NEW DISTRIBUTION RESEARCH TOPIC
How is instant retail changing stores, platforms, and supply chains?
Coverage of flash warehouses, front warehouses, discount stores, supermarket transformation, and local commerce platforms in China.
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2996 articles · Page 3 of 125
Private Label: No Retreat for Brand Owners
In recent years, Sam's Club's Member's Mark and Pangdonglai's DL have popularized private labels, prompting almost all retailers with regional or larger scale advantages, whether KA, CVS, or snack channels, to push forward their own private labels. This has created a direct conflict: private labels and branded products compete for limited shelf space. Balancing the proportion between private labels and branded products is a complex issue for both retailers and brand owners. For brand owners, OEM private label production neither enhances brand value nor earns brand premiums, but retailers inevitably tilt resources toward private labels. This is an unavoidable trend, forcing brand owners to make painful choices.
张振宇Wojixian's "Little Green Bottle" at 9.9 Yuan Breaks Through Dairy Market: Retailers Are Grabbing Dairy Companies' Business
Some say 2025 is the first year of retailer private brands. Strictly speaking, this judgment is not accurate. Private brands are not new; Sam's Club, Hema, Aldi, Pangdonglai, and even many regional supermarkets have already tried private brands to varying degrees. But if we say 2025 is the watershed where Chinese retailers' private brands move from 'testing the waters' to 'scale competition,' it might be closer to the truth. More and more retailers are no longer satisfied with making a few low-price substitutes; they are beginning to treat private brands as a product strategy, supply chain strategy...
王莹From "Self-Procurement" to "Private Brand": Pangdonglai's Path Is Hard to Replicate
Driven by the "Pangdonglai renovation" of supermarkets, China's supermarket sector has seen a boom in private brands. Many see Pangdonglai's results but not its growth history. With over 20 years of private brand history, Pangdonglai's journey is difficult to replicate quickly. Without knowing its history, one cannot grasp its essence or learn from its present. Having followed Pangdonglai for over 15 years, I have witnessed its complete transformation from "self-procurement" to "private brand." Reviewing this history may help companies learning from Pangdonglai find their own path.
刘春雄Copying Sam's Club, Imitating Pangdonglai, and Mimicking Aldi: Most Retailers Have Turned Their Private Labels into 'White-Labeling'!
Private labels are heating up, with over 48% of urban Chinese households purchasing them in the first three quarters of 2025, up 10 percentage points year-on-year. However, most retailers are merely following the trend without understanding the core logic: private labels are essentially a trust endorsement from the retailer, and without strong brand credibility, they risk failure.
周群7 Sourcing Models Behind Private Labels of Sam's Club, Aldi, and Trader Joe's
As I've traveled recently, I've found that the debate over whether to pursue private labels has ended, and the focus has shifted to how to do it. The key is not product selection or pricing, but sourcing: where your products come from and how you obtain them. This article breaks down seven sourcing models identified by Kearney, from OEM to joint procurement, and argues that true differentiation comes from control over the supply chain, not just the model chosen.
袁来2026 Global Retail Top 50 Released, Only Two Chinese Companies Listed
Recently, the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Kantar released the '2026 Global Retailer TOP50 list'. Data shows that the total revenue of listed companies in 2026 reached $3.57 trillion (approximately RMB 25.70 trillion), a year-on-year increase of 2.50%; the total number of stores was 308,700, a year-on-year decrease of 11.71%, showing a distinct feature of 'slight revenue growth and store contraction'. From the changes in the two lists, several core trends can be clearly observed: discount retail and membership warehouse formats are resilient, while hypermarkets and convenience stores continue to face pressure; Japanese retail giants generally slipped in rankings, and Latin American regional retailers saw weak growth; omnichannel integration, smaller store formats, and AI technology application are becoming common choices for retailers to cope with cyclical fluctuations.
联商网编辑部Even 7-Eleven Is Closing Stores: Why Are Japanese Convenience Stores No Longer Profitable?
Japan's convenience store industry is entering a contraction phase, with the number of stores falling for the first time in 36 years, including strategic closures by major chains like 7-Eleven. The core issue is that the traditional model of 'convenience plus value' is being squeezed by rising costs and changing competition, making individual stores increasingly unprofitable.
