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 45 of 193
Don't Turn Jinmailang's "Four-in-One" into a "Four-Like-Nothing"
China's vast market means no single company can reach every corner with its own organizational capabilities alone. The shift from employment to partnership models—namely regional contracting—is an inevitable trend for efficient, low-cost channel coverage in FMCG. Many companies are learning from Jinmailang's "Four-in-One" model, but most are half-paralyzed or have completely disappeared. Based on personal experience, this article discusses nine common pitfalls in implementing regional contracting.
高级研究员 海游Lee Kum Kee's Zhang Fujun: In the VUCA Era, Everything Starts from the Consumer
In the VUCA era, the business environment is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Lee Kum Kee's response is to start from the consumer, following where they go and adapting to their changing needs, such as health and convenience, to seize growth opportunities.
张福钧MissBerry Founder Tang Huimin: The Rise of Low-Alcohol Drinks
MissBerry founder Tang Huimin shares insights on the low-alcohol drinks market, emphasizing its potential and the importance of targeting female consumers. She discusses the brand's growth, product innovation, and marketing strategies that have made MissBerry a leading brand in China's low-alcohol beverage sector.
唐慧敏No New Model Can Overturn Deep Distribution!
This article aims to help brand owners establish the underlying logic for channel coverage design and planning in 2022. It presents two diagrams from the China FMCG Conference in September, showing the changes in FMCG distribution channels over the past decade. Despite changes in the number, types, and transaction structures of channels, certain factors remain constant: the endpoints (brand to consumer), the persistence of existing channels, the growth of 2C channels without major shifts in primary/secondary status, and the human-driven nature of channels. The core competitive factors are efficiency, cost, scale, and diversified consumer reach.
高级研究员 海游Distributor Boss: The Foundation of Intensive Channel Cultivation Must Be Built on the Input-Output Ratio
When it comes to intensive channel cultivation, every distributor knows it runs through their business, whether driven by their own needs or manufacturer requirements. However, few distributors seriously consider how to implement it to maximize sales and profit output. A county-level distributor in a county with a population of 1.3 million used 19 vehicles and 20 salespeople to serve 1,000 traditional small stores and 3 KA supermarkets, achieving annual sales of 50 million yuan, but complained about low profits at year-end, highlighting the need to base channel cultivation on the input-output ratio.
李锋Distributor Review | How M&G Stationery Grew to an 80 Billion Yuan Market Value, Outpacing Moutai?
This article, based on the account of a senior distributor, examines the rise of M&G Stationery. Since its listing in 2015, M&G's stock has surged over 844%, reaching a market value of 80 billion yuan. In 2019 alone, it sold 2.3 billion pens, averaging 13 pens per student among 180 million students, supported by nearly 85,000 retail outlets.
洪志西The Iteration of Deep Distribution—BC Integration: Operating C-End, Empowering B-End
Terminals will never disappear, and brand owners cannot sustain or take root without offline channels; regardless of channel fragmentation, offline sales remain the primary sales. Offline sales come from the number of terminal outlets multiplied by per-store sales. The number of outlets should be neither too many nor too few, like farming—too dense and they won't grow, too sparse and they grow but in small numbers. A reasonable density ensures high yield. Similarly, a reasonable number of outlets in a regional market ensures both consumer convenience and terminal recommendation enthusiasm. The premise of BC integration is deep distribution, and its core is to connect C-end through B-end, activate B-end with C-end, and achieve a closed loop in channel operations.
朱朝阳Tianjin Autumn Sugar Fair: Choose Trendy Snacks & Convenience Foods, Win iPhone 13 at Westin on Wudadao!
The 2021 National Autumn Sugar and Wine Fair will be held in Tianjin from October 19-21, with the hotel exhibition from October 14-18. As a key platform for distributors to select products, merchants from all over the country flock to it every year. But with many hotels, categories, manufacturers, and products, how can you efficiently navigate the fair, select trending and profitable products, and have a relaxed and new experience? Our view is to focus on hot categories, lock in popular hotels, and consider interactive activities during the fair, ensuring distributors have a sense of participation and honor.
New DistributionOpportunities and Challenges for Brands Going Direct-to-Consumer in New Channels and Scenarios
Feng Yuehai, Head of InStore Business at Qiesheng Technology and CEO of Miya Technology, delivered a keynote at the 'BC Integration' forum. Titled 'Opportunities and Challenges for Brands Going Direct-to-Consumer in New Channels and Scenarios,' he analyzed how FMCG brands can choose digital tools, build consumer awareness around O2O scenarios, and leverage integrated online-offline channels to drive sales, proposing three core insights: both emerging and traditional brands have opportunities in 2B2C under new scenarios and channels.
冯越海Tao Shiquan of Jiangxiaobai: Ten Years of Seeking Truth, Creating What Does Not Exist
The essence of innovation is to create what does not exist on the basis of seeking truth and being pragmatic. After ten years of running Jiangxiaobai, Tao Shiquan shares his deep reflections on the challenges of growth, the importance of real user marketing, and the need to create genuine value through long-term thinking.
陶石泉Bottled Water Is a Good Business, but the Pitfalls Outnumber the Paths
Bottled water is a good business, but the pitfalls outnumber the paths. This is the most common advice I give to every startup looking to enter the bottled water industry. In September, two companies interested in bottled water consulted with me extensively, and I'd like to share some insights.
