Author丨He Wen
"Business is difficult, not easy to do", this is the general feedback of dealers during the first-line market research some time ago.
Indeed, in recent years, the industry has changed a lot, with a variety of new formats, new models, and new products emerging in an endless stream.
In this day and age, anxiety seems to be everywhere. However, during a recent visit to the Shandong market, we were fortunate to interview an excellent dealer whose optimism was contagious.
He is the protagonist of this issue of "New Distribution 100 People" - Ma Xianqiang, the founder of Rizhao Youguan Trading.
This year is Ma Xianqiang's tenth year as a distributor, mainly engaged in rest food, acting as an agent for more than 50 brands such as Master Kong, Lay's, Yanjin Shop, Three Squirrels, Yoyomei, etc., with more than 1,800 SKUs, covering 1,500+ outlets, and a business scale of nearly 60 million.
After in-depth exchanges, the author found that although Ma Xianqiang started late, he has unique thinking and insights on market operation, and continues to learn new ideas and new methods, hoping that some of his practice and experience can give dealers some inspiration and thinking.
The front line has been deeply cultivated for several years
From salesman to dealer
Rizhao Youguan Trading was established in 2014, before that, Ma Xianqiang worked as a factory salesman for 7 years, and has a deep understanding and insight into the industry.
It happened that Master Kong Biscuits was looking for an agent in the local area, Ma Xianqiang seized this opportunity, and with years of experience in the first-line FMCG industry, he took over the agent in the local area and started his entrepreneurial road.
When it first started, it was a "workshop-style" operation, a delivery vehicle, a salesman, and an agent for Master Kong's biscuits and several second- and third-tier small brands.
At that time, there were few products, the store turned slowly, and each replenishment basically made up one or two hundred yuan, so you could only earn a living "hard money". But Ma Xianqiang always firmly believes that as long as the channel is done well, the future business will not be bad.
Since 2014, Rizhao Youguan has begun to make efforts on the channel side. Through the most simple and crude "street sweeping" to expand the store, quickly expand the scale of network coverage. Through the deep cultivation of channels, Youguan's business has gradually improved.
When there were stable network resources, Ma Xianqiang began to think about a new growth path. Through the horizontal expansion of products, expand the proportion of rest shelves in stores, and further seize the market share of rest food categories in stores.
However, the difficulty at that time was that the agency rights of the first-line leisure brands were basically held by local old distributors, and the dynamic sales of new brands in the terminal were not guaranteed.
Ma Xianqiang was not discouraged by this, but in the process of business promotion, he had a deeper insight into the market. He noticed that most dealers are doing mainstream brand-based goods, and there is still a large blank market for some special products.
After realizing this, Ma Xianqiang began to focus on special products that are in line with the trend of big health and have a certain demand from consumers. For example, fresh gravity instant lemon slices, in the market dominated by candied fruit at that time, dried fruits were innovative products, and they were strongly welcomed by the market as soon as they were launched.
In this way, Uguan Trading's share in the local food category has been further expanded. After having the right to speak, many leisure food brands also took the initiative to seek cooperation. Youguan has successively acted as an agent for brands such as Lishi, Three Squirrels, Yanjin Shop, Wang Xiaolu, Infinity, Jinye Hawthorn, etc., and has gradually grown into a rest trading company at the head of Rizhao.
"Big Head" + "Small Head"
A one-stop shop for rest
At first, some of the brands of Youguan Trading were not well known to the public. However, over time and changes in consumer demand, these brands have gradually emerged in the market, and some of their products have shown strong growth momentum.
This phenomenon is not accidental, but stems from Ma Xianqiang's keen judgment and insight into the market and commodities.
First, break the information gap and be demand-oriented. In addition to actively participating in important activities in the industry such as FMCG conferences and sugar and wine fairs, Ma Xianqiang also uses short video platforms and social platforms to gain insight into current consumer trends, actively look for emerging brands that have emerged in other markets, and actively seek cooperation opportunities.
