If you want to ask, what is the most precious color in the spring of Shanghai in 2022, probably many people's answer will be the green of green vegetables; the most grateful person is probably the "regiment leader".
In this special period, community group buying has spread throughout all communities in Shanghai, and the "regiment leaders" mobilize resources, organize planning, dock needs, and coordinate distribution in order to ensure material demand. In the middle, the property, as a "regular army" that is good at serving the owners, is also involved in community group buying.
Shimao Services has organized hundreds of group purchases in more than 10 communities in Shanghai, providing basic living materials; Poly Property has organized community group purchases in various service centers since March 26, and has so far accumulated at least 70-80 times of group formation and delivery; the group purchase activities launched by China Merchants Accumulation for empty nesters over the age of 70 have covered more than 1,000 elderly people in 15 communities in Shanghai...
However, from the information grasped by first finance and economics, although shanghai property management coverage rate has exceeded 98%, is the highest coverage rate of property management in the country, however, many property management companies only a few enterprises have the ability to complete the group purchase of material allocation and delivery work, the vast majority of enterprises are trapped in the supply chain can not be opened or distribution manpower and other problems, in the face of the owner's material procurement demands appear to be powerless.
Of course, some insiders pointed out that organizing group purchase to ensure the owner's materials is the icing on the cake, and at present, the property management enterprise cooperates with the community epidemic prevention and safety is the first.
The two-year supply chain comes in handy
"When we organized a vegetable group purchase in the Qiantan Qianlong Plaza project, we were known to the owners of the neighboring community, and they took the initiative to contact us and hoped to buy our products." As a local life service platform under Shimao Services, Shimao Shiji, which has been piloting and slowly laying out for two years, has become an important source of materials for Shimao owners and users in neighboring communities.
The relevant person in charge of Shimao Shiji told First Finance and Economics that at present, more than a dozen projects managed by Shimao Services in Shanghai have initiated group buying, with special group buying groups, and have launched hundreds of group purchases, including various products.
"The frequency of group purchase of rice and oil is relatively low, generally once a week, and vegetables, eggs, etc. are once every 2-3 days." The above-mentioned person in charge introduced, "In addition to the frequency, we will also guarantee the amount as much as possible, the MOQ is lower than other group purchases, such as 20 singles, 30 singles, we will also provide, as far as possible to meet the needs of the owners." ”
At the same time, with the continuous changes in customer needs, the products provided by Shimao Shiji are also continuing to be rich, from vegetables, rice, oil, eggs, milk at the beginning to paper towels, disinfectant sprays, cooked food, steaks and other categories.
Under difficult conditions such as tight supply and distribution and transportation, a core factor of Shimao Shiji's feedback on the needs of owners is that a complete supply chain has been established before.
"Since 2020, Shimao service layout local life service business, on the basis of integrating the original suppliers, but also reached strategic cooperation with well-known brand merchants, Shiji business has been precipitated for two years, forming a complete product system." The above-mentioned person in charge said.
Shimao Service itself also has a supply chain company, which strictly screens suppliers in the early stage to ensure the quality of the imported products. Suppliers, including Nongfu Spring and Mengniu, are still unimpeded, so Shimao Shiji can also ensure the stability of most of the supplies just needed.
In addition to stabilizing suppliers and their matching logistics, Shimao Shiji also has community offline stores and is equipped with front warehouses. The so-called front warehouse is a small and medium-sized warehousing and distribution center equipped with stores, and after the consumer places an order, the goods will be shipped from the nearby retail stores. "It can be guaranteed to be delivered in 15 minutes," Shimao services told CbN, "which is also the reason why local life services are faster than other e-commerce companies." ”
"At the end of last year, the front warehouse began to be laid out, and at present, Shimao Service has a front warehouse in all the managed communities in Shanghai. The front warehouse could have provided daily necessities such as rice noodles, grain and oil, eggs, and drinking water. Shimao service introduction, as a result, the goods in the early reserve smoothly flowed into the community, and the basic property of the community was mainly responsible for distribution, after-sales and long-term stickiness and maintenance.
