After discussions with Mr. Wang of Jinhuobao, I was amazed by the rapid growth of Jinhuobao. Through Jinhuobao, I discovered that asset-heavy models can also expand quickly by leveraging social forces. This has significant implications for B2B e-commerce platforms.

1 Introduction to Jinhuobao Platform + City Partners + Self-owned Warehousing + Uber (City Group) + Social Logistics Crowdsourcing Model Jinhuobao is a B2B procurement platform based on mobile internet technology and big data architecture. Simply put, it cooperates with city partners who have corresponding resources and capabilities, jointly builds warehouses, centrally procures goods, and uses crowdsourced logistics to deliver products to stores quickly through online ordering.

Currently, the platform has a limited number of SKUs, but they are all A-category products that are best-selling or frequently purchased by supermarket owners. For store owners, logging into Jinhuobao allows them to complete most of their one-stop procurement needs.

2 Analysis of Its Model Characteristics 1. Focus on A-category items: Jinhuobao primarily focuses on best-selling food and beverage products. Due to the rigid demand for bestsellers and the high frequency of food and beverage purchases, small stores have high stickiness to the platform. 2. Self-owned warehousing, low SKU management, 24-hour delivery, socialized subcontracted logistics: The warehouse usage efficiency is extremely high, and self-owned warehouses and logistics ensure timely delivery. 3. Purchase Group: Uber model (sales personnel from other brands who regularly visit small stores help Jinhuobao install and promote orders, earning commissions). Similar to 1688's city partner plan, it uses social idle resources to help Jinhuobao expand its store network. Since all products listed on Jinhuobao are best-selling, high-frequency A-category items, the advantages of the purchase group far exceed those of 1688 city partners. 4. Equity for market: Partners invest capital, team, and business capabilities. Within two years, they not only receive cash returns of more than double, but also become shareholders of Jinhuobao's parent company, gaining excess returns from the platform's capital market performance. Jinhuobao's use of equity to gain market share is not only a first in the industry but also benefits from its leading position on the New Third Board, demonstrating the team's capital operation capabilities.

3 Why FMCG B2B Platforms Should Operate Their Own Inventory: Insights from Jinhuobao 1. Existing inventory is too large: Distributors' existing people, vehicles, and warehouses require substantial offline transaction volume to support. Moving online requires a systematic adjustment process, and most distributors are unwilling to be transformed. 2. Talent shortage: Distributors lack e-commerce operations talent, making it extremely difficult to change mindsets and integrate. 3. Upstream A-category products are highly concentrated: In closed markets, good products are usually controlled by a few powerful distributors, making sourcing a major challenge for platforms. 4. Pure matchmaking lacks pricing power: Market promotion is less flexible than having offline personnel. 5. Distributors fear exposing transaction data. 6. Distributors are unwilling to have their existing transaction volume deducted as commissions.

These issues lead to distributors being unwilling and unable to move their transaction volume to B2B platforms in the short term.

4 Benefits of Self-operated Model 1. Leading food and beverage brands can be listed freely; 2. Self-owned warehousing and logistics ensure high delivery efficiency; 3. Profit comes from price differences rather than transaction volume, making profits controllable and predictable; 4. Self-owned products give control over pricing; 5. Clear profit model with strong replicability.

Summary

  1. Platforms like Jinhuobao that enter the supply chain with A-category or high-frequency products will not face growth issues as long as they maintain basic transaction volume. The so-called "asset-heavy" is a necessity at this stage.
  2. Most platform problems, when traced to the root, are actually sourcing issues: a. Cannot get good products; b. Can get good products but not at good prices; c. Good products are unwilling to be sold on the platform. Therefore, matchmaking is a future trend, but at this stage, due to the large existing traditional business volume, it is not suitable and requires an adjustment process. Whether city partners or distributors themselves, they must adjust their mindset to an operational one, ensuring their own growth volume and profitability first.
  3. Key success models summarized: a. For distributors building platforms, don't focus on cost savings and efficiency improvement first; that's not the core issue at the initial stage, unless your volume can support bus-like delivery like Yishang. The first stage should focus on how to increase incremental volume, products, stores, etc. b. Market opportunities are not in small stores but in wholesale markets. Just pay attention to who goes to wholesale markets to purchase and what they buy. Excluding problems, that's the platform's opportunity. c. Must operate self-owned inventory. Only with self-operation can you effectively organize sourcing and provide standardized downstream services. d. FMCG may not be the best solution, but it is definitely the closest to success. e. This is not a good partnership business. It's not that the business is bad, but that people are not suitable.

The characteristics of FMCG determine that platforms trying to do matchmaking or connection models will find it difficult to succeed. Currently, B2B e-commerce platforms in the FMCG category using matchmaking models are not performing well. However, platforms like Huimin, Caiba, and Jinhuobao, which have self-owned warehousing, logistics, and self-purchased goods with sales services, can grow rapidly and become profitable as long as they find the right market entry point. Therefore, when distributors choose a platform, they must think clearly: as a city partner of that platform, your role in the local market is to be the "B" in B2B, not just a connector.

To learn more about Jinhuobao, please click "Read Original" at the end.

Our platform will soon organize distributor visits to representative B-end platforms in China. Interested distributors can add the author's QR code to join distributors from across the country for visits and exchanges. Please reply with the keyword: 考察 (Inspection) when adding.

Activity Description: Organization Format **1. Company visit 2. Actual market case visit 3. On-site explanation 4. One-on-one communication

Note! All food, accommodation, and transportation for this trip are at your own expense. Each registered friend only needs to pay a 200 yuan organization fee. Due to limited organizational capacity, we are only inviting 50 distributors to participate in this inspection. Interested distributors can long-press the QR code below to contact me for registration. When adding friends, please reply "考察".

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