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Articles by 高级研究员 海游
Browse 210 New Distribution articles by 高级研究员 海游.
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210 articles · Page 2 of 9
Distributors: How Can There Be Business Growth Without Perfect Execution?
Recently, while visiting the market with a company's marketing team, I observed some common phenomena. After in-depth discussions, it became clear that these issues stem from incomplete small closed loops in marketing. For a company's model to operate smoothly and achieve sales and profit growth, every node must form a closed loop. This article illustrates this with examples from market visits, such as the closed loop for blank outlets, the closed loop for sales velocity, and the closed loop for expense implementation.
高级研究员 海游The Frontline Holds Divine Insight: It's Not That 'Terminal is King' Has Failed, But That You Haven't Visited Terminals Correctly
Visiting terminal outlets is routine for many marketing managers, but my recent market research for companies shows many do it poorly. They either fail to spot problems, miss the root cause, or don't grasp competitors' underlying logic. This article discusses the need for three perspectives—consumer, frontline staff, and manager—when visiting outlets, and emphasizes both macro and micro analysis to find growth opportunities.
高级研究员 海游The Core Value of FMCG Manufacturers' Marketing Teams Is to Enhance Channel Competitiveness
The core value of FMCG manufacturers' marketing teams lies in enhancing channel competitiveness. Market share is a result indicator driven by product & brand competitiveness, channel competitiveness, and consumer competitiveness. While marketing teams can only inherit and execute on product and consumer aspects, channel competitiveness is the area they must build and develop to drive growth in a shrinking market.
高级研究员 海游Breakthrough Points for FMCG Manufacturers in the Foodservice Channel: Large Outlets Benchmark Against Hypermarkets, Small Outlets Align with Distribution
Recently, several leading beverage and beer brands discussed with me how to excel in the foodservice channel. Previously, their channel coverage was primarily direct-operated, but with shrinking consumer demand and rising labor costs, they now plan to explore a development model leveraging specialty channel distributors. Indeed, channel competitiveness stands out in the alcoholic beverage market as one of the three core competencies (brand product competitiveness, channel competitiveness, and consumer competitiveness). For example, in beer, years of monopolistic practices (buying outlets for exclusivity) have deprived many local brands of survival opportunities. However, a key point here is that while the cost of buying outlets is co-invested by manufacturers and distributors, the negotiation and communication with outlets are almost led or independently completed by distributors, highlighting the channel value of distributors.
高级研究员 海游Distributors: Seek Growth from the Market, Profit from Management
Amid economic downturn and demographic shifts, distributors face integration pressures. This article outlines strategies for growth and profit, emphasizing brand communication, product mix, channel management, organizational efficiency, consumer engagement, cost optimization, and time management.
高级研究员 海游Distributors: Are You 'Really Broke' or 'Faking It'?
In July, I was invited by several companies to participate in their semi-annual meetings and conduct training sessions. After the meetings, some distributors told me that business is tough this year, with unstable and fragile cash flow being the biggest challenge. Brand owners demand payment before delivery, while retailers demand delivery before payment, squeezing distributors in between. This article offers several solutions to address this issue.
高级研究员 海游Navigating the Era of Shrinking Volume: Outlets Remain the Lifeline for Manufacturers and Distributors
This article discusses the importance of classifying retail outlets by brand communication levels to optimize brand influence, monitor communication effects, analyze regional market characteristics, improve resource efficiency, and strengthen competitive advantage. It provides a practical case and methods for categorizing outlets into ABCD levels based on multiple criteria such as sales, brand communication, profit, and competitive suppression, emphasizing that outlets remain the foundation for manufacturers and distributors in the era of shrinking volume.
高级研究员 海游In the Era of Overcapacity, Finding a Responsible Manufacturer Gets Harder for Distributors
In a shrinking market, if one company grows, it's at the expense of others. Competition intensifies, especially in FMCG, leading to higher breakeven points and industry consolidation. For distributors, growth requires choosing the right brand partners and continuously improving operational capabilities.
高级研究员 海游From the Consumer's Perspective, Why Isn't Your Product Selling?
Product sell-through is a multifaceted issue involving many layers that need comprehensive attention. In terms of competitive landscape, to beat competitors and secure a market position, three competitive forces must be emphasized: product competitiveness, channel competitiveness, and consumer competitiveness. Using the Fogg Behavior Model to understand consumer purchasing behavior, which posits that behavior occurs when motivation, ability, and triggers are simultaneously present, simplified as B=MAT.
高级研究员 海游From Deep Distribution to Precision Distribution: A Strategy for Incremental Change in Brand Channel Models
Brand executives face three common challenges: difficulty recruiting quality personnel, managing teams effectively, and maintaining high service quality at retail outlets. This article explores shifting from traditional deep distribution to a precision distribution model, using Nongfu Spring's channel reform as a case study, and outlines a four-step approach for channel model transformation.
高级研究员 海游The Core of Distributor Morning Meetings Is Helping Salespeople Make Money
Morning meetings, the simplest and most basic daily management routine, seem to trouble many frontline execution teams. This article discusses how to prepare and conduct efficient morning meetings, emphasizing that the key is to use data to show salespeople how to earn more money, turning management into motivation.
高级研究员 海游How Much Is a Salesperson's Customer Relationship Worth?
Long ago, I categorized the skills of frontline salespeople into three types: attitude skills, customer relationship skills, and business skills. Among these, customer relationship skills are the most important, accounting for 80% of the factors in closing a deal. This article explores how to increase regional sales through stable customer relationships, using the example of a distributor in Henan who successfully captured market share by leveraging customer relationships when a competitor was in transition.
高级研究员 海游Channel Coverage Models Evolve from 'Horse-drawn Carriage' to 'Automobile' – How to Effectively Activate Distributors?
