Zhao Xiaopu of Guangliang Wine: Sold 400 million bottles of Baijiu in 5 years. I just didn't fall into the misunderstandings of smart people | Exclusive Interview by Houxue

Author | Zhong Yixuan

Interviewers | Yang Xuan, Zhong Yixuan

Editor | Qiao Qian

An advertising professional, in 2013, following the "mass entrepreneurship and innovation wave", launched a young - oriented baijiu brand, selling only online, full of ambition.

Four years later, the brand went under.

That was the year when he felt the most complex emotions. He didn't want to touch baijiu because he was exhausted. Later, when starting a new business, he once considered e - cigarettes or even script - killing games. But after much thought, the only thing he was most familiar with was still baijiu.

In 2018, he returned to the baijiu industry. This time, he was only determined about one thing: making baijiu and definitely not selling it online. This advertising professional left his most familiar way of doing business. He decided to return to the traditional way and deal with distributors. In the past, in Zhongguancun, the people he contacted most were investors.

He joked and recalled, "The investment managers I knew in the early days have all become industry giants. When they found out that I was still in the baijiu business, they said, 'You should invest in someone as loyal as Lao Zhao. You are a friend of time.'"

At that time, there was a crazy wave of consumer investment. "Investors were lining up at the door to offer money." Hillhouse and XVC are both investors in Guangliangjiu.

To this day, this baijiu brand has entered 1 million retail terminals in more than 600 counties. Five years after entering the market, it has sold a cumulative total of 400 million bottles of baijiu. In 2024, when the overall baijiu market was facing structural difficulties, its sales still maintained a year - on - year growth of 30%.

This is the story of Zhao Xiaopu, the founder of Guangliangjiu. The baijiu industry is not a new one. Today, in every price range and even in different regions, there are established leaders. This means that in this seemingly calm industry, Guangliang is a long - awaited new story, a disruptive force.

How did it achieve this?

Almost everyone who has seen Guangliangjiu is attracted by its plain - bottle design and the numbers on it. Plain - bottle baijiu, as the name suggests, has no box, saving on packaging costs and offering high cost - performance. The numbers, or data bottles, refer to the four major series of Guangliangjiu: 19, 29, 39, and 59. Different numbers correspond to the content of three - year - old grain base liquor in the products. In other words, the composition of a bottle of baijiu is clearly written on the bottle.

By pioneering the data bottle concept in the baijiu industry and aiming to let people understand the composition at a glance, Zhao Xiaopu believes that if people need a reason to buy baijiu, then he hopes the reason for buying Guangliangjiu is "wisdom" - "It's not that I can't afford expensive baijiu. I choose Guangliang because I'm smart."

Guangliangjiu is indeed not expensive. The prices of the 19 to 59 series range from 25 yuan to 75 yuan, all within 100 yuan.

Over the years, the market size of plain - bottle baijiu has grown from billions to hundreds of billions. Traditional baijiu enterprises have even started to enter the plain - bottle baijiu market. Today, when many peers study Guangliang, they almost always focus on the following three points: the product accurately targets the affordable market segment and taps into the sinking market; it is willing to spend on marketing; and it penetrates the market through county - level and rural areas where famous brands have less influence.

But Zhao Xiaopu says that for Guangliangjiu's success so far, the product only accounts for 20%, and the remaining 80% depends on distributors. The baijiu business is essentially a "gritty and labor - intensive" one.

The reason is simple. There are more than 6 million retail terminal channels in China, spread across every corner of urban and rural areas. There is no grand narrative here, nor any dramatic capital stories. It's all about real sales figures and the desire to make money.

He says that the most important thing he did when dealing with distributors was to put aside his so - called superiority. "You may be smart, but the other party is even smarter. He just doesn't have a bigger platform. Don't fall into the trap of being overly smart. Verifying lies with lies will only lead to more lies."

During the four - hour interview, we talked about how Zhao Xiaopu picked up the baijiu business again when he had "no way back" and why he created the data bottle; we discussed his perception of Chinese county - level and rural distributors; we talked about how he spent money against the market trend in just two or three years to make the industry notice Guangliangjiu; and we also reviewed some important milestones in Guangliang's seven - year history.

