Edit Introduction: The actual scenario of community group buying is based on offline real communities. Pre-sale of group opening through WeChat groups, and the needs of people in the same community are grouped together, and the goods are uniformly shipped to the community for self-pickup after payment through WeChat. The author of this article shares the real situation of the three group leaders doing group buying for mini programs. Let’s take a look together.
community, grassroots unit in social organizations. Community group buying has emerged to solve the convenience of urban people buying groceries in the last mile. Cheap, fresh, buy today and get tomorrow, and you can get it easily. Around 2019, with Changsha Xingsheng Youxuan, major capitals have increased their investment in community group buying, burning money to exchange for scale and land grabbing, making the fire of group buying quickly become a prairie fire.
The Internet notices the vast rural areas. They went down to the countryside, which was a rural area where they still needed to farm every day, trying to open up the grassroots market.
After the epidemic, my mother, who is deep in the 18th tier rural areas in Shanxi, actually started to buy vegetables using the community group buying platform in the WeChat mini program. I was shocked and asked who taught you, and she was proud: "Our group leader, that is, you Aunt Gaiyun." Aunt Gaiyun, an ordinary rural old woman, was actually tied to the last part of the Internet platform war.
Do you need group purchases in rural areas? How do you use Internet tools? What is the difference between middle-aged and elderly people over fifty years old and young people? What is the relationship between being a leader in the countryside and the villagers? With a lot of curiosity, I interviewed several of our rural leaders, wanting to understand how digital technology penetrated into the bottom layer of China, and it impacted people's lives.
Among them, some have been opening a store for 20 years and have started to follow the trend and learn to be group leaders in their 50s; some have seized the opportunity and earned more than 10,000 yuan a month to let their lives breathe; some have a family who relied on their living, and the combination of online and offline is very fresh. What a few people have in common is that when community group buying salesmen sweeping stores and promoting, they think about "how much money" they make, but now they are just ordinary.
Even so, group buying still leaves traces in their lives.
1. I, 55 years old, became the "group leader"
55-year-old Aunt Huang is the owner of a 20-year-old convenience store in the village.
explains that the location of this village is somewhat complicated. It is in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, Jiancaoping District, Quyang Town, and xx Village, a small village located on the outskirts of Taiyuan City. Judging from the electronic map, compared with the Taiyuan city where the streets are crisscrossed and the surface points are dense, it is close to the vast expanse - it is really the edge. If it is one kilometer away, it does not belong to Taiyuan.
In the spring of 2021, a few young men in suits came to the village. Aunt Huang and the villagers are not surprised. Some young people who came from the city to sell credit cards to villagers before were also dressed in similar clothes. Several of them claimed that they worked for a large company doing community group buying, visited small shops in the village from house to find the candidates for "group leader" for their community group buying, and found Aunt Huang.
There are much fewer residents near Aunt Huang’s convenience store than before. In 2017, the village built a new modern community, and many families with male residents in the neighborhood bought buildings and moved them over. Aunt Huang has two daughters in her family. She feels that she is not under pressure to buy a house for her children. She is able to continue to live with a group of old acquaintances as she wants, as she manages her own convenience store for nearly 20 years, so she stays.
was also at that time. Aunt Huang felt that the time flow rate that had been almost solidified in the village suddenly became several times faster. Aunt Huang did not expect that the situation in the village would be so lonely that she was unfamiliar with her. More and more people are going out. "In summer, there are still neighbors who come back to live in the village, and in winter, we are only a few of us nail households left." Aunt Huang said. While there are fewer and fewer neighbors, her small shop is no longer as prosperous as before. It was also at that time that she began to learn to use her smartphone to browse WeChat and short videos to see the outside world. The convenience store also had a WeChat payment code in line with the times.
