The Rural Circulation Channel is now and in the past: the Market changes quietly

Editor's note: with more and more circulation channels, buying and selling in rural areas has become more and more convenient. What has become of the rural market, once the main channel for farmers 'consumption? Is it still as lively as before? Will the peasants still have to travel a few miles, or even dozens of miles, to go to the fair? What kind of influence will new circulation channels such as supermarkets and networks bring to rural fairs? With these questions, the reporter walked into two towns in Meishan City, Sichuan Province, and went to the fair with the villagers to find the answer to the question.

The original bazaar opened from seven or eight in the morning to two or three in the afternoon. Now it's just a short time in the morning. Most of the stalls are guarded by middle-aged and elderly people.

September 20 is the day of Hebazi Town, Qingshen County, Meishan City, Sichuan Province. From 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., the reporter turned around along the street and farmers 'market, and found that the market town's "Fengchang Day" was indeed more lively than usual, but there was no imagination of the crowd scene.

He Guangming picked out his vegetables early in the morning and sold them in the town. The most expensive thing on his stall was the cucumber, which was currently "popular" at 2 yuan per catty. Other vegetables were quite cheap. Selling vegetables for a day can earn 100 yuan. "There are fewer people at the fair, and the vegetables are not as good as those of previous years!"

He Guangming has been selling vegetables in market towns for a living since he was transferred from the army 30 years ago. In his memory, the small market town in the past was a teahouse, bean flower rice on the street, selling vegetables, fish, meat and seedlings along the street, as well as all kinds of living materials in the supply and marketing cooperatives... The market would last from seven or eight in the morning to two or three in the afternoon. The streets were crowded with sellers and bazaars. It was very lively.

Nowadays, buyers and sellers mainly come in the morning, and after noon there are few people. The people guarding the stalls were not all locals. There were also people from surrounding towns, but most of them were middle-aged and elderly.

Guo Xiaohua, who lives near market town, is 72 years old this year. His children have gone out to work. On rush day, she would come to buy some food, and other things were "available in supermarkets and shops."

The appearance of supermarkets, to some extent, let the market lively stay in the past. Reporters saw that there were many supermarkets, grocery stores, brand-name electrical appliances stores and clothing department stores on the streets of market town.

In one of the largest supermarkets in town, the shelves are full of goods. Boss Lv Zhenghua said that his supermarket was the first in the market town. It had been operated exclusively for many years and its business was booming. "The people who sell goods at fairs are merchants. Our supermarket is a business. No matter the season, we're not afraid of rain and snow. Business is naturally better."

The emergence of various circulation formats has expanded the market town with an area of less than 1 square kilometer in the past to 2 square kilometers now. Zhou Qihua, the community secretary of the town witnessing these changes, said that Hebazi Town has a population of about 10,000 people and is a typical agricultural town.30% of rural young and middle-aged people go out to work all the year round. The consumer groups are mainly elderly and children, and the purchasing power is weak. However, with the geographical advantage of the junction of "two cities, four counties and seven townships" in Hebazi Town, the market town gradually developed and various shops became more and more. Every year during the Spring Festival, a large number of migrant workers return home, and the town will usher in a concentrated consumption period of commodities.

Fresh and cheap vegetables and products with local characteristics attract many tourists from the city to purchase

September 20 is also the day when Huaxi Town of Hongya County gathers. At 8 o 'clock in the morning, the farmers' market has already set up stalls of all sizes, with all kinds of daily necessities.

"We are Chengdu, the weekend family to Liujiang ancient town to travel, live in the farmhouse, buy their own vegetables to cook. I saw on the Internet that the ecological environment here is good, and the vegetables grown by the farmers are fresh and cheap, so I came early to buy them." Chengdu tourist Sister Li chats with reporters while choosing vegetables.

Li Sheng, the on-site administrator of the farmers 'market, introduced that there are not a few people who come to buy vegetables like Sister Li. Every day, in addition to the town and nearby farmers, residents come to rush to the market, there are many tourists to purchase locally produced vegetables and specialty products.

