AUTHOR ARCHIVE
Articles by 高级研究员 海游
Browse 210 New Distribution articles by 高级研究员 海游.
Published articles
210 articles · Page 1 of 9
One-Size-Fits-All Manufacturer Expense Policies Disrupt the Market and Overwhelm Distributors
In the FMCG industry, 'expenses' are both the 'ammunition' for brands to drive the market and the 'lifeblood' for distributors to survive. However, as the market environment changes, with more channels and lower output per channel, along with more diverse consumer demands, the traditional one-size-fits-all expense model is becoming less adaptable. Currently, common expense models in the FMCG industry can be broadly divided into five categories: budget-based, cash fund-based, full product-value coverage, half cash-value coverage, and full cash-value coverage. This article delves into the pros and cons of these five models, using frontline case studies to highlight core pain points between brands and distributors, and offers a best-practice methodology of 'layered matching and dynamic balance'.
高级研究员 海游Short-Term Performance Overwhelms Long-Term Value, Draining Many FMCG Companies
Have you ever experienced such torment? You propose a brilliant plan with solid data and clear logic, everyone nods in agreement, but once execution begins, you hit obstacles everywhere. Colleagues in the company silently resist, exhausting you more than outright failure. From a sales rep to a sales VP, and now running a consulting firm for channel marketing for seven years, I share insights on why many difficult but correct things fail to succeed. My view: many 'difficult but correct' things fail not because the thing itself is wrong, but because at least one of five elements—people, organization, resources, time, or incentives—doesn't hold up to the end.
高级研究员 海游Frequently Changing Distributors and Sales Teams: Manufacturers Destroying Their Own Markets
There are many reasons for healthy market growth, each with its own characteristics, but the two most common reasons for hindered market growth are frequent changes of distributors and frequent changes of the manufacturer's sales team. The usual practice of incompetent managers is only one: warning, closing accounts, splitting markets when performance targets are not met, and simultaneously eliminating salespeople. The result is only one: the more frequently the two organizations change, the weaker the market becomes, until no distributors can be recruited and the market is blank. Today we discuss how to stabilize these two organizations and build the cornerstone of healthy market development. The manufacturer's sales team...
高级研究员 海游Price Wars: How Can Distributors Break the Deadlock?
During a recent business trip to Hubei, several distributors mentioned they now hesitate to invest in offline channels because, after costly product introduction efforts, online platforms often reap the rewards once a product gains traction. With both online and offline markets saturated, squeezed growth is breaking existing balances, pushing offline distributors to the brink. However, there are still paths forward, which we explore from a retail development perspective.
高级研究员 海游Dealer Breakthrough: First Adjust Structure, Then Strengthen Organization, Then Calculate Compensation
A dealer asked why he couldn't meet the manufacturer's targets despite his efforts. The article outlines three steps for market breakthrough: adjusting product structure, channel structure, and combining organization, execution, and compensation.
高级研究员 海游Distributors, Stop Being 'Movers'!
A trading company owner shared on social media: 'First principles is a super method to see through phenomena to the essence! Ask what the fundamental question is, then think about what to do. In any field, stage, or environment, when feeling lost, set aside appearances, penetrate the essence, and get to the core of the problem.' In recent years, business has been tough, and many distributors are feeling lost and anxious, making mistakes in judgment and operations. It's necessary to share six daily operational issues that need to be solved with 'first principles.' The first principle of sell-through is consumer operations.
高级研究员 海游Brand-oriented Distributors' Weakness: C-end Operational Capability
Brand-oriented distributors are those who have deep regional cooperation with one or two brands, treating them as core brands that account for over 80% of their business. In the era of shrinking volume, brand owners now require not only distribution capability (B-end) but also promotion capability (C-end). This article discusses the challenges these distributors face and provides strategies for C-end operations, including customer acquisition, repurchase, and increasing average order value.
高级研究员 海游Ten "Helpers" for Distributor Profit
In 2025, I conducted field research on no fewer than 50 distributor owners and identified many issues in warehouse logistics, team management, and channel management. This article is the first in a series, discussing ten factors that impact distributor profit, focusing on revenue-generating strategies such as execution, store efficiency, and digital transformation.
