The answer is: not necessarily; it depends on whether the product's sell-through logic is satisfied. In fact, many brand owners and distributors make the same mistake. When a brand launches a new product, it simply requires a certain number of outlets and displays. After receiving instructions, distributors execute them, often resulting in more expired products and wasted display costs.
A common problem in the market is that a low-brand-power product with optimal display and shelf placement still sees limited sales growth, far below expectations. The input-output ratio is severely imbalanced. However, if the same category suddenly runs out of stock in that store, your sales will see visible growth. Therefore, most practitioners conclude that executing a category exclusive in the store is the best method. Indeed, it is simple, crude, and effective.
Of course, any market method has its drawbacks. The disadvantages of category exclusive are two: first, the cost is high and not a long-term solution; second, exclusive can only be carried out in certain channels, outlets, and customer relationships, not universally.
Today, let's discuss whether your product's lack of sell-through is due to the following five pitfalls.
-01- Pitfall 1: Brand Power and Channel Power Are Operated Separately A product's distribution has two potential capabilities: one is the inherent brand power, given by the brand owner, reflecting the brand's overall strength; the other is the channel power, given by the distributor, reflecting the distributor's overall strength.
Combining the two yields four scenarios:
A. Strong brand power + weak channel power: Like a talented actor being shelved, unable to showcase skills. Product display is hindered, and sell-through is slow.
B. Weak brand power + strong channel power: Like a rich second generation wanting to be an actor, with abundant resources to easily access various stages, but weak in attracting fans, requiring gradual accumulation. Product display is sufficient, but sell-through needs time to develop.
C. Strong brand power + strong channel power: Like a talented star's child, with proper guidance, can quickly grow into a big star. Product sell-through has a great chance to rise rapidly.
D. Weak brand power + weak channel power: This product is hard to succeed, and sell-through is far off.
Summary: In today's highly homogeneous market, consumers are overwhelmed by passive product information. Brand power and channel power cannot be separated; they should complement each other. Strong-strong cooperation is the best choice, while one strong and one weak should strive to compensate for the deficiency.
-02- Pitfall 2: The Logic of Merchandising Is Just Making the Product Look Beautiful Many brand owners and distributors invest heavily in making their product displays beautiful, aiming to catch consumers' eyes and accelerate sell-through. This method has been used for over 20 years and is not entirely worthless, but its limitations are becoming more apparent as the market develops.
For example, for a product consumers are not familiar with, even if your display is "high-end," consumers may just look or be curious, but the conversion rate remains low. Why? Because consumers only see the product but don't understand it, so the sell-through power is limited.
Summary: The essence of merchandising logic is the consumer's purchase logic. The purpose of merchandising for brand owners or distributors is to tell consumers why they should buy your product and what its differentiation or features are. Merchandising is just an expression of your product being recognized, so terminal merchandising is the expression and communication of product logic, not just a flashy appearance.
-03- Pitfall 3: Purchase Logic Does Not Align with Category's Existing Cognition Consumers have their own existing cognition; do not easily do things that go against it.
For example, promoting seafood flavors in the north and pork stew with vermicelli in the south clearly goes against local consumers' existing cognition. Vigorous promotion will only be counterproductive, and sell-through will be impossible.
On the contrary, some companies are smart. Early on, many companies promoting green tea found that consumers' cognition was that green tea should be green. In practice, many green tea infusions are yellow. To align with consumer cognition, companies that understood this made the bottle green, and after aligning, the product's sell-through power grew stronger.
Summary: If you don't have enough capability, don't easily challenge consumers' existing cognition; this is the bottom line of sell-through logic.
Of course, some may question: I don't have enough strength to change the cognition of consumers nationwide, but I have confidence and strength to change the cognition of regional consumers. Even a provincial capital, a district, or a residential community, gradually instilling and changing consumers' existing cognition to enhance sell-through power.
I want to say: if this were forty years ago, it might be feasible, when transportation was inconvenient and information channels were limited. But now it's not. You've just changed a group of consumers' cognition, and a Douyin video or a WeChat article could undo all your efforts.
-04- Pitfall 4: Easily Challenging Consumer Cognition Nongfu Spring taught many companies a lesson. With over a decade of persistent effort, it told consumers that natural weak alkaline water is beneficial to health and should be consumed regularly. It successfully overturned a consumer cognition: that purified water and mineral water are harmful, and that the purer the water, the better. Thus, Nongfu Spring's sell-through power is unshakable as the leader in the bottled water industry.
Many companies began to imitate, trying to leverage their product differentiation to establish new consumer cognition and build competitive barriers. Here, a question needs to be emphasized: Does your company have the perseverance and financial resources of Nongfu Spring's boss, Zhong, who has persisted for decades?
Summary: Consumers' inherent cognition is not necessarily correct. Large enterprises with resources and perseverance can challenge it. Once successful, you become the NO.1 in the industry, with a say in the industry, even the right to assist the state in setting standards for the industry.
If you are a small enterprise, it is recommended to align with consumers' correct cognition, understand that laws are irreversible and cognition is not to be violated, accumulate strength, and seek development. Do not go against the trend and joke with your product's sell-through power.
-05- Pitfall 5: Striving to Cultivate a Product That Was Born in the Wrong Place Some products are good, with inherent brand power and channel power, but sell-through is not fast. Why?
Let's look at an example: a strong gift brand develops a ready-to-drink beverage with strong product power. Do you think it will succeed? Will the efforts of the brand owner and distributor be in vain?
I tell you: enterprises have their inherent attributes, and products have their inherent attributes. If the two cannot match, success is almost impossible.
Like the above case, the underlying logic of gift attributes and ready-to-drink attributes is different, and market operations are different. If a brand owner does something they are not good at, it's like cutting off the sell-through power from the root. Later efforts by the brand owner and distributor are like cultivating a child with congenital deficiencies—very difficult.
Summary: I was surprised to hear that a certain milk brand and a certain tech brand were also entering the mineral water field. I suggest: Don't let a good product be born in the wrong place. If the brand owner really wants this "child," then find a good "foster parent" to raise it.
-06- Summary The above five pitfalls are common mistakes leading to insufficient product sell-through power. I hope FMCG manufacturers can take heed.
Distribution logic and sell-through logic are complementary; you cannot neglect one for the other. Deep distribution is familiar to many brand owners and distributors, but times have changed.
With the disappearance of the demographic dividend, the consumer market has shifted from incremental to stock. Brand owners and distributors must also change, dig deeper, and move quickly from deep distribution (terminal network level) to deep sell-through (consumer level).
The next article will detail several common methods for achieving deep sell-through.
Finally, if any distributor needs frontline salesperson terminal mobile system support, you can add me as a friend, and I can help recommend.
Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.