---
title: "Zhong Shanshan: Persisting in Doing a Good Job at the Three-Meter Cashier Counter is the Key Action for Nongfu Spring's Success!"
description: "In the past, before the internet was widespread, most FMCG practitioners advocated and believed in the supremacy of terminals and channels. However, in recent years, as the internet has fully penetrated offline, some have begun to claim that the era of terminal supremacy is over and that those who don't keep up will be eliminated. Many of these critics are theoretical researchers. Although their logic is rigorous and well-founded, I don't believe these academics are more capable than the leaders of billion-yuan enterprises. If they disagree, I'd rather trust the chairmen, as practical results don't lie."
author: "海游"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-05-15"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/G_u5wJBedR8Iwn2sgIhthA"
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---

# Zhong Shanshan: Persisting in Doing a Good Job at the Three-Meter Cashier Counter is the Key Action for Nongfu Spring's Success!

> In the past, before the internet was widespread, most FMCG practitioners advocated and believed in the supremacy of terminals and channels. However, in recent years, as the internet has fully penetrated offline, some have begun to claim that the era of terminal supremacy is over and that those who don't keep up will be eliminated. Many of these critics are theoretical researchers. Although their logic is rigorous and well-founded, I don't believe these academics are more capable than the leaders of billion-yuan enterprises. If they disagree, I'd rather trust the chairmen, as practical results don't lie.

In the past, before the internet was widespread, most FMCG practitioners advocated and firmly believed in the supremacy of terminals and channels. However, in recent years, as the internet has fully moved offline, many have begun to tout that the era of terminal supremacy is over, and those who fail to keep up with the times will be eliminated sooner or later.
Many of these critics are theoretical researchers. Although their logical reasoning is rigorous and well-founded, I don't believe these academics are more capable than the leaders of billion-yuan enterprises. If they have differences of opinion, I'd rather trust these chairmen, after all, results from practical work don't lie.
Armchair strategies are not worth learning from and can even be misleading. I want to tell FMCG practitioners:
> **1. If you haven't visited more than 5,000 terminals and had in-depth communication with these terminal store owners, you can't truly understand the core of terminal supremacy;**
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> **2. Times are indeed changing, but for FMCG, non-planned purchase categories (like a bottle of water or a pack of instant noodles), over 99% of sales are completed at terminal stores. Even best-selling products, if placed in a warehouse, sell far less than those displayed. Terminal supremacy never goes out of style.**
Take Nongfu Spring as an example. The achievements Nongfu Spring has made today are obvious to all. Especially in the Henan region, sales were less than 100 million in 2009, which was extremely difficult at the time, relying on weather and promotions. But five years later, in 2013, Henan region sales exceeded 1 billion, nearly a 10-fold increase. Compared to the national market, both growth rate and absolute sales value are far ahead.
Looking back at these five years, what did the Henan region do? The then Henan leader summarized three sentences as strategic guidelines for guiding the Henan market:
> **1. Do terminals with KA standards;**
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> **2. Do sales with market methods;**
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> **3. Grab basic sales with a strategy of attack, pressure, and encirclement.**
When the market faces difficulties or deviates from the track, return to the origin and see the essence through phenomena. Behind all this essence is terminal supremacy, terminal merchandising, and product education for terminal store owners.
The work requirements for frontline terminal personnel revolve around the "terminal cashier counter." The Henan region adhered to the theory of "terminal supremacy" and created a 10-fold growth rate.
**Not only regional offices, but also the company chairman, do the same.**
I remember when I went to Nongfu Spring headquarters for an interview, the final interviewer was the founder, Chairman Zhong. We communicated for 40 minutes, very pleasantly. During that time, Chairman Zhong asked me three questions: First, what books have you read recently and what insights did you gain? Second, what do you feel you lack most, what are your shortcomings? Third, what do you want to learn at Nongfu Spring?
The first two questions are unrelated to the market, so I won't elaborate. But the third question has been valuable for my career. At that time, I answered: "Nongfu Spring is no longer what it used to be, with annual revenue exceeding 10 billion, the number one brand in drinking water, and solid foundational work. I want to learn how the company's decision-makers formulate strategies, and what strategies enable Nongfu Spring to grow rapidly. Over the past few years, I've gained a good understanding of basic work, and I'm eager to learn more about strategy and tactics."
