Regulatory tightening of community group buying "reduce false fire"
Our reporter Sun Qiru Ma Jing
After experiencing the "sloppy period" of disorderly expansion, the community group buying industry ushered in another round of "cooling".
Following May 27, the State Administration of Market Supervision imposed a 1.5 million yuan administrative penalty on Shihui Mission’s improper price behavior case. Recently, there has been news on the market that some platforms have been ordered to remove "0.01 yuan spike" products.
In March of this year, community group buying platforms such as Meituan Optimal and Shihuituan were also punished.
After multiple rounds of penalties and rectifications, the community group-buying discounts "shrank" substantially, and the market gradually returned to rationality.
But at the same time, there are still shortcomings in the quality of community group buying products and service quality, and it is urgent to form industry norms and industry order, and embark on the road of standardized development.
Community group buying low-key expansion
"Scan the code and enter the WeChat group? Everyday specials will be issued in the group." Ms. Ji handed a package of fruits and vegetables to customers who came to pick up the goods and invited them to join the community.
Ms. Ji is the owner of a community photo studio in Haidian District.
A month ago, she became the leader of a community group buying. The self-pickup point was located in the photo studio. When she and her husband visited the store, she took orders, sorted out the goods, and received customers to pick up the goods.
1.4 yuan a catty with pureed carrots, 9 hairs and 9 servings of white jade mushrooms, 1.6 yuan a catty of fine tomatoes, more than ten yuan and 30 eggs... In the corner of the shop, many surrounding residents were piled up in the community the day before. Special vegetables purchased on the group buying platform.
In 2020, the epidemic has hit all walks of life.
With the community as the center and the group leader as the distribution node, the community group buying business of community residents using WeChat groups, small programs and other tools to buy fruits and fresh products, daily cosmetics and cosmetics, has become popular overnight.
In addition to the upstart venture capitalists, Internet giants such as Ali, Kuaishou, Tencent, Meituan, Pinduoduo, JD.com, Bytedance, and Didi have also entered the market.
At the beginning of this year, community group buying platforms owned by giants such as Meituan Youyou and Orangexinyouyou started to expand in Beijing after a battle in second, third, and fourth-tier cities and even counties.
However, in Ms. Ji's view, community group buying has limited appeal in first-tier cities, and the number of orders is not large.
"Anyway, the store is also open. It is unrealistic to make fruit money easily. It is unrealistic to expect it to make a lot of money." Ms. Ji said that when there are many group purchase orders, the store can earn tens of yuan in commission income for the group leader a day. Just a few dollars in commission.
For her, letting more surrounding residents know about her own photo studio by acting as a self-collection point for community group purchases is another motivation for her to be the group leader.
A group leader in Jiangsu with two years of experience in community group buying revealed that when the new community group buying platform was launched, the commission was very high, reaching 10%. At present, the commission of several platforms has dropped to 1% to 5%.
On May 27, the State Administration of Market Supervision imposed a maximum fine of 1.5 million yuan on Shihui Mission for dumping below cost and price fraud.
Recently, it has been reported that some platforms have received rectification requests again, requesting continued tightening of subsidies.
There are a lot of fresh spoilers
As consumption continues to upgrade, price is no longer the only indicator for consumers to evaluate products and services. Especially in Beijing, where fresh food e-commerce is highly developed, whether community group buying can continue to gain users’ favor requires a big question mark.
Many users report that there are many problems in community group buying, such as difficulty in returning goods, kicking the ball after sales, and inducing new sales.
After placing an order on the Meituan Optimal Group Buying platform recently, the reporter came to the community vegetable shop to pick up the goods.
"Which platform did you buy? The group purchases are all stored in the car." The reporter followed the group leader to a small truck and found that the group purchases were crowded in the trunk, and the fruits and vegetables squeezed out the whole afternoon. Peculiar smell.
The head of the group said frankly that he often encounters group buying users who report that the fruit tastes bad.
By the way, he advertised: "It's not as good as the quality sold in the store. The ones sold in our store are also very cheap, and they can be picked on site."
In addition to the uneven product quality, the service quality of the heads of mom-and-pop supermarkets and small vegetable shop owners also affects the user experience.
After placing the order on the Orange Heart Optimal Platform, the reporter went to the pick-up point in the afternoon according to the platform's instructions to pick up the goods. Although the platform showed that the goods had been delivered to the pick-up point, the door was closed and the team leader’s phone was not answered.
An hour later, the phone was finally dialed, but the group leader said that he would not be able to return to the pick-up point until 7 pm.
The issue of returns has also been criticized by many users.
“After I clicked to apply for a refund, I waited for a few hours and the leader did not review it. Finally, it still flows into the platform for review.” Consumer Ms. Gu has only experienced community group buying once. In her opinion, community group buying takes more time and cost. High, not the best choice for office workers to buy fresh food.
Abandon the price war and enter a new stage
For a long time, competition for offline and sinking market traffic has been regarded as an important reason for giants to invest heavily in community group buying.
Meng Huixin, an analyst at the Legal Equity Department of the E-commerce Research Center of the Net Economics, believes that the "price war" of community group buying is not a wise choice. It will make consumers rely on the platform and rely more on the integration of service quality, product quality and after-sales service. ability.
According to analysis by industry insiders, community group buying mainly adopts the model of "pre-sale + centralized procurement + self-pickup". Relying on technologies such as data management and online deployment, it can not only open up the matching link between consumer demand and suppliers, but also reduce traditional agricultural sales. In the link of price increase, reduce costs and improve efficiency in the supply chain.
Regarding the future trend of community group buying competition, financial commentator Wang Chikun predicts, “The greatest possibility is like the taxi market. It is difficult to determine the victory or defeat based on operation alone. A few companies may win miserably. The capital behind the scenes will sit together and pass. The way of capital consolidation is a truce."