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Brand Owners and Distributors: Stop Obsessing Over Coverage
In a recent discussion with an FMCG company about channel transformation, a very practical question was raised: how to continue increasing coverage in first- and second-tier cities? This question sounds familiar. For many years, FMCG companies have talked about channels in terms of coverage: covering more blocks, covering more outlets, and as long as you occupy enough shelf space, growth will naturally follow. But in that discussion, we formed a sharper judgment: the word 'coverage' may already be a product of the previous era. The current situation is likely that the more you think about 'coverage', the harder it is to truly 'cover'.
任文青Brands Are Losing the Shelf
Last week, I spent nearly an hour in a Hema store in Hangzhou, not shopping but observing products. The trend was clear: branded standard products on Hema's shelves are decreasing, replaced by private labels, co-branded items, and customized products. This is not unique to Hema; over the past three years, the retail industry has seen snack discount stores redefine price bands, Pangdonglai become a model for supermarket overhauls, and Sam's Club and Aldi gain popularity through exclusive products. Retailers are increasingly allocating shelf space to products they can define, control, and differentiate, signaling a shift in how brands access shelves.
任文青"3.9 Yuan, 6.8 Yuan, 9.9 Yuan" – Don't Price Your Private Label Arbitrarily!
Private label products are booming, but many retailers are pricing them without a clear strategy, leading to confusion and missed opportunities. This article analyzes common pricing pitfalls and introduces the GOOD-BETTER-BEST framework, along with five actionable rules for building a coherent private label pricing architecture.
薛文发FIFA World Cup is coming: How can snack shelves capture the viewing traffic?
The FIFA World Cup comes once every four years, but this edition is different. Football is no longer just for fans; it has become a mass phenomenon, as seen in the popularity of local tournaments like Guizhou's 'Village Super League' and Jiangsu's 'Su Super League'. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching, Lay's, as an official sponsor, is rolling out limited-edition products and channel empowerment initiatives to help distributors turn this viewing craze into tangible sales growth.
冯瑶Self-Hotpot, "Can't Get Excited" Anymore
In May 2026, Hangzhou Golden Antelope Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., affiliated with the self-heating food brand Self-Hotpot, entered bankruptcy liquidation. Once a viral brand that sold 5 million cups in 10 minutes and was valued at 7.5 billion yuan, it now faces over 140 million yuan in enforced payments, with founder Cai Hongliang subject to 17 consumption restriction orders. From its launch in 2018 to its decline in 2026, Self-Hotpot lasted only eight years. The era of "half the entertainment industry eating Self-Hotpot" seems like yesterday, yet now the Taobao flagship store offers clearance prices of 24 yuan for 3 boxes, and the comment sections are filled with complaints about "bad taste," "small portions," and "foreign objects."
葛畅FMCG AI: A Severely Underrated Sector
The FMCG industry is often perceived as traditional, low-tech, and digitally lagging, but this impression is only partially correct. While many distribution channels remain analog, giants like P&G and Coca-Cola have invested billions in digitalization, and the sector's complex decision chains and high trial-and-error costs present a massive, underappreciated opportunity for AI.
戚特Shisheng's “Live Soy Sauce” and the Search for a New Premium Standard
After zero-additive and organic claims became crowded, Shisheng used long fermentation, membrane filtration, measured enzyme activity, and export credentials to propose a differentiated premium soy sauce category.
New DistributionFirst-Tier Brands Should Step Out of Their Comfort Zone!
The mediocrity of first-tier brands is highlighted by two abnormal phenomena: the popularity of private brands (PB) without a corresponding rise in national brands (NB), and the fact that Pangdonglai's private brand quality surpasses that of first-tier brands. This reflects the overall mediocrity of first-tier brands, which have failed to upgrade quality and lead the industry, instead focusing on maintaining volume, leading to consumer dissatisfaction and a decline in brand affinity.
