China News Service, Shanghai, November 14th (Xie Mengyuan Yumei) "In the past, our sales may have been more waiting for the big trucks in the wholesale market to come to our base to directly pull, and the sales of large circulation, Now, we generally sell agricultural products through the Internet, e-commerce, WeChat mini-programs, and circle of friends." Qu Wen, executive director of Shanghai Yigeyi Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., who was born in the 1980s, told a reporter from Chinanews.com.
The sales channels of agricultural products are generally sold to wholesale markets, supermarkets, restaurants, specialty stores, etc. There are "intermediaries" between farmers and consumers. Taking the wholesale market as an example, agricultural products are transferred from the place of origin to the distribution center, and then to the farmers market. , restaurants, and finally to consumers.
Qiao Zhan, a shareholder of Yigeyi, who is also a post-80s generation, admitted that the sale of agricultural products was a big problem when he first entered the industry.
In the beginning, it was mainly wholesale, and it was the most difficult to reach the source of customers. If you want to sell good prices and improve the quality of agricultural products, you have to find good customers. Qiao Zhan ran slowly (customer source), and finally became the first Hema in Shanghai One of a group of suppliers, "At that time, Hema's business was really booming. Our agricultural products were in short supply, and we couldn't plant them in time."
With the development of live webcasting and changes in people's consumption habits, the "agricultural product + e-commerce" model has gradually become a new track outside the traditional sales channels.
In September 2021, Shanghai Yigeyi Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. was registered and established in Shanghai Pudong New Area.
This is a "big mac" enterprise formed by the combination of 6 local large-scale cooperatives dealing with different types of agricultural products.
After its establishment, the total planting area has exceeded 3,000 mu, covering almost all kinds of agricultural products such as rice, vegetables, melons and fruits.
"We learn from each other's strengths and complement each other's weaknesses together, and integrate our respective competitive products and high-quality agricultural products. Then, the products sold on the e-commerce platform will be more abundant, giving consumers more choices." Qiao Zhan explained that e-commerce sales allow agricultural products to be directly sold. Affordable prices from field to table.
In fact, Qu Wen's cooperative started cooperation with e-commerce as early as 2018. "It really collapsed at first. Because the selection of e-commerce platforms is relatively strict, in order to find a sweet melon that meets the standard, I took a test. Tangyi went to farmers' fields to test one by one, and was almost regarded as a lunatic." In the first year of cooperation with e-commerce, Qu Wen could only select 10-15 catties of strawberries out of every 100 catties of strawberries.
"We were forced to complete the debugging of new varieties and new technologies in 2 months, and finally met the requirements." At the same time, Qu Wen also found that a group of people who were generally over 50 years old were reluctant. The old farmers who changed their planting concept and technology were quickly eliminated by e-commerce customers in this round of competition.
The year that really made her choose e-commerce live broadcast should be in 2020. "At that time, I remember someone saying that we are a very conscientious company, saying that we are very grateful to us and that we can eat our vegetables during the epidemic. At this time, I really feel No matter how hard or tired it is, it’s worth it.” In July 2020, Shanghai held the Shanghai Young Farmers Live Streaming Contest. Qu Wen, Qiao Zhan and others teamed up to represent Pudong and won the prize after training.
Since then, "Yi Ge Yi" has started the road of e-commerce live broadcast. Qu Wen said: "E-commerce can break the circle, let our agricultural products break the geographical boundaries, and let more people know about our high-quality products. agricultural products."
Taking advantage of the live broadcast of e-commerce, Qiao Zhan told reporters that the sales scope of "YiGeYi" agricultural products can radiate to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui, with Shanghai accounting for 50% and Hangzhou accounting for 30%. When I went to eat in the district, an auntie cleaning asked me if it was Mr. Qiao who sold vegetables. She saw it on Douyin. I feel like I am a star, and people in unfamiliar places know me."
On the other hand, the data automatically generated in the background of the live broadcast also pinpointed the development route for them.
They once thought that young people would be the main customers of online sales of agricultural products, but data shows that more than 60% of the people who shop on the live broadcast platform are middle-aged women over the age of 45. Qiao Zhan revealed: "In the beginning, we wanted to go for high-end products. Route, and later changed the thinking through analysis.”
At present, the online sales of "Yi Ge Yi" are mainly aimed at retail investors. When the situation is good, the daily sales volume can reach 3,000 orders.
However, the logistics price remains high this year, and the cost of a single logistics is about 30% higher than before.
Qiao Zhan said that now we can only wait, talk, and talk more, and the confidence of the negotiation comes from the monthly sales volume exceeding 20,000. "We have a large amount of express delivery, and then doing e-commerce sales is also a price war."
Also affecting the development of cooperatives are labor shortages and high labor costs.
It is reported that agricultural production is still concentrated in the post-50s and post-60s groups, and there are not many young people engaged in agriculture.
In fact, Qu Wen and Qiao Zhan belonged to half-way monks. They switched from hotel management and construction industry to agriculture and became new farmers.
What is a new farmer?
Qu Wen said: "I think this 'new' is reflected in everyone's new thinking, new thinking, and more people from other industries turn to agriculture. This 'new' is also a new group, a new format ." She believes that the new farmers should act as a bridge.
On the one hand, it is keen to customize the production work plan according to the needs of the market, and on the other hand, it contacts the market and achieves a combination of production and sales to generate income.
What kind of talents will agriculture need in the future?
Qiao Zhan believes that specialization is very important. Not only planters need professional knowledge, but sales staff should also be familiar with agriculture. "Actually, for the anchor, it takes time to introduce green vegetables from planting to picking, what fertilizers are used, and everything can be explained. It's very clear that people understand."
In Qu Wen's opinion, agriculture needs compound talents in the future, "I always think that agriculture is actually a systematic job, and professional people do professional things. If it is a technician, focus on technology, and if it is a marketing person, focus on technology. The dynamic changes in the market can be told to technicians, so as to adjust the structure of planting and industry.” (End)