NEW DISTRIBUTION RESEARCH TOPIC
What structural changes are reshaping China’s FMCG channels?
Analysis of distribution restructuring, channel economics, and the changing roles of brands, distributors, and retail outlets in China.
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2301 articles · Page 15 of 96
Online and Offline Chinese New Year Stock-Up Review: Nuts Are the Most Sought-After, Almond Milk Grows Fast
The Spring Festival is the last major battle for brands, especially with the later Chinese New Year in February this year, extending the festive shopping period. This year's CNY sales war is unique: online e-commerce lacks momentum, making it hard to grow GMV without heavy spending, while offline promotions often involve price cuts, larger packs, or bundled deals. These trends reflect lower consumer expectations. Many brands faced distributor clearance sales from early January, with gifting demand notably weak. However, some categories showed strong growth, such as small indulgences offering value for money. Few analyze the CNY shopping festival, but as the most important gifting occasion for Chinese people, it reveals shifts in consumer demand and which categories and brands have strong channel capabilities.
沥金Review | Top 10 Events in the Snack Discount Sector in 2023
If 2023 saw a general cooling of consumption, the snack track was a different story. Over the past year, snack discount chains represented by Snacks Busy, Zhao Yiming Snacks, and Snacks Youming rapidly rose, becoming hot commodities. They further squeezed the living space of snack specialty brands that had dominated the track for years, forcing brands like Bestore and Three Squirrels to proactively transform and enter the snack discount track. In addition to these two major competitive forces, fresh-made snack categories represented by Panda Momo and Xueji Roasted Nuts also caught the attention of capital. Driven by these three major business formats, the all-round competition in the snack track has become impossible to ignore. Based on this, the author has specially reviewed the important events in the snack category in 2023. We note that the current snack track has entered a period of intense horizontal competition, mainly reflected in store scale, layout density, and supply chain. In the future, major brands will enter 'face-to-face competition,' making close-range competition inevitable. Mergers, acquisitions, integration, and upgrades may become new development trends.
零售圈Will Next Year's Market Be Even Harder? Six Company Founders and Executives from Jiangxiaobai, Kimberly-Clark, and Kotler Consulting Share Their Insights!
At year-end visits to distributors, most reported that breaking even was considered good. While 2023 was tough, 2024 is expected to be even harder. As the market shifts from growth to stock, the future for distributors looks bleak. Cao Hu, Global Partner of Kotler Consulting Group and CEO of Greater China and Singapore, notes that the past era of rapid growth across all industries is over; the next three years will see differentiation by industry, region, price band, and brand. The strong will get stronger, the weak weaker, making 'differentiation' the theme. With demographic imbalances, consumption structure shifts, and rational demand, the domestic market of 1.4 billion is not driving consumption, leaving distributors confused and anxious. Founders and senior executives from six companies—Jiangxiaobai, Kimberly-Clark, Kotler Consulting, Xuanwu Cloud Technology, Heyin Network, and Qince—offer their insights from an industry-wide perspective.
New Distribution2024: The Year Retail Must Rely on Real Competence!
As we cross into 2024, the retail industry faces a period of low growth, intensified competition, and a struggle for pricing power along the value chain. With macroeconomic momentum shifting and consumer savings high, retail's overall drive remains weak, forcing businesses to focus on efficiency, innovation, and core competencies to survive and thrive.
联商网编辑部Why Are Young People No Longer Willing to Enter the FMCG Industry?
A notable phenomenon has been observed: frontline sales in the FMCG industry have not attracted high-quality talent for a long time. Even companies like P&G find it very difficult to recruit graduates from Tsinghua or Peking University, let alone frontline staff for Coca-Cola or Master Kong. A brand owner friend complained about massive turnover among their salespeople. I said, 'Your products are harder to sell than insurance, and they earn less than food delivery or courier services, so how can you retain salespeople?' Many frontline brand managers and supervisors earn only 4,000-5,000 yuan upon joining, while food delivery and courier incomes have reached 10,000 yuan in the current market. The FMCG industry cannot retain people under these conditions. The lack of excellent talent entering is a surface phenomenon; on one hand, the field is not cool or leading enough, but more importantly, it cannot pay higher wages to excellent talent!
New DistributionBrand Factory 'On-Site Procurement Fair': Top Distributors Across the Country, Take Action!
The deep distribution model faces marketing dilemmas: manufacturers struggle with new products not being sold, while distributors find big products unprofitable. To address this, New Distribution launched the 'Extreme Supply Chain' Brand Factory On-Site Procurement Fair, which proved successful with over 4 million yuan in orders, and plans to scale it up at the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference in March 2024.