In 2019, Aunt Huang also moved into the community, and the convenience store began to be semi-closed. The convenience store will only open when Aunt Huang returns to the village in summer. It took the old neighbors a while to get used to this situation. When I first moved, Aunt Huang received WeChat messages from her old neighbor several times and found out that she had gone to her convenience store office and found that the store door was closed.She could only explain the new situation and apologize repeatedly. A few times later, the eldest daughter sent an WeChat group for Aunt Huang to contact her and communicate with her feelings. This Internet group chat with more than 70 people later became the online liaison department of Aunt Huang’s convenience store.
Even though there are not many residents near the convenience store, when they find Aunt Huang, the young men still enthusiastically invite her to be the "group leader". As soon as they showed off their work permit, they began to talk about something called "community group buying". Aunt Huang was confused when she heard this, so she had to call her daughter.
finally figured it out, the guys were selling a small program. As long as you upload store photos, business license and other information of the convenience store, and then recommend people to place orders on the platform, Aunt Huang can earn a commission.
"What do I need to do?" asked Aunt Huang.
is not required. The young men explained to her: someone would send the things ordered by the villagers to Aunt Huang’s convenience store, and let the villagers who ordered come to the store to pick them up. If there is a merchant account in the backend, the commission will be paid to the account according to the online turnover of Aunt Huang’s convenience store.
In this way, the promotional poster of community group buying was posted in front of Aunt Huang’s convenience store, and Aunt Huang became a "group leader".
picture | Aunt Huang’s convenience store
The poster attracted more salesmen, and most of their statements were the same. In rural areas, many platforms are doing community group buying business on WeChat mini programs. Unlike the fierce rift of food delivery platforms in previous years, these salesmen who come to the village to promote their own mini programs are more harmonious and do not attempt to monopolize a specific merchant. Aunt Huang also felt this way. When she came to the salesman for the second time, she explained to others that "I have settled in something else, I'm sorry." The other party explained that it doesn't matter to her. The same store can have more platforms: "Add more income, aren't there too many people coming to your store to get things?"
Therefore, Aunt Huang has served as the leader of group buying in many mini program communities. At the entrance of her convenience store, it turned out that different platforms such as "X Caicai" and "XX Buying Cookies" were posted one after another near the poster.
On the Internet, Aunt Huang’s convenience store has resumed 24/7 business. She recommended villagers to place orders in various groups: you can place an order directly by clicking in the mini program, and let me choose my home as a pickup point and pay on WeChat. It can be delivered the next morning, which is very convenient. ""Soy sauce, toilet paper, laundry detergent..." Aunt Huang counted. At the beginning, many products were lower than her wholesale prices, so she simply placed an order on community group purchases and purchased goods for her convenience store. When
was the most, Aunt Huang obtained an average of 100 yuan from each platform. There are an average of 4 or 5 customers per day, and the average customer price is not high. People often buy cheap event products. One dollar for two lemons, nine yuan for watermelons, and three yuan for seasonings, and rarely orders exceeding 10 yuan. "It is also the same shopping habit. "Aunt Huang said.
has not completed the odd indicator set by the platform, some platforms have sent salesmen to "guid" Aunt Huang. After some people understand the actual situation, they have to pay for their own money to make up for their performance. Aunt Huang said that some platforms have designed complex tasks for merchants and salesmen, and some of them can't even understand. Later, a platform automatically canceled the business point of the convenience store because it has no performance for several consecutive months. "If you withdraw, just withdraw. I won't refund myself, but unfortunately there is still a commission of more than 100 yuan in it. "Aunt Huang said.
