---
title: "Who Stole the Distributor's Last Kilometer Cheese?"
description: "The article discusses the concept of the 'last kilometer' in distribution, emphasizing that distributors who abandon their terminal retail presence lose their competitive edge. It argues that the responsibility for last-mile delivery is returning to distributors, and that professional service, not casual labor, is essential for success."
author: "黄润霖"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-11-07"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/who-stole-the-distributor-s-last-kilometer-cheese-d7f5ae78/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/who-stole-the-distributor-s-last-kilometer-cheese-d7f5ae78.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/PcruTThtnKtxCiMabfUNew"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E8%B0%81%E5%8A%A8%E4%BA%86%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E5%95%86%E6%9C%80%E5%90%8E%E4%B8%80%E5%85%AC%E9%87%8C%E7%9A%84%E5%A5%B6%E9%85%AA-d7f5ae78.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/who-stole-the-distributor-s-last-kilometer-cheese-d7f5ae78/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# Who Stole the Distributor's Last Kilometer Cheese?

> The article discusses the concept of the 'last kilometer' in distribution, emphasizing that distributors who abandon their terminal retail presence lose their competitive edge. It argues that the responsibility for last-mile delivery is returning to distributors, and that professional service, not casual labor, is essential for success.

> “
>
> If distributors abandon their terminals, they lose their foothold; without a foothold, where is the last kilometer?

The term "last kilometer" (Last kilometer), also often translated as "Last Mile" in English-speaking countries, originally refers to the final leg of a long journey. It has been extended to mean the final, critical step in completing a task, often implying complexity and difficulty.

In the marketing world, "last kilometer" refers to the final segment of the supply chain responsible for delivering products to consumers, which is now commonly known as logistics, express delivery, or other delivery methods. Clearly, a product only truly becomes a commodity when it reaches the location specified by the consumer.

To turn a product into a commodity, the traditional approach to the "last kilometer" was to open stores within the consumer's activity range. In the traditional sit-down merchant model, the responsibility for the last kilometer was actually shifted to consumers themselves. In other words, distributors earned the money for last-kilometer delivery but did not perform the delivery. However, in a less competitive environment, consumers did not see anything wrong with this.

> **What must come, will come!**

After 2000, the shift from sit-down merchants to traveling merchants was key to the proactive transfer of last-kilometer responsibility. The change from self-pickup to home delivery enhanced the value of distributors, but since it was a return of responsibility, distributors did not gain more revenue from this transfer; instead, their costs rose. This led some distributors to resist the traveling merchant model, clearly not seeing what terminal front-end movement meant for them.

Later, with the rise of e-commerce, the responsibility for the last kilometer shifted again. Although e-commerce uses various methods for free shipping promotions, shipping fees are listed separately, marking the first time the value of the last kilometer was expressed in monetary form. Express and logistics companies took over the distributors' work, and of course, they also took a share of the distributors' money. What was once considered a free service became, for the first time, a source of node value due to channel redistribution. This is similar to many home appliances and building materials: in the past, free installation seemed natural, but with e-commerce development, separate installation fees have become a default industry rule accepted by consumers. This is a contribution of e-commerce to the value clarification of the industry.

In recent years, a new profession has become popular in cities: errand running. If you can't go to pay your gas bill, someone will do it for you; if you need to pick up a community爱心 bus card, they'll get it; if you want to book a doctor's appointment in advance, they'll queue for you. This is the alienation and extension of the last kilometer. Just as in the sit-down merchant era, when delivery that should have been done by distributors was shifted to consumers, once the environment becomes fully competitive, this responsibility must return to distributors. So, with the internet's transformation of information asymmetry, this profession became short-lived because it made consumers pay twice for the last kilometer.

I have recently started paying attention to mobile platforms like "New Dada" that use mobile and crowdsourcing to solve the so-called last-kilometer problem. They use people with ample free time, such as "security guards, cleaners, and nannies" (the "three treasures"), as the main delivery carriers to meet the delivery needs of small and medium-sized businesses or individuals. This is somewhat similar to Uber: the "three treasures" complete delivery tasks through location and order grabbing, earning commissions, while small and medium-sized businesses pay for the service.

Distributors' business has come full circle: what you should do, all of it, has come back to you. In the past, small and medium-sized merchants were unwilling to provide delivery, but they didn't take a penny less in profits. Later, as market competition intensified, they slashed prices to the bone, and even the delivery profit from the last kilometer was mixed into the price difference, leaving nothing. Now they find that to provide service, they have no profit left. This is one reason why the current consumption upgrade has been in a tug-of-war.

> **Who is most suitable for the last kilometer?**

The last kilometer is an important step in realizing the value of the entire channel, but in traditional marketing methods, it is also the most neglected link.

In the context of one channel disrupting another, one era disrupting another, it's not hard to understand why the last kilometer has become a hot commodity. Distributors have found that after several rounds of passive engagement, they still bear the same responsibilities and costs, but their control over end consumers has been invisibly transferred to innovative third-party platforms. Now, many distributors could kick themselves.

But distributors should be grateful that they are not without opportunities. The future is a more open market economy; professional competition, and full competition, is the law of survival of the fittest.

**Running errands is a professional job; the "three treasures" cannot replace couriers**

Running errands may seem like a small matter, but the difference between professional and amateur is like night and day. It's just that our current express delivery service is very poor, truly just at the level of delivering goods, with too many cases of package tampering, loss, and privacy leaks. That's why we think the "three treasures" with ample free time can also deliver goods to this standard.

Just because you haven't seen professional express delivery doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Look at Japan, look at Europe and America. It's just that our current labor costs are low, and the quality of personnel is relatively lower. Companies cannot demand high standards from couriers, but that doesn't mean it will always be this way.

Without professional training, there will be no professional quality. The sharing economy is fine for people to earn some pocket money, but to make it a source of income would actually greatly hinder consumption upgrades and service upgrades.

**Responsibility returns; couriers cannot do the distributors' work either**

Since the "three treasures" cannot completely replace professional couriers, just as ride-hailing cannot replace taxis, they are just disruptors, supplementing the taxi industry and forcing professionals to improve their skills and services. Couriers, of course, cannot complete all the last-kilometer work for distributors. I may not be as professional as you in delivery, but I am more professional in product service. After all, not all products are just commodity transfers.

Home appliances and building materials should first thank e-commerce, because it is e-commerce that has made more consumers accept that delivery and installation services also have a price. Even for FMCG, many community stores now offer phone (or WeChat) delivery services, which is a manifestation of the return of last-kilometer responsibility. The current problem is that responsibility has returned, and distributors need to improve the professional threshold of the last kilometer in their respective fields, rather than repeating the mistake of sitting at home selling goods.

> **Can terminal costs really be saved?**

Can terminal decoration and operating costs really be saved? In the internet age, with the emergence of VR and AR, many distributors are unwilling to engage in heavy asset operations, believing that light asset operations are the business model of the internet era. My view is that any business model must be based on industry, and any business link must be based on physical entities. The future terminal must be a combination of reality and virtuality, and VR and AR technologies are precisely for this reason that they have practical significance.

E-commerce has moved terminal stores to screens. Distributors seem to have no terminal decoration costs, but in fact, they have shifted the display cost to consumers, because consumers have to buy a computer or phone to see your products. Because you have given up control of the terminal, in this battle of incomplete information, you can only passively wait for consumers to compare prices.

As I said, if distributors abandon their terminals, they lose their foothold; without a foothold, where is the last kilometer?

**Source: Golden Distributor (ID: jin-xiao-shang)**


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671