As success outside ‘traditional’ bricks and mortar retailers continues, we anticipate increased pressure on manufacturers to conjure up growth. This is most likely to be achieved through a combination of basic marketing principles and decreasing costs in the system which, in turn, will demand greater sophistication in retail execution and sales forces across China. However, this kind of expertise and culture is not developed overnight, and it’s reasonable to speculate that specialists in this area will start taking over from the distributors that typically undertake this function. This does not bode well for these distribution companies that, until now, have had significant power – handling everything from the book, to the movement of physical stock, to in-store dealings. All this has been done with very little visibility for the brand owner, but as growth was so good, everyone was happy. Now, with the slowing in retail sales, we predict that a laser-sharp focus will be on delivering growth at lower cost. What will this mean? More science in field sales operation, better technology to drive execution, and complete visibility for the brand owner in terms of what it is paying for. All of these demands present a very real problem for distributors that are currently not geared for this level of in-store implementation. Don’t be surprised if there’s a sudden growth of outsourced sales force specialists, and an increase in the standard of in-store execution as a consequence.
