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 7 of 96
How Joyoung Repositioned Soy Milk Powder for Everyday Nutrition
Joyoung moved soy milk powder beyond the breakfast occasion by combining familiar plant protein with low-sugar demand, convenient nutrition, ingredient innovation, and coordinated online and offline distribution.
New Distribution9 Days to Go! Unilever, Snow, CR Vanguard, Uni-President, Mengniu, Hengan, Lee Kum Kee, Genki Forest, Samyang, Bottle Planet and More Gather in Shanghai for a Grand Event!
The 2025 7th China FMCG Conference & 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference & 5th China FMCG Distributor Conference, themed 'New Demand, New Supply', is 9 days away. Scheduled for August 19-21, 2025 in Shanghai, the event will feature 100+ industry leaders, multiple forums, and exclusive reports.
New DistributionCountdown: 10 Days! Unilever, Snow, CR Vanguard, Hema NB, Uni-President, Mengniu, Hengan, Lee Kum Kee, Bottle Planet, Genki Forest, Samyang and More Gather in Shanghai for a Grand Event!
The 2025 7th China FMCG Conference & 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference & 5th China FMCG Distributor Conference, themed 'New Demand, New Supply', is 10 days away. Scheduled for August 19-21, 2025 in Shanghai, the event features 100+ industry leaders, multiple forums, and exclusive reports, bringing together 2500+ FMCG elites from brands, retailers, and distributors.
New DistributionZhao Bo of New Distribution: Moving Beyond the Wholesale Era, Reconstructing China's Commercial Circulation Industry
Starting from the 'Engel coefficient turning point,' this article examines the transformation of consumer society and its impact on retail and wholesale industries. It analyzes how developed markets have responded to retail restructuring and outlines four paths for China's wholesale sector to evolve from a relationship-based to a system-driven model.
赵波The Trend of 'De-branding' Emerges in the FMCG Industry
A founder recently asked if I had seen any promising new FMCG brands this year. I replied that I hadn't seen a single one, but some white-label products seemed viable. Over the past year, branding in China has suffered a catastrophic setback, with the budding brand-building efforts of previous years not only extinguished but also giving way to a trend of 'de-branding'.
戚特Prices Rising Now! 2,500+ FMCG Peers Gather in Shanghai: Latest Trends, Channels, and Strategies All Here!
With overcapacity, shrinking old demand, and booming new demand, brand owners, distributors, and retailers must abandon zero-sum thinking and jointly build a new supply system, or they will fall behind in the fierce battle for customers. Growth is not achieved through involution but through accurately and swiftly acting on trends. The 7th China FMCG Conference and related events will reveal where new demand lies, its characteristics, how to capture it, and how to build a new supply system, along with the evolving roles of manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.
New DistributionNot Sugar, Not Fizz, Only Fine Tea Aroma: Mei Jiang's Exclusive Interpretation of Xiao Guan Tea's Logic in Entering the Sugar-Free Tea Market
China's tea industry has long faced the awkward reality of having culture and categories but lacking true brands. Against this backdrop, Xiao Guan Tea, founded in 2016, broke through with 'modernization of whole-leaf tea' and standardized small-can packaging. In May this year, it launched 'High-Aroma Sugar-Free Tea' beverages, sparking industry attention. In an exclusive interview with New Distribution, Mei Jiang, Vice President and General Manager of Marketing Center, explained the logic behind this move: not following beverage trends but applying 'tea logic' to create a modern expression of traditional tea culture, aiming to make good tea accessible to more people in daily life.
杨玉琳"Megabrands × Mega Platforms": In Times of Change, Budweiser China and Distributors Build a Resilient Growth Path
In the first half of 2025, New Distribution visited over a hundred distributors and observed that the distributor community is generally in a state of confusion. In the past, distributors built moats for local distribution networks through deep cultivation of regional markets. But today, channel fragmentation, declining offline store traffic, and low-price competition have brought increasing uncertainty to distributors' businesses. This trend is especially evident in the alcoholic beverage market, where market stratification and demographic segmentation are widening demand differences. In this context, Budweiser China's "Megabrands × Mega Platforms" strategy, which leverages brand power and platform resources to empower distributors, offers a systematic response and a sustainable growth path.
AsherFMCG frontline salespeople are anxious
“Business is tough now; upstream manufacturers increase targets year by year, but downstream customers can't move goods. I don't know how long this consumption situation will last!” Last week, the author followed several FMCG salespeople on field visits to dozens of terminal stores, and on the way, salesperson Sister Liu lamented this. In the dealer team, salespeople are not only the vanguard of sales but also direct observers of market dynamics; their feelings directly reflect market conditions. This article will take the perspective of dealer salespeople, go deep into the frontline, analyze the internal and external factors causing their anxiety, and reveal the true state of the market.
何雯The FMCG Industry Has Completely Changed
If one word were to sum up this year's FMCG industry, it would be 'difficult.' Retail channel transformations have come one after another, with intense competition both online and offline, including supermarket overhauls and the aggressive expansion of snack stores. Brand owners are struggling with declining financial reports, having been held hostage by e-commerce in the past and now by new retail. Distributors face even greater hardship, squeezed by upstream and downstream players, and many are being abandoned, with the trend of big fish eating small fish becoming increasingly evident. However, 'difficult' is the current state, behind which lie changes in the underlying survival logic of retailers, the severe weakening of brand owners' market influence, and the need for distributors to redefine their roles.
周群Why Young Talent Is Leaving Front-Line FMCG Sales
The talent problem in FMCG sales is not only about pay. It reflects an outdated field-sales system that monitors people instead of equipping them to sell with greater precision and productivity.