高级研究员 海游Ten 'Killers' of Distributor Profits
In 2025, I conducted field research on no fewer than 50 distributor owners and found many issues in their warehouse logistics, team management, and channel management. I will compile these into a series of articles; today, I will discuss the ten factors affecting distributor profits. In recent years, it is true that making money has become increasingly difficult for distributors, and while external environmental factors are the same, improvements in certain areas can indeed boost distributor profits. I will divide this into cost-cutting and revenue-increasing sections, starting with cost-cutting.
高级研究员 海游Distributors Who Don't Understand Product Mix Can't Make Money Even with the Best Brands!
The market is changing, retail is changing, and distributors' businesses are getting harder. One of the key strategies for large and medium-sized trading companies to break through is product mix and management, which involves rationally combining products from different brand tiers: first-tier brands can cover basic operating costs, ensure normal survival, and bundle with second- and third-tier brands to improve their trading terms, help them quickly cover sales networks, and spread distribution costs; second-tier brands can become the main profit contributors after first-tier brands cover basic costs, enhancing distributors' resilience to risk and providing terminal market maintenance teams for third-tier brands; third-tier brands can further increase profit margins with the backing of first- and second-tier brands.
高级研究员 海游Distributors: Don't Bet Your Life on a Single Channel
Distributors' sales and profits largely stem from channel strength, making channels not just a means to sell but a core competitive advantage for survival and growth. A diversified channel strategy helps mitigate risks, ensuring business stability when one channel falters. This article discusses how distributors should plan their channel layout for 2026, covering offline and online channels.
高级研究员 海游The Life-or-Death Game for Distributors: Exhausting Yourself to Leave No Room for Competitors
During a recent visit to a trading company owner, he lamented that many distributors are engaging in 'suicidal' operations, knowingly supplying loss-making outlets with high fees and long payment cycles. This reflects the brutal reality of market competition, where only those with deep reserves can survive the elimination round, akin to polar bears surviving hibernation on their fat layers. The article categorizes this competition into 'external' and 'internal' forms, emphasizing that to win externally, one must first strengthen internally.
高级研究员 海游Ignoring Category Management Means Dealers Can Only Run Inefficient Businesses!
This article is a supplement and extension of a previous one, continuing to explore how dealers can do category management well in combination with the retail industry. Without category management, dealers' survival space will be locked down. The article proposes three core viewpoints: choose the right stores and sell the right products, optimize resource allocation to reduce operational risks, and increase volume and profit to enhance competitiveness. It also provides specific methods for dealers to implement category management, including deciding whether to prioritize category or brand, adapting to the retail trend of 'wide category, narrow product', and deeply binding category management with retail outlets.
高级研究员 海游Under 'Taste Marketing', Distributor Profits Have Been Halved
This year, I visited many distributors and found a general pattern: among large and medium-sized trading companies, distributors born in the 1980s and 1990s are significantly more profitable than those born in the 1960s and 1970s. The older generation's 'taste marketing' approach is a key factor. Times have changed, and if distributors don't adapt their business models, even a favorable environment won't help them. This article discusses this topic and offers suggestions for improving profits.
高级研究员 海游Common Maladies of FMCG Managers: Managing Instead of Teaching, Punishing Instead of Coaching
This year, while conducting organizational research at several brand companies, the most striking observation was that many mid-level marketing managers manage by issuing orders and punish rather than coach. This approach stifles employee growth, undermines team innovation, and leads to a cycle of mistakes and penalties, ultimately harming organizational efficiency.
高级研究员 海游90% of Distributor Owners Don't Know How to Run a Morning Meeting
Many distributors face labor costs as their biggest operating expense, making it urgent to improve personnel efficiency and performance. As a key hub connecting brands and terminals, the morning meeting is far from a routine formality. A well-run morning meeting injects vitality into the team, driving performance, stability, and operational optimization. This article discusses how to run an effective morning meeting, addressing the root causes of low personnel efficiency.
