PhD Holder Sells Vegetables, Startup Valued at Over 100 Million Yuan, Failed Twice and Lost a Million Yuan

Xu Chuanchao has always been a step ahead. When he skipped grades consecutively and was admitted to university from a rural village in Shandong at the age of 16, some people predicted that this clever child would go on to earn a PhD. However, they guessed the beginning but not the ending. Xu Chuanchao did indeed start his PhD at the age of 23, but he ended up becoming a "vegetable seller."

This academic star who can run 5000 meters in 19 minutes applied his "lightning speed" to selling vegetables. Xu Chuanchao founded a fresh produce supermarket brand called "Jishixian" using an "internet + physical store" model. In less than two years, he opened 22 chain stores in downtown Tianjin. Today, "Jishixian" has become the largest single chain fresh produce supermarket in Tianjin, with daily revenue exceeding 1 million yuan and more than 370 employees.

Innovative "Farmer-Supermarket Direct Purchase" Model Truly Achieves Good Quality at Low Prices

Yantai apples, Longnan honey, Inner Mongolia potatoes, Yutian cabbage... In a Jishixian fresh produce supermarket on Xihu Road in Nankai District, Tianjin, more than 400 kinds of specialty agricultural products from all over the country are displayed in abundance. "This is a fresh produce supermarket built around ordinary people's kitchens, and its biggest feature is - cheap!" Xu Chuanchao pointed to a type of Guangxi mandarin orange as an example, saying these are mandarins sourced directly from the place of origin, costing only 1.9 yuan per jin, while at the Luojjiang Road vegetable market across the street, the same mandarins sell for 3.5 yuan per jin.

Why is the price difference so large? This is the biggest secret of Xu Chuanchao's "Jishixian" - truly achieving "farmer-supermarket direct purchase."

Simply put, "farmer-supermarket direct purchase" means connecting production bases directly to terminal stores, reducing intermediate links, lowering costs, and ensuring quality. Xu Chuanchao said that an apple originally had to go through 6 links - "place of origin - cooperative - long-distance transport - first-tier wholesale - second-tier wholesale - vegetable market" - before reaching the consumer's shopping basket. "Now by cutting out the intermediate links, farmers earn more and ordinary consumers benefit too."

It sounds easy, but ensuring all of this requires a completely new supply chain management system. This happens to draw on the specialty Xu Chuanchao studied during his PhD - logistics and supply chain. And what he is doing is something that is disrupting the entire industry. He is working on building an omni-channel supply chain management system for farmer-supermarket direct purchase with visualized cultivation and traceable processes. Ultimately, through big data analysis on the platform, it will guide refined planting and breeding at the places of origin, achieving supply-side reform of agricultural products.

Someone has already offered over 100 million yuan to acquire Xu Chuanchao's company, but he politely declined. "Building an agricultural products supermarket is merely the first step of entrepreneurship," Xu Chuanchao has a clear plan for the future. "My real goal is to build a supply chain financial services platform based on agricultural product circulation and reshape an industry."

Innovative "Farmer-Supermarket Direct Purchase" Model Truly Achieves Good Quality at Low Prices

Yantai apples, Longnan honey, Inner Mongolia potatoes, Yutian cabbage... In a Jishixian fresh produce supermarket on Xihu Road in Nankai District, Tianjin, more than 400 kinds of specialty agricultural products from all over the country are displayed in abundance. "This is a fresh produce supermarket built around ordinary people's kitchens, and its biggest feature is - cheap!" Xu Chuanchao pointed to a type of Guangxi mandarin orange as an example, saying these are mandarins sourced directly from the place of origin, costing only 1.9 yuan per jin, while at the Luojjiang Road vegetable market across the street, the same mandarins sell for 3.5 yuan per jin.

Why is the price difference so large? This is the biggest secret of Xu Chuanchao's "Jishixian" - truly achieving "farmer-supermarket direct purchase."

Simply put, "farmer-supermarket direct purchase" means connecting production bases directly to terminal stores, reducing intermediate links, lowering costs, and ensuring quality. Xu Chuanchao said that an apple originally had to go through 6 links - "place of origin - cooperative - long-distance transport - first-tier wholesale - second-tier wholesale - vegetable market" - before reaching the consumer's shopping basket. "Now by cutting out the intermediate links, farmers earn more and ordinary consumers benefit too."

It sounds easy, but ensuring all of this requires a completely new supply chain management system. This happens to draw on the specialty Xu Chuanchao studied during his PhD - logistics and supply chain. And what he is doing is something that is disrupting the entire industry. He is working on building an omni-channel supply chain management system for farmer-supermarket direct purchase with visualized cultivation and traceable processes. Ultimately, through big data analysis on the platform, it will guide refined planting and breeding at the places of origin, achieving supply-side reform of agricultural products.

Someone has already offered over 100 million yuan to acquire Xu Chuanchao's company, but he politely declined. "Building an agricultural products supermarket is merely the first step of entrepreneurship," Xu Chuanchao has a clear plan for the future. "My real goal is to build a supply chain financial services platform based on agricultural product circulation and reshape an industry."