Home › General News › Article

Yuxi Farmers' Association Supermarket's Thoughtful Direct Sales of Small Farmers' Produce, Combined with a Retail Chain, Turns Things Around in Seven Years

General News 0 views
Yuxi Farmers' Association Supermarket is so thoughtful: small farmers' produce is sold directly on the shelves, and a partnership with FamilyMart expands sales, turning things around in seven years

Yuli, located south of Hualien, is Taiwan, China's rice barn, ranking among the top four in the country for rice production. It also produces watermelons, pomelos and daylilies. The Yuxi Farmers' Association, which helps farmers in Yuli Township and Zhuoxi Township sell their agricultural products, tried seven years ago to combine its farmers' association supermarket with a convenience store, turning agricultural product sales from a deficit into a profit.

In addition to partnering with FamilyMart to expand its operations, the farmers' association supermarket also opens its shelves to small farmers to stock their own fresh fruits and vegetables, with the association charging only a modest management fee. The farmers' association supermarket is also a direct sales station for Yuxi farmers; for fresh produce it takes only a 15% warehousing management fee, making it the most advantageous sales platform for small farmers.

Small farmers in Yuli and Zhuoxi go to the farmers' association themselves to print labels and put products on the shelves, and the association charges only a modest management fee: 15% for fresh produce and 20% for processed goods (photo_ Lin Yijun)

The convenience store premises extend the display and sales time for agricultural products, and small farmers stock the shelves themselves

Tsai Tsung-han, who has been director-general of the Yuxi Farmers' Association for three years, explains that the farmers' association supermarket's main competitor used to be the traditional vegetable market, and after a PX Mart opened locally, competition became even fiercer. "At the time, there were 2 PX Marts and 7 7-Elevens here in Yuli, and the farmers' association supermarket found it harder and harder to sell."

Tsai Tsung-han says that the previous director-general, Peng, made a bold decision in Year 102 of the Republic of China (2013): "There was no FamilyMart in Yuli, so the former director-general went in the name of the farmers' association to negotiate a franchise with FamilyMart." Thus was born the first farmers' association-convenience store co-branded outlet in all of Taiwan, China, right next to the Yuxi Farmers' Association Extension Department.

There are currently 17 farmers' association-FamilyMart co-branded convenience stores across Taiwan, China, and seven years ago Yuxi Farmers' Association was the first. Tsai Tsung-han says the advantage of a farmers' association franchising a FamilyMart is that the association already had the space and only needed to fill in the equipment, while the convenience store format also extends the time available for selling agricultural products.

Tsai Tsung-han, who has been director-general of the Yuxi Township Farmers' Association for more than three years (photo_ Lin Yijun)

Small farmers can apply to stock the shelves directly, with only a 15% warehousing management fee taken for fresh produce

The co-branded store is divided into two sections, half of which is an agricultural product sales area, ranging from fresh produce to processed goods. Chen Mei-ling, head of the Yuxi Farmers' Association Extension Department, explains that the main crops in the Yuxi area are rice, watermelons, pomelos and daylilies, but there are still many farmers growing fruits and vegetables on a small scale, and these small farmers can bring their agricultural products to the farmers' association co-branded convenience store to stock the shelves. The association charges only a warehousing management fee: 15% for fresh produce and 20% for processed goods, with no separate stocking fee.

Chen Mei-ling points to each basket on the fresh produce shelves: "The agricultural products in each basket all come from the same farmer." She picks up a bag of lemons and points to the label sticker on it, explaining that farmers can all apply to the farmers' association to stock the shelves; after bringing the packaged agricultural products to the association and registering the product information (producer traceability, item and price), the sticker can be printed out, and the farmers all stock the shelves themselves.

Tsai Tsung-han says there are relatively few farmers in the Yuxi area growing vegetables on a large scale, and given that running a supermarket requires preparing enough product items, besides fruits and vegetables from the east, they also make up the range with organic fruits and vegetables from other parts of Hualien and Taitung. "We give priority to the Hualien-Taitung area, and only consider the west when Hualien-Taitung has none."

Related Articles