The vegetable market is on the phone
The battle between Internet companies and the vegetable market continues.
When Internet giants began to enter the community group buying, the advertisements in the community WeChat group and coupons in the mobile app replaced the familiar shouts and bargains in the vegetable market.
People only need to pre-order on their mobile phones, and the goods will arrive at the pick-up point selected by the customer the next day.
In the first month that some Internet companies started doing community group buying, the number of open cities reached 120.
At the end of November, an Internet giant announced that its community group buying has covered 200 cities, and at the most one day, it opened stores in 36 cities.
Here, some people found that the original price of tens of yuan for barbecue grills can be bought for only two yuan, and some people have bought hawthorn for a penny and a catty, eggs for fifty cents, and citrus for a catty for one yuan.
After the rise of community group buying, some customers reduced the frequency of going to the vegetable market and supermarket.
But the low-priced products on the community group buying platform have also aroused many people's vigilance.
Weilong, Xiangpiaopiao, Radar Battery and other brands issued notices prohibiting distributors from supplying supplies to community group buying platforms.
Some wholesalers are worried about losing traditional supermarket users and are unwilling to supply hot-selling products to community group buying platforms.
Some netizens are also worried that the use of low-priced goods on the Internet to attract customers will take away the livelihood of vegetable vendors.
On December 22, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Commerce held an administrative guidance meeting on regulating community group buying order.
This meeting, attended by six Internet platform companies including Ali, Tencent, JD, Meituan, Pinduoduo, and Didi, required Internet platform companies to strictly abide by the "nine nos."
Including, Internet platforms must not dump at low prices, abuse their independent pricing power, must not predatory pricing without justifiable reasons, must not use data advantages to "kill familiarity", and must not sell counterfeit and shoddy products.
1
This battle at the door of the vegetable market will begin in the second half of 2020.
A full-time “team leader” (community group buying promoter) in Chengdu has participated in at least 6 community group buying platforms.
He observed that whenever a new platform enters, there will always be a large amount of subsidies, and some even give free fruits, salt, napkins, etc.
He studies the coupons issued regularly by various platforms and recommends the most cost-effective platform to customers every day.
His highest sales record is more than 500 people placing orders a day.
After the customer places an order, the Internet platform delivers the goods to his pickup point.
He wants to notify the customer to pick up the goods in time.
For each order, the group leader can commission 10%.
On the day when the sales were the most, the full-time team leader received a commission of 1,500 yuan.
Since sharing bicycles, takeaways, and online car-hailing, community group buying has become the battlefield for a new round of "price wars".
In addition to the price, a leader who is good at managing interpersonal relations is an indispensable "weapon" for Internet companies.
There is a residential building in Jinan City, Shandong Province. There are 10 delegation leaders. The owner teased that "group buying can be done according to the floor."
On Honglingjin Road, Shantou City, Guangdong Province, when a customer opened a community group buying app on December 14, 1 pick-up point was automatically matched. Four days later, 28 pick-up points emerged on the 1.2-kilometer road.
A community supermarket owner in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said that for a while, he would meet four or five salesmen from different platforms every day and convince him to become the team leader.
He didn't join three of the Internet platforms until the two other community supermarkets he competed with became self-reporting points-he was worried that customers would flow to the other two supermarkets.
The rural market has also become a battleground for Internet companies.
As of December 21, the business coverage of the community group buying platform Xingsheng Optoelectronics includes 15 provinces, 175 prefecture-level cities, more than 1,400 counties and cities, more than 5,100 townships and more than 42,000 villages.
A villager who has opened a grocery store in Longzhou Community of Miluo City, Yueyang City, Hunan Province for more than 20 years told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that before 2018, she went out at 6 or 7 in the morning every morning to buy vegetables at the vegetable market and bring them back to the grocery store. sell.
The town’s vegetable market is a 26-minute walk from the Longzhou community.
She recalled that the old people cooking at home in the village could not walk long distances or ride motorcycles. They had to ask relatives and friends to go to the vegetable market once a week to buy food and store all the vegetables in the refrigerator.
After her son-in-law taught her to use the community group buying platform, she became the team leader.
During the epidemic, she was able to receive more than 200 orders every day.
Nowadays, an elderly person living alone asks her to order fresh fruits and vegetables every day, and she helps the elderly deliver them to their door.
She also bought a certain kind of northern fruit on the platform, which has never appeared in the vegetable market in Miluo City.
An old couple in Shantou City, the head of the company did not make it clear that the Meituan Optimal Ads had been posted at the door of their grocery store.
The son took the initiative to help them apply to become group leader.
Since then, this "always no business" grocery store has welcomed more customers.
2
When the Internet comes, business comes.
The Mayang Miao Autonomous County of Huaihua City, Hunan Province, which is rich in rock sugar oranges and yellow peaches, had unsold fruits due to traffic congestion.
