Look at the goods in the WeChat group, place an order with the Mini Program, and move your fingers, and all kinds of fresh food and grain and oil products will be delivered to your home. In 2020, a sudden epidemic disrupted everyone’s pace of life. The online retail industry broke out, and community group buying unexpectedly became an important support for the lives of residents in the community. Meituan, Ali, JD.com, Pinduoduo and other giants have entered the scene. Recently, Qilu Evening News · Qilu One Point reporter walked into many communities in the provincial capital to understand the current situation of community group buying.
Yu Minxing, reporter of Qilu Evening News, Qilu Yidian
Daily 70-80 orders
The maximum daily turnover is more than 10,000 yuan
Near eleven o’clock in the evening, Ms. Zhou "poisoned late at night" in the WeChat group buying group, and the photos and small videos of spicy crayfish teased everyone’s appetite. "Ding Ding Ding" The mobile phone kept vibrating, and Ms. Zhou received another wave of orders before going to bed.
After nearly four years in the industry, Ms. Zhou has been sitting on two WeChat group buying groups of 500 people, becoming a well-known "head" of a residential community in Jinan Tianqiao District. "We started doing community group buying in 2017, and the users are basically the owners of the community." Ms. Zhou’s community group buying relies on her own express collection point. When the owners take the express, they take home the fresh food bought the day before, which is very convenient. "The customer source is relatively stable, and it is not so laborious to do. It is like opening another online supermarket. Everyone orders online and picks up the goods the next day. I am a pickup point here."
It is reported that there are thousands of households in Ms. Zhou’s community, and several like her do community group buying. "Basically, some mother-and-wife stores are doing it, and the user intersection is very large." Ms. Zhou said that the platforms of the heads of the group also cover each other, including Xingsheng Preferred, Shihui Tuan, you and me. "I will send products to the group for users to choose by themselves. Recently, another Meituan Preferred has been added, and the activity is relatively strong. It is very popular with everyone."
The opening situation of each platform is also different, some open groups every day, and some open the next day. "Every time you open a group, you can make a few dozen orders, and as many as hundreds of orders. Each platform adds one plus, and the average is 70 or 80 orders a day." Ms Zhou said that because most of them are fresh, grain and oil products, the daily turnover fluctuates relatively large. "It can be as little as two or three thousand yuan, and more can exceed 10,000 yuan. Especially during the holidays, the number of fruit gift boxes is very large, and the daily turnover can reach about 13,000 yuan."
Commission 10% -15%
"Leader" has a considerable monthly income
The day after the opening of the group was the busiest time for Ms. Zhou, which was basically from morning to night. "Especially when you get off work, users go home and take the dishes back by the way. There are often long lines at the door of the store to pick up the goods."
Ms. Zhang, a working mother, is a member of the daily queue to pick up the goods. "When there is no food at home, I will visit the group buying group in the community to see what I want to buy, and it will be delivered to the community the next day. It is too convenient to visit the vegetable market and supermarket." In Ms. Zhang’s opinion, convenience is the main reason for choosing community group buying.
In addition to convenience, high quality and low price are also a major reason for community group buying. Ms. Zhou cited mangosteen, kiwi fruit, dragon fruit and other fruits on her platform as examples. Mangkhut, which sells for more than ten yuan a catty in the supermarket, costs only 8.9 yuan to buy on the platform. Xu Xiang’s kiwi platform costs 9.8 yuan for three catties, and the cheapest kiwi in the supermarket also costs five or six yuan a catty.
"The quality of fruits, vegetables and supermarkets is comparable or even fresher, and the price is still cheap, so users who have bought them will place orders again and again." Ms. Zhou said that word-of-mouth communication between community users is more reliable than any advertisement. After being recognized by users, everyone will pull real-world friends in to buy together.
Ms. Feng, the "post-90s" mother, has less than half a year to become the "head" of the community group buying. "My best friend recommended me to join, just to earn pocket money while taking care of children." Ms. Feng said that there are more than 200 people in her group, with daily sales of about 1,000 yuan. The platform gives a 10% commission, and it can also earn two or three thousand yuan a month.
