---
title: "Why Distributors Are a \"Ticket\" That Can Be \"Torn Up\" at Any Time"
description: "Distributors often accuse manufacturers of \"burning bridges after crossing the river,\" but after over 20 years in marketing, the author has never seen a manufacturer that doesn't do this. Distributors are like movie tickets—useful before entering, but torn up and discarded afterward. As manufacturers refine their markets, distributors' territories shrink, and they must adapt by specializing, improving efficiency, or finding new opportunities to remain indispensable."
author: "魏庆老师"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-03-28"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Lwf_41GGfuw3iJsDOiNJYg"
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---

# Why Distributors Are a "Ticket" That Can Be "Torn Up" at Any Time

> Distributors often accuse manufacturers of "burning bridges after crossing the river," but after over 20 years in marketing, the author has never seen a manufacturer that doesn't do this. Distributors are like movie tickets—useful before entering, but torn up and discarded afterward. As manufacturers refine their markets, distributors' territories shrink, and they must adapt by specializing, improving efficiency, or finding new opportunities to remain indispensable.

Introduction
Distributors often accuse manufacturers of "burning bridges after crossing the river." Don't curse them anymore, because I've been in marketing for over 20 years, and I've never seen a manufacturer that doesn't burn bridges after crossing. Distributors shouldn't feel indignant either. Imagine if one day a manufacturer gets into trouble and is about to go under. Would a distributor be so loyal as to say, "I'll die with the manufacturer, oy?"

**Distributors are a "ticket" that can be "torn up" at any time**
As I've said before, more and more people will be doing terminal work, and market maintenance will become increasingly detailed. This means the trend for distributors is definitely toward smaller scale and specialization.

Smaller scale: Distributors' territories will become smaller and smaller. In developed areas like the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, distributors have already expanded down to the township level. Only when a distributor's territory is small can they truly achieve intensive cultivation and market maintenance.

Specialization: Manufacturers will open several channel distributors in one region: distributors specializing in food service, distributors specializing in supermarkets, distributors specializing in circulation, distributors specializing in group buying, etc.

What does this trend mean? It means that distributors' territories will shrink further, even down to a specific channel in a county or township.

Distributors have become a "ticket" for manufacturers to continuously refine their market coverage!

**Just like a movie ticket, it's useful before entering, but often gets "torn up" after entering** — torn into small pieces, and eventually possibly thrown away. The same principle applies: manufacturers must rely on distributors to enter new markets at low cost (using the movie ticket to enter). As the product grows in the local market, manufacturers will gradually increase their local manpower and market control, may add distributors for intensive distribution (tearing the big ticket into small pieces), and in some areas may go direct (possibly throwing away the movie ticket).

Too cruel! Burning bridges after crossing the river!

Distributors often curse manufacturers for "burning bridges after crossing the river." Don't curse anymore, **because I've been in marketing for over 20 years, and I've never seen a manufacturer that doesn't burn bridges after crossing.**

**Distributors shouldn't morally condemn or feel indignant either. Imagine if one day a manufacturer gets into trouble and is about to go under. Would a distributor be so loyal as to say, "I'll die with the manufacturer, oy?"**

Looking back at China's 30-plus years of marketing history, which manufacturer hasn't developed by burning bridges after crossing the river? This is the rule of the market game, an inevitable outcome.

**[Case Study]**
Over more than 30 years of market economy development, manufacturers have shouted several slogans, and each new slogan has made distributors "pack up and leave."

Around 1992, manufacturers shouted the first slogan: from big agent to intensive distribution. Since then, the once-glorious North China general agents and South China general distributors have "rolled heads and left bloodstains." Now, not to mention general agents, even provincial-level distributors are rare.

Around 1995, some companies began shouting the slogan of terminal sales. Distributors' territories became even smaller, and they had to go out to stock shelves. Currently, in the consumer goods industry, most "sitting merchants" who stay home waiting for business have "died."