Throughout the conversation, there was only one logic that Zhao Xiaopu repeatedly emphasized - When doing offline business, accept human nature and don't fall into the trap of being overly smart.

The following is an edited interview between 36Kr and Zhao Xiaopu:

Guangliang's data bottle series

Emotions can only inspire the youth, not the veterans

36Kr: You were originally a designer and an advertising professional. How did you enter the baijiu industry? Do you have a personal preference for baijiu?

Zhao Xiaopu: No, even if I did, after all these years, I don't anymore. I studied design. At first, I worked in advertising for four or five years, serving many consumer companies. Later, I found that baijiu clients had more money and there were opportunities. That was my superficial understanding at the time.

36Kr: You're very straightforward.

Zhao Xiaopu: Yes. So at that time, I didn't understand the baijiu business and had no respect for the industry. At that time, it was popular to sell goods on e - commerce platforms. Taobao didn't have a baijiu category yet, so we created a brand and sold baijiu on a vertical e - commerce platform called "Jiuxianwang", only focusing on the online market.

36Kr: What was the brand?

Zhao Xiaopu: "RANDIAN". It was sold in small two - tael bottles, and the average customer price was also in the tens of yuan. We wanted to create a baijiu brand targeting sub - cultural and literary youth. So the packaging design was quite special. We made the wine bottle look like a gasoline can, like a small kettle. Because of its novelty, the sales were good at that time, and it was the best - selling product on Jiuxianwang for half a year. But this brand later died out.

36Kr: What was the most important lesson you learned from the "RANDIAN" experience?

Zhao Xiaopu: The only lesson I learned was a negative one. It taught me that if you want to do the baijiu business, never focus on the online market.

36Kr: Why?

Zhao Xiaopu: The online market can build brand influence or conduct user education, but it's not a platform for selling goods. The drinking scenarios are mostly offline. People don't stock up on baijiu online, especially for baijiu. You can't find in - depth users online. Most young people buy it out of curiosity. Among the many baijiu brands that focus on the online market, none have survived. Eventually, they all return to the offline market.

36Kr: Baijiu sells well on JD.com. How do you explain this?

Zhao Xiaopu: The baijiu that sells well on JD.com is mostly high - end baijiu like Moutai. But for mass - market consumer products, like Niulanshan, which is very popular in Beijing, few people buy it online. Now, the drinking scenarios are mostly immediate. For example, when having a dinner at night, people may use instant retail services to get the baijiu, but they won't stock up on it online.

36Kr: After the failure, why did you decide to do the baijiu business again?

Zhao Xiaopu: When starting a new business, we adhered to two principles. First, find an area with high enough premium to allow for marketing space. Second, do things that "big companies don't care about" to avoid being squeezed out. For example, no matter how much we stir things up, Moutai won't pay attention to us. At that time, we looked at all consumer - related industries and found that only the baijiu industry met these criteria.

36Kr: Didn't you have any hesitation? Didn't you consider other industries?

Zhao Xiaopu: I almost gave up midway. I even flew to Shenzhen to investigate the e - cigarette industry. I thought it was simple. You could tell whether it was good or not by just taking a puff. It could be directly marketed to consumers, and there were more ways to play.

At that time, I wanted to make disposable e - cigarettes, inspired by "House of Cards". I had even established the supply chain. But after the 3.15 expose, e - cigarettes were not allowed to be sold online. If I had to build an offline distribution network for e - cigarettes, then why not go back to the baijiu business? I felt like I had no other choice, and finally, I launched the Guangliangjiu product.

36Kr: Explain your product logic for Guangliangjiu. Why the data bottle?

Zhao Xiaopu: Our biggest disadvantage at that time was the lack of a brand. I wanted to create a different value proposition that was not overly emotional. I had tried the emotional approach when creating "RANDIAN", and I found that I could only inspire the youth, not the veteran drinkers.

I started to think about the consumer psychology of baijiu. If we drink a bottle of baijiu today, it has to be either high - end or affordable. There has to be a reason. Guangliang chose "wisdom" as its value point. We made the composition transparent and data - based. I want consumers to think, "It's not that I can't afford expensive baijiu. I choose Guangliang because I'm smart."

