How Do Distributors Manage Product Management?

In the new situation of increasingly fierce market competition and homogenization of marketing, dealers' products should do 6 management steps to get rid of the dilemma of scale failure. Products are the lifeline of distributors. Strategic and skillful product management is a sufficient guarantee for dealers to continuously gain profits. But in reality, some dealers do not know or are good at product management, so they sell a lot, but their actual profits are very low.

　　 The first step of management: Product Introduction

Strictly speaking, the product management of distributors begins with the introduction of products.

Choose what kind of products you want to sell, and proceed from your own reality. The products you represent must be products with high quality and at the same time meet the needs of the market. The impractical way or blindly taking into account the face of the blind, the introduction of products blindly, is bound to let dealers "tail can not throw away", increase the endless loss.

　 The second step of management: clear product group positioning

Product positioning should be divided into two categories: one is external, that is, the role played in the market, for example, we usually say: low-grade products grab the market, mid-range products seek sales volume, high-end product tree image. In fact, whether it is a product brand of different manufacturers or a different product line of a manufacturer, it plays a role of "spoiler" or "cannon fodder", or is it a long-term product that nurtures the market and seeks long-term interests?

And try to avoid confusion.

Two, which brands or products are internally diluted, and which brands or products are seeking profits? High quality products may not be able to get huge profits. Low-grade products are not without action. Everything must be decided after comparison. Dealers have their own products divided into four categories: quantity, profit, quantity, profit and quantity. The products of the two categories of products are bundled up with the best selling products with good quantity and no profits, so as to improve the product structure, drive the sales of the whole product group, and build a good platform for product profit.

　　 The third step of management: sales promotion of products.

Product promotion and sales is the focus of product management, and must be managed to the process. The so-called "pipe to process" includes the following four aspects: is the first product acceptable to the distributors and retailers of the downstream channel? If it can not be accepted, what is the reason? If accepted, what is the reason, it is welcomed by the channel, can it be copied and promoted in the future?

Second, what is the degree of consumer acceptance? Consumers are the touchstones of whether a brand or product can stand on the market. The product's effect, packaging, price, customer's turn back rate and customers are concerned about brand, product, place of origin, price, promotion, etc. when buying products. All these require dealers and their staff to observe carefully and communicate with manufacturers when they are ready to improve or adjust the operation plan.

The third is to do SWOT analysis more than competing products: where are the advantages or disadvantages of the product? What are the threats and opportunities? What are the actual performance of the market and what need to be adjusted or improved?

Finally, product sales. It is necessary for dealers to check and summarize the aspects of product display vividly, promotion design and execution effect, and terminal customer relationship building.

　　 The fourth step of management: products Circulation management

Product flow management includes product inventory and inventory turnover. In product inventory, we can adopt the 1.5 times safety stock rule commonly used in the field of fast moving products, so as to keep the reasonable stock of products and avoid losses caused by shortages and shortages. At the same time, it can also effectively avoid the risk of capital stagnation caused by too much inventory. The need to remind dealers is not to covet the temptation policy of manufacturers. Some dealers' inventory is far beyond their actual digestion capacity, resulting in the product's peak period and separating from the manufacturers. And inventory turnover, that is, when the terminal patrol officers are tallying the goods, they should use the principle of first in first out, and put them on the shelves in time to facilitate customers to purchase. This is the work content that dealers need to focus on clearly and demanding in making the terminal visit standards.

　　 The fifth step of management: Product assessment And elimination

Dealers should regularly sort out the products of their agents, and design certain sales or profit standards to assess them, keep them up to standard, and do not conform to the standard "chicken ribs". For reserved products, it is necessary to determine which products should be focused on sales, or which should be focused on, which products need to be nurtured or promoted or even supported by manufacturers according to the rule of 2 to 8. After the examination and elimination, dealers can optimize the allocation of resources, so that "good steel can be used on the knife edge" instead of average effort, but without investment.

　　 The sixth step of management: Life cycle management

In the new product introduction period, dealers should give downstream distributors a higher level of profit than competing products, do product research and forecast, and maintain timely and good communication with manufacturers. In the period of product development, distributors should vigorously expand sales channels, increase sales outlets, increase coverage density, and do well in sales and service work;

In the period of product maturity, dealers should cooperate with manufacturers to take more forms of sales promotion to achieve the seamless connection of sales network. It is suggested that enterprises improve and upgrade products and pay attention to nurturing new products. In the period of product saturation, distributors should continuously expand new channels, such as group buying channels and Internet channels, and at the same time, focus on improving and upgrading products to make up for the sales deficit caused by aging products.

In the period of product decline or death, dealers can take natural marketing methods to reduce operating costs, and also make prompt decisions, take early retirement and take the initiative to promote new brands or products in a timely manner, and maintain the normal operation and growth of the market.

Products are the foundation of sales, and also the source of profits. Only by doing a good job in product management and giving full play to the different functions of each product group, can dealers truly grasp the overall situation of business, do something or not, in order to make their sales go into a virtuous circle and constantly create a larger development platform.