In the development process of FMCG industry , channels are an unavoidable topic. Through public data and interviews, it was found that currently in China, offline traditional channels consist of approximately 6.3 million small stores, including 5,000 hypermarkets and 30,000 supermarkets, and more than 75% are concentrated in third-tier and lower-tier cities.
There are two main ways for brand owners to deploy offline channels. One is to directly contact terminal stores through the brand's own business representatives, and the other is to indirectly contact through dealer business representatives. Due to the limitation of the number of their own business representatives, most brands rely on the second method, and many dealers themselves are mom-and-pop shops.
Moreover, the current situation of channel distribution in my country is: modern channels with a high degree of digitization (system stores such as Wal-Mart , RT-Mart , 711, etc.) account for less than 10% of Chinese channels. There are many mom-and-pop shops but they are difficult to reach and manage, let alone digitized statistics. Faced with such complex and fragmented offline channels, different brands have different choices.
FMCG giants rely on their huge distribution system and number of agents to develop multi-level channels as much as possible. However, ordinary brands and emerging brands need to be much more cautious. The main strategy adopted is to focus on the big ones and let go of the small ones, and master the main supermarket channels. However, there is a type of low-end supermarket channel that is highly valued by various brands. It can be said that major brands compete for distribution, and that is the regional leading supermarkets in various places. This type of supermarket has the advantage of location, people and people. It may not be well-known nationally, but it does have a high market share in the local area. Some regional brands are also more willing to cooperate with such supermarket channels and quickly occupy the local market through the influence of these regional supermarkets.
For example, Jiajiayue Supermarket has 829 stores in Shandong Province, and only 130 in other provinces; Yonghui Supermarket , which originated in Fujian Province, has 1,041 stores across the country, including 149 stores in Fujian, ranking first in the country.
Distribution of Jiajiayue Supermarket in Qingdao (46 stores)
Data and mapping: Mapvision Hongtu Yueshi
Distribution of Jiajiayue Supermarket in Beijing (3 stores)
Data and mapping: Mapvision Hongtu Yueshi
Yonghui Supermarket in Fujian Province (149 stores)
Data source: Yonghui Supermarket official website
Yonghui Supermarket in Sichuan Province (138 stores, second most)
Data source: Yonghui Supermarket official website
The following are some representative supermarkets from each province.
Mapvision has provided data services such as channel expansion and point-of-sale search for many FMCG brands in recent years, helping FMCG brands to have more data-based support in decision-making in terms of offline channel expansion and agency management, and helping FMCG companies to efficiently deploy channels.
