NEW DISTRIBUTION RESEARCH TOPIC
How can distributors keep growing across fragmented channels?
Front-line analysis of product selection, organization, channel strategy, profit models, and business transformation for FMCG distributors.
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4620 articles · Page 19 of 193
Price Increase Imminent! Only 5 Days Left!
The 10th China FMCG Innovation Conference, themed 'New Order · Symbiosis', will be held from March 17-19, 2025 in Chengdu, China. The conference addresses the collapse of the old order and the rebuilding of a new symbiotic order in the FMCG industry, featuring main forums, hard discount and distributor conferences, and networking events.
New DistributionDistributors Entering Retail: 200 Million Annual Sales in Third-Tier City, 5 Warehouse Club Stores, 20+ Snack Discount Stores
A distributor in a third-tier city, facing declining traditional business, transitioned into retail by opening warehouse club stores and snack discount stores, achieving over 200 million yuan in annual sales. The case illustrates that distributors must understand retail to survive, but should separate retail from wholesale operations and shift to a consumer-centric mindset.
张雨薇Knowing Old Tao for 12 Years, I Realized I Never Truly Understood Jiangxiaobai
The author reflects on his 12-year acquaintance with Tao Shiquan, founder of Jiangxiaobai, and admits that despite his closeness, he never truly understood the company. He seeks answers to his confusions about Jiangxiaobai's insistence on light-aroma baijiu, its success despite negative publicity, and its strategic focus on 'future stars' and 'champion mindset'.
陈思廷How Should Distributor Bosses Respond During the Stagflation Period of the FMCG Category?
According to Nielsen data, from January to August 2024, the overall FMCG all-channel growth rate was 2.6% year-on-year, a relatively slow growth rate. Except for water, beverages, and alcohol, other categories showed negative growth in offline channels. The chart below shows the operating data of 302 medium and large distributors nationwide in the first half of 2024. (This data is a small sample and is for reference only.) Combined with the overall FMCG growth rate and distributor operations, almost all FMCG categories are declining, indicating a stagflation period. This inevitably makes distributor bosses question whether this business can continue, whether to switch to other industries, whether to continue representing first-tier brands with thin profits, and whether good service to downstream customers can help grow the business.
Cici“Offline Sales Exceed 500 Million, 90% of Distributors Come from Referrals” — Decoding the Secret Behind Manxiaobao's Four Consecutive Years of Growth
A new fast-food brand, established only four years ago, has entered 124 cities, 150,000 retail outlets, and established partnerships with nearly 200 distributors. Notably, over 90% of these partners were referred by friends within the industry, rather than through traditional recruitment methods. Manxiaobao's reputation in the offline market has thus spread widely. As of the third quarter of 2024, Manxiaobao has maintained growth across all channels for four consecutive years, with offline sales exceeding 500 million yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 30%, and October alone seeing a year-on-year growth of over 70%.
秦淮From Excess Inventory Wholesaler to Retail Legend: How Don Quijote Navigated Economic Cycles?
Pan Pacific International Holdings (PPHI), Japan's fourth-largest retailer (after Seven & i Holdings, Aeon Group, and Fast Retailing), is known in China's retail industry for its main format, Don Quijote. As the ultimate representative of Japan's soft discount model, Don Quijote has achieved dominant leadership in this competitive mode and has posted 35 consecutive years of growth during Japan's 'Lost 30 Years.' This article analyzes its development from the perspective of 'macroeconomic cycles to individual business models' to draw parallels and provide insights for China's retail industry.
张振宇Why Kunlun Mountain Mineral Water Represents High-Quality Drinking Water
Recent field research revealed that many regional top beverage distributors have taken on the agency of Kunlun Mountain mineral water, even those primarily dealing in alcohol. The brand has achieved strong market performance, ranking first in domestic high-end water e-commerce sales during Double 11 for eight consecutive years, with a 120% year-on-year increase in total sales across all channels last year.
张雨薇Retail is in an Era of Major Circulation Transformation; One-Stop Hypermarkets Will Eventually Be Eliminated
This year, retailers continue to face tough times. We are confronting a circulation revolution as Chinese retail has raised the banner of price destruction, which has had a huge impact on the distribution system. The old circulation system is collapsing, while a new one has yet to be established—this is the current state of our industry. The entire Chinese circulation industry is undergoing revolutionary changes. Japanese circulation expert Professor Shuji Hayashi, in his 1962 book "Circulation Revolution," proposed a viewpoint that I strongly agree with: retail revolution inevitably triggers the reorganization of the entire supply chain system, which is the circulation revolution.
