County-level market usher in battle

2012 channel conjecture: The 46th-level market can predict that more PC manufacturers will invest resources in the county-level market in 2012, and competition for county-level quality channels will become more intense. At the same time, manufacturers will correspondingly increase the sales and expectations of county-level channel dealers, which will trigger a battle in the face of county-level market competition.

The county-level market is becoming the main position of the IT market. In 2012, the PC vendors' competition for the county-level market will become increasingly fierce. With the county-level market changing from “frozen land” to “fertile land”, a “blade-fighting battle” will be staged.

At present, the 4-6 level market is becoming a major driving force in driving the development of the IT market. According to statistics, in China's primary and secondary markets, PC penetration has reached 96.5%, which is almost saturated. In the third and fourth-tier markets, the PC penetration rate was 67.9%; in the fifth and sixth levels, it was 45.4%; and in the market below the sixth level, the penetration rate was only 7.5%. The six-level market is mainly the county-level market.

As a forerunner of the rural market, Lenovo once divided the development of the rural market into three phases. That is, from 2004 to 2006, it was the phase of incitement of the “frozen land” in rural areas; from 2007 to 2010, it was a period of time when the permafrost was penetrated; From 2011 to 2015, it was the period when the “frozen soil” in the rural market was changed to “fertile ground”. This vision is becoming a reality. At present, the market share of Lenovo's computers to the countryside has reached 45%, ranking first; the town-level market coverage has reached 86%; since 2004, Lenovo has sold only in the market below the sixth level. More than 10 million computers. Lenovo has become the main beneficiary of the rise of the rural market. Not only Lenovo, almost all PC manufacturers have realized the importance of the rural market, and have invested heavily in this.

Judging from the market position of China's rural areas, county-level towns and cities have been the main commercial distribution centers in rural China. “Going to the county to buy things” has become the main consumption mode in rural areas, especially for products with higher purchase prices. The county-level market often has advantages that other large cities do not have in terms of transportation and services. For PC manufacturers, this means that once they have settled in the county market, they can cover the townships, towns, and villages of the county. Based on the county-level market, it can gradually expand to townships and villages to achieve sales coverage in the rural market.

According to relevant data, at present, there are a total of 2,000 counties in China, including county-level cities, 19,234 towns, and 69,000 villages. For IT vendors, the importance of the county-level market is becoming more prominent, and the number of attacks on the county-level market will be more frequent. In the past few years, various PC manufacturers have placed emphasis on the county-level market in the offensive against rural areas and continuously improved the ability of county-level channels, such as building flagship stores, giving renovations, accounting, and training. It also made county-level market agents one of the most changing channel groups in the past few years.

Now in the county market, the channel recruitment and coverage of IT vendors has already come to an end. Most of the manufacturers have established their own county-level channel structure. In addition, some companies that have not yet entered this market are also accelerating.

However, to really gain a harvest in the rural market, simple coverage is not enough. For most manufacturers, in order to quickly establish a county-level channel system and recruit new channels, the quality of the new channels is uneven, the existing channels are properly screened and eliminated, and sales volume has been increased. This has become the focus of work for these companies in 2012. The channel competition from "heavy quantity" to "heavy quality" has begun.

It is foreseeable that more manufacturers will invest resources in the county-level market in 2012, and competition for quality channels will become more intense. At the same time, manufacturers' sales and expectations for county-level channel providers will increase, which will lead to more intense competition. Including various advertisements in the county-level market, activities that create brand influence will also become more frequent.

While competing for channels, the construction of county-level market service system will also enter a new stage. Since word-of-mouth marketing in the rural market is very important, and rural users have higher requirements for after-sales service, how to provide a faster service experience? It has become an important way to compete for the rural market. At present, various manufacturers have made different progress in the construction of the service system. This war for service will also become more intense this year.