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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 9 of 9
Distributors: Without Digital Distribution, There Is No Profit!
Zhao Bo, founder of New Distribution, noted that many companies are now sending dozens of executives to the 2020 China FMCG Conference, indicating that digital transformation is moving from concept to implementation. This article discusses how distributors can use digital tools to adjust business structure, stabilize pricing, and secure brand rebates to improve profitability.
高级研究员 海游When Selling More No Longer Works, Where Do FMCG Brands Turn?
Over the past three decades, FMCG brand growth in China has relied on four drivers: market capacity, category penetration, category upgrade, and market share expansion. As these dividends fade, brands must shift focus to premiumization, hero products, lower-tier markets, community retail, and online-offline integration.
高级研究员 海游New Retail Impact, Distributors Eliminated? Don't Joke! Despite Challenges, There Are Still Opportunities!
This article discusses the challenges and opportunities for traditional FMCG distributors in the face of new retail and e-commerce impacts. It outlines five major challenges including decentralization, flattening, scale, market share erosion, and increased receivables, and suggests seven potential paths forward such as transitioning to e-commerce, logistics, category operations, supply chain operations, regional services, and brand operations.
高级研究员 海游On the Frontline | The Two Biggest Unclear Accounts for Distributors
Since 2003, China has entered the track of deep distribution. Deep distribution relies on two premises: fragmented channels and a labor-intensive approach due to low labor costs. When sales growth stalls, distributors find profits squeezed by both sales volume and costs. This article helps distributors calculate the break-even points for their terminal outlets and delivery vehicles, emphasizing the importance of accurate accounting to adapt to today's competition.
高级研究员 海游A Salesperson with 5 Brand Apps on One Phone: Can They Really Do the Job?
As channel digitalization software becomes more widespread, almost all brand owners require their salespeople to use their own terminal systems, or they impose measures on distributors. This has led to the phenomenon of 'shared salespeople' who must juggle multiple systems, resulting in inefficiency and frustration for all parties. The article argues that terminal systems should be seen as tools empowered by marketing thinking, not as a means of excessive supervision, and that their core value lies in improving performance through process management and data-driven decision-making.
高级研究员 海游On the Front Line | Using "High Pay" Tactics to Fix Bad Market Areas!
A distributor asks how to handle a market that isn't entirely bad but has areas with vastly different sales, where bad areas suffer from strong competition, high turnover, and difficulty attracting staff. The solution is to use high pay to attract "warriors" to challenge these areas, as demonstrated by a distributor named Wang who achieved high growth through this strategy.
高级研究员 海游How Much Is a Salesperson's Customer Relationship Worth in Closing a Deal?
Long ago, I categorized grassroots salespeople's skills 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 who successfully leveraged customer relationships to capture market share from a competitor.
高级研究员 海游On the Front Line | Annual Sales of 40+ Million, Sales Team of 50+, Employee Turnover Has Always Been a Headache!
Today I visited a trading company. The boss, Mr. Zhang, is a friend of mine. He left his corporate job in 2013 to start his own distribution business. Over six years, things went smoothly, and now he has annual sales of over 40 million yuan and a sales team of 52 people. Recently, he has been troubled by team turnover: he can't find suitable people during recruitment, and even when he does, they don't stay long, usually leaving after about 9 months. Moreover, two key sales representatives who had been with the company for five years have also resigned, plunging the company's overall operations into a vicious cycle. Without people, without capable hands, without an excellent team, you can't succeed in FMCG. What can be done? Mr. Zhang urgently asked me for advice.
高级研究员 海游On the Front Line | Sales Not Growing, Operating Funds Increased to Over 1 Million, Often It's an Accounts Receivable Problem!
Last month, a distributor from Huangshi, Hubei, messaged me saying his annual sales were over 50 million yuan, but sales had barely grown in the past three years. Net profit was declining, yet operating funds had increased by one million, making business increasingly difficult. I helped him analyze the situation: the decrease in operating profit is caused by multiple factors, such as regional competition, brand support, and e-commerce price impacts. However, if sales haven't grown but operating funds have, we need to identify where the increase went. After checking, he found that accounts receivable had increased by 200,000 yuan, totaling 500,000 yuan per month, meaning 12% of monthly sales were tied up in receivables. To reduce this, we implemented a five-step plan: systematic inventory, linking receivables to performance, setting benchmarks, continuous tracking, and classifying customers. After one month, his receivables dropped from 500,000 to 350,000 yuan, achieving initial success.