Aunt Huang didn't care much about whether community group buying created considerable income for her. The rest of the village were all elderly people older than Aunt Huang. Aunt Huang realized the disarray of the Internet at that time. Many elderly people had WeChat, but they only learned to use WeChat because young people iterated the communication methods and contacted the younger generations at home. They stayed in the village and did not know how to bind bank cards with accounts and could not complete the payment step. Some elderly people simply didn't even have bank cards, only passbooks. Some elderly people only had social security cards issued by the village and could not be used for online shopping. At the beginning, the old neighbors did not have much intention to participate in Aunt Huang's community group buying. Aunt Huang felt this: "They were afraid of being cheated, just like my mentality at the beginning. ”
Now, some elderly people who can’t operate will directly send voice messages to ask Aunt Huang to help place an order.The things were delivered to the store and cash was given to Aunt Huang when she was taken away, to some extent, it also provided some convenience for the elderly.
Picture | Internal
2. Community group purchase is coming, and it leaves
At the end of 2016, Sister Liang closed the store in the city and opened the convenience store to a shop at the bottom of a rural relocation housing community in the suburbs of the city. The residents of
community come from the same village. Because of the construction of the expressway, the village committee built this community. After the renovation, there will be thousands of residents in the community. Although transportation is much less convenient than in the city, thinking that thousands of residents will become customers of the store, Sister Liang and her husband think that this business is hopeful.
She named the store "911" in the famous chain convenience store "7-11". However, the beautifully decorated store did not attract customers, but instead kept the simple villagers away.
"The villagers who just walked into the building "mud legs went ashore" have not yet developed the habit of visiting supermarkets. The beautifully decorated stores have a natural sense of shock to them. They think that the things inside must be expensive, so everyone dare not step in easily. "Sister Liang said. The villagers are still used to going back to the village to go to the market every weekend. As long as it is not something urgent, they can always buy good and cheap goods at the market.
business is dull, so Sister Liang's husband had to find a job selling beer to support the family's livelihood. That was a period of time that made Sister Liang angry: "The child takes care of her elder sister-in-law, and the family is in chaos every day. She cannot meet her husband, and she will quarrel when she meets her. "
access to the mini program community group buying has become a turning point in the bland business.
In 2020, Sister Liang heard about community group buying. She was in her 30s and had worked in Taobao customer service before. She was very smart in the application of the network. After checking the operation experience online, Sister Liang operated it herself and applied to become an offline pickup point for multiple mini program community group buying. Looking back at that time, Sister Liang sighed that she caught up with the rapid development of several community group buying platforms Liehuo Cooking Oil: "Many people suffered a great loss during the epidemic. Instead, I started to recover at that time. Because the village was not allowed to go to the market, everyone started to buy things online. "
Fortunately, there are not all elderly people in the community, and there are many young and young girls.
Picture | Group purchase items will be put into the basket
Like Aunt Huang, Sister Liang is also a businessman who has a lot of contact with customers. After that, as long as someone comes to the store, Sister Liang will recommend them to buy from WeChat. Under step-by-step teaching, some people have become regular customers. In order to retain customers, Sister Liang will also take the initiative to call to inform you of discount information and show your presence. "The most important thing on a certain mini program only needs this price. If you need it, I will leave one for you and come here to pick it up tomorrow. "Sister Liang said that no matter how much the goods are, she tried to make more transactions from customers. As long as someone came to the store to pick up the goods, her "911" would not be deserted.
An unexpected gain was that the first batch of customers became Liang's "promoters": "The people in the community all have deep understanding and the relationship is complicated. As long as many things are cheap enough, I don’t need to sell them at all. When a person finds out, he will actively recommend them to his aunts and aunts. "
once, she bought a batch of instant noodles from a small program, with a whole box of 46 packs of 29.9. She originally wanted to try selling dozens of pieces. Unexpectedly, after the news spread in the residents' group, she sold more than 400 pieces.
In short, two or three months later, competitors in the same street realized that Liang Jie already had a considerable number of stable customers. Liang Jie's "9-11" daily passenger flow was stable at about 300 people. Relying on various calculation methods such as rewards, commissions, and pits, a platform can earn about 1,500. When
is the most, Liang My sister’s convenience store has connected to 7 community group buying platforms, and the store’s door is colorfully posted by the group buying posters from various platforms. The store has specially placed two shelves for this purpose, as a temporary storage room for group buying products. Later, people bought more frozen products on community group buying. Sister Liang herself dared not enter the goods that needed to be frozen, so she put them tightly.
