58 innovative plans for marketing

Chapter 44 International Marketing Planning (4)
"If you are an agent, you must reach a minimum sales limit, and if it is higher, you will be given a step-by-step reward." The general manager of Tsingtao Brewery Europe Company said.For example, in the European market, Tsingtao Brewery cooperated with local agents to strengthen the local marketing of Tsingtao Brewery.The specific method is to bind the two agents to jointly set up a joint-stock company to operate Tsingtao Brewery.With the gradual improvement of the overseas agency mechanism, the management is gradually strengthened, and the responsibilities are clearly defined. The transportation cycle of Tsingtao Brewery to France has been shortened from the previous 42 days to the current 21 days.The shortened transportation cycle also means that the freshness of Tsingtao beer has been improved.In the extremely saturated beer market in Europe, compared with other imported beers, Tsingtao Brewery's market share has risen instead of falling, and its sales volume is increasing at an annual rate of 10% to 20%.

Skillful touch
Just like domestic marketing, any company will inevitably face distribution decision-making problems when it conducts international marketing.Distribution is the process of moving a product or service from a producer to a consumer.The important difference between international distribution and domestic distribution is that international distribution is a marketing activity that crosses national boundaries, while domestic distribution activities are limited to within the borders of a country.Therefore, international distribution is much more complex than domestic distribution, and the decision-making will be much more difficult.However, distribution is an essential element in the mix of international marketing strategies.

thinking innovation
When adopting different strategies to enter the international market, companies will face different distribution decisions.When companies choose different distribution strategies, the transfer of products or services from producers to consumers will go through different marketing intermediaries, thus forming different types of international distribution structures.The international distribution system consists of these marketing intermediaries as well as producers and consumers or users.Marketing intermediaries can be divided into many different types, for example, according to the functions performed by each marketing intermediary, marketing intermediaries can be divided into distribution intermediaries, agency intermediaries and marketing auxiliary agencies.Marketing support agencies are those various institutions that do not participate in the exchange of goods (exchange here refers to the negotiation process between buyers and sellers to conclude a transaction), but provide support for the realization of the exchange of goods, such as management consultants, commercial banks, transportation companies , storage companies, insurance companies, etc.According to the differences in the borders of the marketing intermediary agencies used in international market distribution, international distribution channel agencies can also be divided into domestic intermediary agencies and foreign intermediary agencies.

When an enterprise enters the international market by way of export, the product must not only go through the domestic distribution channel, but also go through the distribution channel of the importing country before finally reaching the consumers and users in the target market country.In this case, the completion of a distribution must go through three links: the first link is the distribution channel in the country; the second link is the distribution channel from the country to the importing country; the third link is the distribution channel in the importing country channel.

When an enterprise engaged in international marketing sets up factories abroad for production and local sales, the process and links required for the distribution of products or services may be simpler than those for export. The most obvious is to produce abroad. do not need to go through domestic intermediaries in the country of the parent company.

It can be seen that companies engaged in international marketing have a variety of distribution channel models to choose from, which depend on the company's established international market entry strategy.Not only that, when an enterprise chooses a specific international distribution strategy and designs an international distribution channel structure, it must also fully consider the enterprise's own resources and the characteristics of its industry, competitors' channel strategies, target market characteristics, and the laws of the target market country. environment, as well as consumer lifestyles and purchasing habits.In addition, no matter what choice is taken, international marketing companies must consider the efficiency and control of channels.

Practical points
Domestic intermediaries and international marketing companies are located within the borders of the same country, and because of the same social and cultural background, they can easily communicate with each other and cooperate conveniently.However, because they are far away from the target market countries and have little contact with target customers, there are certain deficiencies in providing target market information.Domestic intermediaries are generally used when production enterprises lack resources or experience in international marketing, or when they think it is unnecessary to directly enter one or some international markets.Domestic intermediaries can be divided into two categories according to whether they own the ownership of the exported goods, namely exporters and export agents.Anyone who has ownership of the exported commodities is called an exporter; anyone who accepts an entrustment, buys and sells goods in the name of the client, collects commissions, and does not own the ownership of the commodities is called an export agent.

The basic function of an exporter is the same as that of a general wholesaler, the difference is that the client of the exporter is a foreign buyer.The exporter buys and sells commodities in his own name, decides the varieties and prices of the commodities he buys and sells, raises funds for operations, prepares warehouses by himself, and thus bears the risks of operations by himself.Large exporters in some developed countries can also provide financing services to foreign buyers and conduct promotions in the target country market.Most exporters have been engaged in the export business of an industry for a long time, so they have a better understanding of the industry and can provide certain professional services to production enterprises that need to export commodities.There are two forms of export business for exporters.One is "buy first and then sell", and the other form of export is "sell first and then buy".There are three main types of common exporters.

(1) Export type.Some countries call it "international trade company", some countries call it a general trading company (such as Japan, South Korea), and our country generally calls it "foreign trade company" or "import and export company".Because exporters are familiar with export business, have extensive contacts with foreign customers, have more international market information, generally enjoy a high reputation in the international market, and have a large number of professionals who are proficient in international business, foreign languages ​​and laws, so for some For enterprises entering the international market for the first time, it is often an ideal choice to use the export type.For foreign buyers, they are also willing to deal with export-oriented products because they can provide a full range of products.

(2) Purchasing (ordering) type.The procurement (order) type mainly purchases from domestic production enterprises based on orders received from abroad, or places orders from production enterprises designated by foreign buyers.

(3) Complementary marketing.Also known as "piggyback export", or cooperative export, or incidental export, it is actually a form of export marketing that sells itself with complementary products of other companies.Complementary export is a simple and low-risk way to enter the international market for small enterprises that do not have the strength to export directly.

