In the evening, the afterglow sprinkled into the turnip field, the agricultural tractor rumbled past, and Zhao Ping stood in the field, carefully confirming the loading situation with the workers responsible for loading the truck. These green radishes that have just been pulled out of the ground and still have wet soil are Weifang radishes.
Weifang radish is named after its production in Weifang, which has a cultivation history of more than 300 years. Unlike other radishes, Weifang radish has emerald green flesh, slightly sweet taste, and a little spicy taste, which can be eaten raw as a fruit. Locals who come to the house will definitely cut a plate of Weifang radish to entertain.
Agricultural tractors dragged the freshly pulled Out Weifang radish through the sunset. Li Yunfeng | photo
Zhao Ping graduated from Shandong Agricultural University in 1986 and has been engaged in fruit and vegetable procurement related work since graduation, and is very familiar with turnips. Liu Fengzhen and Zhao Ping in 1981 were alumni of Shandong Agricultural University. In 2004, after graduating from university, Liu Fengzhen entered the unit to work, and then got married and had children, and Zhao Ping had just entered the university at this time.
They did not expect that the two people would meet because of the radish and become the head merchant of the radish category on the Pinduoduo platform.
Resign with the baby, spell out the head merchant of the radish category
In order to take care of the children, Liu Fengzhen left the unit, after staying at home for half a year, she wanted to find something to do, so she opened an offline store and sold herself from snacks to large Weifang radish.
Weixian radish skin dark green, flesh emerald green, spicy crisp sweet, juicy and delicious, can be eaten as a fruit. Li Yunfeng | photo
Weifang radish is an excellent variety of Shandong radish and is deeply loved by everyone. When Zheng Banqiao was an official in Weifang, he once praised: "Northeast ginseng Fengyang pear, it is difficult to reach the radish peel of Weixian County." "Many people who go to Weifang to play, when they go back, they will always bring some Weifang radish as gifts." Liu Fengzhen's store is open on Iris Fei Road, specializing in selling Weifang radish gift boxes, which are all sold on this street.
Liu Fengzhen's radish business is getting better and better, a person is a little busy, at this time, the sister Zhao Ping appeared. At that time, Zhao Ping was doing procurement, and the two talked about school and turnips. The number of encounters is more, and the temperament is similar, so the two decided to start a business together to sell radishes, Zhao Ping is responsible for running outside to purchase, and Liu Fengzhen is responsible for selling in the store.
In 2015, Liu Fengzhen encountered not only her sister Zhao Ping, but also Pinduoduo, who started with agricultural products. This new e-commerce platform with mud on her feet reminds her of the time when she plucked turnips in the field. Liu Fengzhen and Zhao Ping are both farmers and have unique feelings for agriculture. Pinduoduo's friendly policy of zero commission for agricultural products attracted Liu Fengzhen, who began to try to sell Weifang radish on Pinduoduo. Often, consumers will send her a message after placing an order, saying that they are also from Weifang and are happy to eat the radish in their hometown. Being able to let her compatriots eat the familiar radish in her memory can always make her happy for a while. Today, Liu Fengzhen's largest store on Pinduoduo has reached a monthly sales volume of 100,000+, ranking first in the best-seller list of turnip stores.
Radishes are packed and shipped across the country to be served on the tables of 850 million consumers. Li Yunfeng | photo
Sales soared, driving villagers to get rich together
The rapid growth of online sales has allowed Liu Fengzhen and Zhao Ping to see new possibilities, so they will focus their sales on the Pinduoduo Kite King Fruit and Vegetable Flagship Store. Just as they expected, the store quickly started, with daily sales ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 to 7,000 orders, and sometimes participating in platform activities, with daily sales of up to 10,000 orders.
Sales channels have broadened, and the demand for radish has increased. At first, the 100 mu of radish sold a year mainly came from the cooperative planting base between herself and the growers, plus Zhao Ping bought from the surrounding farmers. Subsequently, they found that these amounts were far from enough.