The person in charge of a local agricultural product sales company said that after the community group buying platform purchased products from their company, the company’s sales volume of rock sugar oranges tripled, which became a hit on the platform.
But the Internet brings more than just traffic.
Changsha in Hunan Province is an important city in the community group buying war.
This city with a long history of community group buying and a high penetration rate has attracted multiple Internet platforms to settle in and grab customers.
At the Jinshang Fresh Market in Yuelu District, Changsha, a vegetable vendor told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that the "price war" on multiple Internet platforms had clearly affected her business.
In the past month, her daily turnover has been reduced from 2,000 yuan to 300 yuan.
Previously, there were few community group buying platforms in Changsha City, and the platform prices were higher, which had little impact on her business.
But nowadays, some customers told her that she had bought potatoes for 0.9 yuan a catty and carrots for 0.68 yuan a catty on the Internet.
But the wholesale price she bought back from the wholesale market was 1.6 yuan per catty for potatoes and 1.3 yuan per catty for carrots.
Due to reduced passenger flow, her closing time was extended from 5 pm to 9 pm, but sales still did not increase.
This vegetable vendor runs a 6-square-meter vegetable stall in the market and provides vegetables to restaurants for a long time.
Once, a restaurant owner complained that the epidemic had hit the restaurant business.
He hopes to reduce costs and buy ingredients from the Internet platform. "I will buy your products until you have the same price as the platform." Previously, she supplied more than a dozen restaurants. After the "price war" on the group buying platform began, only 6 A restaurant continues to work with her.
The wholesale market she often visits used to be stuck in traffic, but now the traffic is smooth.
When the wholesaler saw her come to buy goods, she was more enthusiastic than before, hoping she would buy more.
But in order to reduce inventory loss, she began to choose storage-stable vegetables such as potatoes and radishes when she purchased the goods.
Her food stall originally had nearly 100 items for customers to choose from, but now there are only more than 30 items left.
While waiting for customers to come, she sat with the vendor next to her and sighed.
She did not tell her son who went to college or her parents who lived in her hometown of these circumstances.
In order to continue to support families with old people and young children, this woman with junior high school education decided that after the Spring Festival next year, her husband will deliver food and she will go to the restaurant as a cleaner.
It is difficult to count how many people's livelihoods will be affected by Internet companies in this battle.
In some areas that have just developed community group buying, there are hawkers selling fresh pork. They see that only frozen pork is available on the platform, and there are only two single products of pork belly and pork belly to choose from. They think that community group buying needs a long time to develop. Will affect his livelihood.
There are also people who insist that customers who buy fruit in their own stores understand the quality better, which does not overlap with Internet users.
In contrast, supermarket owners are more sensitive to community group buying than vegetable vendors.
The owner of a community supermarket in Baotou believes that the quality, variety, and origin of fresh produce affect the final price, while the prices of commodities sold in the supermarket are more transparent and unified, and the disadvantage is greater in the "price war".
The supermarket owner told the China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter to take a box of milk from a certain brand as an example.
The purchase price of the supermarket is 51 yuan, the lowest promotion price of the supermarket is 53 yuan, but the group purchase price of the community group buying platform is 44 yuan.
Six months ago, the supermarket could sell almost 10 boxes of this milk a day, but now it only sells four or five boxes a week.
Potato chips have a similar experience.
A certain brand of potato chips with an ex-factory price of 5 yuan a barrel will eventually sell for 8 yuan a barrel, and dealers and supermarkets each earn 1.5 yuan.
But on the community group buying platform, this potato chip only sells for 3 yuan.
The supermarket owner explained, “If the snacks expire, the distributors need to transfer the goods and collect the snacks from the supermarket, and the group buying platform directly connects with consumers, without worrying about the expiration risk.
This husband-and-wife community supermarket has seen the number of customers, the number of new customers increase, and the decline in operating income for 6 consecutive months.
The boss chose to remove non-staple food and fruit.
3
More and more people realize that unusually low-priced products will bring new problems.
A condiment manufacturer prohibits distributors from supplying community group buying platforms. The person in charge said in an interview with China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that in the past six months, the factory has received complaints from partners from all over the country, saying that the community group buying platform The prices of the seasonings sold are too low, disrupting the original market and leading to confusion in supply.
A snack wholesaler in Baotou City, when meeting with his colleagues, the topic always cannot avoid community group buying.
He believes that every wholesaler that supplies the platform can make money, but this way of making money is not sustainable. After the platform grows, it will directly bypass the wholesaler and pick up the goods from the production factory.
He supplies goods to six small supermarkets near a school in Baotou.
These six small supermarkets are ready to boycott the community group buying platform and refuse to be the group leader.