However, the market has peaks and there must be a trough. At the end of 2021, Sister Liang received a "merchant notice" from a platform called "Shihuituan". The platform stated that due to the impact of the epidemic, the platform has been subsidizing and has not made up for the money, and has withdrawn the store for strategic needs.
Sister Liang felt lost: "Although it is not as good as before, I still have an income of at least a few hundred yuan a month. Withdrawal means that this "water inlet" will be closed. "
Unexpectedly, Shihuituan was just the first "water inlet" to be closed. Later, two platforms also began to withdraw stores, and Liangjie's store now has four platforms. On the retained platforms, the order volume is reduced and the commission is also lower: "In the past, a handful of celery costs 3 yuan, I can get a commission of 40 cents, but now a handful of leeks costs 2 yuan, I only earn 2 points. ”, but Sister Liang’s “water outlet” became thicker and thicker because of the growth of the child.
3. "It's fancy, I'm the only one doing it in the whole village."
In a village in Sudian Town, Changzhi County, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, Brother Wang, 33, is also a store manager of community group buying.
This is a typical northern rural area. There are 1,800 people on the plains, mainly farming for generations, and those who are capable take their children to the county and provincial capitals. Brother Wang had also gone out. After graduating from junior high school, he and a few young students from the same village went to work in the provincial capital. Holding plates, being a security guard, and going to the workshop assembly line, you have done everything. Later, I accidentally injured my foot at the construction site and suffered a fifth-level disability, so I had to return to the village.
Brother Wang took the convenience store in the middle of the village from his mother, and he was only in his 20s. His father died early. In order to support his two children, Brother Wang's mother opened this small shop 20 years ago. The storefront was taken care of orphans and widows by relatives and was given free of charge. Although the store was small, it supported a family of three.
"It is no exaggeration to say that my small shop is Lujiazui in our village." Brother Wang said. His shop faces the village committee square, and the unique location makes their home the center of the entire village. Brother Wang is the first to know about big and small things in the village. Even the Women's Federation held a small meeting, "it was held in the inner room of my house." Brother Wang said.
Two years ago, a community group buying promoter visited convenience stores from house to house in the village to promote their mini programs. Brother Wang did not hesitate and agreed. He is a vendor who is used to accepting the new trend of business. When he first took over the store 10 years ago, online shopping was just popular in the village, so he used work-related injury compensation to pay the franchise fee of Zhongtong store. The inner room was converted into a courier rack, the outer room continued to sell things, and two children's rocking chairs were placed at the door. "Upgrade the convenience store into a complex." Brother Wang was quite proud. Later, the service content of the complex became more and more abundant. After he got married, his wife made a haircut area in the store. The couple found a printer that was eliminated by the city enterprises and started printing.
Picture | Brother Wang’s store
"The child is about to enter the kindergarten, and there are expenses inside and outside. There is no cost anyway. I can still earn more money by borrowing our store to store things, so why not do it?" Brother Wang said.
However, it is different from building a express station. In xx Village at that time, villagers had never used community group buying on mini programs. If consumption habits cannot be cultivated, the income plan based on community group buying will not be implemented. After that, Brother Wang had a new task - to study how to promote.
Brother Wang has many tricks. When I first registered the platform, Brother Wang taught me step by step for free and gave me the number of free express delivery times that month. Customers who have bought enough ten orders will receive free haircuts once, which can be shared by their family. When you place an order on the 6th, 16th and 26th, you can send your child to a rocking chair once. Brother Wang was quite proud: "It's fancy, I'm the only one doing it in the whole village."
really attracted some people. Some people are very interested in listening to it and start using online grocery shopping. The first time I came to get the goods was a little girl who bought a handful of beans. At that time, the vegetable store had already been more than 8 yuan, and the platform only cost 3 yuan. "It's really cost-effective." After Brother Wang found out, he also started using community group buying.
has been a lot of trouble, and the market is only half a year when it is the best. Starting from March and April last year, before the 11th, the commissions on several platforms of Brother Wang could reach about 3,000 yuan.
