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.
Related research and analysis
2301 articles · Page 23 of 96
From Frontline Salesman to Founder of a Trading Company: How Did He Achieve Over 100 Million in Sales in Just Seven Years?
“Business is tough, hard to do,” this is the current situation of some distributors seen during market research in Henan and Hebei provinces in the past two weeks. Indeed, the industry has changed significantly in recent years, with new business formats, models, and products emerging one after another. “Online intrusion, offline involution” has led to shrinking business year after year. Undeniably, the difficulty in doing business is partly due to market changes, but more so because the right direction has not been found in the face of change. We have seen some distributors actively trying to explore transformation in such an environment, and they have achieved good results...
周群Why Are New Consumer Brands Struggling to Enter Traditional KA Channels?
In recent years, many new brands have emerged in the FMCG market, including innovative brands that created new subcategories and internet-famous products favored by young consumers. However, these brands primarily operate through online channels like Taobao, JD.com, and Douyin e-commerce, making them hard to find in physical retail stores. This situation poses two challenges for brick-and-mortar retailers: difficulty in enhancing category differentiation and segmentation offline, and aging product portfolios that fail to attract younger shoppers.
张思遥Returning Offline: The New Street Battle
From the human-wave tactics of traditional deep distribution to the traffic tactics of e-commerce, and now back to offline—this is a process of negation of negation, spiraling upward. The boundary between online and offline is roughly clear: large items, high-value-added products, and long-tail products are online battlegrounds, while FMCG, high-experience products, and instant-consumption goods are offline's stronghold. The future split is roughly 70% offline, 30% online. This is the opening article of the 'Returning Offline' series.
方刚Returning to Offline: Channel Coverage Model Layout Strategy for FMCG Enterprises
Returning to offline and the fundamentals are highly popular terms in the FMCG industry this year. Previously, 2C e-commerce optimized the supply chain from brand to consumer; later, B2B optimized it from brand to terminal outlets; and in the past two years, community group buying optimized it from distributor to consumer. Within the entire F2B2b2C supply chain, driven by capital and internet tools, these innovations captured nearly 30% of market sales, prompting a renewed focus on the 70% offline operations.
高级研究员 海游A Comprehensive Analysis of Functional Foods: New Opportunities for Health Foods in the New Consumption Era
In the wave of new consumption, functional foods have become a hot track for category innovation. Whether as a supplement, optimization, or replacement for Chinese dietary habits, they are significantly reshaping the composition of modern food categories. This article aims to clarify what functional foods are, which evolutionary needs of human food consumption they address, and where future opportunities for health foods lie.
GavinSelection and Tiered Management of Key Accounts (KA)
This article discusses the selection and tiered management of key accounts (KA) in the FMCG industry, emphasizing the importance of channel definition and resource allocation. It provides a practical guide through a case study, covering criteria for selecting KA clients and methods for classifying them by geography and cooperation level.
曹扬How Can Brand Owners Efficiently Connect with Retail Outlets? Two Key Tools Are Indispensable
In the FMCG industry, sales representatives are the crucial, often sole, link between brand owners and retail outlets, but this single-line connection carries risks such as information loss and limited interaction time. To address this, brand owners can leverage enterprise WeChat and B2b platforms to directly engage store owners, enabling efficient communication, personalized promotions, and seamless ordering, thereby building a robust customer operations system.
助力客户成功的"Light Salt" Becomes a New Trend, Wujiang Pickled Mustard Makes a Major Entry!
A talk by Zhang Puhong, deputy director of the George Institute for Global Health (China), highlighted that Chinese people consume more than double the recommended daily salt intake. This has spurred a trend towards reducing salt in food, with Wujiang pickled mustard launching a new light-salt product to meet health demands.
田静The Controversial Pre-Made Dishes: Would You Choose Them?