十里Benchmarking Against Sam's Club Member's Mark: China's Private Label Lags by at Least 9 Years
After systematically reviewing the development histories of Sam's Club's Member's Mark and Costco's Kirkland Signature, I believe most Chinese retailers' private label efforts are still at the stage Sam's Club was in around 2017—brand consolidation and quality standard definition. Member's Mark has evolved over 28 years, with its true rise occurring in the last decade, offering valuable lessons for Chinese retailers.
袁来Private Labels Are Phasing Out Retailers That Merely Rent Out Shelf Space
Private labels are being both mythologized and underestimated: the hype is high, but the difficulty is lowballed. This article argues that success requires whole-chain collaboration, not just a retailer's effort, and announces the first China Private Label Industry Chain Conference in Hangzhou on June 4-5, 2026.
袁来A Small County, 130 Billion Yuan a Year: The Underestimated Bulk Snack Business
The Chinese people's obsession with snacks underpins a market exceeding 1.4 trillion yuan. Despite claims of snacks being unhealthy, consumption remains high, and the industry, after two years of low growth, is again experiencing rapid growth in both volume and price. In 2024, bulk snack stores surpassed supermarkets and e-commerce with a 37% share, becoming the largest sales channel for snacks.
快刀财经编辑部5000 Words to See Clearly: Super Hema NB's Bold Gamble on Franchising
In November 2025, Hema's budget community supermarket Super Hema NB announced its first batch of franchising, targeting Shanghai, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou, with a cumulative investment of about 2.65 million yuan for a 600-square-meter standard store. The industry generally sees this as a positive signal, but this view warrants deep scrutiny. Franchising is a double-edged sword in retail, and Super Hema NB's unique model—high fresh food ratio, private label dominance, and rapid franchise expansion—has no successful precedent globally.
陈思廷Flash warehouses don't lack goods; what they lack is 'new supply' that solves pain points
In a price war, price matters, but how to gain reputation and attention is the real way to break through. What we aim to be is not necessarily the highest in order volume or gross margin, but the instant retail brand with the best reputation. At the CFC conference held in Chengdu on March 16-18, 2026, Da Zheng, founder of Zhaixiaoxiong, delivered a keynote speech on flash warehouse operations and hit product creation, sharing insights on supply logic and hit product rules in the context of intense competition.
大郑50-Yuan Membership Card, 28,000-Square-Meter Store: Why Did 'Happy Farm' Become a Hit in Shenyang?
In 2026, retail is undergoing a process of 'filter shattering.' While foreign membership stores are busy building middle-class fantasies, Shenyang's 'Happy Farm' uses the aroma of freshly roasted sunflower seeds to bring physical retail back down to earth. In early February, in Shenyang's minus-20-degree 'heat wave,' the store's sensory impact is physiological, starting with the smell of freshly roasted seeds, a stark contrast to the cold, sterile atmosphere of most supermarkets.
汪海Ruoyu Paper: Exploring and Practicing PB Business from Zero to 100 Million
At the 2026 China FMCG Conference, Gao Yunchao, CEO of Ruoyu Group, shared the practices of Sichuan Ruoyu Tianfu Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Ruoyu") in PB business. For Ruoyu, PB was not initially the main track but gradually became a key investment direction after continuous transformation under pressure from the original business. This business is also regarded internally as a "top leader project"—the boss must be involved for the business to truly succeed. Ruoyu itself is a full-category tissue manufacturer with raw materials from bamboo pulp to wood pulp.
高云超Yonghui exits, Hema enters, setting up shop at Pangdonglai's doorstep in Xinxiang
In early April, the Yonghui supermarket on the first floor of Xinxiang Baolong Plaza officially closed, and Hema Fresh announced it would open its first Xinxiang store in the same location, expected to launch in June or July. This transition marks a shift in China's supermarket industry, with Hema entering a market where Pangdonglai has a strong presence, highlighting different strategies for competing in a mature market.
汪海Supply Chain Companies Want to Build C-end Brands: A Tough Road Ahead
In recent years, with the rapid development of tea, coffee, and bakery chain formats, as well as the acceleration of private label strategies by leading supermarkets like Sam's Club, Hema, and Pangdonglai, a large number of supporting supply chain raw material and ODM companies have emerged, preparing to move from behind the scenes to the forefront. Unlike the B2B large-customer model that relies on orders and is constrained by others, every supply chain company boss harbors a dream of owning a brand—truly mastering market discourse and securing a place in the C-end market. However, transitioning from a supply chain company to a C-end brand is not just a step away; it's essentially starting a new race on a different track.