Zhang Wanxiang, a villager from Group 9 of Guogou Village who is selling vegetables at the farmers 'market, said,"In the early 1980s, when I went to the old street to sell vegetables for a day, it was only three or five yuan." But now it's different. Tourism in ancient towns is booming. There are many people coming to play. They especially like the ecological dishes we grow. This year, my family sold more than 6000 yuan for 4 points of pepper. The annual vegetable income is expected to be 30,000 yuan." Zhang Wanxiang said, his family labor is not enough, or change greenhouse vegetables, the benefit can be several times the present.

Huaxi town mayor Liu Minghua said,"Huaxi town is close to Liujiang ancient town, visitors to the ancient town prefer ecological food, we will take advantage of the surrounding flat dam, guide farmers to plant ecological vegetables, farmers benefit a lot." The hot sale of eco-friendly vegetables has brought contradictions in market sales venues. To solve this problem, the town has built a standardized and clean farmers 'market.

"The development of society and the changes of fairs have changed the way people go to fairs." Huang Wenzhen, secretary of Tangba Village Branch, who bought vegetables on the market, said that the era of "shoulder-to-back grinding and bartering for things" has passed, replaced by direct cash purchase. Travel by walking or riding a bicycle has mostly been transformed into electric bikes, motorcycles or cars. Most people no longer have to walk a few miles or even dozens of miles to go to the fair.

Liu Minghua believes that traditional bazaars are still the mainstream in rural circulation at present. However, with the development of economy and society and the derivation of new circulation channels, traditional bazaars may face greater impact. Taking the road of "scale, brand and diversification" of supermarket chains may be a new direction for entity management to win the market.

The traditional bazaar is extending to the network, and the villagers in the village no longer have to worry about the sale of agricultural products.

Farmers are willing to go to market and buy things in supermarkets because they believe in what they can see and touch. However, with the popularity of the Internet in rural areas and more and more young people participating in the sale of agricultural products, traditional rural fairs are extending to the Internet.

Huang Zou, 28, is a farmer in Group 7, Tuqiao Village, Jiangkou Town, Pengshan County. When he returned home for the Spring Festival in 2011, he found that his parents were worried about the sales of more than 800 citrus trees at home.

Huang Zou, who likes to surf the Internet, saw that Gannan navel orange sales were hot on the Internet, and immediately sprouted the idea of selling citrus online. Although it was difficult to start, but with his energy, he finally welcomed the first business two months after opening the store: 15 catties of oranges sold for 60 yuan.

When Huang Zou happily holds fruit to find express delivery company, found 15 jin citrus express fee unexpectedly 68 yuan! Huang Zou wanted to cry but had no tears. He had to go home with the fruit in his arms and contact the customer for a refund. The first business he had worked hard for for two months died like this. When Huang Zou rode a battery car around the city's large and small express delivery companies, finally found two relatively cheap prices, express delivery costs or accounted for 1/3 of sales.

The first store lasted for more than a year and there was no profit. Huang Zou learned from experience and opened a cocoa fruit industry restaurant in June 2013. Due to the good taste of the fruit and fine packaging, the evaluation has been very good, and the sales volume has gradually increased. One year later, the annual sales revenue reached 2 million yuan.

At the end of 2013, Huang Zou established cocoa citrus professional cooperative in Dongpo District, Meishan City. Only 5 farmers joined when it was first established. It is estimated that by the end of this year, more than 100 farmers will join the cooperative. Selling agricultural products through the network can increase the per capita income of cooperative fruit farmers by 3000 yuan and increase 20 jobs.

Huang Zou is most proud that the villagers in the village no longer have to worry about fruit sales. Tuqiao Village has 1000 mu of fruit trees, 70% of the fruits produced are sold through his online store,"the price per catty is a few cents more expensive than the market purchase price."

"Our generation should treat agriculture and agricultural products differently from our parents." Huang Zou's ideal is that Meishan has so many distinctive agricultural products that they should open up wider markets through online platforms.

Meishan has seen a lot of "e-commerce" like Huang Zou, most of which are farmers. The agricultural products sold include featured fresh fruits and specialty foods. More and more express online stores go deep into villages and towns, which also changes the logistics mode of villages and towns. Meishan City is starting to study and formulate the city's rural e-commerce development plan, support the development of rural e-commerce platform, and promote the transformation of agricultural product sales from traditional to modern.