---
title: "Year-End Mass Layoffs in FMCG Industry: What Options Remain for FMCG Professionals?"
description: "A former subordinate, referred to as Mr. Z, called to share his distress after his company issued transfer orders to city managers who missed performance targets, effectively a disguised layoff. This reflects the broader FMCG industry's decline, prompting a reflection on the need for traditional marketing professionals to transform and adapt to new trends like B2B and internet-based distribution."
author: "赵波"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-12-27"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/H9FfrXg6jcSzroeWXr2vMA"
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# Year-End Mass Layoffs in FMCG Industry: What Options Remain for FMCG Professionals?

> A former subordinate, referred to as Mr. Z, called to share his distress after his company issued transfer orders to city managers who missed performance targets, effectively a disguised layoff. This reflects the broader FMCG industry's decline, prompting a reflection on the need for traditional marketing professionals to transform and adapt to new trends like B2B and internet-based distribution.

Recently, I received a call from a former colleague, let's call him Mr. Z. He was a subordinate of mine at a certain company. In my impression, he was highly capable, the kind of person any company would focus on developing.
After the initial pleasantries, he began to pour out his troubles. Mr. Z joined this company right after graduation and has been there for six years. He worked his way up from a frontline sales representative to a city manager, with a decent income. The year before last, with his family's help, he made a down payment on a house. Last year, he bought a car and got married because of a pregnancy. This year, his baby was born smoothly. Although these events all happened in a short span, as a top-tier company in the industry, as long as performance targets were met, his income was basically guaranteed. He thought that after a few more years of hard work, he could move into middle management. Not necessarily wealthy, but at least a comfortable life. However, recently the company issued a notice: city managers who fail to meet this year's performance targets will be reassigned across regions next year, and the assessment method will be adjusted. In plain terms, it's a disguised layoff.
Mr. Z's market has seen rapid growth for many consecutive years, so the task baseline is already high. This year, he failed to meet the targets for nearly half the year. But looking at his colleagues' performance and the industry-wide decline, he didn't think it was a big deal.
He thought that if he could get through this year and adjust the market, there could still be decent growth next year. But he didn't expect the consequences of the industry downturn to hit him so quickly. Now, with the transfer order from the company, Mr. Z has to seriously consider his future. He asked around his friends and found that other companies are also reducing headcount. He sent out a few resumes, but they all went unanswered.
Listening to him, I could feel the heavy pressure. Mortgage, car loan, child—after thirty, many things can no longer be handled with the ease of a fresh graduate. The hardest part to accept is that after dedicating all his youth to the company, he's told to leave if he doesn't meet targets.
After the phone call with Mr. Z, I thought for a long time. The entire FMCG industry has been struggling for the past two years. Not long ago, it was reported that a well-known beverage brand reduced its workforce by 30% in 2017, eliminating all supervisor-level positions, with branch managers directly managing supervisors and significantly cutting supervisor quotas. Its competitors also laid off staff in underperforming regions. Some brands didn't lay off, but after natural attrition, they didn't replenish positions... Behind the layoffs is the enormous sales pressure all FMCG companies face this year. Sales have declined for multiple consecutive quarters, and per-capita output can no longer cover wage costs. Senior executives under huge KPI pressure making the decision to lay off is inevitable.
From the industry's broader context, China's distribution channels undergo a major iteration and transformation every decade. Deep distribution was proposed in the 1990s, and companies like Master Kong achieved great market success through intensive channel cultivation. Behind this is the hard work of an entire generation of marketing professionals. In recent years, with consumption upgrades and the impact of the internet on traditional offline channels, the entire Chinese market—products, channels, and marketing—is undergoing a dramatic restructuring. Traditional companies like Wahaha are facing enormous market challenges.
Looking back at traditional marketing professionals, many decisions made by companies cannot be changed by the execution layer. Whether the decision is right or wrong, they have to charge ahead. This reminds me of a story:
> In 1860, on the plains between Beijing and Tianjin, the Mongol prince Sengge Rinchen, loyal to the Qing court, looked at the 8,000 British and French troops lined up in neat squares and decided to teach them a lesson. Although he had suffered some minor setbacks in recent skirmishes.