Looking back, I made the right decision in terms of product power. And because I created the data bottle, many traditional brands are following suit, which proves that this approach is feasible.

36Kr: How did you come up with the name Guangliang?

Zhao Xiaopu: You know, when you hear the name Guangliang, although we have nothing to do with the star Guangliang, people always have the illusion that they know this brand. At that time, I wanted to use "grain" or "brewing" in the name, but I couldn't register them.

36Kr: Didn't Guangliang himself approach you?

Zhao Xiaopu: First of all, Guangliang's real name is Wang Guangliang. Secondly, he is from Malaysia.

The product only accounts for 20%. The rest depends on distributors

36Kr: How much does the product contribute to opening up the offline market for you?

Zhao Xiaopu: Only 10% - 20%. Product power is crucial online, but offline, it's still a traditional distribution - based model. You need someone to distribute the products to the terminals, do a good job in product display, and educate the terminal store owners. Otherwise, no matter how good the product is, it's hard to reach consumers. 80% depends on distributors.

36Kr: Your channel strategy is to "encircle the cities from the countryside". The sinking market channels are very fragmented. How did you initially open up the offline channels?

Zhao Xiaopu: I used to run an advertising company. At that time, I gave free marketing advice and wrote plans for many baijiu enterprises. The senior figures in the industry thought that although the brand I created ("RANDIAN") didn't succeed, I was still a decent person.

When starting Guangliang, I went back to these senior figures and asked them to take some products and try selling them at the terminals. To my surprise, the products were sold out within a month, and they started to gain confidence.

Coincidentally, some of these senior figures also had the idea of starting their own businesses. They understood sales but lacked knowledge about brands and products, while I lacked channel resources. So we complemented each other.

36Kr: Who are these senior figures?

Zhao Xiaopu: They are wealthy people (laughs). They are engaged in traditional distribution businesses. Their resources are concentrated in mom - and - pop stores and grocery stores in the sinking market. They lead teams of about one or two hundred people and have businesses worth at least tens of millions in their own provinces.

36Kr: Why did they want to work with you?

Zhao Xiaopu: I offered them equity, which is not common in the traditional baijiu industry.

36Kr: What does a team of one or two hundred people mean in the distribution channel?

Zhao Xiaopu: There may be a misunderstanding here. After hearing so many online success stories, people may think that a team of one or two hundred people is large. But in offline business, a team of one or two hundred people in a province is actually quite small. For example, in Wuxi, the city with the best sales of Guangliangjiu in Jiangsu, the distributor can achieve revenues of more than 20 million yuan just from selling Guangliangjiu, and their team has only about 20 people. So, for a single baijiu brand to achieve a scale of over 100 million yuan in a province, a team of two or three hundred people is quite normal. And this is based on the end - result. In the early stages, more people are needed.

The above is the situation for a single brand. Distributors usually handle multiple products, such as mineral water, milk, and beer. In that case, the team size can be much larger.

36Kr: How do you select distributors?

Zhao Xiaopu: It's a two - way selection process. Distributors have their own revenue logic. For example, a team of 100 people handling 10 brands may want to sell beverages and beer in summer, baijiu in winter, and move mineral water on a daily basis to improve labor efficiency.

But it's impossible to expect them to focus solely on our brand. We are all independent entities. It's even hard to achieve complete commitment in marriage, let alone in business. I just choose the best among them. If baijiu is a must - have in their business, then they are more valuable.

36Kr: What's the actual situation compared to the ideal selection?

Zhao Xiaopu: In reality, there are all kinds of situations. There are also distributors who sign exclusive agreements but don't actually sell the products. They think you have potential and are afraid that others will take you on, so they sign you up first, and a year goes by.

That's why offline business is slow. Online, you can quickly see results by changing the team. But offline, it takes at least one year, and sometimes two or three years, to identify a reliable distributor. After hearing this, do you think online dating is better? (laughs)

36Kr: With the support of the first batch of distributors, what achievements did you make?

Zhao Xiaopu: In the first year (2019), we only operated for a few months, with revenues of tens of millions and entered tens of thousands of terminals. The second year, the pandemic hit. Guangliang has endured three years of the pandemic in its seven - year history.

Don't let being smart hold you back

36Kr