The reason is that although the group leader can get a commission of 10% of the sales, it affects the normal sales of the supermarket. If a customer buys goods in the supermarket, the supermarket can earn 15%, which is more than the group leader's commission.
The wholesaler persuaded the supermarket to follow the crowd. He was worried that if the stationery stores and washing and chemical shops near the supermarket became self-pickup points, the supermarket flow would be divided.
Due to the different developments of community group buying in different regions, the quality of low-priced products on the platform varies.
In rural Hunan, users can buy vacuum-packaged fresh fish, while in the urban area of Baotou, where the development of community group buying has been slow, some users bought fruits and vegetables that were not heavy enough.
A customer in Baotou once spent 5.68 yuan to buy three crisp, sweet and juicy Xinjiang Aksu Bingtangxin Apples, which were called "sweet than first love".
But the apples actually got were only the size of ordinary lemons, and the users asked for money back.
The head of the group felt that it was a pity to throw it away, and after a few bites, he found that it was not the Bingtang Heart Apple that was promoted by the platform.
Almost all participants are aware that the subsidy battle for community group buying will not last long.
In mid-December, many delegation leaders in Chengdu received a price adjustment notice issued by Didi’s community group buying platform Orange Heart Optimal, stating that commodity prices would be adjusted to ensure the healthy development of the community group buying industry.
Nearly 70 Chengdu delegation leaders analyzed the latest policies and trends of each Internet platform in the WeChat group.
The delegation leaders are most concerned about "de-heading".
Some team leaders analyzed that if community group buying platforms start to arrange rider delivery or open physical stores in the future, team leaders will become less useful.
He has a deep sense of anxiety: "We have no initiative, everything is in the hands of the platform." His plan is to buy back quality fresh food from major platforms and put it on the group buying platform he has established. .
However, community group buying has not slowed down the pace of development because of doubts and criticisms. On the contrary, more companies intend to test the waters on this track.
A senior Chengdu delegation leader said that two new Internet giants are preparing to start community group buying business. Their salesmen recently invited him to join the platform.
Community group buying first appeared in 2015.
In 2019, many community group buying platforms encountered operational crises. Some platforms withdrew sites and layoffs in multiple locations, and some platforms chose to merge.
The industry consensus is that the epidemic has boosted the development of community group buying.
According to media reports, during the epidemic, Prosperity Optimal's orders in Wuhan increased by several tens of times; some platforms covered thousands of communities in Wuhan, with more than 350,000 active users.
To this end, the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Commerce also coordinated buses and postal vehicles to transport goods purchased by the community.
A company that is developing community group buying claims that the 2020 epidemic has prompted the company to make up its mind to develop community e-commerce.
The company discovered the potential of the community group buying model from multiple dimensions: agricultural products are not selling well, farmers cannot buy cheap and good things; some urban residents have not met their grocery shopping needs; it is difficult to travel under extreme weather and the vegetable market is far away from residential areas.
In the summer of 2020, multiple Internet platforms entered the community group purchase.
In June, the Orange Heart Mini Program was officially launched for operation.
In July, Meituan launched Meituan Optimum, focusing on the sinking market.
In August, Pinduoduo's Duoduo Foods Mini Program was put into trial operation.
It is foreseeable that this silent vegetable market will continue to be noisy.
Encouraged by the salesman, the group of full-time mothers also joined the ranks of heads.
New users are trying to place orders on the Internet.
New cities appear on the territory of community group buying.
At the same time, relevant rules are also being introduced one after another. On the 22nd, the new "nine no" rules for community group buying were introduced. Prior to this, on November 10, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the "Guidelines for Antitrust in the Field of Platform Economy (Request Opinion Draft), which mentioned that the restrictions implemented by platform operators through incentives such as subsidies, discounts, concessions, traffic resource support, etc., may have a certain positive effect on the interests of operators, consumers and overall social welfare in the platform, but If the market competition has an obvious exclusion or restriction effect, it may be deemed to constitute a restricted transaction.
According to media reports, on December 9th, Nanjing Municipal Market Supervision and Administration took the lead in issuing the "E-commerce "Community Group Buying of Dishes" Compliance Operation Notice", requiring group leaders of community group buying of dishes to handle the corresponding market entities as appropriate. Registration, platform operators shall not implement low-price dumping at prices below cost, crowd out competitors to monopolize the market, and disrupt normal business order.
In an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, a staff member of a community group buying platform also believed that the development of community group buying should be gradual, so as not to seriously affect the livelihoods of small businessmen and hawkers, but also to simultaneously create many jobs.
The ongoing price war has disrupted the balance of the ecological chain.
He can't predict when this price war will end. "It can be half a year in the short term, 1 year in the medium term, and 3 years in the long term."
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Wei Xi Source: China Youth Daily