高级研究员 海游Yonghui's Pivot: Abandoning High-End Route, Betting on Affordable Warehouse Stores
Yonghui Superstores, in urgent need of turning around, has made a 180-degree shift in its business format direction. After abandoning the high-end new retail route represented by 'Super Species,' Yonghui has opened warehouse stores featuring affordability and accessibility. From the first store in Fuzhou, within just five months, Yonghui has opened over 50 warehouse stores nationwide, covering more than 10 provinces and regions. Meanwhile, Super Species, which once received substantial resources, has been seeing store closures.
不止十一人Is the Foodservice Channel a New Wealth Opportunity for Distributors?
Recently, the author interviewed a beverage distributor and discovered a unique regional business case: a private-label new product generated over one million yuan in sales within a week of launch, with a gross margin as high as 50%. The author consulted the distributor and gathered insights from other distributors and brand marketers, offering a perspective for distributors seeking business opportunities. It should be noted that this case may reflect maximum results under specific regional conditions and does not represent the national market.
澄韵The Elimination of Some Distributors Is Inevitable!
The article argues that while many distributors feel their business is getting harder, this is not universally true. It uses examples from the book 'Factfulness' to illustrate negative thinking bias, and then analyzes the reasons for difficulty, emphasizing the need for distributors to focus on 'selling out' and 'efficiency' to thrive.
袁来2022 Budget Planning: How Should FMCG Companies Design Their Offline Channels?
Recently, I communicated with two companies with annual sales of around 2 billion yuan about channel coverage for the coming year, as they are about to start their 2022 budget planning. The channel coverage model has not been fully thought through; according to budget planning, the first version of the channel coverage budget must be ready by September, company-wide promotion and implementation plans for branch offices by October, and execution by November—time is tight and the task is heavy. Today, I will share the general framework of a channel coverage plan I just developed for a company, hoping the team can better understand and execute it.
高级研究员 海游Falling Behind? Time to Change Your Circle!
As technology advances, traditional FMCG distribution is undergoing dramatic changes, with new channels and business models emerging. Distributors must decide whether to chase trends or focus on fundamentals, but many are realizing they are being left behind. The article urges traditional players to break out of their old circles and embrace new ones to stay competitive.
新经销刘少德Distributors Bind Customers' Core Interests, Still Worried About Finding Growth?
When salespeople visit customers to take orders, the customer's primary concern is whether selling your product will make money. Starting from this core point, salespeople should tell a profit story, bind customers' core demands, increase sales, and secure more orders. This article summarizes three aspects to help distributors achieve growth through effective communication.
李峰Terminal is King, Where is the Way, Can New Store Commerce Be the Antidote?
The article discusses the evolution of the 'terminal is king' sales model in FMCG, emphasizing that while offline channels remain crucial, brands must integrate digital tools to enhance terminal efficiency. It introduces 'New Store Commerce' as a solution to overcome physical limitations of stores by leveraging dual stores, dual scenarios, dual IPs, dual experiences, and a toolkit of cloud store, community, live streaming, and WeChat Moments to empower terminals and connect with consumers.
朱朝阳In-depth Analysis of Distributor Inventory Visualization Management
In recent years, during marketing digital transformation projects for brand owners, we have increasingly heard management teams from various brands express a common need: distributor inventory visualization. Why are more and more brand owners focusing on this? In the current economic environment, although the share of online channels is growing, offline channels remain the most important sales channel. For most companies, the offline channel is largely the distributor channel, where distributors act as financial and logistics platforms...
New DistributionHow Much Longer Can the Distributor Business Last, and Can It Still Make Money?
A grain and oil distributor expressed concerns about the declining business and questioned the future viability of the distribution trade. The article analyzes market changes through semi-annual reports of listed companies, highlighting the growth of major players through premiumization, omnichannel, and digitalization, while smaller players suffer from community group buying and declining supermarket traffic. It concludes that distributors must focus on internal regional market share by refining offline operations and expanding categories, and that those who become top players in their local categories can still profit sustainably.
袁来Omnichannel Distribution: A Core Skill Every Enterprise and City Manager Must Master
This article discusses the evolution of distribution channels in the FMCG industry, emphasizing the shift from traditional single-channel models to fragmented, omnichannel environments. It argues that omnichannel distribution—covering all consumer touchpoints both online and offline—is now a core skill for enterprises and city managers, requiring strategic channel selection based on consumer behavior and category characteristics.
赵波Big FMCG Doesn't Believe in Private Traffic! How to Reconstruct Distributor Relationships in the Omnichannel Era?
This article discusses why private traffic (private domain traffic) is not suitable for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, which relies heavily on traditional distribution channels. It argues that FMCG companies should focus on omnichannel digital transformation and reconstruct their relationships with distributors to thrive in the digital age.
梅BOSSAgent for Guanshengyuan, White Rabbit, Alpenliebe, etc., with annual sales of hundreds of millions, Leye Trading's 'playbook' for online and offline
Distributors often complain about high fees, low profits, and long payment cycles in KA channels, yet some have thrived. Suzhou Leye Trading, founded in 2012, has grown from a startup to a major distributor of brands like Guanshengyuan, Alpenliebe, and White Rabbit, achieving nearly 400 million yuan in annual sales. The company's success lies in strong team cohesion, efficient management, and a dual focus on offline KA and online e-commerce.
AsherZhong Shanshan vs Tang Binsen: A Sugar-Free World
As Genki Forest and Nongfu Spring invade each other's core territories, competition between Tang Binsen and Zhong Shanshan escalates. In April, Nongfu Spring launched a sparkling water product, closely imitating Genki Forest's style and marketing. In July, Genki Forest began selling mineral water on Tmall, becoming a 'nature's搬运工' like Nongfu Spring.
赵晋杰 蒋晓婷