Every Mid-Autumn Festival, some people receive two kinds of vouchers: one is mooncake vouchers, and the other is the recently popular hairy crab vouchers. A reader asked me in the background how to view these vouchers and whether their own products could use this method. Let's first talk about hairy crab vouchers. Golden autumn is the perfect time to eat hairy crabs. I believe many friends who love crabs can't help but smack their lips at the thought of the delicious crab roe and crab paste. Friends who love crabs would definitely redeem the voucher and enjoy the crabs themselves. But there are also some friends who don't like crabs, and if they can't give them away, they choose to sell the vouchers at a discount. So, a joke spread online. It says a distributor printed 2,000 crab vouchers with a face value of 500 yuan, sold them to corporate procurement personnel for 400 yuan each, who then gave them as gifts. The recipients sold them to recyclers for 250 yuan each, and the recyclers sold them back to the distributor for 300 yuan each. In this way, the distributor earns 100 yuan per voucher, easily making 200,000 yuan. Of course, this is just a joke; making money isn't that simple. However, it does reveal that some products can be traded and profited from through securitization. Today, let's discuss the topic of commodity securitization, hoping to inspire business enthusiasts and answer the reader's question. The value of a product typically consists of two parts: physical value and virtual value. What does that mean? For example, hairy crabs. Their physical value is for eating; many people buy hairy crabs to eat themselves. But some people give hairy crabs as gifts. The emotional value of conveying human connection is the virtual value attached to the hairy crabs. Another example is Moutai. Moutai's physical value is for drinking. But many people not only give Moutai as gifts but also collect it, waiting for it to appreciate. Besides emotional value, it also carries some financial value. From a cost perspective, the raw material cost of physical value is high, while the marginal cost of virtual value is very low. Why? Because the virtual value is attached to the physical value, with no raw material cost. If you allocate transaction costs like logistics to the virtual value, the cost of the virtual value is still not high. So the marginal cost of this virtual value is very low. If not allocated, it could even be said to be almost zero. At this point, we realize that a product contains two types of value: one is mainly raw materials and processing costs, while the other has very low marginal cost. Now, some might think: is there a way to sell these two values separately? Sell the hairy crab as a hairy crab, but sell the emotional value attached to it separately, without attaching it to the physical crab. The answer is yes. This requires an important financial tool: commodity securitization. What is commodity securitization? Commodity securitization is the process of packaging a product through financialization into a rights certificate with a clear price. What does that mean? For example, take hairy crab vouchers. A distributor uses commodity securitization to print hairy crab vouchers and sells them to companies. Companies distribute the vouchers to employees as benefits, showing care. But some employees don't like crabs, so they sell the vouchers at a low price to scalpers, who eventually sell them back to the distributor. After this whole cycle, the virtual value of the hairy crab vouchers as gifts has fulfilled its mission. This is commodity securitization. Another example is mooncake vouchers. Mooncake factories use mooncake vouchers to securitize mooncakes, using the voucher instead of the mooncake to circulate and complete the sale of the virtual product. Mooncake vouchers improve the transaction efficiency of the virtual value "care" and eliminate unnecessary production waste. Some might say: the factory produced a certain number of vouchers, so they should have corresponding products. How does it eliminate waste? That's because the vouchers that circulate back to the factory or distributor don't require production or preparation, since the vouchers are back in hand. They only need to prepare products corresponding to the unredeemed vouchers. Once a product is securitized, a new thing emerges. What is it? That is, the voucher can be traded. What does that mean? Let's take the two most familiar securities as examples: stocks and bonds. Stocks mean we buy shares of a company, becoming shareholders, and wait for annual dividends. Bonds are IOUs; we lend money to a company or government, and they promise interest and repayment. We wait for annual interest and principal repayment. But in reality, many investors buy stocks and bonds not for that purpose but to buy low and sell high, earning the difference, especially with stocks. Of course, securities markets are much more complex. So, after commodity securitization, the certificate that can redeem the physical product can be traded. But mooncake and hairy crab vouchers often depreciate in trading due to redemption deadlines and seasonality. Some products, however, are different. For example, gold. Gold was currency for a long time in history. Even though people rarely use gold as currency now, many still like to hold it as an asset allocation for preservation and appreciation. But buying and selling gold requires storage, which is inconvenient and unsafe. So financial institutions invented paper gold, a certificate representing a certain amount of gold. People who buy paper gold don't need to carry gold bars for transactions, saving costs and greatly improving efficiency. Another example is sneaker speculation. A limited-edition pair of shoes has physical value for wearing, but more importantly, its virtual value, as many people resell them. It's known that for resale convenience, some platforms like Du App and Hupu App allow you to store the shoes after purchase without shipping, then resell them directly. However, Du App has removed the "storage" service, but items already stored can still be sold normally. So this turns sneaker speculation into speculation on the right to take delivery. This saves packaging and logistics costs, avoids damage during transit, and greatly improves efficiency. Through commodity securitization, we can sell the physical and virtual values separately, and because the marginal cost of virtual value is low, it greatly improves business efficiency. At this point, some business friends might ask: can my product also be securitized to improve efficiency? Actually, many products, especially those with high virtual value, can achieve commodity securitization. For example, mooncakes and hairy crabs mentioned earlier; many people buy them as gifts to express care, so they can use commodity securitization. Similarly, high-end tobacco, alcohol, health products, nutritional products, seafood specialties, etc., products with high gift attributes, can all do this. Another example is shopping mall gift cards. During holidays, malls issue a large number of gift cards. Most people buy them to give to guests. Guests have two options: redeem at the mall or sell at a discount to scalpers, who then sell back to the mall. Many malls make money at year-end because of gift card sales. So, what should be noted when implementing commodity securitization? The most important thing is to design a complete closed loop for final recovery. Why? If the loop is incomplete, the goal of reducing production cannot be achieved. Because if vouchers don't return to your hands, you must prepare products for every voucher issued. In this internet age, for recovery, you could even just issue a redemption code and provide a website for redemption, making it more efficient. Of course, for commodity securitization to work, your brand must have recognition among consumers—they must believe the voucher can be redeemed for goods and resold for cash. Only then can it work. Final Words We often say, the direction of all business evolution is higher efficiency. This method of commodity securitization, which packages virtual value into rights certificates with clear prices through financialization, undoubtedly improves business efficiency. Of course, there may be some flaws in the process, such as consumer acceptance. But personally, I believe more and more products will be securitized to improve efficiency. Back to the reader's initial question: can your product use this method? Make a judgment based on the following three points:

  1. Does your product have high virtual value?
  2. Does your brand and goodwill make consumers believe that the voucher can be redeemed?
  3. Can you design a complete recovery loop? If the answers are all yes, then you can use this method to improve your business efficiency and benefit more consumers. Source: Liu Run (ID: runliu-pub) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan upon adoption. China FMCG + Internet Professional New Media Dedicated to FMCG manufacturer transformation and channel digital solutions