liquor department

In addition to the immense Zen Generation influence on the market, Chinese drinking habits are changing at a rapid pace. Drinkers now seek new experiences and brands and even though Baiju remains the traditional spirit of choice for the older generations, Western drinking culture and liquor brands are growing inexorably in demand. These trends are driving the proliferation of bars, pubs and night scene venues in the new-tier-1 cities such as Zhengzhou and Changsha etc. In 2018 our team visited all 4 tier-1 cities and 15 new tier-1 cities and established partnerships with 217 bars and clubs. This relationship was further enhanced by building an on-line community encouraging proactive dialogue which keeps all contributors well informed and engaged on new ideas, trends and brands. It also facilitates dialogue on other industry issues like employment and hiring: members ask us for assistance and we keep an active data base of positions offered and required. As a consequence of this inclusivity and open forum debate, feedback on brands we offer is evaluated by the members and creates a source of statistical data. Currently, we have around 450 bars and clubs in our community and this yields vast opportunities for brand sales and promotion.

Building upon the success of our national bars network, we have founded one of the largest specialized online platforms in China “调酒有方”, structured specifically for bartenders and sales agents. At the time of writing(8th September 2020), the community has grown to more than 36,000 with 480 dedicated sales agents throughout China. With the experience we have accumulated over the last two years we identified a gap in the market which could be occupied by ambitious bartenders and hobbyists who wished to share and sell alcoholic beverages and has been facilitated by social media Apps and sundry other available digital tools. We are providing a robust and reliable supply chain with a desirable catalogue of products hitherto unavailable to them. We have enhanced the offer by providing a drop shipping service and promotional and marketing support together with a one-stop sales agents & affiliation platform which allows agents to monitor their sales and commission income. As a leading influencer in this sector, our modest beginnings soon developed into a nationwide platform and continues to grow at speed. As we are firm believers in providing a quality service to our members and, in turn, them to the end-user; we routinely offer marketing and skills training together with audio and video content with POS material. As our platform matures we are able to offer and organize brand themed O2O(Online to Offline) marketing events assisting the introduction of new brands onto the market. By promoting new brands initially using our top sales agents allows us to create visibility quickly and cost effectively followed by expanded sales through a trickle down process to our agents and wholesalers. This additional layer of sales activity is projected to add another 15 million RMB to revenues in its first year.

The Zen Generation demographic have been raised on mobile phones along with the related social media platforms available to them. These platforms are not just where they spend time it is where they seek advice on purchasing choices via established KOL’s and influencers and where they spend cash. China is such a vast territory with extremely diverse provincial cultures, taste and predilections that it should come as no surprise why the social media culture has evolved in the way it has and become the main driver in marketing and, ultimately, revenue generation. In a short space of time we have created a following 60 thousand followers and growing. We also have close working relationships with social media accounts and KOL’s giving us a ready available audience of over 12 million potential customers.

Statistics show that by the end of 2017 there were more than 1.5 million foreigners living and working in China and evidence that this will continue to grow. We believe that although expats figure comparatively low in population ratios they represent a high probability in sales conversion terms. As distinct from indigenous Chinese buying habits, expats are not familiar with the Chinese on-line shopping culture and tend to consume within the communities where they reside. They are inclined to retain spending habits learned in home countries and tend to habitually visit local clubs and bars. Being affiliate members of, and working closely with the China-Britain Business Council we are able to access most of these expat communities in China, Hong Kong and Macau.