"Being a group leader is an easy task. Just call someone to get things by calling someone to get things, and it won't delay my main express business; but sometimes it is also very complicated. If the things are lost and broken, they will be sold more expensively than in your store. If you meet someone who is picking up the problem, you will always have a headache."Brother Wang said.
Seeing that many group leaders on the Internet earn more than 10,000 yuan a month, he couldn't even think about it. Now, except for the general trend, Brother Wang also admitted that his group purchases are not really done and that they have a lot to do in the village.
He found that the main reason why it is difficult to cultivate this consumption habit locally is the competitiveness of the goods in the local area. The main force of community group purchase promotion is agricultural products, and in rural areas where there are still many agricultural populations engaged in farming, the dishes purchased in community group are not competitive in quality and have very limited price advantages.
"Many people in our village make a living by growing vegetables. Every household has a yard, and even if there are two rows of open spaces in it, it needs to be planted. Anyone who can’t eat it will sell it. As for fennel white, cucumbers, and tomatoes, many dishes are cheaper and fresher than the special products online. They are also placed in the village committee square and can be bought when you go out. Why do you have to wait for a day to buy something that is not very fresh? "Brother Wang said.
Picture | Good products for group purchases
On the other hand, young people are prone to develop new consumption habits, while in rural areas, a large part of the permanent population is the elderly. The elderly are slow to learn new things, some are illiterate, and only know how to send voice messages on WeChat. Brother Wang found that even if the mini program is simplified to direct payment, it is still too complicated for them. "In the WeChat group, if someone sends red envelopes, they will be beaten and praised by Damu Ge." Learn to spend money online, everyone still has a long way to go .
and is different from big cities. In the village, what ordinary people lack the least is time. In the slack season, everyone comes out to gather in the square to chat, either play poker or chess, and find ways to pass the time and enjoy. In their eyes, buying vegetables is already the most basic life. Everyone can't imagine how lazy people can place orders online and let others deliver them to their door. Brother Wang's neighbors are more willing to take two more steps, spend some time to go to the store, and use cash to buy the items they need.
"But I don't regret becoming the leader at all. "Brother Wang said that he is still working hard to run the community group buying business.
"After my foot injury, I rarely leave the countryside, and my understanding of big cities is basically a short video on Kuaishou. The news came out a while ago. The epidemic in Shanghai made the group leader popular. When I mentioned the group leader, I felt that I was much closer to others. "Brother Wang said.
In the current fashionable terms, the group leaders interviewed are informal and flexible employment groups mentioned by netizens. The new group buying model has activated some of the labor resources that are not fully employed at the grassroots level and improved social efficiency. When community group buying comes to the entrance of the village, it does not replace the original retail system like a flood. Because middle-aged and elderly people and children who are left behind in the village are mainly price-sensitive and time-sensitive. Group buying is just an option for villagers' daily consumption methods. Using "consoles" as offline base and WeChat groups as online base, the behavior of "group buying" has also become a kind of "group buying" in the subsequent development. Building a community color.
We will find that regardless of whether the group buying behavior still exists in the local community or not, the broad sense of space opened by "connection" has indeed affected one after another of "Aunt Huang", "Liang Sister" and "Brother Wang" in the vast rural China.
Author: Liu Xiaoyun; WeChat public account: Bianma Stories (ID: tech-kk)
Original link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3P_K0sjNeL6ydDEpn-MqEg
This article is @Bianma Stories Authorized to publish on Everyone is a product manager, and reproduction is prohibited without permission.
title picture is from pexels, based on CC0 protocol
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