刘春雄Forget 0 Sugar, 0 Fat—This Generation of Consumers Prefers 'Floral-Scented Bottles' That Please the Eyes, Palate, and Nose
From '0 sugar' to 'smells good,' water substitutes are quietly upgrading. In recent years, '0 sugar' water has been the most sought-after category on beverage shelves, appealing to consumers' obsession with health through clean labels and low-calorie promises. But this generation of young people wants more: they want it to look good, taste good, and smell good, ideally offering a moment of healing when they twist off the cap. This spring's market response confirms the shift: Hema's Morning Dew Sakura Water and Jasmine Water sold out within two days of launch, and sakura water remains the top new beverage on Hema's charts with over 5x month-on-month sales growth.
LabuThe Next Super Blue Ocean Market: Halal Market Going Global
When Chinese brand exporters talk about the Middle East, Southeast Asia, or the Muslim market, few truly study Halal as an independent topic. Yet this super blue ocean market, spanning 57 countries, serving 2 billion people, and valued at $2.4 trillion, is keeping many Chinese brands out—not because they lost to competitors, but because they never even got a ticket in. This article explores the market size, opportunities, and challenges for Chinese brands.
戚特Is Pop Mart Replicating Hello Kitty's Global Expansion Path? Selling Refrigerators Is Just the Beginning
On April 24, Pop Mart officially unveiled its first home appliance product—the THE MONSTERS Lifestyle Series Cooler (LABUBU-themed refrigerator), available in Home and House of the Monsters versions, uniformly priced at 5,999 yuan, with a global limited release of 999 units scheduled for 10 PM on April 30. Pre-sale reservations exceeded 3,000. The author found on second-hand platforms that, before the release, the LABUBU refrigerator had already appeared at a price of 92,300 yuan, a premium of about 15 times.
王军FMCG Brands Can No Longer Guess Their Consumer Profiles!
A marketing director presented a consumer profile based on industry assumptions rather than actual data, highlighting a common problem in FMCG. The article argues that inaccurate consumer profiles lead to wasted marketing spend and missed product opportunities, and presents a solution using data-driven insights, as exemplified by Dongpeng's success with 'Bushuila'.
任文青How Can FMCG Brands Enter the North American Mainstream Market?
The U.S. market is attractive for Chinese FMCG brands due to its size, consumer spending, and mature retail system, but it is also easy to overestimate. Entering the mainstream market requires more than just selling products; it means crossing ethnic channels to reach mainstream American consumers and surviving on shelves long-term. Before discussing scale, brands should first test products online and in Asian-focused channels, then expand to regional mainstream supermarkets and other ethnic channels, and only then consider major retailers like Walmart, Sam's Club, or Costco.
CFC出海When 'User Needs' Disappear, Is Marketing Still Marketing?
Recently, marketing expert Miao Qingxian asked when evaluating marketing theory: if marketing doesn't talk about needs, what else can it talk about? The answer is Clayton Christensen's 'Jobs To Be Done'. If we continue to ask: if marketing has no users (consumers), what else is there? The answer is scenarios. If we ask again: if user needs 'disappear', is marketing still marketing? That's hard to answer. User needs are the root of modern marketing. Uprooting the root of a theory is a serious problem. 'Market orientation...'
刘春雄National Warmth + Hardcore Quality: Want Want's 56-Ethnic-Group Milk Continues a Classic, Want Soy Milk Makes a Strong Debut
At the FBIF expo, a distributor finished a sample of Want Soy Milk and asked, "Is this soy milk? It's so rich and tasty." This new product, launched in March, impressed with its high protein and smooth texture, while the 56-Ethnic-Group Want Want Milk showcased the classic's renewed appeal. Want Want strategically presented both lines to reinforce its dairy portfolio and expand into plant-based beverages.
冯瑶The Next to Eliminate FMCG Companies May Not Be Competitors, but AI
During this year's Spring Festival, a war without gunfire changed China. Doubao, Yuanbao, and Qianwen flooded Spring Festival Gala, elevators, and social media, bringing AI to every family's New Year's Eve dinner table with billions of red packets. Data shows that in March 2025, domestic AI app downloads exceeded 160 million, with about 200 million daily active users. Doubao's daily token calls surpassed 50 trillion, a tenfold increase year-over-year.
