Is it really true that 99% of fresh produce O2O businesses don't make money?
Now if you open a search engine and type in “fresh produce O2O”, the page that pops up is mostly filled with negative words like “losses, bankruptcy, reflection, failure summaries”. Looking around, it seems fresh produce O2O is not viewed favorably. Yet Yuan Lei did things differently, staying true to his original aspiration and keeping his feet on the ground. Mr. Yuan brought every customer a sense of being moved, and also brought every customer what they needed.
[Profile]Yuan Lei, founder of Yuanxiansheng, started out initially with a single category of imported fruit, and has grown to date to involve vegetables, fresh flowers, desserts, snacks and other multiple models operating side by side, serving customers in the local Xiamen market. His philosophy is to center on customers' needs, so that everything customers need in daily life is available in one place.
Now if you open a search engine and type in “fresh produce O2O”, the page that pops up is mostly filled with negative words like “losses, bankruptcy, reflection, failure summaries”. Looking around, it seems fresh produce O2O is not viewed favorably. “That is what the e-commerce big shots want, to build a big-pattern platform, while I pursue small and beautiful,” says Mr. Yuan Lei, today's guest of the Nan Cai interview. Taking fruit as his entry point, from 0 to 20,000 customers, how did he make his “Yuanxiansheng” small and beautiful?
The highest quality
In Mr. Yuan's view, so-called fresh produce e-commerce businesses have merely set up a framework to attract investment and over-package their products, while neglecting the most important thing, quality. Why should fruit worth five yuan per jin sell for twenty yuan per jin after packaging? He does not play at crowdfunding, does not play at group buying, and does not play at price-slashing. What he plays at is quality. “I believe what my customers want is not saving those ten-odd yuan, but quality. If they buy a poor-quality product because it is cheap, then the customer will absolutely never buy it a second time. That is a one-time purchase, not a customer's need.”
What is the customer's need? To use high-quality products to elevate a high-quality life. “Suppose today there are two products for me to choose from, one with a bit higher profit and one with a bit higher quality. I will definitely choose the latter. As a customer, you may not be able to feel the difference, but that is fine. I would rather take the best.” For the fruits and vegetables he sells, Mr. Yuan requires them to be original and natural. “Vegetables on the market look fresh in the morning, but by evening they have wilted. This is because many vegetables have been soaked in chemicals, but my requirement is that vegetables should look exactly as they did when picked, and absolutely nothing should be soaked into them. They may look less attractive, but health matters most.”
There is a psychology in people: once they come into contact with something good, it is like a window has been opened that can never be closed again. For three years, Yuanxiansheng has kept providing customers with the best quality. “I don't even need to advertise. Our products are the advertisement.”
The heaviest model
“Big platforms like JD.com and Taobao use the most traditional express delivery for their logistics and distribution, but we have our own fleet, our own trained drivers and delivery staff, with two concentrated dispatch rounds a day. This is our O2O model.” Mr. Yuan requires his delivery staff to be able to set aside orders they cannot take on, but once they take on an order and it leaves the door, they must see it through to the end. If the customer asks them to wait, they wait. If the customer asks them to deliver it upstairs, even if the elevator has a power outage, they must carry it up. “When I encounter a home with only elderly people and children, I also have them ask one extra question: is there any trash that needs to be taken downstairs? Because old residential compounds have no elevators.” Any delivery staff praised by a customer through customer service feedback is directly rewarded with a 100-yuan red envelope.
This is Mr. Yuan's model: cultivate a group of delivery staff with good conduct rather than outsourcing responsibility to express delivery companies. “What customers want is respect for them. The conduct of our delivery staff is absolutely different from that of outside couriers and errand-running companies.”
Not only that, Yuanxiansheng's delivery staff are assigned by district, so for customers they are familiar faces and can get along well with them. “Express delivery companies have high turnover and change staff every few days. If a stranger appeared at your home every few days, wouldn't you also feel unsafe?”
The best service
“I often tell my customer service staff, do not let one or two customers break our standards and cause our overall image to decline. We control principled issues well, and if it is our problem, we must bear it to the end.” Not being allowed to lose their temper at customers is Mr. Yuan's requirement for customer service, drivers and even the entire team.
Mr. Yuan said that once a customer bought eight jin of mangosteen and kept clamoring that the mangosteens were all spoiled, demanding a full refund. “That night I had a driver take eight jin of mangosteen to him and apologize in person. It is impossible for eight jin of mangosteen to all be spoiled, but what we must achieve is a clear conscience.” This is the breadth of mind and bearing of a boss and even of a team.
“I also often tell my delivery staff, what kind of customer you serve is not something you can choose, but once you take on a task, you must see it through to the end. If you run into something you cannot resolve, fine, report it back to headquarters, and headquarters will send someone over. Even if in the end no one is left, I will drive the car myself to deliver it to the customer.” Mr. Yuan said that in order to deliver goods to customers, once a delivery staff member was still stuck on the Haicang Bridge at exactly the moment of the New Year countdown. This is the awareness and responsibility of a team.
You ask why people succeed. There is always a reason. Yuanxiansheng may not compare with some big e-commerce companies, but perhaps it is exactly what Mr. Yuan calls “small and beautiful”. Staying true to his original aspiration and keeping his feet on the ground, Mr. Yuan brought every customer a sense of being moved, and also brought every customer what they needed.