Second, subdivide categories and select brands. When adding products, dealers generally face a contradiction: the sales volume of first-line brands is stable, which is the rigid demand of stores, but it is usually dominated by manufacturers and has low profits; Non-first-line brands, although they have high profits, often do not sell well.
How to balance?
The key lies in the depth of category segmentation.
Ma Xianqiang divides the product into "big head" and "small head". The so-called "big head" refers to the big brands in the big category; The "small head" is defined as the big brand in the sub-category, which refers to the most representative brands in a specific market segment, which are not first-line brands in the market, but have significant competitive advantages in their subdivisions.
Youguan Commerce not only acts as an agent for the "big head", but also the "small head" is also its strategic focus, and selects representative and potential brands to achieve cooperation. In this way, it can not only ensure the right to speak in the cooperation, but also increase sales and profits.
But in the end, the selection of products must return to the quality of the product itself. Through terminal feedback and customer repurchase analysis, even if the sales volume of some products is not high, as long as there is a demand point, a good turnover rate and a low return rate, the company will continue to operate.
In terms of product promotion strategy, Ma Xianqiang is different from the logic of a set of models of general dealers to win the world, but adopts a refined approach to play and dig deep into product strength, and each product has its own exclusive path.
Taking a newly launched potato chip as an example, the business team will comprehensively consider the sales characteristics and specifications of the product, combined with previous market operation experience, so as to accurately determine whether the product is focused on CVS stores or mom-and-pop stores, and whether it is suitable for the shelf or the end.
In addition, it has also innovated promotional strategies, created consumption scenarios, combined potato chips with drinks or other snacks, positioned "camping packages" and "drama partners", created demand points, and stimulated consumers' desire to buy.
By comprehensively considering the characteristics of different specifications and products, as well as the needs of the target market, we can determine the appropriate sales model and display type to maximize the dynamic sales of each product.
Empowering terminals, the same frequency can be co-created!
For dealers, customers are intangible assets, and all sales and profits come from customers.
At present, Youguan Commerce has covered 1,500 outlets, of which 200 are supermarkets and convenience stores, and the rest are BC stores, accounting for 40% of the number of outlets in the region.
Mr. Yuan Lai, the chief content officer of the new distribution, once said: the brand agency is 1, the store service is 0, and the business depends on the store!
It is important to establish a large-scale sales network, but how to empower terminals and enhance stickiness with customers is the key to ensuring sustainable business development.
The core of Rizhao Youguan starts from two dimensions, one is to improve human efficiency, and the other is to promote the growth of the store's own business.
First of all, it is reflected in the change of human efficiency, by improving the efficiency of salesmen, and improving the attention to the store.
In the stage of rapid expansion of Youguan business, the pace of product expansion is relatively fast, and there are often cases where the product has not been fully understood, and new products have been added, and the salesman's enthusiasm for promoting new products has gradually decreased.
Ma Xianqiang told the new distributor that at this time, it is necessary to adjust the KPI and performance system of the salesman in time and introduce incentive policies.
The salary performance of the salesman adopts the method of guaranteed salary + commission + project bonus.
The assessment of KPI is directly related to the guaranteed salary, for example, the salesman A guaranteed salary is 5,000 yuan, the monthly sales target is 150,000 yuan, if only 130,000 yuan is completed at the end of the month, then the 200 yuan penalty set for failure to meet the standard will be deducted from the guarantee salary first, and then according to the difference between the unfinished target, 50 yuan will be deducted for every 10,000 yuan less. Then, the actual basic salary of salesman A that month is 4,700 yuan.
The commission is adjusted according to different products, usually the commission of the second- and third-tier brands is higher than that of the first-tier brands, and the commission of the first new product is higher than that of conventional products. The project bonus is mainly based on the development of new customers, the increase of hanging nets, the increase of ground piles, the addition of bulk containers, etc.
Through the adjustment of the salary structure, to ensure that the interests of the salesman are consistent with the company's goals, in order to effectively stimulate the enthusiasm of the salesman, adapt to the pace of product expansion faster, and more responsibly maintain customer information and empower terminal stores.
