Internet thinking is being integrated into traditional animal husbandry
Since the birth of the Internet, every industry has undergone earth-shaking changes. And today, even the traditional animal husbandry industry is trying to connect with the Internet, beginning to transform toward or explore e-commerce. However, is every enterprise suited to doing e-commerce? What kind of animal products are suited to e-commerce? Which e-commerce format suits traditional animal husbandry? How should the relationship between online and offline be handled? When tradition collides with modernity, a series of questions follows one after another.
Laying out e-commerce is something that must be done
On the matter of laying out e-commerce in the traditional animal husbandry industry, Du Huizhong, one of the founders of “Douli · Pig Farming,” which is dedicated to the independent research and development of mobile application APPs for the animal husbandry industry, told reporters that as things stand now, the animal husbandry industry is absent from the Internet, so absent that even a tiny bit of action can make one stand out. “Right now is a good time for the animal husbandry industry to connect with Internet e-commerce.” Zhang Xuechun, the head of a certain company who originally started out in the Internet industry and has only just entered the animal husbandry industry less than two years ago, replied to reporters on WeChat: “There is definitely a lot to be done here; this is my direction.” Then he sent a text message to reporters saying: “This is a big topic; we need to meet and talk it over in detail.” Li Tiejun, chairman of Liaoning Weilan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., also told reporters: “E-commerce is a major trend, and both I and my enterprise are interested in trying it.”
At this point, it is believed that most agricultural and livestock enterprises that have already begun laying out e-commerce or are still watching will reach a consensus: it must be done. Just as Guo Wenjiang, chairman of Zhongnong Yingtai Group, instructed at an internal seminar: “As for the e-commerce model, it is the long-term development direction of the market in the future. We must absorb innovation and, as an important market development strategy of the group, lay it out and implement it comprehensively!”
Viewing animal husbandry through Internet thinking
Even with the direction made clear, the vast number of animal husbandry enterprises that have long struggled in traditional fields and rarely come into contact with the mobile Internet environment are still rather confused. Yang Xiangwang, general manager of a certain company, threw out a series of questions to reporters: Should merchants put prices online? How can products catch the eye of Internet users? With online business, are distributors still needed? And so on. In short, “how to do it” has become the focus of widespread attention.
In response, Du Huizhong analyzed: “The reason such questions arise is that everyone has not yet changed their thinking and is still using traditional thinking to do e-commerce. Should prices be posted? Just do a statistical analysis and see whether posting prices brings in more customers, or how many customers were lost by not posting prices. It is very simple. How to catch consumers' eyes? Merchants should not fix their gaze tightly on the product; they should look at what consumers need and what they care about, that is, where the users' pain points are.”
“One notable feature of Internet thinking is ‘consider everything from the user's perspective’; user value is the core. When doing the Internet, your thinking must definitely not be formulaic, seeking a standard answer for every question; rather, all forms can be drawn upon and integrated, and combined reasonably.” Du Huizhong stressed, “Everyone must seek a thorough reversal at the root of their thinking, and not merely change the soup without changing the medicine.”
In stepping into the Internet, above all avoid seeking quick success and instant benefits
“In the process of paying attention to e-commerce, I discovered a problem: when the animal husbandry industry does e-commerce, it must above all avoid seeking quick success and instant benefits.” Li Tiejun analyzed, “First, one must choose a suitable format: is it B2B, B2C, C2C, or O2O? Personally, I think that to smoothly achieve a perfect integration of online and offline, O2O+B2C can well serve as a way to do it finely and deeply, that is, using Weibo and WeChat marketing as auxiliary means, applying big data to precisely position, greatly reducing marketing costs, and gradually finding a profit model, but the specific operational techniques still need to be refined. In addition, under the Internet model, doing e-commerce without a brand as endorsement will make every step difficult. Therefore, we must also consider how to deeply develop the connotations of animal products and enhance their brand added value.”
“There is another limitation to the animal husbandry industry doing e-commerce, namely that the non-standardization of animal products is relatively severe. Animal products are not industrial goods; a machine tool or a mold can produce standardized products, whereas animals and plants produce naturally, which inevitably makes standardization very difficult, makes them more susceptible to natural risks that industry does not have, and also makes continuous product supply very problematic. Therefore, how to make an enterprise's own product standards fit users' psychological criteria on a certain platform and level is also something we must consider.” Li Tiejun said.