Specialty vegetables take WeChat Moments by storm, becoming a hot online topic

Recently, at the specialty vegetable base of the Qingniao Fruit and Vegetable Cooperative in Zhumiao Village, Xinxing Town, Zhucheng City, Shandong Province, a reporter witnessed firsthand and experienced the strong atmosphere of "WeChat business" leading a new farming trend.

Wang Shiliang, the "head" of the Qingniao Fruit and Vegetable Cooperative in Zhucheng City, is not tall, keeps a neat and handsome crew cut, has slightly dark skin, and wears a simple, honest smile on his face whenever he speaks. It was hard for the reporter to connect the man before him with someone who had once been an IT industry "white-collar worker" and a graduate of Shanghai University of Science and Technology.

In the cold-warm specialty vegetable greenhouse of Qingniao Farm, an "African visitor" called ice plant stood out especially. "Because this vegetable is covered all over with tiny 'ice crystals,' it looks as if frost is hanging on the leaves. Since it originated in Africa, it is called 'African ice plant.' Its leaves are thick and juicy, and because it is rich in natural plant salts, its fresh fragrance carries a faint salty taste..." Wang Shiliang said. He added that in this season there is little in the greenhouse, and only the ice plant looks decent; the others, such as corm fennel, purple kohlrabi, purple-red lettuce, orange-red heart cabbage, and Swiss chard, are all young seedlings.

From Chu oranges and Liu peaches to JD rice, and then to Three Squirrels and Baicaowei, traditional agriculture has no shortage of wonderful cases of internet innovation. Walking into the Qingniao Fruit and Vegetable Cooperative, what left the deepest impression on the reporter was not the "African visitor" ice plant, nor Italian red celery or Mexican mini cucumbers, but the e-commerce "labels" seen everywhere.

In 2013, Wang Shiliang began online vegetable marketing. In a short time, Wang Shiliang became "hot" selling vegetables online. By tapping the keyboard and clicking the mouse, "specialty vegetables" could be sold all over the country, connecting the fields with the large market. This online marketing model brought Wang Shiliang huge returns. The single vegetable "African ice plant" alone created profits of millions of yuan for him each year.

Before "WeChat business" was launched, specialty vegetables either lacked sales channels or sold at very low prices. Now, relying on "WeChat Moments" for promotion and sales, last year specialty vegetable cultivation brought the cooperative nearly 10 million yuan in profit. When talking about the benefits brought by online sales, Wang Shiliang looked rather pleased.

Wang Shiliang said: "The sales performance brought by the internet was something I had not expected. Specialty vegetables not only sell well in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hainan, Heilongjiang and other provinces and municipalities, but we have also established long-term and stable cooperative relationships with many high-end hotels, agents, and large supermarkets. This has realized the e-commerce model of 'specialty vegetable base - e-commerce - consumers,' thereby lowering commodity sales prices and reducing staff wages and logistics costs."

"I plan to invest another 1.2 million yuan to plan about 50 mu of modern agricultural park integrating leisure sightseeing, ecological picking, and tourism vacation." Wang Shiliang said that in the future, what traditional agriculture competes over will be the internet thinking of "platform and users first." Right now, Wang Shiliang is building a brand-new fresh specialty vegetable e-commerce platform, equipped with professional staff, to provide one-on-one "private customized" healthy menus according to different customers' constitutions and needs.

Li Chenbo, director of the Zhucheng City Agriculture Bureau, told the reporter: "'WeChat business,' as one of the most effective ways to promote local agricultural products in achieving high quality and good prices, will continue to be followed and promoted by the agriculture department."