In terms of store management, Youguan Commerce and Trade positions the top 30% of customers in sales as key customers, and the salesman will focus on new promotion and operation, while in the management of other stores, it will guide the store owner to place orders on the online platform.
According to the company's five core product categories: pendant area products, convenient fast food, snack food, wine, and bulk goods, with the single product diagram, the terminal store owner can be clear at a glance, and reduce communication costs while ensuring the product market rate.
Through these strategies, the human efficiency of Youguan Trading has been significantly improved, and the service quality of stores has also been significantly improved.
Secondly, through in-depth empowerment of stores, we will take the initiative to help stores do a good job, so as to achieve symbiosis and co-growth.
With the rise of mass selling snack stores in the past two years, the market share of terminal stores has been seized, and the sales volume has declined significantly. For example, some stores that used to have an average daily turnover of tens of thousands are now only 4-5,000 yuan.
The macro environment cannot be changed, but you can adjust your strategy. In the face of this challenge, Ma Xianqiang proposed to carry out a joint business plan with terminal stores - using the "Nine Blocks and Nine Hard Discount Zone" to cope with the impact of the market.
Set up an exclusive area in the terminal store, replicate the shelves of the snack discount store, and display the goods priced at 9.9 yuan, so as to attract consumers and ensure customer flow.
From planning to implementation, the dealer is responsible for providing the best display space and ensuring that the dedicated area is at the forefront of the customer's line of sight when they enter the store.
First of all, change the thinking of the salesman, from the traditional sales and distribution to the store owner to talk about business and cooperation, and guide the store owner to take the initiative to change; Clearly communicate the benefits of your products, advanced marketing concepts, and the specific growth points that these can bring to the store.
After reaching a preliminary consensus, Youguan Commerce and Trade began to formulate a resource exchange plan for the landing.
In terms of shelf selection, in view of the fact that the mass merchandising snack store has cultivated the cognition of store owners and consumers, Youguan Commerce and Trade chooses to learn from the shelves of snack stores such as Hao Xianglai and Zhao Yiming; And by arranging floor stickers, posters and other materials to create an atmosphere, strengthen the concept of hard discounts.
In terms of product selection, Youguan Trading relies on its rich product library to price the product portfolio at 9.9 yuan/package, quantitative combination or 9.9 yuan/kg in bulk.
It should be noted that the product mix should appropriately increase the recognizable brand, blur the price band, and customers do not want to be cheap, but to take advantage of the feeling of cheapness!
This one-stop service greatly simplifies the cooperation process and also reduces the operational pressure of the store. Through this cooperation model, Youguan Commerce not only helps the cooperative stores gradually improve and stabilize the customer flow, but also effectively promotes dynamic sales, and even the monthly sales of a single store can increase by 8-100,000 yuan, achieving a win-win situation for both parties.
Write at the end
There is no increment in the market, how to fight this tough battle?
Ma Xianqiang told us, "If it doesn't hurt, it won't be called transformation, only by making the pain more painful and taking the initiative to change, can we live!" ”
How to change? Strong matching of hardware and software, all-round change from the inside to the outside!
In such a competitive market environment, dealers need to systematically and comprehensively analyze their own business, and what aspects are they still deficient? What links can be optimized? Only by facing the reality and taking the initiative to change can we be invincible in the fierce competition.
At the same time, you might as well have the courage to step out of your comfort zone, visit and learn from excellent peers in the industry, and look for business strategies that can be used for reference and replication.
PS: In order to better help dealers achieve business growth, we established the TOP500 China Dealer Supply Chain Alliance in June 2023.
So far, 330 dealer owners have participated, and the vision of our alliance is to build the alliance into a regional dealer information, capacity, and resource sharing center.
When faced with the confusion of business, looking inward is often unlikely to find the answer, but will fall into more involution; Looking outward, looking at the thinking and practice of more excellent businessmen from the outside may bring you different inspiration and thinking.
Dealers who are interested in alliance empowerment can contact customer service partners by private message: