How Fresh Agricultural Products Can Embrace the Internet Era
E-commerce heavyweights discuss together -- how fresh agricultural products can embrace the internet
After the initial enthusiasm, the bottleneck for agricultural product e-commerce, especially fresh produce e-commerce, has become increasingly prominent. Recently, at the second China Agricultural Product E-commerce Conference held in Weifang, a number of well-known e-commerce heavyweights gathered to give keynote speeches and jointly explore the development path of agricultural product e-commerce.
Logistics is the biggest challenge
"For e-commerce of agricultural products, especially fresh products, the biggest challenge is logistics." In the view of Zhang Heping, chairman of Gongtianxia Specialty Products Network, logistics costs can account for nearly 50% of all costs, and when combined with packaging costs, this seriously hinders the development of agricultural product e-commerce.
In the transportation of fresh goods, many e-commerce platforms have made bold attempts. As an emerging fresh produce e-commerce platform, MissFresh has built dozens of warehouses in Beijing close to living areas, business districts, schools and other places where customers are concentrated. "Building warehouses close to customer groups facilitates logistics, and costs will be greatly reduced. The fixed cost of building warehouses can be shared; the larger the scale, the smaller the shared cost. In this way, my delivery cost also comes down, and it will be fresher. The customer experience is also very good. Only two hours after placing an order, you can get the seafood and fruit you want," said Zeng Bin, co-founder and COO of MissFresh.
SF Express, a long-established logistics enterprise, while engaging in fresh produce e-commerce, has also made its own attempts by leveraging its existing logistics advantages. Lian Zhijun, president of SF Best, believes that in fresh produce e-commerce, home delivery and experience are two major challenges. SF Express has adopted a combination of online and offline forms, upgrading cold-chain logistics while building stores to give customers the best home delivery and experience.
"In the logistics link, we emphasize full-process cold chain and rapid logistics. At present, SF Best already has four cold-chain warehouses in Beijing, Jiaxing, Guangzhou and Xiamen. More cold-chain warehouses will be promoted in the future. So far, cold-chain products have been delivered to 105 major cities, and with the strength of SF Express they are sent nationwide," said Lian Zhijun.
Lack of good promotion channels
"Because there are a large number of illegal vendors, in Beijing, Shanghai and some large cities in Zhejiang, much of the mutton eaten is not pure; mixed mutton disrupts mutton quality. This is our biggest confusion now," said Zhang Junming, vice president of Inner Mongolia Xiaoweiyang Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd., helplessly. There is also mutton of good quality whose price could originally be 50 yuan per kilogram, but by the time it reaches the consumer's table it has reached 100 yuan, and the meat is no longer fresh enough.
What Xiaoweiyang Animal Husbandry faces is precisely the helplessness of most agricultural practitioners. Because farmers have no bargaining power, they become the link with the thinnest profit in the chain. Because buyer customers are unstable, plus the layers of intermediate links, the price in consumers' hands remains high.
"This year's watermelons in Shandong did not sell well for farmers; if they cannot be sold, they may rot in the fields. When we got them, one jin was only 5 mao, but the planting cost was 7 mao, so farmers sold at a loss," said Chen Gongwei, CEO of Guolele. But this year the watermelon market was not that bad; through us, by the time they reached consumers, they became 4 yuan per kilogram.
In the view of Zeng Bin, COO of MissFresh, China does not lack good agricultural products at all, but due to the lack of good platforms and channels, there is no way to recommend China's good agricultural products to consumers.
"So fresh produce e-commerce also bears another responsibility, which is careful selection. For example, for pork, I will guarantee that at this point in time, you will only buy the best products from me. Comprehensive yet refined goods can also allow for good customer connection," said Zeng Bin.
Providing consumers with a rapid experience
Facing the ever-expanding user base of fresh produce e-commerce, Wang Yang, vice president of Dmall, believes that precise customer service is the key to grasping customers. "For different customer groups, we have made two models, morning market and evening market. The morning market targets the aunties at home, and the evening market targets white-collar workers or young staff, giving them more considerate service," said Wang Yang.
In order to solve the last 500 meters of fresh produce delivery and for a better customer experience, Shixing Fresh adopted a method of self-service delivery through cold cabinets inside residential communities. "We are goods waiting for people, not people waiting for goods. Traditional delivery methods require constantly communicating with users about delivery time and how to deliver, and it is still difficult to keep things fresh. In Suzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, we have set up unattended cold cabinets in communities for self-service delivery," said Zhang Hongliang, founder and CEO of Shixing Fresh.
Du Fei, CEO of Tuotuo Gongshe, believes that the principles of quality, environment, small scale, place of origin and geographical indication, values and transparency -- these six principles are the standards that determine whether a fresh product moves toward e-commerce. Fresh produce e-commerce needs to understand the needs of the internet population and the characteristics of its own products in order to remain invincible in the fierce competition of e-commerce.
"For example, Weifang's radishes, those with large output and low prices, can be consumed nearby and taken to farmers' markets. High-quality premium radishes that meet the above six principles can be sold online through planning and packaging," Du Fei believes. Agricultural products without profit and without traditional characteristics cannot truly embrace the internet.