窄播Benchmark FMCG Distributor: Treat Stores as Warehouses, Make POS the Core of All Sales!
In the offline trading sector, distributors of daily chemical products face the greatest challenges. Despite this, some outstanding distributors manage to break through. This article features Guo Xiaolin, GM of Nantong Jindihuang Trading Co., who has achieved annual sales of 300 million yuan through a multi-brand, multi-category, and strong-channel model, with a focus on POS-driven performance and innovative marketing.
何雯Yili and Three Squirrels See Doubled Sales, 90% Free Traffic: FMCG Distributors Are Profiting Big on Dewu
A distributor recently shared that he quit traditional e-commerce platforms due to low sales and high return rates. However, on emerging platforms like Dewu, the food and beverage category is seeing significant growth, with active merchant numbers up 450% year-on-year and GMV for merchants exceeding one million up 400%. Dewu's semi-managed model, low operational barriers, and high free traffic are helping distributors achieve rapid growth.
AsherThe Call for a New Order
From a strong to a weak old order, the historical path is never a straight line, always moving through cycles of order and chaos. Today, China's FMCG industry stands at the crossroads of the collapse of the old order and the reconstruction of a new one. Over the past 40 years, a powerful order system was built on an expanding market, but now it is disintegrating. The root cause is the productivity revolution, which has led to severe oversupply. A new order based on 'symbiosis' is emerging, and the 10th China FMCG Innovation Conference will explore this theme.
陈思廷Distributors: The Current Market Is Not About Earning More or Less, but About Losing Money If You're Not Careful!
In the second half of this year, I visited more than a dozen distributors and listened to their business conditions and market challenges. One distributor's remark left a deep impression: "The current market is no longer about earning more or less, but about losing money if you're not careful!" At some point, distribution became a high-risk business, with heavy asset operations yet bearing upstream constraints and downstream rules, squeezed from both ends. Now it's even harder, with various direct sourcing and direct supply initiatives waving the banner of 'de-intermediation,' and a slight misstep could lead to elimination.
张雨薇Snack Discount Retailers in 2024: Small Brands Exit, Giants Aim for 'Terminal Dominance'
The snack discount retail industry is entering a new competitive phase, marked by the formation of a leading tier. In June, the MMHP Group, formed by Snack Busy and Zhao Yiming Snacks, surpassed 10,000 stores and now exceeds 14,000, while the second-place Wanchen Group is close to that threshold. Meanwhile, mid- and lower-tier brands face squeezed survival space, with some franchise stores incurring losses and closures, fueling industry skepticism.
楚勿留香New Distribution Zhao Bo: Only by Starting from Scenarios Can We See Today's Consumption Increment
People prefer saving over spending. Recent reports show that in the first half of 2024, Chinese residents' savings increased by 11.46 trillion yuan, with household savings up 9.27 trillion. The McKinsey 2024 China Consumer Survey highlights that predictable high-certainty expenditures suppress consumption. Three trends emerge: consumer confidence divergence, category spending divergence, and the need to focus on psychological needs in a saturated market.
赵波Why Didn't the Market Take Off Even After Small Companies Recruited Big Distributors?
Why did the market fail to develop despite recruiting a major distributor? Excellent large distributors are strategic resources in regional markets, a fact that is obvious. Being recognized by a major distributor in a region proves that the brand and its products have potential to some extent. Therefore, every company in its rapid growth phase goes through a stage similar to "big recruitment, recruit big distributors." If "recruiting big distributors" ultimately succeeds, the fate of the company and even the category can be rewritten. Of course, not only that, the rise of an excellent company often changes the fate of distributors, creating a batch of future big distributors...
陈思廷Shantou Taihao Zheng Qinfu: The Second Takeoff and Business Succession Wisdom of a 40-Year Veteran in the Alcohol Beverage Industry
Zheng Qinfu, born in 1962, was forced to succeed and earned his first million at 25. After partnering with Heineken and later China Resources Beer, he achieved a second high growth phase, with Heineken sales soaring from 1 million cases in 2019 to a projected 4.6 million in 2024. He shares his methodology for business succession, emphasizing early standardization, clear equity distribution, and early selection and training of successors.
