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 26 of 96
David Wei: In the Next 10 Years, China Will Give Birth to at Least 100 New Consumer Companies Worth 100 Billion Yuan!
As the new consumption track heats up, the saying goes: 'Every brand is worth redoing in the future.' According to Harvest Capital, in the next decade, China will see at least 100 consumer companies with a market value exceeding 100 billion yuan. Harvest Capital has invested in unicorns like Anker Innovations, Pop Mart, Guoquan Shihui, and Shanghai Auntie, and in 2020 alone, it saw seven consumer IPOs, five of which surpassed 100 billion yuan in market value.
混沌学园Multiple Measures to Build a New Community Retail Ecosystem: Jingxi 11.11 'More Than Just Savings'
Since the beginning of this year, China has successively formulated and issued the 'Guidelines for Building a 15-Minute Convenient Living Circle in Cities', aiming to construct multi-format community business districts within a 15-minute walk for residents, meeting both basic and quality consumption needs. The concept of the 'urban 15-minute convenient living circle' is significant for developing diverse community commerce, enriching shopping scenarios, and enhancing consumer experience. As JD.com's lifestyle consumption mall, Jingxi has implemented a series of measures ahead of 11.11, upgrading supply chain capabilities and integrating long and short chain business layouts to activate the 'capillaries' of the economic microcirculation, building a community commerce and lifestyle that covers all scenarios, integrates multiple channels, and meets various timeliness needs, bringing consumers quality goods at low prices and a worry-free shopping experience.
刘少德Seven Years of Effort, Hubang Strategic Focus: Striving to Be the No.1 in the Meat Chili Sauce Category
China's spicy food lovers exceed 600 million, and the trend of spiciness is spreading nationwide, with chili consumption steadily rising. The chili sauce market is vast but has low entry barriers, leading to intense competition and low industry concentration. Hubang, after seven years of exploration, has launched a new strategic positioning as 'Hubang Meat Chili Sauce,' aiming to create a distinct category and become the leading brand in this segment.
高级研究员 海游2022 Budget Guide: How Should Brands Review Their Gains and Losses This Year?
Projects without review lead to endless cycles of failure. This is a phrase I often tell my team, whether it's a small promotional event or a grand annual plan, review is a must. At the end of September, I participated in the review meeting of the National FMCG Conference organized by New Distribution. The team members spoke actively and did a commendable job, but there were also common issues found in all review meetings. Today, let's explore the underlying logic of work review.
高级研究员 海游Four Channel Coverage Priorities for Bottled Water Success
A product placed anywhere will find buyers, but not every location qualifies as a distribution channel. The essence of channels is how to reach consumers efficiently, cost-effectively, at scale, and through diverse touchpoints. Manufacturers must assess whether a channel is worth the investment, considering current and future profitability and its impact on other channels. Channel selection should align with product attributes to find the most suitable sales venues.
高级研究员 海游Research Report: Reviewing Community Group Buying Over the Past Year: How to Return to the Essence of Supply Chain Upgrades?
Community group buying is the intersection of community retail and fresh food e-commerce. From a product structure perspective, it currently focuses on the family kitchen; in the long term, shifting from 'traffic generation' to 'differentiation' is the cultivation process for users and a key strategy for platform product selection and profitability.
New DistributionWho Says New Consumption Is Dead? Here Are the Latest 22 Trends You Must Know!
The author argues that new consumption is not failing but evolving, and that brand building differs from mere selling. He outlines 22 trends, emphasizing the shift from functional to emotional products, the importance of offline channels, and the need for genuine user understanding.
龙猫君Predicting the Next 'Genki Forest' from Japanese Consumption Trends
This article analyzes the rise of Genki Forest, a Chinese beverage brand valued at $6 billion, and uses parallels with Japan's consumption patterns in the 1990s to predict the future of China's soft drink industry. It highlights the shift towards sugar-free beverages and the challenges of market saturation.
梁缘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Twelve Trends and Omnichannel Power: An O2O Precision Operations Playbook
This article shares a comprehensive perspective on O2O operations, presented by Bei Nianjun, founder of Heyin Network. It outlines twelve key capabilities for O2O precision operations, categorized into front-end, mid-end, and back-end functions, and emphasizes the importance of omnichannel integration and strategic partnerships.
贝念军Trends of Separation of Commerce Flow and Logistics Flow from the Perspective of Community Group Buying Fulfillment System
At the 2021 (4th) China FMCG Conference hosted by New Distribution on September 24, 2021, Wang Qi, CEO of Weijie City Distribution, delivered a keynote speech titled "Trends of Separation of Commerce Flow and Logistics Flow from the Perspective of Community Group Buying Fulfillment System." He analyzed the unique value of community group buying, the advanced nature of its fulfillment system, and the inevitable trend of separation of commerce flow and logistics flow in the era of channel fragmentation.
王琦Meiyijia: Channel Opportunities Amid the Youth Trend
At the 4th China FMCG Conference held in Shanghai from September 23-25, 2021, Yao Xuhong, General Manager of Meiyijia Holdings, delivered a keynote speech on how Meiyijia addresses the youth trend through online, differentiated, and sovereignty-oriented strategies, leveraging its C-end convenience stores and B-end Yueheji platform to serve consumers effectively.
姚旭鸿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Agent 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.
AsherTraditional Marketing Is No Longer Effective; Product Strength, Connectivity, and Operational Capability Are the Future!
In recent years, numerous innovative consumer brands have emerged, such as Genki Forest, Zihaiguo, Danyuanliang, Zhongxuegao, Wangbaobao, and Haomaiduo. Unlike traditional brands, they have not followed conventional marketing methods like TV advertising and offline distribution, but instead use new marketing models to quickly gain consumer recognition. The competitive barriers of traditional enterprises, built on the 'three marketing forces' (product, brand, and channel), are disappearing due to excess marketing resources, changing consumer cognition, and improved technology and infrastructure. The article argues that the marketing force triangle must shift from product, channel, and brand to product, connectivity, and operational capability.
赵波Summarizing New Products from Nongfu Spring, Genki Forest, Mizone, Nestlé, etc.: New Trends in Beverages!
China's beverage market is booming, with a market size of 991.4 billion yuan in 2019, expected to exceed 1.3 trillion yuan by 2024. Based on new product launches by leading domestic beverage companies in 2021, this article shares development trends in the domestic beverage industry, including sparkling water, packaged water, functional drinks, tea drinks, and juice drinks.
高级研究员 海游In the Braised Delicacies Arena, Who Will Be the Next 'Duck King'?
The braised food market is heating up with capital influx, challenging the traditional 'three pillars' of Juewei, Zhouheiya, and Huangshanghuang. Zhouheiya, once the 'duck king', faces pressure from new entrants and must adapt its direct-sales model and brand strategy to stay competitive.
刘鹤翔A Digital Operations System May Matter More Than Digitalization Itself
The article argues that while digital tools like SFA, mini-programs, and one-code-per-item are important, the key is building a comprehensive digital operations system that integrates these tools to connect F2B2b2C, enabling coverage, acquisition, activation, repurchase, and referral. It emphasizes that these tools have limitations and must be adapted to specific contexts, and that product quality remains fundamental.
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