Unsold red dates sold nationwide by the post-80s generation

With the help of e-commerce platforms such as WeChat and Taobao

"Linxian has a huge amount of red dates that cannot be sold, and the interests of date farmers are suffering. Consumers are urgently needed to step in and help them solve the problem of unsold dates..." Hu Zhicheng, a young man from Linxian, spoke of the massive backlog of red dates in his hometown with anxiety written all over his face. For nearly a month, Hu Zhicheng and several fellow townspeople from Linxian have been actively working to sell their hometown's red dates. With the help of e-commerce platforms, they have already sold 800 tons of unsold Linxian red dates to all parts of the country.

Hu Zhicheng has a bright smile. Although he still looks like a university student, he has actually been in the working world for four years. In 2011, while still on campus, he used new media and the internet to help farmers in his hometown sell red dates, gaining valuable experience. Last year, Linxian had a bumper harvest of red dates and once again faced difficulties in selling them. Hu Zhicheng and several young friends from Linxian formed the "Mr. Date" agricultural assistance team. These post-80s members made full use of e-commerce platforms such as WeChat, Taobao and group-buying websites to sell Linxian's unsold red dates. Various internet marketing methods became powerful promotional tools for Linxian red dates in the hands of Hu Zhicheng and his partners. Over the past month, the "Mr. Date" team achieved impressive sales results: "About 25,000 kg of red dates are sold to all parts of the country every day, greatly easing the date farmers' urgent problems."

During the marketing process, the "Mr. Date" team also encountered many difficulties. The first was the large shipping volume. There were buyers for the red dates, and sales were so high that the dates could not be shipped out in time. After careful study, the "Mr. Date" team decided to ship from Linxian every day and sort and dispatch packages in Taiyuan. Now, the "Mr. Date" team's daily processing capacity has reached 30,000 orders, with 75,000 kg shippable. Secondly, the large shipping volume raised the corresponding demand for working capital, and insufficient working capital also became a frequently encountered problem.

"But what we fear most is negative reviews," Hu Zhicheng said. Compared with ** red dates, which have a good market image, Yellow River beach dates are unimpressive in appearance: small and blackish, sweet with a sour note. Many customers think the red dates have gone moldy and immediately apply for a return. Some customers even say this is using the banner of benefiting farmers to deceive consumers, which leaves them not knowing whether to laugh or cry. In fact, although Yellow River beach dates are plain in appearance, they are highly nutritious. They are rich in phosphorus, and the accumulation of sugar is what makes the dates black.

"Helping farmers sell red dates cannot rely on our strength alone; it takes the power of all sides to solve the problem," Hu Zhicheng said. Although many teams like "Mr. Date" are helping farmers in Linxian, nearly 50 million kg of red dates in Linxian remain unsold. He also hopes more e-commerce businesses will join in to help Linxian date farmers solve their difficulties and use internet platforms to open up sales channels for Shanxi agricultural products.