Chairman Zhong smiled and said: **"Products are the cornerstone. Without good products, a company cannot develop rapidly; that's the primary prerequisite. The next step is the market. Actually, you don't need to study those profound theories and strategies. Even I and several regional managers don't think about strategies all day; we study terminal stores, terminal store owners, and their workplace—the cashier counter."**
He continued, **"Think about it, if the store owner helps you promote your product, how will sales be? If the store owner is busy, and you put up a poster or hang some curtains in a prominent position at the cashier counter, how will sales be? These merchandising materials are like a 24-hour free product promoter. Coca-Cola does this, and for the next 10 years, or even longer, we will continue to do so. So, our core work is to study terminal stores, gain insights into terminal store owners, and thoroughly understand everything around the cashier counter. Our work always revolves around the cashier counter, making efforts there. If we persist in doing this well, we will succeed. Strategy is just icing on the cake..."**
From Chairman Zhong's words, we can understand the reason for Nongfu Spring's rapid development in recent years: the core is terminal supremacy, and the core of the terminal is winning at the cashier counter.
How to win at the terminal cashier counter specifically? I think it can be roughly divided into three parts: first, the cashier; second, the cashier counter; third, the sales aids around the cashier counter.
I hope the following content can help FMCG practitioners and distributors truly understand the core logic of terminal supremacy.
**Step 1 of Terminal Supremacy: Win the "Cashier"**
Over 90% of non-chain terminal store cashiers are the store owners themselves. Their role in the terminal store is crucial; they determine the purchase, sales, and promotion of your products. So the first step to winning at the cashier counter is to win the "cashier."
**1. Learn to tell stories to terminal store owners—stories about the product and stories about profit.**
Correct two wrong views of store owners: first, a wrong product value concept, viewing product cost and price from their own perspective; second, wrongly believing that fast-selling products mean high profit.
For this, we should learn from Nongfu Spring, which for over a decade has been doing water tests for terminal store owners, telling them we are nature's porters, our products are naturally weak alkaline, beneficial to health. Day after day, year after year, they instilled this in store owners, and later most store owners could do water tests themselves, for their families and consumers, and took pride in learning this knowledge point.
Secondly, no matter what type of terminal store or what kind of store owner, the purpose of opening a store is always the same: to make a profit! So with limited foot traffic, limited space, and limited purchase quantities, store owners will inevitably choose products that are high-profit and sell well to increase their profit margins. This profit margin is the "profit story" that Nongfu terminal sales personnel need to tell store owners, and it's also Nongfu's incremental space. Then sales personnel compare with a best-selling drinking water in the market, analyzing from retail price, display reward costs, etc., and finally conclude that Nongfu's profit is several times that of competitors, making store owners suddenly enlightened.
**2. "The Art of War: Attack by Stratagem": "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat; if you know yourself but not the enemy, you will win one and lose one; if you know neither, you will lose every battle."**
To win over terminal store owners, you must deeply understand your product's strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. At the same time, put yourself in the competitor's shoes and analyze their strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats again. Repeatedly, in brief communication with store owners, skillfully use the "Tian Ji horse racing" strategy to introduce products and close deals. Preparation must be thorough.
**3. Diligence is key in life. When facing terminal store owners, achieve: high-quality visits and in-depth communication.**
Chinese-style deal-making seems different; profit is important, but customer relationships are even more important. In many cases, if sales personnel have good relationships with store owners, the owner would rather accept your product at a slightly higher price than take a cheaper product from someone with poor relationships. The reason is simple: terminal store owners need a guarantee. For example, FMCG products have shelf life. Good relationships avoid trust crises; a slightly higher price won't leave leftover issues. But if relationships are poor, the store owner might think: even if I buy 10 cases cheaply, if one expires, it's not worth it. So relationships require "diligence."
**4. Regarding communication skills, how to answer terminal store owners' questions, etc., I won't go into detail.**
**Step 2 of Terminal Supremacy: Win the "Cashier Counter"**
This 2-3 meter counter is the cashier's workplace and the core of the entire terminal store. It's a must-pass area for all consumers. Merchandising around this counter, such as cut-case displays, stacked displays, posters, curtains, etc., has a 100% consumer reach rate, unmatched by any shelf or end-cap display.
I've learned many standardized display methods, but the most profound and convincing one is: **The best display effect is visible from outside the store and seen everywhere inside.** This sentence highly summarizes the importance of product display at the cashier counter. Secondly, if you want your merchandising materials to serve as a 24-hour free promoter, they should "stand" on or near the cashier counter.
The second step to winning at the cashier counter is winning the cashier counter itself.
The cashier counter is where the terminal store's traffic is most concentrated; every customer must pass through here. Displays here can trigger unplanned purchases from any customer at any time, which is what we often call "high impulse buying."
Through cashier counter displays, we can provide consumers: 1) Reminders to buy; 2) Stimulation to consume; 3) An excellent brand promotion window. Of course, cashier counter displays are not hard to sell, making it a battleground for all products. So we need to think from the store owner's perspective: if I were the store owner, what products would I display here?