New DistributionIn the FMCG Industry, the Answers to Market Problems Are on the Frontline
A beer distributor with over 20 years of experience shared his journey, emphasizing that market opportunities and solutions are found on the frontline. By staying close to the market, he successfully launched a new product, but later lost momentum after delegating to managers. The article argues that true insights come from direct market engagement, citing examples like Wahaha and Feihe, and concludes that adapting to new cycles requires rebuilding frontline connections.
金名New Demand Forces Dealer Transformation: Where Is the Future Path?
The 7th China FMCG Conference, themed 'New Demand, New Supply', will be held in Shanghai from August 19-21, 2025. As old demands based on survival and safety shrink, new demands for happiness, individuality, social interaction, and values are booming, driving a revolution in the supply system. The conference will gather key players in the FMCG industry chain to discuss the essence, direction, and solutions for industry transformation.
New DistributionThe New Business World: The Future Landscape of the FMCG Business Ecosystem
At a critical historical juncture, the FMCG business ecosystem is shifting from brand-led to retailer-led dynamics, driven by the maturity of industrial civilization and the ongoing technological explosion of the information age. This transformation will see retailers with brand genes, a sharp decline in distributor share, and new opportunities for brands to go global.
刘春雄Discount Retail Expansion, Traditional Retail Reform, and Instant Retail Acceleration: How Should FMCG Manufacturers Respond?
The 7th China FMCG Conference and the 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference & the 5th China FMCG Distributor Conference will be held in Shanghai from August 19-21, 2025. With the theme 'New Demand, New Supply', the conference will bring together key players in the FMCG industry chain to discuss the transformation of the supply system and the repositioning of retailers, distributors, and brands.
New DistributionRaising a Glass for Thirty Years: The 30th Anniversary Series of China Alcoholic Drinks Association Officially Launched
Thirty years marks the journey of an industry from infancy to maturity, and for China's alcoholic drinks circulation sector, it has been a profound transformation from chaos to order. In 2025, the China Alcoholic Drinks Association celebrates its 30th anniversary, having witnessed and driven the industry's shift from planned allocation to market allocation, and from channel dominance to consumer sovereignty. The association has been both a recorder and a promoter, guiding the industry onto a path of high-quality development.
杨玉琳Price Wars and Channel Wars Are Outdated: What Is the Way Forward for FMCG Brands?
The 7th China FMCG Conference, themed 'New Demand, New Supply,' will be held in Shanghai from August 19-21, 2025, bringing together key players in the FMCG industry to discuss the transformation of supply systems and the repositioning of retailers, distributors, and brands under new production relations.
New DistributionWhy Are FMCG Manufacturers Increasingly Preferring Female Sales Representatives?
This year, while visiting the market, I noticed an interesting phenomenon: in frontline FMCG sales roles, which were once teased as 'better suited for men due to sun and wind,' the proportion of women around 30 years old is increasing. These women, neither fresh graduates nor pre-retirement 'stable employees,' have become 'hot commodities' for manufacturers. Their emergence reflects the industry's changing talent demands. Amid poor performance, how should manufacturers correctly select and use talent? This article explores this topic.
邢仁宝The FMCG Industry Is in Chaos Right Now
Recent visits to multiple regional markets reveal widespread anxiety across the FMCG industry, affecting brand owners, retailers, and distributors alike. Since 2024, over half of listed food and beverage companies have seen declining revenues, while retail is being reshaped by new formats and online channels, forcing a fundamental redefinition of roles and collaboration.
周群Precise Placement of Multiple New Products: Master Kong Breaks the Homogenization Dilemma in the Beverage Market through Category Innovation
The current beverage market is trapped in an awkward situation: many new products, but few truly innovative ones. Packaging, flavors, and functional selling points are highly homogenized, leaving consumers unable to taste differences and distributors unable to command premium prices. Amid this industry-wide 'collective sameness,' Master Kong has launched over a dozen new products in the first half of the year, spanning health drinks, functional water, and vitamin fruit juice beverages, earning overwhelmingly positive reviews and signaling a shift toward category innovation.
张雨薇Competing on Low Prices Is Not the Way Out
A veteran FMCG distributor in South China laments that prices have never been lower, yet sales have never been worse. This reflects a broader industry dilemma where price wars are failing, and the real need is to shift from competing on price to mastering the ability to aggregate consumer groups, understand their needs, and match supply precisely.
任文青AndyShanghai in August | Annual FMCG Industry Event: Trend Insights and Practical Sharing
The 7th China FMCG Conference, themed 'New Demand, New Supply', will be held in Shanghai from August 19-21, 2025. It addresses the deep restructuring of China's FMCG market, where traditional channels shrink while niche segments grow, and explores how to rebuild growth paths through new demand and supply systems.
New DistributionWhy Are Sales Representatives Increasingly Unwelcome?
Sales representatives are increasingly unwelcome in the channel, a norm for both small and large enterprises. This is not due to individual incompetence but because the role itself has become one that only God could perform, as Peter Drucker noted. The issue lies in the job design and the actions required, which have become ineffective in the era of shrinking volumes.
刘春雄From Stabilizing to Breaking Through: How Lee Kum Kee Turns 'Profit Protection' into a Strategic Edge?
At the commercial crossroads of 2025, competition in the existing market is intensifying, and the exploration of incremental space is uncertain, prompting even seasoned distributors to tighten their defenses. As channel sales shift from 'enclosing land' to 'intensive cultivation,' the era of relying on 'stockpiling goods' and 'activity bombardment' to drive growth is becoming history. According to the '2023-2024 China FMCG Distributor Operating Conditions Survey Report' released by New Distribution in August last year, 48.7% of surveyed distributors saw revenue decline, and 63.2% saw profit decline.
New Distribution