tools.**

### **Final Thoughts:**

Who will win the competition in the next 10 years?
First, grasp the unchanging. Human nature is unchanging, the essence of management is unchanging, and business rules are unchanging.
Second, actively embrace new tools. Among all new things, we should focus most on new technologies and tools that bring efficiency improvements.
Third, cultivate patience. Grasp the unchanging, actively embrace new tools, and leave the rest to time—you need patience.
In the current era of endless new things, we are easily attracted by various dazzling appearances, unable to see the essence, grasp the key points, or understand what we should truly do now—this is actually the truly frightening thing!
There are too many appearances; we need to see the essence behind them.
There is too much noise; we need to identify which are signals.

**From April 6-8, 2023, the 8th China FMCG Innovation Conference will be held at the Tiwo Li Hotel in Chengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park (601 Guanghua Avenue, Section 2, Qingyang District) under the theme "New World, New FMCG."**

**Over 3 days, 130 guests, and 13 parallel forums** with high-quality sharing will help you see the essence behind appearances amid countless changes, and help you, who are overloaded with information, identify true signals from various noises.


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