In 2019, the agricultural market is unpredictable. Influenced by many factors, such as environmental protection, market, import and export, the price of agricultural raw materials fluctuates abnormally. The peak season does not rise sharply in the off season. Old farmers dare not discuss urea market in vain. They can't see clearly and dare not speak out. Pesticide preparation enterprises and compound fertilizer enterprises are facing "internal and external difficulties", and the group of distributors squeezed by upstream enterprises and downstream retailers is even more difficult. 2019 is the first year of agricultural industry transformation and the first year of Tefei. As the most important link between the past and the next, how should agricultural distributors break through?
A Summary of Market Prices in the First Half of 2019
Influenced by "zero growth" and the adjustment of planting structure, the sales structure has changed greatly, the market capacity has decreased, the market of agricultural products has continued to decline, the enthusiasm of farmers is not high, and the increment of dealers is difficult.
In the first half of the year, the price of raw materials fluctuated uncertainly and went up all the way. Upstream manufacturers frequently adjusted prices, disrupting the profit system of distributors, and making it more difficult for distributors to quote prices downstream.
In the Internet era, the price of fertilizer with low added value and limited distribution radius is becoming more and more transparent. The traditional formula is homogeneous and vicious competition. The profit per ton is only 30-50 yuan. Compared with previous years, the profit of fertilizer distributors is cut to the waist. It is more difficult for them to simply sell fertilizer.
The marketing model is backward, relying too much on high promotion, low price and other means. The effect of traditional promotional activities such as meeting sale, buying gifts and lottery draw is getting worse and worse. Retailers and farmers are unwilling to buy.
The demand of downstream retailers is getting higher and higher, and the negotiating power is getting stronger and stronger; the number of large farmers and cooperatives is increasing, the business relationship is complex, and the demand for service support is increasing. Traditional distributor services and technology promotion are of little value, and it is difficult to meet the upgrading needs of farmers.
The demographic dividend disappeared, the cost of dealer employment increased, the team drained seriously, and the team was more difficult to manage.
Agricultural credit sales remain high, capital costs remain high, and operational risks increase.
User Demand and Change of Fertilizer Market
The demand of large farmers is becoming more and more rational, paying attention to the benefits of planting, pursuing the input-output ratio, and demanding higher products and technical services.
Land cultivation is no longer the main source of income for individual farmers, who pursue time-saving, labor-saving and safety, and pay attention to convenience and worry-saving.
Professional growers of cash crops have good benefits and large investment, but their professional, technical and service requirements for dealers have been further improved, and the service is more difficult.
The fertilizer industry has accelerated its concentration and raised the threshold. It is more advantageous for the manufacturer with scale and resources to enter the stage of "the leftover is the king", and the leading enterprises have obvious advantages. Traditional compound fertilizers are not popular in the economic zones, and new types of fertilizers have gradually become the mainstream.
With the rise of new channels, new channels such as government bidding, e-commerce, retailer consortium, large farmers, fertilizer stations and cross-border cooperation continue to erode market share.
Under such an industry background, some excellent new business entities, such as distributors, retailer consortia and agricultural comprehensive service companies, have risen rapidly. They have advanced with leading brand manufacturers, perfect management, efficient operation, professional sales team and technical service team, and have good service awareness and marketing ability. Intensive cultivation and intensive cultivation, the main promotion of new fertilizers, good operating results.
On the contrary, some traditional distributors lack long-term consideration, serious speculative mentality, business operation, backward mode, lack of relevant promotion and service functions, and can not transform the operation of new fertilizers. No organization and no team, all rely on the personal heroism of the boss, no core retailers and core markets, no financial accounting, how much to sell a year is not known, how much money to earn is not clear, extensive management, low operating efficiency.
On the other hand, blindly multi-brand operation, multi-brand led to difficulties in quantity, difficult to obtain the support of brand manufacturers, development into a vicious circle.
Five magic weapons for dealers'transformation
1. Combining with one's own qualities, carry out corporatization operation
It is impossible for an enterprise and a company to grow bigger, stronger and longer, depending solely on the boss. Distributors can standardize corporatization operation according to their own qualities. Under immature conditions, distributors can operate semi-corporatization. There are not many qualified personnel. They can train capable sales team and external technicians to improve the ability of technology promotion and value-added service.