Subsequently, Zhao Ping went to the nearby large planting base to investigate, sign a contract, intervene in the whole process of planting management, and strictly control the quality of radishes. At present, the sisters' radish base has planted 300 acres, the contract signed base is 600 acres, and the cooperative planting of surrounding farmers has an overall area of nearly 1,000 acres.
Most of the turnips unearthed in Weixian are cyan or green, and the parts hidden in the soil are white. Li Yunfeng | photo
In addition to distributing radish seeds to surrounding villagers, Liu Fengzhen and Zhao Ping also purchased mature radishes from them. Liu Dajie, a villager in Hongwei Village, Hetan Town, Hanting District, took the radish seeds back to plant. Sister Liu has been planting radishes for 20 years and has accumulated a lot of experience, and the radishes grown have a good taste. "I only planted thirty acres, and they planted more than seventy or eighty acres."
The Hanting district, where Liu Dajie is located, is now recognized as one of the best Weifang radish producing areas, and the sandy soil here is very suitable for the growth of radish. The local area is also rich in watermelon, often picked watermelon seeds of radish, so the radish produced here has a name, called melon stubble radish, the quality is excellent.
The "Girl Scout Army" spells out a good life
This year is the 7th year of cooperation between Liu Fengzhen and her sister Zhao Ping, and the fixed members of their team have also increased to more than a dozen, 85% of whom are women, and everyone has become a good sister.
Xiao Wen has not been in contact with e-commerce before, but she feels that the backstage of Pinduoduo operation is clear at a glance and very friendly to newcomers. Li Yunfeng | photo
"I've been here for more than 6 years, and they've been here for 2 years." Pinduoduo store customer service Xiao Wen said that six years, said short and short, sisters twisted into a rope, only did one thing, is to insist on consumers to taste the good quality of Weifang radish, said long and long, some sisters have given birth to the second child back.
Their processing workshop requires about 20 people to pack and work every day. Villagers in the zhou circle will come here to do part-time packaging when they are busy and the factory is off.
Sister Liu has been packing here for four or five years. Farming on weekdays, idle to earn some spare money for daily expenses. Skilled workers can pack 500 pieces a day, and the daily salary is up to two or three hundred yuan. Like Sister Liu, there are many elder sisters who use their free time to do odd jobs in the circle and take care of the family. They work hard and fight for life, although it is hard, but their faces are full of smiles.
The turnips in the warehouse are neatly stacked and waiting to be loaded and shipped to all parts of the country. Li Yunfeng | photo
The packaged radishes are labeled as courier orders and loaded into logistics transfer trucks. "In addition to being sent to various places in Shandong, it is also sent to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other places, and even sold to Hainan, which is also considered to be selling radish to all parts of the country." Liu Fengzhen said that during the epidemic last year, many local offline stores were closed, and many people switched to selling radish online at that time.
At that time, they also helped offline peers sell online, and also signed up for the 9.9 seconds sale activity on the Pinduoduo platform. "At that time, I didn't think about making money or not, I just wanted to sell the radish and not rot in the library, after all, it was all hard work, so it was strange and uncomfortable." This has become the most fulfilling thing for Liu Fengzhen and Zhao Ping since they started their businesses.
"Many consumers in the country know for the first time 'fruit radish', different from the search-based traditional e-commerce, the way of encouraging sharing can stimulate a lot of such early-tasting potential demand", the person in charge of the Pinduoduo agricultural project introduced, "The needs of more than 800 million consumers are very diverse, tens of billions of subsidies, tens of thousands of people, seconds and other different entrances, aggregating the different requirements of consumers, accurately docking supply and consumption at both ends of the cloud, which is conducive to consumers to buy suitable products at affordable prices. It can also help the whole industry chain of the supply side to deepen product quality, help good products form a good brand, and sell at a good price. ”