The fruit unsalable dilemma: can Internet Plus turn it around

This year is a big year for Shanghai-grown fruit to "go online". Fruit from some orchards has opened shops on Yiguo.com and several other well-known e-commerce websites, the Malu "Chuanlun" brand organic grapes have opened a flagship store on Tmall, products of the "Taoyong Peach Industry Professional Cooperative" have gone onto Yihaodian, and Songjiang Cangqiao crystal pears have entered the "Disanxian" e-commerce platform.

When it comes to Shanghai-grown fruit, its fame always seems rather limited. Although local fruit has already formed more than 100 quality brands, 10 of which have become Shanghai Famous Brands, citizens' awareness of quality fruit is insufficient, and since the orchards are located in the distant suburbs, constrained by barriers of time and space, citizens also do not know how to conveniently buy authentic fruit.

Using the Internet is a new way of thinking for regulating market supply and demand and connecting orchards with consumers. Within one week, the Municipal Administration of Greening and City Appearance launched two "Internet Plus fruit" measures -- cooperating with Dingding.com to launch the "Youyuanbao" mobile application covering 63 orchards, and using the "Haoguosong" WeChat platform to sell quality Shanghai-grown fruit. How effective are they, and can they win citizens' recognition?

Why does "Youyuanbao" not sell fruit

The Municipal Administration of Greening and City Appearance and Dingding.com launched the "Youyuanbao" mobile application; the Android version is already available for download, and the iOS version will be released in mid-August. Want to eat quality Shanghai peaches, pears, grapes, blueberries, kiwifruit? "Youyuanbao" helps you get it done. It includes information on 63 "Safe and Quality Trusted Orchards" in the city, including main varieties, maturity periods, sales prices, and discount information. However, you cannot buy any kind of fruit through this application.

The department concerned said that adding a sales function to the application poses no technical difficulty, and the main reason for not selling fruit is consideration of the government's role positioning, providing only information services. In view of citizens' calls, later versions will add a fruit-selling function, but the method still needs study, and it may also use links that redirect to other e-commerce sites.

"Youyuanbao's" partner Dingding.com is known for location-based services. The introduction to "Youyuanbao" says this: users can use GPS navigation to drive directly to orchards and buy quality fruit. "Youyuanbao's" other partner is the Municipal Park Management Center, rather than the forestry department that manages large numbers of economic fruit forests. It seems that "Youyuanbao's" positioning is not direct fruit sales.

Forestry department uses "micro-business" for promotion

Last Saturday, the 2015 Shanghai Summer Quality Fruit Promotion Event was held at the Wujiaochang sunken plaza. Before that, the Municipal Forestry Station, together with the high-end fruit sales platform "Haoguosong", launched a "Safe and Quality Trusted Orchards" special zone on its WeChat sales platform. Citizens can buy quality fruit from the city with a light touch on their mobile phones, and citizens within the Outer Ring can enjoy free delivery on designated dates.

On July 13, the "Haoguosong" WeChat platform launched the first batch of 100 promotional fruit gift boxes from "Safe and Quality Trusted Orchards"; due to the relatively large discount, sales after launch were good. On July 23, the "Haoguosong" WeChat platform launched the second batch of quality Shanghai-grown fruit gift boxes, namely 200 boxes of Jinshan flat peaches, a nationally protected geographical indication product, and 200 boxes of Jiading Malu grapes.

Using third-party e-commerce platforms to connect with sales of local quality fruit is a relatively "safe" method for government departments. However, apart from this short-term promotion, the product catalog on the "Haoguosong" WeChat platform has no other Shanghai-grown fruit on sale, only fruit from other parts of the Yangtze River Delta such as Wuxi Yangshan honey peaches and Zhejiang Haichang honey pears.

Can "Internet Plus" government services play a role

In addition, people are also concerned about whether "Internet Plus" government services can play a certain role when local fruit falls into problems such as being unsalable. Citrus, peaches, pears, and grapes are Shanghai's four major cultivated fruit tree species, with citrus accounting for 9.5 mu, the most planted. The forestry department revealed that this year citrus happens to be in an off year and will clearly decrease in production compared with last year, with a reduction of about 30 to 40 percent. However, in recent years citrus has from time to time been unsalable, shipped to major parks for low-price promotions, and even the sight of fruit farmers cutting down trees to plant other crops is still fresh in memory.

Judging from the local orchards and fruit included by "Youyuanbao" and "Haoguosong", grapes and other fruits account for a large proportion. Malu grapes have long been famous and recognized by the market; facing the various competing fresh food e-commerce platforms, perhaps they are not "worried about marrying out". It is instead fruits such as citrus that have always had low brand awareness, although technical indicators such as sweetness have improved somewhat. When unsalable situations occur, individual fruit farmers have no good solution.

Eliminating information asymmetry, organizing fruit farmers to adapt to the market, and building channels connecting with e-commerce -- these fit the government's role positioning. Perhaps when market supply and demand need regulating, the "Internet Plus" government services for fruit can have greater room to play.