>
> Because his troops had not yet fully assembled, but now his core force—over 10,000 Mongol cavalry, plus over 10,000 supporting Eight Banner and Green Standard cavalry—had assembled, with 20,000 infantry in support.
>
> He wanted to recreate the glory of five years earlier when he had rushed from Mongolia to defend the capital. Facing the Taiping Rebellion's Northern Expedition army, a much larger opponent, he used the traditional tactics passed down from Genghis Khan and routed them completely, ending their northern ambitions.
>
> He divided his cavalry into five lines: the first two lines were lance-wielding shock cavalry, and the last three were horse archers. His tactic was simple: the shock cavalry formed a tight formation, spaced 30 meters from the horse archers behind, and charged together.
>
> When the front cavalry was about a hundred paces from the enemy, the horse archers behind, at a 45-degree angle, released a volley of arrows. The dense rain of arrows passed over the front cavalry's heads, hitting the enemy formation, disrupting their musket fire. While the enemy dodged the arrows, the shock cavalry reached them and broke through the square. The horse archers then drew their sabers and cut down the fleeing enemy. This was how he broke through more than a dozen of the Taiping army's formations, leaving none alive.
>
> He estimated that the enemy's artillery would kill over a thousand of his cavalry at 500 to 200 meters, and then at about 100 meters, the enemy's volley fire might knock down another one to two thousand. But they would only have one chance to fire, and then his remaining over 10,000 cavalry would charge into the formation and slaughter them.
>
> So he waved the yellow flag, and over 20,000 cavalry charged simultaneously. But unexpectedly, the enemy's musketeers didn't start firing at about 100 meters; they began volley fire at 400-500 meters. He didn't know that the British and French were not using old smoothbore muskets but advanced rifled muskets with Minié balls. Also, due to the use of percussion caps, reloading was faster, with only seven or eight seconds between volleys. This meant his cavalry would face over a dozen volleys before reaching the enemy, not the one or two he imagined.
>
> That day, all the shock cavalry were shot down before reaching the enemy, and the remaining horse archers, facing the enemy's bayonets, didn't know what to do and were stabbed or shot off their horses.
>
> The Qing army suffered a great defeat, losing nearly 20,000 men, while the British and French lost only a few dozen. Sengge Rinchen never imagined he would be the last Qing general to launch a full-scale charge. From then on, the Qing army completely abandoned charge tactics; no one would fight desperately anymore.
>
> This event left Beijing exposed, the Old Summer Palace was burned, the Xianfeng Emperor fled to Rehe and died of illness, and the two empress dowagers came to power. All the ministers blamed Sengge Rinchen for the defeat. He was stripped of all titles, though he retained the title of Imperial Commissioner, but from being at the height of glory, he fell out of favor with the court. All because he lost his army, the Mongol cavalry. Later, he was forced to use his remaining cavalry for an impossible mission and died on the battlefield.
Sengge Rinchen did nothing wrong; he did what he had to do and died tragically. The internet era has truly arrived. This is the beginning of a great era and also the end of one. We are all insignificant in the context of a great era. I particularly like what Professor Zeng Ming said: "The times make heroes. No matter how capable an individual hero is, they must respect business laws and grasp the general trend."
As individuals, if we cannot see the industry's development trends, no matter how hard we try, we are just a tragedy of the times.
Traditional channel distribution and intensive channel cultivation can no longer meet the new distribution needs. The past emphasis on ground execution and using a sea of people to pile up performance—the cold weapon era—is over. The channel management experience we once prided ourselves on now seems useless.
As B2B rises and chain stores expand rapidly, there is no longer a need for so many distributors and salespeople to do terminal ground services. Meanwhile, brand owners, constrained by cost pressures, inevitably use the internet to achieve efficient distribution.
Therefore, transformation for FMCG professionals is an inevitable trend. The key is where to turn. Here are some suggestions for friends looking for jobs:
> 1. Boldly abandon past achievements, keep pace with the times, and be willing to embrace the changes brought by the internet.
>
> 2. Try cross-industry transformation, using old resources for new careers; you will gain different rewards.
>
> 3. Discover new opportunities, bravely step out of your comfort zone, and shift from an employee mindset to a partner mindset.
>
> 4. Against the backdrop of traditional marketing heading toward its end, consider personal entrepreneurship on large platforms, or consider joining a B2B company to leverage your strengths.


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