In 1997, with the "channel intensive cultivation" plans of several foreign consumer goods companies, the "pre-sale system" became increasingly common. Manufacturer sales reps personally visited terminals to take orders and deliver goods to distributors, further "degenerating" distributors into delivery drivers.

After 2000, hypermarkets flourished. Manufacturers forced distributors to obtain general taxpayer status, pay fees, and hire in-store promoters to work with supermarkets. Distributors paid a lot of tuition just to learn how to work with supermarkets. Then international chains proposed direct cooperation with manufacturers, and more and more manufacturers began to directly operate hypermarkets. Many manufacturers chose distributors as supermarket service providers with a profit-after-rebate model: distributors deliver goods to supermarkets (considered as the manufacturer "borrowing" the distributor's goods to supply the supermarket), the supermarket pays the contract party (the manufacturer), and at the end of the month, the distributor reconciles accounts with the manufacturer based on the supermarket's receipt, and the manufacturer "returns goods" to the distributor, while also giving the distributor a few points of distribution service fee based on the delivery amount.

From "big agent" to "intensive distribution" to "pre-sale system" to "profit-after-rebate," the manufacturer's hand has reached further and further. Distributors have been "hollowed out" — previously the market was in the distributor's hands, now the market is gradually dominated by the manufacturer. Manufacturers no longer rely on distributors for sales, but rather borrow their distribution capability, warehousing capability, and financial pressure-bearing capability. Manufacturers say they let distributors complete distribution work, but in reality, "selling" is just a formality; "distributing" is the essence.

In the past, distributors were gods. Big distributors even dared to go to the factory and throw the general manager's cup, often making demands like "If you don't give me a few more points, I won't do it." Now distributors are still gods, but they are no longer exclusive distributors, so there are many gods. Even a county may have two gods, or even gods everywhere. The old "gods" were very powerful, but the current "gods" are more passive — you must be obedient; only if you are obedient are you a god. If you are not obedient, the manufacturer may "torture" you, and eventually may even "send you on your way."

Manufacturers, for survival, must divide distributor territories and refine the market; this is a business law. Supermarkets, for business, hope to cooperate directly with manufacturers to get more support; this is also forced by circumstances. **The game between manufacturers and distributors, burning bridges after crossing the river is an inevitable outcome; everyone is forced to do it! Frogs must live, snakes must be full; Qin Xianglian and the princess both have reasons, only Chen Shimei is not human!** It's hard for distributors to become the bridge that is burned after crossing. No wonder distributors complain: "The brand is the manufacturer's, the market is the terminal's, we distributors are just 'pimps.' We're not afraid of infighting among distributors; what we fear most is the manufacturer changing their mind, saying we can't sell, and then we have no profit. 'After gathering all the flowers to make honey, for whom is the hard work? We live in constant uncertainty!'

**How should distributors face their fate of being "burned after crossing the river"?**

**Option One:** Be foresighted, follow the trend, and build core competitiveness in intensive cultivation of a small region and a specific professional channel. Countless facts and cases prove that distributors who intensively cultivate their small region will definitely gain more benefits than those who manage large markets extensively.

**Option Two:** Structure determines function. In the future, the only reason a distributor can represent a larger region is not their sales volume, but their ability to have enough team and capability to refine the market. So, plan ahead with structural safeguards, add people and vehicles, open branch offices, or even strive to establish a "joint sales body" with manufacturers, so that you can intensively cultivate larger regions and more channels. At the same time, tap internal management potential, and externally strive for better product portfolios to absorb costs, ultimately securing a larger territory and living space for yourself.

**Option Three:** Open up new opportunities. Forward development, such as building your own terminals or stores; backward development, such as OEM or even becoming a manufacturer; or entering new industries; or passively accepting elimination.

**Remember, your reward is not related to your effort, but is proportional to your irreplaceability. When you have irreplaceable value in a certain field, burning bridges after crossing the river has nothing to do with you. Otherwise, your old ticket won't board the manufacturer's broken ship.**


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