陈思廷China Brand Going Global: Global Retail 50 Reordered
The National Retail Federation (NRF) and Kantar have released the 2026 Global Retailer TOP 50 list. According to NRF/Kantar criteria, companies must be retailers selling consumer goods to the public and have direct sales operations in at least three countries, with at least one country not bordering their home market; the list also calculates retail-related revenue, excluding non-retail income such as finance, cloud services, and logistics. So, if you break down these 50 companies, you'll find that the mainstream of global retail...
王军Private Label: No Retreat for Brand Owners
In recent years, Sam's Club's Member's Mark and Pangdonglai's DL have popularized private labels, prompting almost all retailers with regional or larger scale advantages, whether KA, CVS, or snack channels, to push forward their own private labels. This has created a direct conflict: private labels and branded products compete for limited shelf space. Balancing the proportion between private labels and branded products is a complex issue for both retailers and brand owners. For brand owners, OEM private label production neither enhances brand value nor earns brand premiums, but retailers inevitably tilt resources toward private labels. This is an unavoidable trend, forcing brand owners to make painful choices.
张振宇From "Self-Procurement" to "Private Brand": Pangdonglai's Path Is Hard to Replicate
Driven by the "Pangdonglai renovation" of supermarkets, China's supermarket sector has seen a boom in private brands. Many see Pangdonglai's results but not its growth history. With over 20 years of private brand history, Pangdonglai's journey is difficult to replicate quickly. Without knowing its history, one cannot grasp its essence or learn from its present. Having followed Pangdonglai for over 15 years, I have witnessed its complete transformation from "self-procurement" to "private brand." Reviewing this history may help companies learning from Pangdonglai find their own path.
刘春雄7 Sourcing Models Behind Private Labels of Sam's Club, Aldi, and Trader Joe's
As I've traveled recently, I've found that the debate over whether to pursue private labels has ended, and the focus has shifted to how to do it. The key is not product selection or pricing, but sourcing: where your products come from and how you obtain them. This article breaks down seven sourcing models identified by Kearney, from OEM to joint procurement, and argues that true differentiation comes from control over the supply chain, not just the model chosen.
袁来Private Labels Rise, New Brands Divert, Big Brands Get Stuck in the Middle
On April 8, McKinsey released a report titled "The State of Food and Beverage: How Consumer Companies Can Restore Growth." Many cases and key data in the report are more US-centric, but it takes a global perspective, with one underlying sample being a survey covering 10 markets and 15,169 consumers. After reading it, I felt that many of the issues discussed are highly relevant to the current situation in the Chinese market. New Distribution has been focused on changes in China's FMCG industry, and some of our viewpoints and perspectives, such as...
任文青AndyA Comprehensive Overview of Key Marketing Moments in Southeast Asia: How Can Brands Going Global Hit the Right Beat and Boost Sales?
By 2026, Southeast Asia is no longer the wild west where simply listing products could make money. With Shopee and Lazada locked in fierce battles, TikTok Shop wielding the sword of content commerce, and Temu disrupting the scene, traffic costs and conversion barriers are visibly rising. Many Chinese bosses, accustomed to the saturation tactics of Double 11 and 618, transplant these strategies to Jakarta, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City, only to suffer heavy ad losses and dead inventory. This article provides a year-round calendar of marketing moments in Southeast Asia, explaining what to sell, the underlying consumer psychology, stocking strategies, and pitfalls to avoid.
戚特Benchmarking Against Sam's Club Member's Mark: China's Private Label Lags by at Least 9 Years
After systematically reviewing the development histories of Sam's Club's Member's Mark and Costco's Kirkland Signature, I believe most Chinese retailers' private label efforts are still at the stage Sam's Club was in around 2017—brand consolidation and quality standard definition. Member's Mark has evolved over 28 years, with its true rise occurring in the last decade, offering valuable lessons for Chinese retailers.
袁来Most Private Brands Will Die from the Lowest-Price Mentality
Recently, Discount Ox was publicly reported by its Xi'an franchisee over food safety issues with its private brand products. This is not just a problem for Discount Ox but a spreading industry crisis rooted in the 'lowest-price mentality.' Retailers must shift from price-only procurement to Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) thinking to avoid catastrophic quality failures and brand erosion.
陈思廷