With two groups of 500 people in her hands, Ms. Zhou’s monthly income will increase by one or two times. "There are many platforms, and the commission is basically between 10% and 15%." Ms. Zhou said that the monthly income is basically stable at about 7,000 to 8,000 yuan. "During the holidays, with the gift box, the monthly income is around 10,000 yuan."
After seizing the market
Doing a good job in product service is the key
Ms. Li, who has been the head of the group in Jinan Dianliu Community for more than 2 years, was recently invited by Meituan Preferred and also went online to become the head of Meituan Preferred.
"For the head of the group, you can send multiple platform products to the same group, and let users compare and judge for themselves before placing an order." Mr. Yuan, a promoter of Meituan Preferred, said that Meituan Preferred has developed more than 3,700 WeChat groups with more than 100 people in Jinan in a month and a half.
Unlike the "seed players" who developed from the grass-roots level of the industry like the Ten Hui Group, Meituan is preferably a key project of a hundred billion-level large enterprise, with strong financial support, and can be quickly opened nationwide at the beginning. "Next, relying on the Meituan APP, Meituan Preferred will be built into a new industrial line side by side with Meituan takeaway."
In Mr. Yuan’s opinion, Meituan Preferred is fundamentally different from Ten Hui Group. The two models are different. Ten Hui Group has small profits but quick turnover. It is mainly profitable and requires sales; Meituan market values the number of orders more and wants to do data.
However, Mr. Yuan admitted that as far as Jinan is concerned, the number of orders placed by the Ten Hui Group is currently unmatched by Meituan Preferred.
However, Meituan also has an advantage that the Ten Hui Group does not have, and that is the Meituan APP. "At present, Meituan Preferred has been connected with the Meituan APP, and everyone can place an order through the Meituan APP, which means that everyone who owns the Meituan APP may become Meituan Preferred users."
"Community group buying, starting from the head, but will finally supply the supply chain", in fact, for Meituan Preferred, Ten Hui Group, City Life and other community group buying platforms, how to do a good job in product services after seizing the market is the most critical part.
Hot money is pouring in, and the giants are following suit
Are community groups buying "True Fragrance"?
If you win fresh food, you will win the world. In recent years, various sales models in the fresh food industry have been frequently favored by capital giants. In 2020, community group buying, as a "pre-sale + self-pickup" sales model in the fresh food industry, became popular overnight and was selected by capital again under the influence of the epidemic.
According to Tianyancha data, according to incomplete statistics, this year our country’s community group buying and fresh food e-commerce fields have accumulated more than ten times of financing, amounting to tens of billions of yuan. Among them, Ten Hui Group has been invested three times this year and received a total of 249.70 million US dollars of financing; Tongcheng Life has received 200 million US dollars and tens of millions of US dollars of financing in June and July. According to LatePost, Missfresh’s latest round of financing of 495 million US dollars is the largest financing in the fresh home industry to date.
Hot money influx, giants follow, community group buying in the future?
"Community group buying adopts the model of’pre-sale + self-pickup ‘, and there is no turnover, no need for offline stores, and there is no high distribution fee for centralized self-pickup." Ms. Zhou, who has been working in community group buying for three or four years, is very optimistic about "community group buying". She said that the pre-sale method of community group buying can effectively reduce inventory, and the goods have been booked and sold before they arrive at the warehouse. The turnover efficiency is improved, and the product loss rate and distribution cost are low.
However, Mr. Zhao, an industry veteran, pointed out that the so-called sales-based production and production-based production are actually difficult to achieve. In addition, there is a general lack of standardization of domestic agricultural products, and direct production from the origin and base acquisition are mostly gimmicks. "Community group buying also requires multiple categories, which is difficult for most enterprises to achieve. Many still rely on the local primary wholesale market."
In addition, Mr. Zhao believes that how the platform can retain the head of the team and maintain the customer base is also a question worth exploring.
It is foreseeable that the competition for community groups buying resources is bound to intensify, and with the entry of Internet Tech Giants, there are more possibilities for this track.