Last week, 21 pre-made dish concept stocks on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges continued to strengthen. As of January 20, Delisi (002330.SZ) hit the daily limit for 7 consecutive days, while Haixin Foods (002702.SZ) and Fucheng Shares (600965.SH) had four consecutive limit-up days. Guolian Aquatic Products (300094.SZ) rose about 100% since the start of 2022. A research report by Shanxi Securities predicts that China's pre-made dish market will reach 340 billion yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 18%. In the next 3-5 years, the industry is expected to become the next trillion-yuan catering market.
联商网编辑部Understanding Hema: The Key to Retail's Next 20 Years
Hema is planning a funding round, while various new retail models have fought from first-tier to fifth-tier cities over the past two to three years, severely weakening traditional retail giants but also leaving themselves struggling. This outcome was foreseeable before the pandemic, which only created an illusion of prosperity, ultimately benefiting consumers but losing investors money. Today, amid the most intense transformation in China's retail industry, we should consider what retail will look like in 20 years. We believe Hema best represents the future. This analysis is based on interviews with over 20 experts and research on more than 30 Hema stores.
蒋文伟From 2021 to 2022: 10 Key Brand Trends We've Summarized
In 2021, the consumer industry and brands faced both the best and worst of times. With dividends from new demographics, platforms, capital, and infrastructure, Chinese consumer brands rose rapidly, but as dividends faded, the law of the jungle prevailed. This article summarizes five key trends for 2021 (niche categories, wild consumption, rational consumption, from seeding to tree planting, and the metaverse) and five for 2022 (content as a carrier, brand-effect synergy, people-centricity, spiritual consumption, and consumption equality).
刀法行研A 98-Yuan Box of Jelly Sold Out on Its First Day?! What's Liuliumei's Secret?
Recently, a news story about a box of jelly priced at 98 yuan selling out on its first day went viral, sparking widespread discussion. The jelly, which turned out to be Liuliumei's groundbreaking new category 'Mei Dong', saw explosive sales upon launch, with distributors scrambling to order it.
小新From Internet Sensation to Lasting Brand: A Roadmap for New Consumer Brand Value Breakthrough
In 2022, new consumer brands will face a major reshuffle. With platform dividends fading, customer acquisition costs rising, and the capital market cooling, new brands that have used traffic to create hit products and complete the 0-to-1 stage will face a crucial challenge: how to break through the GMV-oriented growth model, enhance core value, and truly embark on brand building. As a non-typical brand professional with an economics background, systematic international MBA training, and entrepreneurial experience, I have been thinking since last year about constructing a practical brand system for emerging brands.
EvaSwire Coca-Cola: How to Directly Connect 2 Million+ Outlets and 'Precisely Reach' 700 Million Consumers?
Distributing to retail outlets through distributors is the common model in the FMCG industry, but there are exceptions. Coca-Cola, for example, partners with bottlers for deep distribution to outlets. In China, Swire Coca-Cola is one such partner. As Coca-Cola's 5th largest bottling partner globally, Swire Coca-Cola China has over 10,000 salespeople maintaining 2 million+ offline outlets and serving over 700 million consumers. When you casually buy a bottle of Coca-Cola or its other beverages at a small store, have you ever wondered how it reaches your hands?
任文青AndyHow to Do Marketing in 2022? Look at Several Marketing Development Trends from 2021-2022
Reviewing 2021, many new marketing tactics emerged, such as the new concept of 'metaverse' and 'private domain traffic'. This article sorts out several marketing focuses, key words, and marketing development trends in 2021 for reference by brand owners and distributors in the upstream and downstream of the industry.
New Distribution20,000 Words, 108 Reflections: My Third Year of Entrepreneurship on Marketing, Management, and Life
2021 was my third year of entrepreneurship and the hardest year of my life. I went through the bottleneck period of a founder and transitioned into a new role as a mother. Throughout this process, I constantly explored two things: 1. What is happening in the world, and what can I bring to it; 2. How do I see myself, and what kind of person do I want to become. I have always believed that my relationship with myself is inseparable from my relationship with the world. In this exploration, many systematic thoughts have been organized into articles, but many fragmented reflections remain, like seeds waiting to sprout.