陈思廷Once You Pass 50 Million in Sales, Stop Working for the Brand
Hello friends. I'm Yuan Lai from New Distribution. Recently, I visited over a dozen distributor owners, and as the year ends, we reflected on our experiences. I'd like to share some insights: many distributors still have a 'working for the brand' mentality, but the real core competency lies in distribution and sell-through capabilities based on store control. Growth comes from where you invest your time, and even single-category distributors can succeed in B2b platforms by starting with their existing resources and building stable relationships with retail stores.
袁来How Far Is Yili from Becoming the World's No.1?
Amid the consumption recovery trend in the first half of 2023, dairy giant Yili maintained a stable upward trajectory, achieving growth in both revenue and net profit. On August 28, Yili Co., Ltd. (600887) released its 2023 interim report: revenue reached 66.197 billion yuan, up 4.31% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 6.305 billion yuan, up 2.81%; non-GAAP net profit was 5.797 billion yuan, down 1.55%. By segment, Yili's liquid milk scale and market share remain the largest, while its adult milk powder and cold drinks businesses are becoming new growth engines.
卓心月The Next Decade of Chinese Snacks
In recent years, China's snack market has undergone significant changes, with meat snacks and protein/energy bars becoming the fastest-growing categories, while the overall market for spicy strips, dried tofu, and seasoned vegetable products has expanded to nearly 100 billion yuan. The industry has moved beyond mere taste satisfaction, shifting towards functionality and health orientation, with products targeting specific consumer groups emerging. In the past two years, the rise of bulk snack stores and discount snack shops has made 'snacks' a key term surpassing 'beverages' in the food industry. Channel reforms are reshaping the snack landscape, challenging the performance of the three major snack giants that previously capitalized on online or chain opportunities, but they are actively adapting and seeking new growth points. The snack market is both a red ocean and a blue ocean, with predictions of an additional 200 billion yuan in growth over the next decade.
FBIFA Major Trend: The Rise of White-Label Products
In 2023, a major trend was the rise of white-label products. In the past era of consumer frenzy, many brands created their own myths, and we were shaped by brands. Recently, however, people have begun to disenchant with foreign brands and support cheap, good-quality domestic products. Eventually, everyone realized that brand logos are just external displays; what matters more is who you are.
阿空Seeking New Life Amidst Involution: Observations on 210 Food & Beverage Investment and Financing Events in 2023
In 2023, the food and beverage industry returned to rationality, with investment and financing slowing down and becoming more focused. According to incomplete statistics from FBIF, as of December 27, 2023, there were 210 investment and financing events across 14 major categories, reflecting trends such as increased segmentation, health consciousness, and technological empowerment.
FBIFYoung People Who Love Dupes Are Spending More | 2023 Consumption Report
In 2023, a year marked by low prices and high spending, young consumers are embracing 'rational experientialism'—prioritizing emotional value and experience while seeking cost-effective options like dupes and discounts. This shift is reflected in increased spending on services like travel and concerts, and decreased spending on beauty and fashion, with nearly half of respondents spending more than last year.
买个不停的DT君2024: Go Global or Go Bust
In 2023, a key theme for Chinese enterprises was 'going global.' This article examines the implications of the massive overseas expansion of Chinese businesses, questioning whether it will undermine China's status as the world's factory and its international standing. It argues that what is often perceived as a 'transfer' of manufacturing is actually a 'spillover' of the supply chain, with only the 'front-end' (final assembly) moving abroad while the 'middle-end' (supply chain network) remains in China, offering new growth opportunities and potential solutions to challenges like aging.
施展In 2024, Living Out Certainty Matters More Than Anything
As the year draws to a close, looking back on the past year, it has been turbulent. With the pandemic just lifted, everyone was full of confidence and hope for the future. But reality dealt a heavy blow. In this world full of uncertainty, everything seems elusive and unreliable. We all crave certainty, but in today's situation, only self-rescue can lead to salvation. In other words, since others cannot give us certainty, we might as well live out some certainty ourselves.
子恒Tangchen Jiesen & Liangmi Group Strategic Signing: Building a New Omnichannel Marketing Pathway for New Retail
Exploring market opportunities and expanding into the northern market, the two companies join forces to achieve complementarity, mutual benefit, and win-win outcomes.
