E-commerce going to the countryside must not just focus on spreading itself thin, but also on deep cultivation

This year's "Double 11", rural e-commerce has become a major new highlight. As farmers' income levels rise and living conditions improve, the massive rural consumer market of 600 million people is becoming increasingly attractive. The rural market with huge potential has become a battleground that businesses must contest.

While the prospects look promising, the reality is somewhat "bony". Rural network communications and other infrastructure are still relatively lagging, the shortcomings in logistics and distribution are obvious, and cultivating online consumption habits still takes time... A series of difficulties make it hard for many e-commerce enterprises to deploy their strengths in rural areas, especially in the economically underdeveloped rural areas of the central and western regions.

If they do not leverage their first-mover advantage and rapidly expand their points and coverage, they can easily fall behind in the competition in the rural e-commerce market and make a strategic mistake. But blindly "spreading the pancake" and subsidizing for a long time is not a long-term solution either. E-commerce enterprises going to the countryside are very conflicted.

So, in order to improve their situation, some e-commerce enterprises engage in selective operations. For industrial goods going to the countryside with relatively high price differentials, they are very enthusiastic and invest heavily; for agricultural products going to the city, which farmers care about to a large extent more, because the rate of return is low, they mostly just do a bit of symbolic "signboard project".

Some other enterprises are keen on rapidly "staking out territory". A few enterprises even resort to petty cleverness and petty tricks to attract attention, and use a human-wave tactic plus bewitching language to acquire users. In the "Internet Plus" era, having scale effects can reduce operating costs, and can also "have wool grow on pigs", obtaining considerable advertising revenue, occupying funds, and generating revenue, etc. These enterprises simply want to "spread the pancake" as quickly as possible, and do not consider much or do enough about how to let farmers get more convenience and real benefits.

From the enterprises' perspective, adopting the above business strategies is what survival and development require, and as long as they do not violate laws or regulations, it is beyond reproach. However, if enterprises are solely keen on earning quick money and hot money, it is not advisable for the sustainable development of the e-commerce market and e-commerce enterprises. This fertile land of the rural e-commerce market currently needs more "deep cultivation". Among this, the role of enterprises is crucial, and in some aspects even irreplaceable.

For example, cultivating farmers' online consumption and sales habits as quickly as possible is a foundational project for accelerating the development of rural e-commerce. There are many left-behind people in rural areas, many of whom do not understand the internet and are accustomed to "cash on one hand, goods on the other". To activate this huge group of farmers participating in e-commerce, of course the government needs to play an important role, but enterprises also need to act proactively. Enterprises' rural promoters, rural partners, and other knowledgeable people can help farmers make purchases and sales on their behalf, and can teach farmers hand by hand how to shop online and how to promote and sell agricultural products online. By letting farmers personally experience the substantive benefits brought by e-commerce, they can more quickly and better develop online consumption and sales habits.

Industry insiders have a consensus that the current rural e-commerce market most lacks a complete e-commerce ecosystem. Not only the foundational project of participating entities, but also key projects in rural e-commerce ecosystem construction such as quickly making up for the shortcomings in rural logistics require enterprises to "deeply cultivate".

Of course, "deep cultivation" is not an easy matter. It requires sustained investment, time and patience. Enterprises talk business in business. From a commercial perspective, "deep cultivation" is not a losing deal either.

Not to mention that in the long run, once the rural e-commerce market is well cultivated, "when the big river has water, the small river is full", and enterprises "will have meat to eat". Even from the perspective of short-term operations, "deep cultivation" can also achieve good returns. Many e-commerce enterprises organize online sales of local specialty agricultural products, with both sales volume and price increasing, achieving considerable spread income. And from a strategic level, whoever can, through "deep cultivation" of the rural e-commerce market, break through bottlenecks, open up a sustainable business model and quickly replicate it, can occupy the commanding heights in the current fierce market competition. "Deep cultivation" produces benefits, "spreading the pancake" expands scale, and enterprises can win the future of the rural e-commerce market.