刀姐dorisbC Integration: Reshaping the Logic of Channel Profit Distribution
Both paths of digitalization lead to bC integration. One path is the B2C route: C2C (Taobao) → B2C (Tmall) → F2C (Private Domain 1.0) → F+b2C (Private Domain 2.0) → F2B2b+b2C (Private Domain 3.0). The other is the B2B route: F2B → F2B2b (deep distribution digitalization) → B2b2C (community group buying) → F2B2b+b2C. The key node is b2C, which means solving the connection between stores and users. bC integration is not about removing intermediaries but strengthening them, emphasizing the retail end's value in traffic generation. The core challenge is reshaping the channel profit distribution system from transaction-based to traffic-based, involving manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and users.
刘春雄The Truth About Chinese Yogurt
Following the publication of Shangyin Society's article "The Chinese Yogurt War," extensive reader discussions revealed that the yogurt industry holds many hidden truths unknown to ordinary consumers. Through interviews with over a dozen industry insiders, this article explores why milk sources are a critical bottleneck for dairy companies, why bacterial strains are considered the "chip" of the yogurt industry, and how foreign capital has quietly penetrated China's dairy supply chain.
商隐社Reflect Diligently, Be Unbreakable, and Embrace Change: Building the Channel Foundation for Frontline City Managers!
As the pandemic persists, offline retail continues to bleed while new retail channels cool down. City managers must reflect, stay resilient, and adapt, focusing on core channels and building a solid foundation for organic growth.
许翔 Ryan XuZhoupu Data Completes Series B+ Financing, Continues to Drive Digitalization of FMCG Channel Distribution
At the start of 2022, Zhoupu Data, a provider of digital upgrade and big data services for China's FMCG industry, announced the completion of approximately RMB 150 million in Series B+ financing. The round was led by SoftBank Ventures Asia and Professor Zeng Ming, former Chief of Staff of Alibaba Group, with existing shareholder FreeS Fund following. The funds will be primarily used to strengthen technology R&D and market expansion.
New DistributionA Comprehensive Review of D2C Brands: From Rise to Transformation
New consumer brands have become a hot topic this year, with any new brand labeled as such likely to attract capital and consumers. These brands differ from established consumer brands in product development, design, brand positioning, and marketing, sparking a 'consumer brand revolution' in China starting around 2015. This article reviews the rise of D2C brands in the US, their strategies, and the lessons for Chinese new consumer brands.
寻空2009Budweiser APAC Releases 2021 Annual Report! Net Profit Surges 84.8%
On the morning of February 24, beer giant Budweiser APAC (01876.HK) released an annual report showing strong growth. The company achieved revenue of $6.788 billion in 2021, up 14.9% year-on-year, and profit of $980 million, up 84.8% year-on-year. In 2021, the company's product sales volume increased by 8.3%, with particularly good performance in China and South Korea. Under the company's premiumization strategy, revenue per hectoliter of beer increased by 6.1% across major markets. In the Chinese market, with the implementation of a premiumization strategy across the entire product portfolio...
靖绥FMCG Enterprise KA Model Selection: Direct Supply or Indirect Supply?
As offline foot traffic declines, it's crucial for FMCG companies to maintain their offline channels through professional management. This article discusses the differences between direct and indirect supply models for key accounts, arguing that direct supply is the trend due to digital transformation, but a hybrid model will be common.
曹扬Yangyuan Six Walnut 'Confucius Temple Blessing Can' Launches: Insist on Doing Things That Can Continue to Happen in the Future!
On February 27, coinciding with the 100-day countdown to the college entrance exam (Gaokao), Yangyuan Six Walnut's annual 'Confucius Temple Blessing Ceremony' kicked off early. This is the second edition of the ceremony, and this time, the brand collaborated with Qufu Confucius Temple to launch a special 'Confucius Temple Blessing Can' to ease the anxiety of students and parents during the exam preparation period. By persistently holding this event every Gaokao season, the brand aims to strengthen its cultural ties and support students.
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