NEW DISTRIBUTION RESEARCH TOPIC
How can brands grow beyond price competition?
Evidence and cases on product strategy, category innovation, marketing, and channel coordination in China’s consumer market.
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4701 articles · Page 18 of 196
Scene Increment Big Model Iterates to 2.0!
The article discusses how brands can achieve growth by identifying and occupying consumption scenes, and by creating matching labels to influence consumer choices. It introduces the 'Increment Big Model' (STAG model) and provides examples like red wine, instant noodles, Huiren Shenbao, and Chagee to illustrate the application of scene and label strategies.
空手Is a Scene Slogan Scene Marketing?
The article discusses whether scene slogans constitute scene marketing, arguing that while slogans are part of scene marketing, they are not the whole. It emphasizes the importance of scene cognitive education, the evolution of slogans in different media eras, and the need for consistent communication to achieve critical mass.
刘春雄14,379 Franchised Stores, 99.5% Revenue from Product Sales: 'Mingming Henmang' Files for Hong Kong IPO
On the evening of April 28, according to Hong Kong Stock Exchange documents, Hunan Mingming Henmang Commercial Chain Co., Ltd. ("Mingming Henmang") officially submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This marks the first independent IPO attempt in the fiercely competitive snack hard-discount retail sector over the past two to three years. Leveraging low gross margins and high turnover, with "low-price inclusivity" at its core, Mingming Henmang achieved a remarkable three-year revenue leap, becoming a focus of capital market attention.
New DistributionOrion Loses Favor: Who Stole the Sweetness of Childhood?
For Orion, 2025 is a critical year. At the 112th National Sugar and Wine Fair in March, the company launched 11 new products, the most in its exhibition history. After a 7.7% revenue growth in China in 2024, Orion faces challenges in regaining its peak performance from 2016 amid changing market dynamics and health trends.
谢小丹Douyin's "Female Drinkers" Propel a 40-Year-Old Henan Beer Brand to Fame
In a monopolistic market where the CR5 exceeds 90%, and in an industry that peaked in production and sales in 2013 and has since entered a stock competition, a local 40-year-old brand has risen abruptly, securing the top spot in the beer sales ranking on Douyin's Double 11 Good Things Festival, and driving a new category's transaction value on JD.com's Double 11 supermarket to grow by 5324%. This is what Jinxing Beer has achieved in the past six months. Behind this story are many "female drinkers" on Douyin (nickname only, no inappropriate guidance), who, with sentimental love songs as BGM, have pushed Jinxing's tea-flavored beer to the top of the charts.
刀法行研The Evolution of a Bowl of Instant Noodles: How Master Kong Uses 'Emotional Narrative' to Win Over Young Consumers
In the highly mature instant noodle market, growth space is shrinking. As 'low price' and 'emergency use' no longer resonate with the new generation, brands must find new ways to connect. Master Kong's relaunch of its Black and White Pepper Noodles in 2024, with upgraded flavors and visuals, sparked social buzz. By 2025, the brand deepened its strategy—from selling taste to evoking emotions, from emphasizing 'classic' to co-creating 'self-pleasing' scenarios—using IP, anime-style content, and community language to engage young consumers emotionally.
冯瑶"Where There Are Scenes, There Is Sales": Brands Need a Scene 'Roadmap' for Sustained Growth
Coca-Cola's sustained growth is attributed to its consistent practice of scene marketing, which involves discovering new consumption scenes. The article introduces a scene marketing roadmap for new brands, comprising four types of scenes: source scenes, lead scenes, mainline scenes, and branch scenes, guiding brands from initial user education to sales expansion.
刘春雄Multiple Distributors in One Region, Nationwide Channel Crossing: Who Is Destroying the Last Line of Defense in the Beverage Industry?