高级研究员 海游Declining Terminal Sales, Wasted Expenses: FMCG Manufacturers Are Being Dragged Down by 'Store Efficiency'
Store efficiency for FMCG manufacturers refers to the sales efficiency and operational effectiveness at terminal stores, serving as a key indicator of market performance. Those who effectively improve store efficiency gain a competitive advantage. This article discusses three key metrics for improving store efficiency: store efficiency = area efficiency + personnel efficiency + cost efficiency. It provides methods for improving area efficiency, such as understanding store capacity and share, adjusting product assortment, optimizing displays, and implementing promotions.
高级研究员 海游The More Brand Owners Manage, the Harder It Is for Distributors to Do Business
When I first entered the consulting and training industry, I was often asked by brand marketing teams how to manage distributors. I personally dislike the term 'management' because distributors and brand owners are partners; mutual empowerment and win-win cooperation are key. They play different roles and functions in the channel chain (brand owner-distributor-operations team-outlet-consumer), being merely upstream and downstream, with no issue of who manages whom. Upstream brand owners need to achieve their own success through the success of downstream distributors, create value for them, and grow together with them...
高级研究员 海游Distributors Who Don't Know How to Share Profits Can't Succeed in the Trading Business!
As labor costs rise and profit margins shrink, trading companies are paying more attention to compensation design. A well-designed compensation system provides economic security, motivates performance, reflects personal value, and promotes career development for employees, while helping distributors attract and retain talent, improve efficiency, foster teamwork, and enhance corporate image. This article shares several compensation models observed in trading companies over recent years.
高级研究员 海游Making Distributors More Profitable Is the Only Way for Manufacturers to Activate Them
As markets and retail evolve, distributors face increasing challenges, prompting manufacturers to seek ways to activate them. The key, as highlighted by two category leaders, is to increase distributor profits through three sources: product structure, channel structure, and operational efficiency.
高级研究员 海游FMCG Business: Without a Connected Channel Chain, Offline Sales Won't Grow
In the FMCG business, offline channels remain the focus of sales. Why do many good brands, products, ideas, and marketing strategies fail to achieve perfect results? The reason is simple: the channel chain is not connected, and disconnection leads to pain. The offline channel chain is: brand owner - distributor - salesperson - outlet - consumer. If one link has a problem, the whole cannot operate efficiently. Without a good distributor, delivery (funds, warehousing, capability, willingness) has issues; without good salespeople, market execution has issues; without...
高级研究员 海游Classified Empowerment of Distributors: From "One Size Fits All" to "Precise Measures"
After the Spring Festival, many brand owners claim they will value, be close to, and support their distributors, but these words often remain slogans without concrete action. Just as a student with weak math needs targeted tutoring, distributors need an evaluation system covering capability and willingness to enable classified empowerment. This article proposes four models—heavy support, assistance, closeness, and elimination—based on capability and willingness assessments, with specific strategies for each.
高级研究员 海游The More the Market Involution, the More Brands Need to Unite Social Forces
On April 29, 1956, Chairman Mao emphasized 'uniting all forces that can be united' during a meeting with representatives of communist parties from several Latin American countries. This principle applies equally to the FMCG industry: in an era of involution, strengthening channel competitiveness requires uniting all possible forces, yet many brands overlook this or only adopt 'metaphysical' strategies without concrete tactical guidance.
高级研究员 海游Distributors' Basic Skills for Core Key Accounts: Three Transformations + Three Efficiencies
This year, while providing channel empowerment consulting for two category-leading companies, I gained many insights. Let's first discuss the creation of core key accounts. I define core key accounts based on three dimensions: category capacity, brand sales share, and channel attributes. For example, a brand's instant noodles define a key account as an urban supermarket, college, or core township store with monthly instant noodle sales of at least 50,000 yuan and a brand share of at least 15% of that capacity. Many people advocate that supermarket business is declining and foot traffic is decreasing, suggesting a shift in focus, but they are mistaken. Traditional brand distributors must continue to value supermarkets, which are my core key accounts. Next, let's discuss the essential skills for building core key accounts: Three Transformations + Three Efficiencies.
高级研究员 海游