Based on the basic business framework of front warehouses and community stores, under the epidemic, Shimao Services has been able to quickly form a process and business model from customer ordering, goods to the door of the community, property sorting, distribution to households, and after-sales service.
The only thing that Shimao Service needs to look for is a vegetable supplier. It is reported that the above-mentioned person in charge of Shimao Shiji contacted a local vegetable supply base in Shanghai, launched a group purchase in his own community, and after ensuring the freshness of vegetables, the timely delivery of vegetables and the feedback from the owners of the community, they introduced suppliers and launched direct procurement.
"We require suppliers to have cost performance and supply capabilities to ensure quantity, price, quality, and after solving these problems, the group will be opened."
It is also because of long-term cooperation with suppliers that the price of products can be maintained at a reasonable level, for example, eggs are the usual price, while milk is lower than the e-commerce platform. "We also have to think about the owners," said the person in charge, "now this is a non-profit behavior, which can cover the operating costs." ”
According to reports, Shimao Shiji has rarely carried out community group buying business in the past two years. "The epidemic has highlighted the necessity and urgency of group buying," according to the above-mentioned person in charge, the current community group buying not only serves the community managed by Shimao Service, but also covers the 0-2KM community around Shimao Riverside Garden and Qiantan Qianlong Plaza to provide material support.
Urgently open up the joint to ensure the supply
In the absence of upfront supply chain reserves, Poly Property launched community group purchases on 25 projects in Shanghai by temporarily opening multiple joints.
"Before, we did community management that rarely involved group buying, and the demand from owners was not very large." Gong Lei, manager of the innovative operation department of Poly Property Shanghai Company, who is responsible for the overall coordination of community group buying, said that at present, community group buying has become one of the key ways for owners to buy daily necessities, and many suppliers have come to the door, which has become increasingly fashionable.
However, compared with the community group purchase organized by the owner, the identity of the property management enterprise makes this problem less simple, and the owner will naturally have higher expectations and put forward more needs. This also makes Gong Lei more meticulous in each link.
The first is the choice of suppliers. "On the one hand, we have to review the qualifications of the merchants, whether the licenses are complete, whether there are passes, etc.; on the other hand, how to match the packages, how to determine the price, etc."
"At present, the main suppliers we are looking for are still some well-known large enterprises, such as Luhua, Mengniu, and Nongfu Spring, and the prices of these products are also transparent and consistent with the market price." In the supply of vegetables and meat, one or two suppliers are mainly selected.
With the increase in the number of group purchases and the enrichment of categories, the problem of return and exchange of goods will inevitably occur. "The supplier's sorting, subcontracting is done manually, there is some omission, before there was a community at once three or four hundred pieces of seafood gift packages to the scene, there will be several bags missing a certain single product, or the owner feels that some ingredients are not colored, and then contact the supplier to replenish the unrealistic, had to take the way of returning to the owner to solve."
The occurrence of loss is only a small problem, and the bigger problem is that the ordered goods cannot be delivered. Gong Lei introduced, for example, some farm bases of vegetables are well connected, but also from the community to collect group purchase demand, the result of the farm location there were cases, resulting in the closure of the village, etc., and finally the group purchase can not be done, "so the front-line service team, but also need to explain and communicate with the owner, occupying a lot of workload." ”
Match the needs of the owner, finalize the supplier, the goods are distributed to Shanghai, and when all the preliminary work is completed, the next step is to send the materials to the community. A 4-ton van in Shanghai came in handy, "This car is now dedicated to our department." ”
According to Gong Lei, Poly Property has 25 projects under management in Shanghai. "At present, all the bridges and tunnels in Shanghai are closed and need to have a pass to pass", so they will set up an unloading point in Pudong and Puxi, mainly for large-scale projects, basically a more fixed location, so that suppliers can send materials to the corresponding locations.
