K-Shaped Polarization on the Consumer Side and the Intelligent Leap of FMCG Supply Chains

On April 24, the "2026 FMCG Supply Chain Intelligent Transformation Summit," hosted by TOP Supply Chain Technology (Hubei) Co., Ltd., concluded successfully in Ezhou, Hubei. Under the theme "Breaking Barriers with Technology, Linking the Future," the summit focused on the supply chain transformation paths and technology enablement solutions shaping the FMCG industry amid digital and intelligent trends, bringing together industry leaders for in-depth exchange.

As a strategic partner of TOP, Gwall Technology co-founder Feng Bin was invited to attend and delivered a keynote presentation on intelligent warehousing and logistics practices in the FMCG sector.

01 Insight: Demand Polarizes at the Consumer End,
Reshaping the Industry Supply Chain at an Accelerating Pace

According to publicly available statistics, China's FMCG industry grew steadily and moderately in 2025, yet consumers increasingly favor "small quantities, high frequency" purchasing, with K-shaped polarization becoming pronounced and value-for-money consumption accounting for a larger share. New-economy sectors represented by pet food posted standout growth, with pet food sales volume rising 20.4% in 2025, leading all FMCG sub-segments.

This polarization on the consumer side places sharply different demands on supply chains:
Premium brands: increasingly focused on quality and experience, they require comprehensive upgrades to systemic supply chain capabilities, making product traceability, end-to-end visibility, and digital fulfillment essential.
Value-for-money brands: accelerating their push into lower-tier markets and pursuing high turnover with low loss, they are far more sensitive to warehousing support capability, space utilization, and operating cost control.

Against this backdrop, the core concerns of FMCG supply chains have shifted entirely to full-process batch management, quality traceability, order fulfillment efficiency, refined operating cost control, and high turnover with low loss. It is precisely around these core demands that Gwall builds smart logistics systems for enterprises, covering every link from raw material procurement and manufacturing to commercial distribution.

At the summit, Feng Bin used Gambol Pet Group, a leading brand in the FMCG pet food industry, as a benchmark case to break down how Gwall helped it build an end-to-end intelligent supply chain spanning production to distribution.

"Only one day of inventory is kept on the production floor, and all raw materials are precisely pulled from the warehouse according to the production cadence. Complex rules—one-third shelf life, one-half shelf life, designated batches, and no over-quantity for the same customer batch—are all embedded in the system. Information across the entire chain, from raw and auxiliary materials to the end product, is automatically archived, so that in the event of a quality issue, recall turnaround and emergency compliance pass rates can reach 100%."

Refined Management Across the Full Category Range
The integrated solution Gwall delivered for Gambol Pet Group brings raw material warehouses, frozen goods warehouses, packaging and auxiliary material warehouses, bulk material warehouses, and finished goods warehouses fully under digital management, achieving real-time visibility and precise control of upstream raw material inventory. Through a VMI supplier collaboration model, the turnover efficiency of core raw materials improved significantly while inventory capital pressure dropped sharply.

Highly Integrated Automation Equipment
Powered by Gwall's WES warehouse execution system, the solution highly integrates robotic arm piece-picking, AGV transport, automated sorting, and packing equipment to build an "intelligent warehousing brain," driving warehousing operations from labor-driven to system-driven.

Global Multi-Warehouse, Multi-Factory Coordination
Gwall simultaneously supports unified management of Gambol Pet Group's overseas warehouses in Thailand and its multiple domestic factories and warehouses. The WMS connects enterprise master data, SCM (supply chain management), MES (manufacturing execution system), and quality inspection systems, achieving end-to-end data flow across the global supply chain.

During the 2025 "Double 11" shopping festival, Gambol Pet Group's own brands generated nearly RMB 1.1 billion in online sales across all channels, shipping more than 8.8 million orders cumulatively—its supply chain fulfillment capability withstood the test of massive, highly concurrent order volumes.

Notably, Gambol Pet Group continues to invest in supply chain infrastructure, committing hundreds of millions of RMB to build smart warehousing and intelligent sorting centers. Its steadily expanding capacity and continuously upgraded warehousing facilities demonstrate the company's firm determination to support long-term growth with an intelligent supply chain.

Drawing on 22 years of industry experience and service to more than a thousand brand enterprises, Feng Bin laid out a digital warehousing and logistics solution for the FMCG industry built around core scenario capabilities such as single-set physical inventory control, batch traceability, campus coordination, and production pull.

Single-Set Physical Inventory Management: A Solid Foundation for Omnichannel Operations
"What people call 'one set of goods' is essentially an operational concept. What warehousing and logistics must deliver is one set of physical inventory. Once I put single-set physical inventory control firmly in place, the operational side of one set of goods has a solid foundation."

Gwall builds an inventory center with WMS at its core, bringing physical inventory from online and offline channels under unified control. Combined with strict batch management, shelf-life alerts, and a multi-strategy FIFO rules engine, it makes single-set physical inventory across the whole warehouse a reality. Paired with the BMS billing management system, it covers warehouse rental, handling, packaging materials, and other business lines, enabling refined calculation and automatic settlement of warehousing and logistics costs and driving lean cost control.

End-to-End Batch Traceability: A Strong Line of Defense for Safety and Compliance
Addressing the FMCG industry's core pain points of difficult batch traceability and high compliance risk, Gwall leverages the WMS batch management engine and combines one-item-one-code and unique-code palletizing technologies to give every item a digital identity that runs through the entire chain. From raw material receipt and production distribution to finished goods outbound delivery, information is automatically captured and linked across the full process, enabling second-level identification and freezing of problem batches and building a digital line of defense for enterprises.

Smart Appointment Mechanism: Efficient Coordination Between Campus and Warehouse
In response to the real-world challenges of high inbound and outbound frequency and complex vehicle scheduling in FMCG, Gwall deeply coordinates WMS with the YMS campus appointment management system to deliver fully digital scheduling across vehicle appointment, dock assignment, queuing and entry, and loading and departure.
"Drivers used to fight over loading and unloading spots at the campus. Now they are automatically admitted on schedule, the system issues the release note, loading time is cut by several times, and driver satisfaction has soared." Feng Bin explained that after a vehicle appointment is made, WMS can drive early picking and outbound movement while YMS assigns the dock in parallel, seamlessly connecting campus and warehouse operations and thoroughly resolving vehicle backlogs and on-site management chaos during peak periods.

Lean Production Logistics: Rebuilding the Precision Pull Model
On the production side, Gwall WMS connects deeply with MES and SCM to handle precise delivery scheduling from line-side warehouses to machine stations. Material consumption triggers automatic replenishment signals, and raw materials arrive at designated workstations on time according to work order cadence, replacing traditional manual material requisition and push-based feeding. WMS senses production progress and inventory levels in real time, helping enterprises eliminate line-side inventory buildup and production line material starvation.

The Intelligent Warehousing Brain: Efficient Human-Machine-Material Coordination
Speaking about automation deployment, Feng Bin stressed that "soft power" must not be overlooked: "Above the hardware, you must restructure processes, accept the bottlenecks the equipment brings, and mesh the system deeply with the business. Only then can the value of automation truly be unlocked."

Gwall uses the WES warehouse execution system as the intelligent warehousing hub, receiving business instructions and task decomposition from WMS upstream and uniformly scheduling smart equipment—robotic arms, AGVs, sorters, and conveyor lines—downstream. This preserves business flexibility while fully leveraging equipment performance, avoiding the investment trap of "automation for automation's sake." From polarization at the consumer end to profound changes in distribution models, digital transformation of the FMCG supply chain has moved from "optional" to "mandatory."