China's beverage industry is undergoing unprecedented structural divergence. While leading brands like Nongfu Spring, Genki Forest, Dongpeng Beverage, and Wahaha are conquering markets with double-digit growth, small and medium-sized brands are seeing declining survival rates, with most struggling to stay afloat. Behind this divergence lies the collapse of regional protection systems for small and medium-sized brands. The question of whether to firmly implement 'long-term strategy' or address the immediate 'survival crisis' has become a key issue for many such brands. Wen Zhibing, partner at Pinyinhui, stated: 'For most small and medium-sized beverage brands, 'sales growth' and 'market stability' cannot be achieved simultaneously; they must choose one.'
穆宇Beer Giant Brought to Its Knees by Chinese Rivals
Global beer giant AB InBev is facing a tough period in China, with declining sales, layoffs, and a change in leadership. Its Hong Kong-listed unit, Budweiser APAC, saw revenue and profit drop in 2024, and it has appointed its first Chinese CEO to reverse the trend.
财经天下Will Drugstores Overrun by Snacks and Beverages Become the Next Convenience Stores?
Last winter, the author noticed a chain drugstore at their community gate selling ice cream from a freezer, a sight that seemed ill-advised in winter. By spring, the freezer remained with more varieties, prompting the author to explore the store and discover a wide range of non-pharmaceutical products, leading to reflections on the trend of drugstores diversifying into snacks and daily goods, and whether this could make them the next convenience stores.
百万食饮人都在看Campus Daily Sales Nearly 10,000 Yuan! Capico's 'Taste of China' Uses Cultural Symbols to Win Over Young Consumers!
From a distributor's perspective, what makes a 'good product'? New Distribution's market research identifies key factors: profit and turnover speed, brand support, consumer experience and word-of-mouth, and differentiation and innovation. After the pandemic, many distributors adjusted their product lines based on these criteria. For example, a Wuxi distributor, Mr. Li, cut instant foods and expanded into puffed snacks, ultimately giving Capico's 'Taste of China' potato chips three full shelves.
田静Mizone: Struggling to Bounce Back?
As spring temperatures rise, electrolyte drinks are entering their peak sales season. Recently, Danone's Mizone launched a limited-edition 'refreshing grass flavor' drink for outings, aiming to meet consumers' hydration and recovery needs during spring travel. After peaking at 9.8 billion yuan in 2015, Mizone's sales halved, but have recently shown signs of recovery, with double-digit growth for two consecutive years in China.
付艳翠Snack Food Distributor: 57 Employees, 200 Million in Annual Sales, Small Goal to Become Hefei's No.1 Snack Food Brand Operator
The distributor business is not complicated; it essentially acts as an intermediary, passing goods from upstream to downstream. However, despite the unchanged underlying model, operational difficulty has multiplied due to lower margins, declining per-store sales, rising costs, new channel impacts, and bare procurement by supermarkets. Snack food distributors face additional pressure from the rapid expansion of snack stores with discounts like 8.8折, 8.5折, even 5.5折. This article shares the case of Hefei Baili Food, which achieved 200 million yuan in sales with only 57 employees, aiming to become Hefei's No.1 snack food brand operator.
周群Electrolyte Water Surges, Vitamins Target Singles: Functional Drinks Heat Up the Beverage Peak Season?
Throughout 2024, China's functional beverage market gained significant momentum, with brands like Want Want and Genki Forest entering the segment. In 2025, the category continues to show strong potential, with electrolyte water experiencing explosive growth and vitamin drinks beginning to target single nutrients, signaling a shift toward precision nutrition and functional evidence in the upcoming peak season.
饮品营销China's Beverage Market Shake-up: Cola Falls from Grace as Ready-to-Drink Tea and Energy Drinks Rise
In 2020, among China's seven major beverage categories, only carbonated drinks saw growth, while all others declined. By 2023, the situation reversed: carbonated drinks were the only category in decline, while the other six grew significantly. China's market has ultimately turned its back on carbonated beverages, with market share shifting from cola to ready-to-drink tea and energy drinks.
刘颖1 Yuan Ice Cream Bars Make a Comeback in 2025?
As the ice cream industry shifts toward value-for-money, 1 yuan ice cream bars are regaining popularity among distributors and consumers, especially in lower-tier markets and specific scenarios like schools and community stores.
