E-commerce expert Yang Lin opens the door to prosperity with an online store

Yang Lin (left) is bagging and packing local specialty products

Sweet potatoes, radishes, peanuts, potatoes, vermicelli... Nowadays, green, pollution-free agricultural products are highly favored by city residents and have even become the "new favorite" of online stores. In Yuxi Town, Tongnan District, Chongqing, there is an e-commerce expert - Yang Lin. He has already opened three online stores on Taobao and Alibaba - "Tongnan District Jiulong E-commerce," "Chunliang Farmhouse Store," and "Tongnan District Jinhong E-commerce" - specializing in selling Tongnan's local specialty products, with annual sales exceeding 1 million yuan.

Spotting a business opportunity, he opened an online store to sell "local goods"

Yang Lin, 34 years old this year, has only a junior high school education and is an ordinary farmer from Jindui Village, Yuxi Town. After getting married, he and his wife Li Haiyan rented a shop in Yuxi Town to sell cement and steel bars. By chance, Yang Lin searched for keywords related to local specialty products on Taobao and found that many places were selling local specialty products online. "Nowadays everyone likes to eat green, ecological food, and online shopping is becoming more and more popular. Opening an online store to sell local specialty products should be very profitable." That was what he thought to himself.

He acted as soon as he decided. The next day, Yang Lin bought a new computer and specifically learned how to open a store on Taobao. In April 2014, Yang Lin officially registered his first online store on Taobao, "Tongnan District Jiulong E-commerce."

Yang Lin took photos of peanuts, sweet potatoes, radishes, potatoes, and more produced in his hometown and put them online. These green, natural "local goods" quickly attracted people's attention. Within a few days, the first sale came. Then the second, the third... Orders kept increasing. After selling out his own goods, Yang Lin began carrying a bag and going door to door to buy fresh agricultural products such as sweet potatoes and peanuts.

Good at figuring things out, his business became more and more prosperous

When he was first preparing the Taobao store, Yang Lin had no time to run the cement and steel bar business. His wife was not very supportive and often argued with him, saying that selling things online was a matter for young people and that a grown man had no future doing this. But Yang Lin was optimistic about the prospects of online stores and persisted.

"When I first started, there were few orders. Every day I had to carry agricultural products on a shuttle bus to the urban area, then call a courier to pick them up." Gradually, as orders increased, Yang Lin bought a tricycle and delivered goods on time no matter wind or rain. After a few months, Yang Lin had lost a lot of weight.

Running around like this was not a long-term solution. Not only were the costs high, but he was also exhausted. Yang Lin started thinking hard. Someone reminded him to cooperate with a logistics company. "Right, that's a good idea." He happily went to the city to cooperate with logistics companies. Now he has reached cooperation agreements with STO Express, ZTO Express, and China Post Express. Couriers pick up goods at his door on time every day, which has made things much easier for him.

"In online sales, product quality and service quality are very important. You must be trustworthy. Otherwise, if the online store's reputation is poor, the business cannot be done." Yang Lin told the reporter that many of the local specialty products sold in the online store now follow contract farming. He places orders with growers in advance, and after the harvest the growers actively deliver the goods to his door. This not only ensures product quality, but also solves the problem of selling agricultural products and helps people increase their income.

"At the beginning I was greedy for size and completeness and gathered more than 30 kinds of products, thinking that more varieties would naturally mean more sales, but in the end I still could not make money." Yang Lin said that later, based on local specialty products and sales volume, he gradually reduced the varieties to more than 10, mainly selling the local specialty products of Tongnan and Yuxi. The online store's products became more and more refined, and business became better and better.

Next goal: build a brand and win more consumers

Now, Yang Lin's three online stores are all doing well, with average daily visitors reaching about 1,000, average daily transactions at about 200 orders, and monthly sales exceeding 100,000 yuan.

"Riding the east wind of 'Internet Plus,' I have also found a better way to make money." Speaking of future development goals, Yang Lin believes that the most important thing is to establish the brand image of Tongnan's local specialty products. This goal requires all e-commerce entrepreneurs in the district to reach a unified consensus, not to blindly engage in a "price war," but to start with ensuring quality and providing good service. Only in this way can Tongnan's local specialty products truly go out and win the trust and favor of more consumers.