There must be professional financial personnel. Distributors should learn to calculate accounts and read statements, and make clear how much they really sell, how much inventory, how much profit margin and net profit they have, and where their core market is. The boss is always the last person who knows bad news. The author knows a dealer who sells more than 7,000 tons of chemical fertilizer a year. Without his own financial personnel, he entrusts all of them to the manager in charge. The salesman has no way to clear up the problem of capital risk. The boss finally knows that some of the accounts can not be recovered.
2. Chemical fertilizer and plant protection help each other to improve comprehensive service capacity
Since 2018, the single dealer of agricultural materials has been facing only difficulties. The high yield of crops is affected by many factors such as seeds, medicines, fertilizers, plant protection, weather, etc. The single service (fertilizer, plant protection, seed) can not meet the diversified needs of the market, and the cost is relatively high. The market requires distributors, especially those dealing in chemical fertilizers, to broaden their business scope, choose different and characteristic enterprises to cooperate, combine chemical fertilizers with plant protection, and help each other to improve their comprehensive farm clothing capabilities.
3. Optimizing product structure and realizing differentiated management
Success requires effort, but also leverage. Distributors should actively cooperate with upstream enterprises, mainly promote one or two brand manufacturers, strive to leverage and integrate the resources of manufacturers, both sides jointly invest and grow together.
Aiming at large professional households, we should work hand in hand with upstream manufacturers to provide comprehensive solutions for large professional households, provide effective services to solve real problems, truly make large households save money and increase efficiency, and constantly deepen the relationship between large households. It is better to invite large households to have a meal than to solve a real problem for large households.
For planting retailers, the joint retailer carries out efficient product packages and provides value-added services such as flight prevention, so that retailers can save time, trouble and worry.
In terms of product structure, the volume and profit of conventional products and differentiated products are parallel, and the competitive advantage of "tonnage + status + grade" is stabilized. Mainly promote new fertilizers and functional fertilizers such as water-soluble fertilizer, bio-organic fertilizer, microbial fertilizer, foliar fertilizer and other prominent technical advantages of product mix, resources and costs into new product promotion and services.
4. Intensive cultivation and intensive cultivation in the base market highlights the professional advantages.
In order to remain invincible in the market competition, distributors must have their own base market. The base market will not be formed naturally. It needs distributors to implement targeted strategies in the market, focus on human, property and other resources, activate and detonate activities, so as to achieve local market through point-to-face, continuous efforts, intensive cultivation and intensive cultivation. Leading sales, brand rooted, deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
When visiting the market, it was found that some retailers have made a thorough study of cash crops of small crowds that are not concerned by everyone, and their annual net profit is higher than that of distributors at County level. A distributor in Handan, Hebei, specializes in the whole maize industry chain. The United retailers provide integrated services of plant protection, flight prevention and fertilizer for retailers. The sales of maize seed and fertilizer package in single county are nearly 100,000 mu, which makes the peers stand out. A Township retailer in Jiangxi focused on small taro crops, and made a thorough understanding of the whole growth cycle of taro planting, fertilizer, plant protection, diseases and insect pests. He became an expert on Taro in the industry. The retail sales of 7,000 mu of taro agricultural products amounted to 5 million yuan, and the profits were extremely rich.
Most distributors know a little about crop protection, but they really don't know anything about it. To be a "one meter wide, one thousand meters deep" specialist is the best way for dealers to transform. If we really make a thorough analysis of a crop (especially the small-scale crops in cash crops), the problems that others can't solve will be unfavorable.
5. Controlling the Risk of Funds and Implementing the Integration of Wholesale and Zero-approval
Agricultural credit sale is a poisonous tumor in the industry. Many distributors end up earning an arrears and not earning enough interest. Some garbage retailers with bad reputation and non-repayment of debts should dare to take up legal weapons; for retailers with good reputation and long-term cooperation, reasonable credit lines should be established, rolling sales on credit to ensure smooth flow of funds.
In some towns with low market share, distributors with personnel conditions can set up high-standard direct stores, implement the integration of wholesale and retail sales, use their own prices and promotional resources to directly supply farmers, in order to improve the company's efficiency. A well-run retail store can make enough profits to support the company's operation of various personnel costs.
Poverty makes changes, change makes changes, and the general rule lasts. Only by keeping pace with the times can we survive! A person needs flexibility to succeed, an enterprise needs flexibility to benefit, and a nation needs flexibility to develop. Under the new situation, agricultural dealers should take the initiative to respond, improve their quality, integrate resources, do specialized work, strengthen services, seek new development paths in adjustment and change, through continuous dynamic adjustment, to ensure that the cause can develop steadily and continuously!