Using the analogy of treating a pimple, the article explains that brand owners should address the root cause of distributor inefficiency by redesigning channel coverage models rather than applying temporary fixes. It traces the evolution of six channel coverage models and provides a framework for optimizing distributor systems, including selecting the right distributors, defining roles, and implementing operational SOPs.
高级研究员 海游How Distributors Can Build Capabilities into Their Organizations
When discussing this topic, many people's first reaction is what HR needs to do. For a typical trading company with annual sales of tens of millions, they won't set up a separate HR team; these tasks fall on the heads of the using departments, but their main business is not HR, so how should they handle it? Talent never belongs to the enterprise; it belongs to the labor market. If you leverage your professional advantages to empower employees, perhaps in the short term their overall capabilities will improve, but when employees leave, what remains? A business supported by excellent employees is individual heroism; when the "hero" leaves, the business pressure immediately multiplies.
高级研究员 海游Regional Market Operation Leadership: Should It Rest with Brand Owners or Distributors?
The complete offline channel chain is: brand owner - distributor/dealer - salesperson - outlet - consumer. The core of effective offline channel coverage is to connect all links in product circulation, which first requires addressing three questions: who does it, what to do, and what model is best. This article discusses these questions, arguing that market leadership should be determined by market efficiency, not by brand owners' preference.
高级研究员 海游As Spring Festival Approaches, How Should Distributors Handle Inventory Pressure?
As the Spring Festival approaches, distributors face significant inventory pressure. This article discusses strategies for transferring inventory pressure, clearing channel inventory, and achieving a successful start to the new year.
高级研究员 海游Don't Let Digitalization Become a Burden for Distributors
Digitalization is a double-edged sword. As channel digital terminal software becomes more prevalent, brand owners increasingly require distributors to use their terminal systems, but this often burdens distributors and their sales staff. To succeed, digital transformation must be based on empathy, balance, and a focus on managing tasks rather than people.
高级研究员 海游Distributors Becoming B2b Platform Operators: Great Opportunities, but Also Great Risks!
Transitioning to B2b is both an opportunity and a challenge. Recent visits to the Sichuan market show many distributors planning B2b layouts, seeing it as an opportunity, but they have concerns about using their own funds. This article shares insights on these issues. Currently, B2b is trending toward rational operations, presenting both opportunities and challenges. Using internet technology to improve operational efficiency and optimizing profit through supply chains is inevitable in FMCG development.
高级研究员 海游As Spring Festival Approaches, How Should Gift Box Distributors Stock Up This Year?
With only about forty days until Spring Festival, the annual gift box sales season is upon us. This year, the market shows mixed signals: while rural areas remain strong, urban consumers increasingly prefer value over packaging, and many retailers are cautious about stocking up. Distributors should focus on high-end gift boxes for loyal customers, maintain flexible inventory for low-end products, and adapt to changing consumer habits by integrating online and offline channels.
高级研究员 海游After All the Twists and Turns, the Moat of FMCG Brands Remains Product, Channel, and Consumers
This article elaborates on certain viewpoints, derived from conversations with friends including a product department manager at a leading brand and a procurement head at a platform-based trading company. The success of a company or brand relies on the marketing 4Ps: product, price, channel, and promotion. This logic is like getting into university: brand success is the total score, with product, price, channel, and promotion as four subjects (each out of 100). For admission to a general undergraduate college, the principle of strengths applies—scoring above 90 in one or two subjects (which is relatively hard) can compensate for a weak subject and still reach the cutoff. For top-tier universities (985/211), the principle of weaknesses applies: everyone is a top performer, and a single weak subject puts you at a disadvantage. In today's increasingly fierce competition, all-round development is the best strategy.
高级研究员 海游Distributor Annual Meeting Training: Brand Owners Should Stop Being Vague and Talk About Something Practical!
Recently, I've been asked: 'How should we define the direction of distributor annual meeting training?' My answer is often: increasing distributor cohesion and brand owner centripetal force through slogans, mobilization, and vague propaganda has little value. What distributors care most about in the current sluggish market are: how to make profits, how to improve cost-effectiveness, and how to enhance management team capabilities to retain talent. The best training for distributors is to combine the company's next-year business strategy, doubts, and difficulties to provide operational guidance, improve distributors' money-making ability, enhance their spending efficiency, and strengthen team management. It's more important for them to learn something practical that can be applied in the market than anything else.
高级研究员 海游Distributors Can't Be Eliminated, But They Are Always on the Path of Differentiation
Every few years, claims emerge that distributors will be eliminated or replaced, but over the years, in FMCG, distributors have persisted, and some are thriving. As FMCG enters the consumer era, with severe product oversupply and a focus on brand service, a wave of distributor 'optimization' has occurred, yet many distributors have evolved with top brands, transforming their organizations, mechanisms, and models to fulfill their historical mission. The supply chain revolution is now underway, and while some say there is no place for distributors, each channel change presents opportunities for new types of distributors to emerge, making differentiation inevitable.
高级研究员 海游How FMCG Companies Can Win CNY: Channel Strategy and Execution
This Chinese New Year is set to be a major consumption event, and FMCG companies must plan carefully. This article outlines key strategies for channel-side CNY planning, covering market overview, operational background, core actions, and execution details.
高级研究员 海游How to Set Support Strategies When Distributors Develop Management Partners?
As a distributor's business matures, its rights and responsibilities can be divided into three layers: the owner focusing on product rights, the general manager focusing on operational management rights, and market operators focusing on sales and maintenance rights. The general manager is the key contact for brand owners, and converting this role from employment to partnership is a common and effective way to maximize its function. This article shares practical support strategies from brand owners for these 'management partners', including daily work guidance, expense support, and management mechanisms.
高级研究员 海游