陆兴元In the Era of Channel Fragmentation, FMCG Brands Need to Grow Like Liquid
Channels are fragmenting, and so are consumers. For FMCG brands, the old approach of using one brand language, one product logic, and one sales playbook across all channels is becoming increasingly untenable. Sam's Club, Pinduoduo, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, convenience stores, snack collection stores, and mom-and-pop shops all sell goods, but the consumer psychology, sales dynamics, and decision-making behind them are no longer the same. At the 11th China FMCG Conference on March 17, Liang Jiangjun, founder of Jiangyi Consulting and Chief Strategy Officer of Zan Yi Growth Network, shared insights on liquid brands, channel narratives, and building a C-end command center.
梁将军While Chinese Supermarkets Study Store Overhauls, Walmart Uses AI to Drive New Growth
While 2024-2025 Chinese retail focuses on learning from Pang Donglai for store renovations, Walmart is undergoing a more radical AI-driven transformation. This article explores how Walmart uses generative AI to rebuild its search, supply chain, store operations, and employee tools, creating a new growth flywheel.
戚特Breaking the Zero-Sum Game: 'Zero-Supply Integration' Is the Only Solution in the Era of Stock!
From March 16 to 18, 2026, the CFC·11th China FMCG Conference grandly opened in Chengdu! At the concurrent '6th China FMCG Distribution and Retail Conference' on March 18, Chen Jianfu, General Manager of Jiayuan Convenience and corporate coach, delivered a brilliant speech titled 'The Logic Reshaping and Growth Practice of Zero-Supply Integration: Breaking Boundaries, Symbiosis and Win-Win'. As a leading convenience store chain in northern Henan, Jiayuan Convenience has achieved remarkable results: over 280 stores, annual sales exceeding 400 million yuan, and a compound annual growth rate of 30%.
谌建富Pinduoduo's 100 Billion Yuan Investment in 'New Pinmu' Breaks the Boundaries of E-commerce Platforms!
On March 25, Pinduoduo announced a major decision during its earnings call: to establish 'New Pinmu' and officially enter brand self-operation. According to reports, 'New Pinmu' has registered a dedicated company in Shanghai with an initial cash injection of 15 billion yuan, planning a cumulative investment of 100 billion yuan over the next three years. The project will integrate Pinduoduo and Temu's supply chain resources, build a self-operated brand model, focus on the global market, systematically self-operate and incubate brands tailored to different markets and categories, promoting high-standard output of Chinese manufacturing and leaping to the high end of the value chain.
葛畅Retaking Pricing Power: How Zhongshang Supermarket Rebuilds Its Moat with Private Brands
As retail competition intensifies and channels fragment, traditional supermarkets face declining foot traffic, squeezed margins, and pressure from brand owners. Developing private brands is key to rebuilding competitiveness, with a focus on quality-price ratio, supply chain depth, and reclaiming pricing power.
刘强In the Era of Food Delivery, Why Do People Still Eat Instant Noodles?
If we rank the popular categories in China's consumer market, instant noodles would probably not make the top ten. They are too ordinary, so ordinary that almost no one seriously discusses the industry. However, in recent years, some financial report data have quietly changed this impression. Against the backdrop of overall consumption pressure, the performance of instant noodle companies has been somewhat impressive. For example, Master Kong's instant noodle business has returned to growth, while Uni-President China's premium product line has also maintained good performance. If you just take a quick look, it's easy to overlook this, but if you stretch the timeline a bit, you'll find it's actually quite intriguing.
杨晓Major Release | Instant Retail Lightning Warehouse Supply Chain (Distributor) Map
At the CFC Conference held in Chengdu from March 16-18, 2026, the Second Instant Retail Supply Summit Forum took place on March 17. During the forum, Yuan Lai, Chief Content Officer of New Distribution, released the "2025-2026 Instant Retail Lightning Warehouse Supply Chain Partner Map." This year's forum focused on answering who should provide controllable supply, and the map categorizes distributors into four types based on coverage and assortment logic.
袁来ALDI Surpasses 100 Stores in China, Marking a Key Milestone
After seven years of deep cultivation and expansion, ALDI has finally reached the milestone of 100 stores in China. On March 21, two new stores opened in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, and one in Shanghai, bringing the total to over 100 and signaling accelerated expansion in the Yangtze River Delta region.
联商网编辑部