Scene reconstruction
1. Scenarios
At the end of September 2005, Lenovo International, which was set up at the beginning of the year, was also merged into Lenovo China. Under this adjustment, how the ThinkPad business can tap incremental sales and expand sales in the context of rapid market growth has also become the original ThinkPad channel provider. focus of attention.

ThinkPad's channel model is actually a multi-level and mixed sales model composed of general agents, distributors and core dealers.In addition, although ThinkPad's general agent has invested a lot of money in the operation of the product, it is also very obvious that some funds of regional distributors are occupied. In terms of capital price protection, upside down and return rhythm and speed, only some general agents can Be more timely and clear.Judging from the sales data of Lenovo in 2004 and 2005, the sales growth is relatively obvious, reaching 40%.However, the profit growth in 2005 was not obvious. This is a problem that Lenovo needs to help the ThinkPad channel solve in the future.The current problems in the ThinkPad channel policy have a great impact on the integration and management of the company's internal resources and the determination of the company's reinvestment.

Lenovo quietly held the eighth Lenovo Core Advisory Committee in Huangshan, and recruited 27 Think channels to join the advisory committee. At the same time, the Huangshan meeting also established Lenovo's major channel policies for a period of time to come.First, integrated distribution should become the core competitiveness of business growth.It is understood that Lenovo divides integrated distribution into three strategic development stages: the first one to two years from 2004 is the stage of strategic design and basic competitiveness design; the next three to four years is the continuous deepening and optimization, so that The coordinated development of the two models makes it truly a very long-term, long-term core competitiveness for business growth; in the next five to eight years, integrated distribution will reach an optimal state, that is, seamless integration and efficient operation.The second is to promote the operation of the dual-brand strategy without compromising and ensuring the value-added of the Think brand.

Under the guidance of these two major strategies, Lenovo's first channel strategy is to keep the two systems relatively independent, and their management teams and management systems are different.However, if Think's channel partner wants to operate Lenovo products, he can apply to open a Lenovo store; and if Lenovo's channel wants to join Think's sales, he can also apply to open a Think experience center.In this way, it can completely ensure that the Think brand is oriented to the high-end market, and the Lenovo brand is oriented to the low-end market.

Regarding Lenovo's channel system, Lenovo has made the following work arrangements to distributors and dealers under the product model: First, distributors will continue to carry out the "Four Ones" project to the end and institutionalize it, and it will not become a Second, in terms of commercial business, Lenovo will build some commercial boutiques, especially in places where consumer products are selling well but commercial products are not selling well. To expand the sales of commercial PCs; finally, in the notebook market, Lenovo will continue to do in-depth research, focusing on developing in the fourth and fifth tier markets.

In the customer mode, Lenovo will gradually improve the ability of customer agents to manage customers.On the one hand, Lenovo will continue to clarify its own positioning, while customer agents must carefully lock in customers, and can no longer stay at the level of distribution and wholesale, and truly achieve flattening.

In addition, for Think's channel system, Lenovo will also clarify the channel structure like building Lenovo's channel system, gradually clarify the functions of Think channels at all levels, grasp the terminal, promote sales, and at the same time carry out good synergy to improve the entire Lenovo channel s efficiency.Lenovo believes that the layout of the Think Experience Center is far from enough at present. It needs to strengthen the layout and hopes that Think's channels can build more stores and quickly build stores.At the same time, Lenovo also hopes that Think's channel can set up a dedicated team to do sales for industry customers.In other words, Lenovo also hopes to promote the implementation of the integrated distribution strategy in Think's channel system.

Question: In the case, what is Lenovo's channel policy?
2. Role simulation
If you are the CEO of a personal computer manufacturer, how do you choose an agent in the international market?
3. Thinking Enlightenment
After studying in this section, please talk about how you understand export agents?

4. Practical training games
Props: some paper, some pens.

Number of participants: 18 people.

Method: 18 people were divided into 3 groups, 6 people in each group.A specific scenario is set, and the three groups respectively formulate a product distribution plan for the export products of a designated company.

Rules: Which group's plan is the most reasonable and feasible within the specified time, and which group wins.The time is 60 minutes.

Purpose: Through the game, cultivate the ability of game participants to plan distribution strategies for export products.

5. Improve plan
Reference answer

1. Scenario case: Lenovo has two major channel policies. One is to focus on distribution to become the core competitiveness of business growth; the other is to promote the operation of the dual-brand strategy without compromising and ensuring the value-added of the Think brand.

2. Role simulation: The answer is omitted.

3. Thinking Enlightenment Answer ideas: Export agents are middlemen who accept the entrustment of export enterprises to act as export agents.Different from exporters, export agents do not sell goods to foreign buyers in their own name, but only accept the entrustment of domestic sellers, in the name of the principal, under the conditions stipulated in the agreement between the two parties, export on behalf of the principal The business does not own the ownership of the goods, but charges a certain commission to the consignor after the goods are sold.The use of export agents can enable production enterprises to obtain several benefits: export agents can provide production enterprises with foreign market information and international marketing technology at any time; Economies of scale can be achieved; the use of export agents can save the time and cost of establishing one's own export department; export agents can also enable manufacturers to have greater control over overseas buyers.In theory, using an export agency is an ideal way for SMEs to enter international markets when they are just starting out in international marketing.In practice, however, some of the above advantages may not be realized.However, in reality, SMEs still use a large number of export agents.In the international market, export agents mainly include comprehensive export managers, sales agents, manufacturing export agents, export commission merchants and international brokers.

(End of this chapter)