Jane15th Tiger Roar Award Call for Entries Begins — Rebuilding the Future, Empowering Chinese Brands' Digital Development
The Tiger Roar Award, a highly influential comprehensive award in China's brand marketing digitalization sector, has officially launched its new competition cycle. Submissions are accepted via case.hooxiao.com from November 28, 2023, to March 22, 2024. Now in its 15th edition under the theme "Rebuilding the Future" and the core philosophy of "embracing simplicity, empowering others, and building the industry," the award aims to drive continuous upgrades in China's brand marketing digitalization and empower the industry.
New Distribution2023: A Major Shift in Chinese Consumption
Almost at the same time as Pinduoduo's market value first surpassed Alibaba's, Liangpin Shop, which had aspired to be a high-end snack brand, launched its first large-scale price cut in 17 years. Amidst the smoke of battle, a new era of consumption seems to have arrived. "We're really fired up, no one can stop me." During this year's 'Double 11', in JD.com's procurement live-streaming room, many JD procurement employees wore custom-made red vests, shouting desperately to sell. One sold the same learning machine at a price 1,500 yuan cheaper than Li Jiaqi's live-streaming room; another, shouting with excitement, directly gave away 100 TVs.
华商韬略Farewell to the Old World, Embrace the New World
Twelve months ago, most managers were hopeful; twelve months later, most are disappointed. They assumed the problems were all caused by the pandemic and that once the black swan flew away, everything would return to pre-2019. Clearly, this logic is untenable. As I have said, judgments without deep insight are blind. The current blind pessimism is as harmful as the blind optimism at the beginning of the year. It can only lead our teams and companies into the abyss of failure. Correctly understanding what era we are in and how it is changing is the starting point for all our business strategies and tactics.
陈思廷China's Dairy Giants: How Much Imagination Remains in Liquid Milk?
According to the China Dairy Quality Report (2023) released by the Dairy Association of China, per capita dairy consumption in China was 42 kg in 2022, down 0.6 kg from the previous year. Among dairy products, liquid milk, which accounts for the largest share, saw its first decline in eight years, dropping by 8%. In an era dominated by competition for existing market share, differentiation has become the norm. In this volatile environment, who will emerge victorious in the second half of the liquid milk market? Differentiation is accelerating, and liquid milk stands at a new crossroads.
财经新媒体2023 Consumer Market Characteristics Review: Rational Consumption Becomes a Trend, and a Comfortable, Healthy Lifestyle Fully Influences Food, Clothing, and Daily Use...
QuestMobile data shows that in recent years, rational consumption concepts have continued to spread. In October, Xiaohongshu saw 762,000 posts on 'rational consumption,' idle trading apps reached 173 million monthly active users (up 23.4% year-on-year), and budgeting apps reached 31.536 million monthly active users (up 7.7% year-on-year), reflecting a growing 'practical' mindset in physical consumption. This 'pragmatism' has shifted consumer focus, with attention to quality, price, brand, and experience rising to 60.5%, 60.1%, 59.8%, and 34.2% respectively in October.
Mr.QMTop 10 Keywords in the FMCG Industry for 2023
The recovery of the global economy, the coexistence of consumption upgrading and downgrading, and the explosive growth of the online economy have brought unprecedented challenges and opportunities to the FMCG industry in 2023. New Distribution has compiled the top 10 keywords for the FMCG industry in 2023, interpreting industry trends from multiple perspectives to help FMCG companies review key information and better grasp market changes and development directions.
杨玉琳、冯瑶Five Certain Trends in the FMCG Industry for 2024
Anxiety about the future stems not from economic growth or decline but from uncertainty. Certainty, whether positive or negative, allows for preparation, turning challenges into opportunities or difficulties rather than anxiety. After a transitional 2023, 2024 brings more certainty, with five definitive trends in the FMCG sector: the era of shrinking volume, the nearing end of the internet commercial revolution, the onset of supply chain revolution, brand going global as a growth path, and FMCG as a necessity that transcends economic cycles.
刘春雄Year-End Sprint: How Should FMCG Manufacturers and Distributors Execute?
In late October, China's Q3 economic data showed improvement in retail and service consumption, yet FMCG brands presented a mixed picture. For manufacturers and distributors, the first post-pandemic year-end requires stabilizing existing business while seeking growth. Using the beverage industry as an example, this article offers insights on aligning goals, rational rewards, data-driven analysis, problem-solving, and leveraging festivals to win the final sprint.
邢仁宝2023 China FMCG Supply Chain Digitalization White Paper Released (Download Included)
This report reviews the development of China's FMCG market in the post-pandemic era, focusing on the transformation of brand business and supply chain around omni-channel and one-warehouse inventory management. It analyzes new challenges and digital demands in supply chain operations, and provides insights through case studies. The full report is available for download via the 'Read Full Text' link at the end of the article.
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