"After the goods arrive at the project, we first notify the security team at the scene to unload the car, count the quantity, and then transfer it to our car, and then assign it to the project in need," Gong Lei said, from the group shopping funds to the designated location, and then distributed to the various communities, usually it takes two days, during which in addition to the truck, there is also a small car also involved in the delivery, "basically the back seat is full of materials", "Recently this period has not stopped." ”
It is worth mentioning that the epidemic is currently passing in Shanghai, in addition to having a pass, nucleic acid proof is another key "pass", "the driver needs a negative nucleic acid test report within 48 hours," Gong Lei introduced, "so the driver and the car personnel also need to do a nucleic acid in two days." ”
To successfully reach the community, the property staff needs to complete three rounds of killing, and then send the supplies to the owner's home. "Half a month ago, the demand for group purchase was very large, and now because of the timely and large distribution of government materials, the demand of owners has now decreased."
Stacking of problems, supply, logistics, manpower
At the moment of the epidemic, community group buying, as one of the key means of material acquisition, was originally a business that many property companies had eagerly tried, but when the opportunity to crisis came, more property companies failed to participate in it.
"The problem faced by many communities now is that the property does not have a complete supply chain, there is no stable supplier, stable supply channel, how to purchase goods, what kind of process, the property may not be clear." An insider of a property management company said. This situation can also be seen in the encounters of some of the property companies that have promoted community group buying.
In April, a certain property company organized a community group purchase, which was recognized at the owner level, but then encountered a supplier price increase, resulting in the price of the material can not be guaranteed, and finally chose to give up the group purchase again.
It also occurs that suppliers are temporarily unable to guarantee supply. "At that time, the suppliers we contacted locally in Shanghai encountered various unexpected situations, such as the direct requisition of materials, the requisition of vehicles, etc., and the originally agreed delivery time could not be delivered on time." The head of a property company said.
Not only that, when the materials successfully enter the community, the distribution is also a major dilemma. Affected by the epidemic prevention and control, many owners can not go out to pick up goods, most of the time rely on the staff of the property to distribute, match the supplies, and deliver to the door.
"Located in the community where you can go downstairs in the prevention area, most of the owners try to take it themselves, while the community that does not leave the house is delivered to the door by the property, and the amount is particularly large." An owner of a project of China SCE Group in Shanghai told reporters, "The property is basically rotated by all employees. ”
Most property management company employees work more than 20 hours a day, and there is really no excess labor to organize group buying business.
"Many of our security team members have been sealed and controlled in the community site for more than a month, and they have not gone home to make bunks and sleeping bags, and the daily workload is actually 3 to 5 times or more than the original." Gong Lei said that because many employees were sealed at home, half of the original service team of 30 or 40 people could not arrive at work, which significantly doubled the workload.
At the same time, property personnel usually have to cooperate with the street neighborhood committee to carry out nucleic acid testing and other epidemic prevention and control work, and material distribution is also a huge workload, Shimao service will try to choose the wrong peak, so that the owner group shopping funds can be delivered in time, and the epidemic prevention work can be carried out smoothly.
In this case, the increased community group buying business constitutes a test for property employees, whether it is their psychology or physical strength.
The relevant person in charge of the above-mentioned Shimao Shiji said that in fact, many owners sealed at home, in addition to the basic protection products, generated a lot of diversified and personalized needs, such as the demand for products such as cola, ice cream, hot pot, etc., which could have produced better profit performance.
"These needs are not to say that we can't send them, but that we really need to be considerate of the huge work pressure of our property colleagues." Therefore, while meeting the basic living security needs of owners, we can reduce non-essential group purchases as much as possible. At the same time, considering the pressure of property distribution, especially the Shimao Riverside Garden with more than 3,000 households, the distribution pressure is huge, and Shimao has reached an agreement with the owner in terms of service and set a certain delivery fee as remuneration for the additional work of property colleagues.