A 60-year-old man from Shandong sells scallions online, with trade volume reaching over ten million US dollars
On September 5, Mr. Guo, a "netizen" from Taiwan, China, took a flight specially to visit Wang Guixin's company in Renzhao Town, Pingdu City, and placed a vegetable order worth 1.15 million US dollars.
"Online, I only talk about US dollars, not about beautiful women," said Wang Guixin, 60 this year, happily talking about his "online romance." "I got to 'know' Mr. Guo on an online trading platform. He had the 'interest' and I had the 'intent,' so that is how we connected."
Wang Guixin, 60 this year, may be old in age but young at heart, with ahead-of-the-times thinking. He goes online every day until one or two in the morning, and has kept this up for four or five years. Wang Guixin's nighttime "obsession" with the internet is also a "last resort," in order to make the best use of the time difference with his European "netizens." "I go online at night, while it is daytime where they are. If you want to win orders, you have to think of the other party first."
Since closing his first online deal in 2007, Wang Guixin has completed more than 100 online transactions, with trade volume reaching over ten million US dollars. His "netizens" are spread across more than 10 countries and regions, including South Korea, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and Taiwan, China.
"How do you communicate with foreign netizens?" Faced with my question, Wang Guixin said that through Alibaba's (Weibo) trade platform - International Tong - direct mutual translation and communication can be achieved. Having dealt with the internet for more than 10 years, he spoke with great fluency. He has also been the top bidder in the onion category on the "Alibaba" website for 8 consecutive years.
"The most important thing in e-commerce is integrity," Wang Guixin said. Generally, after the vegetable variety, price and specifications are agreed upon, the other party pays a 50% deposit first, and pays the full amount after the goods arrive.
Behind e-commerce, there must be guarantees of vegetable quality and quantity. While "charging into battle" online, he has driven local farmers to plant more than 2,000 mu of vegetables. In his business, the word "integrity" runs throughout. This year, he purchased onions at a "contract price" 0.28 yuan/kg higher than the market price, increasing the income of more than 300 cooperative members by more than 1,800 yuan per mu.
To ensure a year-round supply of onions to foreign customers, Wang Guixin has also developed more than 1,300 mu of onion bases in Yunnan, Gansu, Henan and other places, harvesting onions in all four seasons according to different latitudes and longitudes, and is called the "Onion King" by local vegetable traders and vegetable farmers.