High quality and low price？ Community groups buying ＂hidden corners＂ highlight industry worries

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 29 (reporters Ding Yawen, Li Ting, Hu Jiefei) Recently, there have been many controversies about the quality and safety of the food sold by community groups buying supply channels. Many consumers report that they buy products of unknown origin on community e-commerce platforms; some consumers report that they see community group buying staff sorting and repackaging expired products.

　　According to the "official" statement of some community e-commerce companies, their "high quality and low price" is achieved by "direct procurement from the place of origin" and reducing intermediate costs. However, the reporter’s investigation found that this statement seems untenable. What are the "hidden corners" of community group buying? Can food safety be guaranteed? The reporter visited on the spot and interviewed all relevant parties in the industrial chain to restore the true ecology of community group buying.

　　"Direct mining from origin" is mostly the slogan "wholesale distribution" is the mainstream

　　According to the description of some community e-commerce companies, most of the agricultural products they sell are supplied by "direct procurement from the place of origin". The company has a "supply chain system of origin", which can ensure "quality from the source".

　　When the reporter visited wholesale markets such as Xinfadi in Beijing and Hongqi Farmers’ Trade in Tianjin, he found multiple community group buying and distribution trucks. Some suppliers and drivers told reporters that some merchants in the market supply to multiple platforms at the same time. Community group buying trucks usually pull goods at night, complete sorting work in the warehouse at night, and deliver to the "head" the next day.

　　"We are a first-class supplier, and the fruit we sell is directly pulled from the local cooperative. The big community group buying platforms all buy from us. If you plan to do group buying, just come to us to buy, even if it is directly from the place of origin," said one supplier.

　　Yang Tiantian, deputy secretary-general of the Commerce and Logistics Branch of the China Chamber of Commerce, introduced that the supply of goods for community group buying mainly comes from two channels: one is direct procurement from the place of origin, and the other is wholesale purchase. Direct procurement from the place of origin is very difficult. Enterprises need to have the control ability of the entire supply chain. They need "three major warehouses" of origin warehouses, transit warehouses and front warehouses, and the investment cost is very high. Among the current community e-commerce enterprises, most of them only have front warehouses, which cannot realize direct procurement from the place of origin at all.

　　Zhuang Shuai, founder of Bailian Consulting, believes that "wholesale-distribution" is the mainstream business model of community group buying enterprises. Compared with traditional e-commerce and "home" models, community group buying has a short inventory cycle, distribution does not require "single delivery", and warehousing management and logistics costs are relatively low, which is also the biggest advantage of community group buying. It is estimated that the warehousing and logistics costs of community group buying are at least half lower than those of traditional e-commerce.

　　Ben Ning, general manager of the operation center of the original life network, said that the meaning of direct procurement from the origin is that retailers break the traditional multi-layer circulation system and directly purchase products from the origin. If you choose direct procurement from the origin, then retailers need to bear all the risks of the circulation and sales of agricultural products, including the risk of inversion of the sales price and the purchase price. Therefore, few retailers actually carry out direct procurement from the origin.

　　The picture shows the pickup point of a community group buying platform in a supermarket in Beijing

　　Under the price advantage, can the bottom line of food safety be maintained?

　　Recently, there have been many discussions about the safety of community group buying food. Some netizens reported that they bought counterfeit and shoddy products from the community group buying platform, and the products they bought were expired, moldy, and the products were "short of weight".

　　Some netizens reported that they saw community group buying staff sorting out the expired products in the warehouse and repackaging them for sale. Some netizens searched according to the address of the manufacturer on the outer packaging of the food, but found that there was no manufacturer at all.

　　Industry insiders told reporters that in order to reduce the end point price of products, community e-commerce is competing to lower costs, coupled with relatively weak supervision and spot checks, which is the main reason for the frequent occurrence of food safety problems.

　　In interviews, some fruit and vegetable suppliers said that due to the serious price reduction of the platform, most high-end fruit and vegetable suppliers cannot cooperate with community e-commerce. Some suppliers may choose smaller, less glossy and lower-grade fruits and vegetables to supply to the platform.

　　A supplier of cold chain products told reporters that the quotation given to them by community e-commerce was lower than the cost price, and they could not cooperate at all. "At first, we didn’t understand why they could sell the price so low, but later found that some platforms bought temporary products, replaced them with their own packaging and resold them. Changing the packaging can be’flexible ‘for many things, and the origin and production date can be’blurred’."

　　"Our manufacturer does not allow the platform to change the outer packaging. But I know that many suppliers in the industry allow changes. When changing the packaging, the supplier will sign a contract with the platform, and if there is a problem with the product in the future, the platform will take full responsibility." A fresh products supplier said.

　　How can emerging business models innovate supervision? Guide the healthy development of the industry

　　Industry insiders said that community group buying, as an emerging business, has been much sought after by various capitals in recent years. Due to the lack of necessary supervision, the development of the industry has fallen into the dilemma of brutal growth and chaos. It is recommended to innovate the regulatory system and build a governance system involving the government, platforms and consumers to promote the healthy development of community group buying.

　　Pan Helin, executive dean of the Digital Economy Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, believes that the "low price" and "excessive subsidy" of community group buying can be classified as unfair competition, and whether it is suspected of dumping can be judged by referring to the average price of market transactions. In terms of laws and regulations, our country has revised and improved the Anti-Unfair Competition Law in 2019. At present, it is necessary to speed up the improvement of market competition rules, promote the revision of the Antimonopoly Act, and speed up the introduction of anti-monopoly guidelines in the field of platform economy and online transaction supervision and management measures.

　　"In terms of food safety, it is appropriate to make it clear that the responsibility for food safety belongs to the platform side. As long as the responsible party is clear, the distribution area can supervise the quality of the goods, but in practice, it is also necessary to establish a convenient consumer feedback mechanism, such as handling food quality issues through consumer associations, because the trigger point for food safety is often not surprise inspections, but consumer complaints," Pan Helin said.

　　Li Yanchuan, chairperson of the joint stock company in Beijing, suggested that local regulators could increase sampling of food sold by community ecommerce. "Regulators will conduct sampling inspections of products sold in supermarkets every month. It is recommended to conduct sampling inspections of products sold by community ecommerce at the same frequency to implement the main responsibility of the platform."

　　Ma Liang, a researcher at the National Institute of Development and Strategy of Renmin University of China, believes that the supervision of community group buying needs to strengthen cross-departmental coordination and linkage to avoid fragmentation and fragmentation resulting in inefficient supervision.