不旧Three Decades of Turmoil in the Condiment Industry: Capital Never Sleeps
The nearly 700 billion yuan condiment market is undergoing a new wave of mergers and acquisitions, driven by newly emerging local condiment companies. Over the past 30 years, the industry has gone through three major phases: foreign-led acquisitions, a collective listing wave of local companies, and the current new M&A wave led by local enterprises.
陈晓京Two Main Lines Will Profoundly Impact China's Retail Transformation
The rapid changes in today's retail market are undoubtedly causing significant concern among many brand owners, as directly observed in our communications with numerous leading brands. I have always believed that the Chinese market, unlike North America, is a typical society where 'channels' outweigh 'brands.' Whether it's the early supermarket brands, Taobao brands, Douyin brands, or the current snack bulk-selling brands, many brands are homogeneous, and the difference among them is merely who laid out an incremental channel first. Strong channels creating brands is a common occurrence. Combined with the recent market narrative that retail will undergo 'full discounting,' this has intensified anxiety and confusion among frontline brand operators.
戚特Xiwang 2025 Brand Launch | Reshaping the Benchmark of Sports Nutrition with Sports DNA
On the morning of March 30, the Xiwang 2025 brand launch was held at the Hilton Dalian. With "scientific nutrition + sports IP" as the engine, the brand unveiled its new strategic layout, opening a new era of sports nutrition against the backdrop of the deep integration of national fitness and the sports industry. Attendees included representatives from CSIG, AJ Auxerre, Dalian Yingbo, sports and consumer media, and key channel partners, who delivered speeches at the event.
New DistributionTwo Growth Paths for Brands: Either Dominate a Category or Dominate a Scenario
This article argues that brand growth follows two paths: one is to dominate a category (stock growth), and the other is to dominate a scenario (incremental growth). Using the example of OATLY's success in China, it illustrates how scenario-based marketing and labeling can create new demand and break through category limitations.
空手Spring Sugar Fair Concludes Successfully, Jinsha Distillery Amplifies Presence with 'Exhibition + City + Conference' Strategy
The 112th National Sugar and Wine Fair and 2025 Spring Sugar Season concluded successfully in Chengdu on March 27. As the chief partner, Jinsha Distillery impressed the industry and market with its 'Strive Upstream' brand narrative, delivering a multidimensional event covering product experience, cultural interaction, and industry dialogue, celebrating the upstream genes of the Chishui River and declaring its commitment to the industry's future.
金沙酒业The Channel Evolution of a 137-Year-Old Brand: How Lee Kum Kee and Its Distributors Navigate Cycles Together
How does a condiment brand that has spanned three centuries and 137 years of history face the new era? At the 10th China FMCG Conference, Ms. Zhang Yaping, Vice President of Lee Kum Kee Sauce Group China and Head of New Retail Operations Center, delivered a keynote titled "Thinking of Others, Winning with 'Lee' – Manufacturer-Distributor Collaboration for Shared Value." The presentation was divided into three parts: Redefining Distributor Value: From Channel Movers to Value Creators; How Distributors Develop Amid Retail Channel Transformation; and A New Paradigm of Manufacturer-Distributor Symbiosis: From Transactions to Co-creation.
张亚苹From Distributor to Category Operations Service Provider
The core value of intermediaries will no longer be limited to the physical transfer of goods, but will evolve into a hub for value exchange in the digital world. At the 10th China FMCG Innovation Conference held in Chengdu from March 17 to 19, Chen Yixin, founder of Haocheng Pet, delivered a keynote speech on this transformation, sharing insights on how distributors can evolve into category operations service providers.
陈一鑫Breaking Through 4,678 Entries: The 7th iSEE Global Awards Final Winners Announced!
The 7th iSEE Global Awards final winners have been announced, with awards spanning innovation, taste, and design categories. The awards recognize excellence across products, brands, enterprises, individuals, technology, and design, with gold, silver, and bronze awards given to standout products.
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