Unsold Grapes Spread Their Fragrance Far and Wide: Village Officials and Chamber of Commerce Join Forces to Help Sales

“Is that Boss Zhang? This is the Luzhou Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce. Pack me 50 boxes of Muscat Hamburg grapes, and I'll drive over this afternoon to pick them up……” On the morning of August 23, Zhang Angui of the “Xiulinxiang” vineyard in Gaodong Village, Mianhuapo Town, Naxi District, Luzhou City, received another order call, and then happily went to the vineyard to get “goods” ready for the customer.

Little did anyone know that not long before, Zhang Angui had been staring at his vineyard full of grapes with a “sigh.” Because in this season, grapes from all around were flooding the market, and his vineyard's grapes, due to poor market access, information, and sales channels, had once left a large amount of ripe grapes unsold, worrying Zhang Angui so much that he did not know what to do.

Expanding Scale Worries Fruit Grower: Grapes Face Difficulty Selling

Walking into the “Xiulinxiang” vineyard, only 4 km from Naxi's urban area, rows of large trellises are covered with grapevines. As an autumn breeze blows, the leaves roll and ripple in waves, and many vines no longer bear grapes. In one corner of the vineyard, lifting a white paper bag reveals fully ripe Muscat Hamburg grapes gleaming in the sunlight like translucent red agate. Purple Muscat Hamburg, creamy-white Cream Muscat, blue Summer Black, pink Red Milk……

It is understood that the “Xiulinxiang” vineyard is a family farm integrating fruit growing, leisure, sightseeing, picking, and fishing. In 2011, Muscat Hamburg and Cream Muscat grapes were introduced from Shanghai. In 2012, the planting area was only just over 50 mu, and by 2016 it had expanded to more than 200 mu, of which just over 50 mu were in production and bearing fruit, with an annual output of nearly 150,000 jin of grapes. The varieties include early-ripening, mid-ripening, and late-ripening types.

In the interview, Zhang Angui said his grapes are different from others, as they are newly introduced high-quality varieties. On the one hand, the “Xiulinxiang” vineyard is deep in surrounded mountains, far from the urban area, free of industrial pollution, with large day-night temperature differences, fresh air, lingering mist, and excellent water quality. On the other hand, it uses modern agricultural production techniques such as pollution-free cultivation, rain-shelter greenhouses, precision drip irrigation, solar insect-killing lamps, and insect-proof nets, without using ripening agents, growth hormones, or swelling agents, and chooses relatively costly natural fertilizers such as farmyard manure and oil cake for topdressing. The grapes produced have a fresh, sweet taste, pure color, rich fragrance, and a long aftertaste.

“I heard your grapes weren't selling? There aren't many left now, right!” Seeing my puzzlement, a beaming Zhang Angui said, “Before, they sold for 20 yuan/jin, and with small volumes they sold quickly. Now that the scale has grown bigger, I fell into unsold stock. Seeing others selling so briskly, I felt really anxious. Later, thanks to the college-graduate village officials and the chamber of commerce backing me up, otherwise this year's grape losses would have been huge! It would have been terrible!” Pointing to the bagged grapes in the field, Zhang Angui said only the last 1,000-plus jin remained now, and he was no longer worried.

Village Officials Help Bring Customers: Happy to Be Fruit “Image Ambassadors”

“The village officials took photos to show off the grapes, posted on WeChat and Weibo, packed and boxed them……” Whenever Zhang Angui mentions how the village officials helped promote grape sales some time ago, he still feels grateful.

During the activity “Going to the Grassroots, Listening to People's Voices, Solving Difficult Problems,” village officials in Mianhuapo Town such as Liu Jialin and Tao Wensi, upon hearing that “Xiulinxiang” grapes were unsold, immediately formulated assistance measures. Using weekend time, they went into the vineyard and divided the work: some collected information on grape quantity, varieties, and quality, while others handled picking and packing. By taking promotional photos, opening WeChat and Weibo accounts, and setting up online and micro stores, they served as “image spokespeople” for “Xiulinxiang” grapes and addressed “shortcomings” such as narrow sales channels.

“Using village officials' advantages and specialties, ‘showing off’ our hometown's beautiful scenery, ‘displaying’ our hometown's delicious food, and happily serving as our hometown's ‘image ambassador’ to help Mianhuapo build ‘one village, one brand’ is my honor.” Speaking of taking photos of hometown grapes and posting them on WeChat Moments to attract customers, Tao Wensi, a college-graduate village official in the town, humbly told me.

The effect was immediate. It is understood that in the last week of July alone, several village officials in Mianhuapo Town published more than 100 pieces of grape sales information, contacted more than 30 customers, and helped sign more than 20 sales orders.

Chamber of Commerce Sets the Stage to “Put on a Big Show”: Heavy Fruit on the Branches “Need Not Worry About Finding a Buyer”

Because of abundant rainfall and sufficient warmth and sunshine this year, grapes everywhere bore heavily. How could a new path be opened to the market, turning “unsold” grapes into “hot goods” and small grapes into big “golden fruit,” achieving both high yield and increased income?

There are always more solutions than difficulties. After learning that “Xiulinxiang” grapes were unsold, the Mianhuapo Town Chamber of Commerce promptly used the chamber's platform advantages of broad connections and wide information to help Zhang Angui plan and carry out various promotional activities, helping sell grapes through methods such as holding grape-picking festivals, inviting members to taste for free, and offering member discounts.

In addition, the Mianhuapo Town Chamber of Commerce also organized e-commerce planning experts to perform “ surgery” focused on brand packaging, e-commerce platform construction, marketing strategy, express logistics, and other aspects for Muscat Hamburg-type and Cream Muscat-type grapes.

“First, the packaging boxes were reformed. Previously grapes were packed in only a single size of 10-20 jin. If that size of box was used, shipping was expensive. Now they have changed the packaging boxes into different sizes such as 3-5 jin and 8-10 jin, to suit different consumer groups.” Chen Yan, secretary-general of the Mianhuapo Town Chamber of Commerce, said that in brand building, a quality traceability system was established, displaying Gaodong Village's resource environment and ecological planting process through e-commerce platforms, billboards, and other means, so that city residents can buy genuine “reassuring fruit.”

To solve problems such as the short storage period of grapes and easy damage during transport, it is reported that for major customers, the main approach is to use the town and village e-commerce platform to release product information in a timely manner and have customers come to purchase on site. For general consumers, taking advantage of the village's opportunity to develop rural tourism, signs are set up along the highway, and through the chamber of commerce's WeChat Moments, QQ groups, and other channels, word spreads from one to ten and ten to a hundred, bringing more city residents to the vineyard to experience the joy of picking. For those requiring mailing, coordination is made with the district's centrally developed e-commerce express logistics for centralized delivery. In addition, methods such as farmer-supermarket docking and physical store sales are used to let “Xiulinxiang” grapes fly out of Gaodong Village.

“To expand brand awareness, the next step will be to strengthen the construction of the quality certification system and enter the public brand of agricultural specialty products, striving to gain ‘a place’ in major shopping malls such as Huitong and Moore.” said Yi Bin, president of the Mianhuapo Town Chamber of Commerce.

“There are more phone orders. The largest order received so far is 2,000 jin, and the farthest orders are from Beijing and Shanghai. Moreover, the grapes' ‘value’ has risen, from 20 yuan per jin to 25 yuan.” Zhang Angui said that at present, “Xiulinxiang” grapes have sold more than 140,000 jin, achieving sales revenue of more than 2.8 million yuan. The grapes that were once unsold are once again bringing “sweetness” far and wide, and fruit grower Zhang Angui is happy in his heart.