陈思廷National Benchmark Daily Chemical Distributor Deep Study Tour - Henan Shizhirui Trading, Complete Success!
On November 28, the first stop of the National Benchmark Daily Chemical Distributor Deep Study Tour, Henan Shizhirui Trading, concluded successfully. Within just half a month from announcement to start, registrations far exceeded expectations, with over 110 attendees on the day. Zhang Wenhai, General Manager of Shizhirui Trading, and Yuan Lai, Chief Content Officer of New Distribution and initiator of the Tower Alliance, shared valuable insights. At the post-event dinner, many distributor owners expressed that the tour was highly rewarding. Many followers of New Distribution are curious about why this study tour was organized.
New DistributionLooking at the Present from the Future: The Upper, Middle, and Lower Strategies for Distributors
In times of shrinking volume, distributors face a critical choice. The upper strategy is to build a B2b platform and seize a dominant position; the middle strategy is to become a professional promoter for major brands; the lower strategy is to retreat in an orderly manner, preserving gains.
刘春雄"Hold on for two more years; if it doesn't make money, I'll close the shop."
A few days ago, I walked into a small supermarket at the entrance of my residential community to buy a bottle of water. I noticed a thin layer of dust on the shelves and saw that the shelf life of the products was only half a year left. It was clear that sales were sluggish, and the salesperson hadn't visited to tidy the shelves for a long time. Seeing the sparse customers in the store, I chatted with the owner. The couple, trapped in their small shop with low foot traffic and thin profits, shared their struggles.
何雯Frozen Food Industry Enters Peak Season: A Dealer's Honest Feedback on Sanquan, Synear, and Anjoy
In an era of economic downturn and moderate growth, the frozen food industry has endured a tough year and finally enters the winter sales peak. A dealer in East China has seen sales increase by 50 million yuan annually over the past two years, while a dealer in North China suffered a 20% sales decline due to poor terminal sell-through and off-season. The East China dealer, despite growth, summarized the industry with 12 pessimistic words: rising costs, falling profits, and intensifying competition. The market is shifting from incremental to existing, and low-speed growth is the new normal.
田静Zong Shifu AD Calcium Milk: Putting Zong Fuli and Wahaha's 70 Billion on the Hot Seat
Zong Fuli, China's richest woman, and Wahaha have become hot topics in the food industry. First, the 42-year-old Wahaha leader became China's richest woman with a net worth of 80.8 billion yuan. Then, some Wahaha distributors will sign 2025 contracts with Hongsheng Beverage Group instead of Wahaha, involving 14 markets, accelerating Zong Fuli's divestment from Wahaha. Yesterday, at Wahaha's annual sales meeting, Zong Fuli announced that 'Wahaha has successfully matched its performance scale from ten years ago in 2024,' implying a return to 70 billion yuan in sales.
小满Zhongxin Food's Ye Zhongfu: The Secret to Heineken's 10-Fold Growth in Taizhou in 5 Years
In an era of unprecedented change, Ye Zhongfu, founder of Taizhou Zhongxin Food, demonstrates that focusing on existing advantages rather than盲目出击 can lead to remarkable growth. By adhering to a differentiated strategy and building strong partnerships, his company achieved over 10-fold growth for Heineken in Taizhou within five years.
陈思廷Why Supply-Chain Companies Are Entering the Spotlight
As media, channels, and consumer demand fragment, technically capable supply-chain companies are moving from invisible cost centers to strategic partners that shape products, distribution, and profitable growth.
New DistributionSecond Stop of the 'B2b Platform Dealer In-depth Study Tour' Successfully Held in Nanning · Yijia Star
From November 21 to 22, the second stop of the 'B2b Platform Dealer In-depth Study Tour' was successfully held in Nanning at Yijia Star. The event focused on topics such as the operational guide for local B2b platforms for snack food, daily chemical, and seasoning distributors, and an in-depth analysis of Guangxi Yijia Star's model for traditional trade transformation to B2b. Despite inconvenient transportation, over 60 dealer owners from across the country participated enthusiastically, engaging in deep discussions with the founder of Nanning Yijia Star, B2b platform coaches, and New Distribution teachers.
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