> **1. The gross margin of the product should be higher than the average gross margin of all similar products in the store;**
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> **2. Products that are easily overlooked by customers and impulse-buy items;**
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> **3. Products on the same shelf should not be too monotonous; they need variety;**
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> **4. Products should not be too large, and avoid fragile or liquid items like glass products or bottled honey;**
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> **5. Products should be rotated regularly to maintain freshness;**
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> **6. Food and non-food items should be displayed separately, not on the same shelf. To improve overall gross margin, 70% of the shelf should display non-food items (children's toys, nail clippers, batteries, etc.), and 30% food...**
Given this, what should we pay attention to?
1. Choose your high-margin star products for display;
2. Must include clear price information to facilitate customer decisions;
3. Product displays must have corresponding atmosphere arrangements, such as new product promotional posters for a brand, promotional price information for displayed items, etc., to further increase consumer purchase interest;
4. Remind terminal store owners to be vigilant against theft for products displayed in front of the cashier counter.
Finally, I want to emphasize poster placement. The principle for poster placement is: **Place high rather than low, place inside rather than outside. The best poster position in the entire terminal store is on the wall behind the cashier, in a non-obstructed area.**
**Step 3 of Terminal Supremacy: Win the Sales Aids Around the Cashier Counter**
What sales aids are around the cashier counter? Typically: **Over 80% of cashier counters are near the entrance, over 80% of freezers are around the cashier counter, and over 80% of cashier counters have an end-cap nearby. These sales aids are strategic positions that every brand wants to capture.**
The third step to winning at the cashier counter is winning the sales aids around it—**end-caps + freezers**
Every terminal store has a shelf that is updated most frequently. The first shelf or end-cap facing the cashier counter upon entry is considered the "golden location" of the terminal store—it's a must-pass area for customers, and they often linger there while queuing to pay. On this shelf, no product appears without reason. So if you plan to do shelf displays in a terminal store, you must secure this end-cap to achieve both brand guidance and sales.
However, in actual market visits, you'll find this end-cap is hard to secure. Due to increasing operational pressure, terminal store owners have already begun refined management of in-store products and won't be swayed by display fees offered by manufacturers. Even if you secure it, the cost is high. In such cases, I suggest: **For this "golden location," do category displays, not brand displays.** As the saying goes, no comparison, no harm. Among products in the same category, if you build perfectly, competitors become your foil, and costs are greatly reduced.
Freezers are a military stronghold during the beverage peak season. Here are some practical experiences to share:
**1. Develop the habit of putting products into the freezer casually.** During visits, chat with the store owner while stuffing products into the freezer. Use customer relationships and experience to judge the owner's maximum acceptance. Understand that what goes into the freezer is equivalent to what sells. PET beverages, once frozen for more than 2 hours, cannot be taken out easily; if taken out, they face bottle deformation, label detachment, etc., causing losses for the store owner. So products will stay in the freezer until purchased;
**2. Put push-pull stickers on the freezer door.** These merchandising materials are the most important, with high ad reach. There's a technique for placement: generally, stick them on the inside of the glass door corresponding to the lower half of the second layer and the upper half of the third layer from the top, for promotion without blocking products;
**3. Freezer displays should be concentrated, and your facing should always be larger than key competitors.** Size is relative. If you can't make your facing larger, reduce competitors' facing;
**4. Don't overlook the merchandising of products in the freezer.** Imagine all beverages in the freezer displaying themselves by their own image. If your product has some decorations, it will stand out and catch the eye;
5. If competition for freezer shelves is too fierce, consider using air stickers on the inside of the glass door to stick **your own custom shelves**;
6. Last but not least: **For freezer displays, customer relationships are more important than fees, and the closer to the cashier counter, the better.**
Therefore, in my view, for non-planned products, especially FMCG, terminal supremacy never goes out of style. Even if you have the best product, the best advertising, the best channels, if your consumers can't buy it, you can't complete sales and naturally won't get the profits you deserve.
Times are changing, product homogenization is becoming more serious, internet-famous products are only popular for a short time, and cultivating consumer loyalty is increasingly difficult. Terminal supremacy means whoever controls the sales terminals, turns terminal stores into their brand windows, and makes product marketing scenario-based, is the market winner.
Doing terminal construction well has become a compulsory course for every consumer goods enterprise. Only by occupying the terminal market, meeting consumers at the point of sale, and establishing basic awareness can products be purchased. Only by controlling terminals can enterprises control market initiative.
**Without terminals, marketing becomes a tree without roots.**
No matter what product or service, it cannot achieve recycling. Through terminal merchandising, you can reflect the brand's culture, thoughts, values, and the lifestyle it advocates. It no longer shows a single sales function but a comprehensive display of brand functions. It uses the brand as a link, with all-around service as the axis, fully reflecting product personalization and differentiation, truly turning sales into consumption. This is "terminal supremacy."
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**China FMCG + Internet Professional New Media**
**Committed to FMCG manufacturer and distributor transformation and channel digital solutions**


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