The hidden concerns behind the low-price competition of domestic fruits cannot be ignored

Now, in order to help imported fruits seize the market, merchants are rolling out various discount promotions, which puts pressure on lower-priced domestic fruits. Merchants often make domestic fruits sell better by lowering their prices. Especially merchants who sell domestic fruits online, often because they focus on short-term gains, engage in practices such as passing off inferior goods as good ones and waging price wars.

Xu Zhi, a fruit merchant who sells kiwifruit online, told reporters that although he takes orders and ships goods every day and is busy beyond measure, he cannot feel happy. "Now for every kilogram of kiwifruit I sell, not counting labor, I lose 1 yuan. Prices in the market are very transparent. If you do not lower the price, consumers will go and choose a cheaper one." Xu Zhi told reporters gloomily. In order to recover funds and win repeat customers, Xu Zhi can only choose to trade low prices for market share.

Xu Zhi said that the current purchase price of kiwifruit in the market is about 7 yuan per kilogram. Adding costs such as loss, labor, cold storage and logistics, the selling price must reach at least 9 yuan per kilogram to break even. But many merchants, in order to occupy the market as quickly as possible, do not hesitate to sell below cost, causing abnormal competition among peers, which will ultimately harm the interests of the industry.

And low-price competition also directly makes it difficult to guarantee the quality of kiwifruit. Opening the product reviews of some online stores, reporters saw many comments such as "the kiwifruit tastes ordinary" and "this year's kiwifruit is obviously not as big as last year's." "If this kind of low-price competition continues, over time it will be detrimental to the development of the kiwifruit industry," Xu Zhi said.

Despite the hidden concerns of low-price competition, online sales have already become a main channel for domestic fruits to seek a marketing way out. In interviews, reporters also found that in addition to fruit e-commerce platforms, WeChat platform transactions have also for a time become a fashionable way for consumers to buy fruit. "A while ago, every day when I opened WeChat Moments, the whole screen was full of fruit advertisements." One consumer said it seemed that many friends on WeChat had become fruit distributors.

In the past two years, WeChat business has become an important sales channel for fruit. "Now I can sell more than 500 kilograms of kiwifruit every day, and 70 percent of that is sold through friends on WeChat." Another kiwifruit distributor, Lin Xiao, said that more than 20 friends act as her agents and help her "shout out" on WeChat.

Some office workers also use their after-work time to start fruit businesses on WeChat. "Friends from other places often ask me to buy Yantai large cherries on their behalf. I thought this was a good business opportunity, so I started selling large cherries on WeChat." Resident Lin Hua said that doing a fruit distribution business only requires posting promotional advertisements in Moments and then shipping the goods. It does not take up too much time, and every month it can bring a quite considerable extra income.