高级研究员 海游On the Frontline | How to Run a Successful Order Conference for the Dragon Boat Festival?
With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, manufacturers and distributors are holding order conferences. Seven or eight years ago, a single conference could collect payments for at least a quarter's worth of goods, simply by offering promotions and treating key clients to a meal. Order conferences serve three purposes: launching new products quickly, securing channel funds, and thanking long-term retail clients. However, as competition in the stagnant market intensifies, downstream clients have limited funds, making it harder to collect advance payments.
高级研究员 海游On the Frontline | What Exactly is Regional Contracting?
Recently, Wei Qing, a veteran trainer, shared six points against the contracting system in his marketing peer group. While respecting his views, the author offers a different perspective, arguing that regional contracting, when properly managed, can be beneficial. The article outlines the advantages, implementation steps, and key factors for success, emphasizing that no system is perfect and adaptability is crucial.
高级研究员 海游Will Products Sell Well After Deep Distribution?
The answer is: not necessarily; it depends on whether the product's sell-through logic is satisfied. In fact, many brand owners and distributors make the same mistake. When a brand launches a new product, it simply requires a certain number of outlets and displays. After receiving instructions, distributors execute them, often resulting in more expired products and wasted display costs. A common problem in the market is that a low-brand-power product with optimal display and shelf placement still sees limited sales growth.
高级研究员 海游Live in the Present | Distributors: Pick Up Terminal Tools and Redo Deep Distribution!
Mr. Zhao, a veteran distributor with over a decade in FMCG, faces shrinking markets, high staff turnover, and brand pressure. After a market visit revealed poor terminal execution, he was advised to redo deep distribution using digital tools, which led to adding 500+ outlets and improved performance.
高级研究员 海游Your Deep Distribution Isn't Done Well, Yet You're Crying That It's Failing?
During a recent visit to a Yili distributor friend (Mr. Li), I found him trying to retain a salesperson who had resigned. The salesperson, who had served for nearly 3 years with good performance, said the daily visits and sales targets were becoming increasingly difficult. Mr. Li lamented that business is harder, staff retention is tougher, online impact is growing, and deep distribution is weakening. After analyzing, I found his market coverage and service quality were poor, and we implemented a five-step improvement plan to enhance his distribution capability.
高级研究员 海游Revisiting the Market: Don't Forget the Starting Point While Walking Too Far on the Sales Road
Sales contribution, profit contribution, market performance, sales network, promotion operations—these marketing terms are familiar to every distributor or brand practitioner, but in reality, most people's understanding is fragmented. They can talk like experts on any single topic, but in practice, they are disorganized and patchwork, mainly because they lack an overall macro understanding of the market and cannot effectively combine all elements. I remember my former leader often said: 'Use market means to do sales, and go back to the starting point to see problems.'
高级研究员 海游Without Securing the High Ground of the 'Business District', a Brand Cannot Establish Itself in a City!
China's media landscape has become fragmented and pervasive, leaving consumers numb to traditional advertising. Brands and distributors must now engage consumers through experiential, in-store marketing in urban business districts, which have become hubs for consumer activity and brand building.
高级研究员 海游Three Steps for Distributors to Break into the Hospital Channel and Boost Sales
Recently, I discussed breakthrough strategies with the head of a small mineral water brand in Shaanxi. After analyzing target consumers, product differentiation, and channel strategies, I recommended focusing on the hospital channel. For example, in Zhengzhou, bottled water sales in hospitals exceed 300,000 cases annually, highlighting the channel's potential. This article outlines a three-step approach: understanding the channel, building model stores, and rapid replication.
高级研究员 海游Frontline | A Comprehensive Overview of Tactical Strategies for FMCG Regional Markets
This article is a companion piece to the previous one, focusing on practical tactics rather than strategy. It addresses common questions from distributors and brand managers about how to grow their market share, offering a systematic breakdown of tactical approaches based on different competitive scenarios.
高级研究员 海游