Channel flattening, direct supply from overseas wineries, opaque pricing, financial support... In recent years, seemingly beautiful and 'high-end' B2B platforms have quietly emerged in the wine industry. Apart from causing widespread complaints, these so-called 'high-end' platforms have not immediately delivered the envisioned sales growth of 300 million, 500 million, or 1 billion. What has the wine B2B platform actually brought to the industry? Since some B2B platforms launched with great fanfare, they have only been welcomed by small and medium-sized liquor stores or group-buying merchants, which is the fundamental reason why wine B2B platforms have not grown rapidly after several years of operation. Why? Let me analyze this from the actual needs of two key nodes in the channel. Group-buying merchants and liquor stores share similar business mindsets because they directly face consumers or group-buying clients, and their operations revolve around consumer needs and their own profits. Thus, they have two direct requirements: first, to have well-known products to maintain customer relationships; second, to have products with opaque pricing to earn high profits (selling counterfeit goods is not uncommon). Wine B2B platforms can ship in small batches and offer opaque pricing (at least in the short term), which meets their second need. Large liquor merchants' business mindset is to represent brands with high visibility, relying on the company's strong brand pull, marketing policies, promotional strategies, and team support to grow and strengthen. In the local market, because the cost of liquor promotion is high and the requirements for teams are also high, the era when distributors could rely solely on their own strength to compete without the manufacturer's comprehensive support is long gone. Wine B2B platforms, due to their own disadvantages, find it difficult to gain the favor of large liquor merchants. The main reasons are: large brand companies already have relatively complete distribution systems, including pricing systems and distribution networks, making it difficult for B2B platforms to obtain their operating rights (B2B platforms have dispersed networks, which can easily break the regional agency system of brand products; in the early stages, B2B platforms often use low prices to attract customers, which can damage the brand's pricing system). Therefore, B2B platforms struggle to gain recognition from large liquor merchants. Chinese consumers' overall awareness of wine is still relatively low, so channel promotion of wine products is a key and difficult part of the marketing process. Well-known brand products are relatively easier to promote due to brand pull, while the products operated by B2B platforms are mostly boutique winery wines with very low visibility in the Chinese market, requiring more professional promotion. This is also a problem that B2B platforms find hard to solve. Additionally, B2B platforms find it difficult to effectively manage channel pricing, which is not conducive to the long-term stable development of their networks. Regarding the financial services provided by B2B platforms, they actually hope to provide capital services to downstream customers through financial lending and earn profits from it. However, if the platform itself does not have a certain number of customer resources, the advantages of financial services are hard to realize. Moreover, small and medium-sized customers only purchase in small batches and do not need large amounts of capital, making financial services redundant. A good business model can not only bring industry transformation and create profits, but also have positive social value. At present, we seem unable to see these aspects in the operation of liquor B2B platforms; instead, we see negative impacts. The current liquor B2B platforms are more about crudely breaking the existing industry structure. Recently, many media outlets have reported on a certain B2B platform in the industry that triggered group incidents due to price chaos and cross-regional sales. These phenomena have not only failed to find a way out of the industry's predicament but have also created chaos. Because of the openness of the internet and the operators' so-called 'internet thinking' of 'burning money' to attract customers with low prices, B2B platforms have directly broken the regional distribution pattern formed over many years. This simple and crude predatory market operation is harmful in every way, from endangering the stability and healthy development of the industry to affecting the development of national industry and social stability. Pushing the industry into a new round of price wars Some say B2B can replace intermediate links and end the era of excessive profits. Not to mention well-known international brands like Apple and LV, which are in high-profit industries and have not been affected in consumption; many have even become century-old brands. The causes of excessive profits are time differences, regional differences, and information gaps, as well as brand added value. In today's era of globalization and internet普及, the era of excessive profits in China's liquor industry has long passed. Our current B2B platforms are essentially competing with traditional distribution for business. As a joke in the industry goes: this is like snatching food from a beggar's bowl, because the channel profits of traditional distribution have significantly declined in recent years, and some are even struggling to sustain operations. At this time, B2B appears out of nowhere. This B2B does not create a new business opportunity; China's regional characteristics and the special nature of the wine industry determine that the distribution system cannot be completely replaced. However, B2B appears as an industry predator, inevitably pushing the industry further into the whirlpool of price wars. Not conducive to the development of foreign wineries From a short-term perspective, wine B2B seems to be the spring for small and medium-sized foreign wineries. However, upon deeper research, it becomes clear that while foreign small and medium-sized wineries can more easily enter the Chinese mainland market through this platform in the short term, this sheep-herding sales model targeting only small and medium-sized customers is difficult to sustain (selling a few products here and there is fine, but without effective management, price chaos will occur once scale increases, and then it becomes a chicken rib). This is also detrimental to the long-term development of foreign wineries and may even lead to a domino effect of bankruptcies among them. China's liquor industry has entered a period of deep adjustment. On one hand, this adjustment requires industry practitioners to truly and calmly think about the future; on the other hand, it requires correct guidance from relevant government departments. Looking internationally, France and other major wine-producing countries, which we consider developed market economies, rarely exhibit the disorderly competition seen in the Chinese market. They have industry self-discipline and government regulation. The internet is also widespread in those countries, but we do not see the phenomenon of internet wine selling becoming a 'craze' overnight as in China. The reason is that we are too impetuous. The liquor industry is facing some difficulties, but we must not treat every new thing as a lifesaver. Just because you see a floating object in the vast sea does not mean it can save you; it might be a shark's fin. Wine B2B looks beautiful, and industry seminars are full of praise, with no one calmly thinking. It seems that anyone who raises objections is considered a 'heretic' or 'countercurrent.' The capital circle also invests as soon as they hear about so-called 'industry innovation' or 'internet+'. Platforms that receive investment then go around the country 'burning money,' connecting the keywords 'heretic,' 'countercurrent,' and 'burning money' immediately evokes scenes of 'beating, smashing, and looting' riots. This is exactly the current state of our industry! In early July, our platform will organize the third B-end e-commerce inspection tour, visiting B-end e-commerce platforms that are instructive for distributor transformation. Interested friends can long-press the QR code below to register. Organization Format

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  4. One-on-one exchanges Each registered friend only needs to pay a 200 yuan organization fee. Interested distributor friends can long-press the QR code below to register. When adding friends, please reply "Third Registration". Previous inspection enterprise cases: -END- The best FMCG distributor learning platform in China Focusing on providing professional, practical, and actionable tutorials for companies and distributors Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly The most professional and practical knowledge base in the FMCG industry Reply with the red numbers below to get corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | 001 Excellent article selection | 002 Distributor market operations | 003 Terminal visit management | 004 Sales supervisor skills | 005 Sales improvement techniques | 006 Channel expansion | 007 Managing distributors | 008 Distributor development | 009 Distributor internal operations management | 010 Team management | 011 Efficient distribution techniques | 012 Sales manager's eighteen skills | 013 KA operation methods and strategies | 014 First lesson for new salespeople | 015 Internet, brand | 016 Distributor B2B transformation | [Long press QR code to follow]