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Given 20 figs and 1 ice bag, which need to be placed in a foam box that is 24 cm long, 18 cm wide and 14 cm high, how can each fig be effectively supported with the lowest packaging cost?

This is a problem that Xiong Yajun remembers vividly. It was put in front of him in his first year at Pinduoduo. Because consumers who apply for "bad fruit compensation" often post pictures: fruits are squeezed together, and the surfaces that touch the fruits are rotten and smelly.

Although he is not good at math and has never learned modeling, there are always more solutions than problems. Xiong Yajun repeatedly designed and modified, and a mature solution was rejected and re-designed at least three times before the mold was opened. The newly designed boxes had to pass actual trials to test after-sales indicators. When the solution entered the fourth round, his store's after-sales service improved by more than 10%.

▲ The figs are ripe, and Xiong Yajun is picking them at the base. Photo by Wu Chuan

Xiong Yajun spent three years learning how to grow figs, and another six years learning how to do it on Pinduoduo, gradually transforming from a "little transparent person" in the village to "the child of other people's families". Now is the production season, and he can sell 10,000 kilograms of figs online every day. Six large bases nearby supply him with figs, covering more than 100 farmers.

At 2 a.m. on August 5, several farmers in Yongfeng Village got up quietly and went out to pick figs. The night was cool, and the dark sky was dotted with stars, and the light of flashlights was hazy. Since the fig harvest began in July, they have been working almost every day until 10 a.m.

There are special female workers who are responsible for handling the fresh figs: sorting, bagging, and putting them into baskets... At noon, they are all loaded onto trucks and taken to Xiong Yajun's warehouse, where they are then repackaged, sealed, and sent to all parts of the country.

This is the fig production base that Xiong Yajun cooperated with. There are five similar bases in Chengdu, which supply him with nearly 10,000 kilograms of figs every day. Xiong Yajun, a thin young man who once lived in the mountains, has now achieved great success and become a well-known salesman in the village, which has impressed many people.

Back in 2018, it was the third year that Xiong Yajun had been growing figs. He had already entered the "finals" in terms of planting, but he had not yet found a way to sell the figs. The vendors at the stalls saw that he was unfamiliar with them and often took the opportunity to raise the price, and their attitudes were particularly aggressive. This depressing environment prompted Xiong Yajun, who loves thinking and exploration, to move towards online platforms.

▲ Xiong Yajun's figs were featured on Pinduoduo's "10 billion subsidies" channel. Photo by Wu Chuan

At that time, the sale of agricultural products through e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo was first developed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, while in inland areas such as Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, only a few well-informed people dared to "take the lead". But soon after, with the gradually optimized logistics conditions and the extremely rich products of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, rural e-commerce here came from behind.

When Pinduoduo opened its store, Xiong Yajun transformed from a farmer to an agricultural merchant. Seeing the increasing number of orders, he was filled with joy. To describe his mood in one word, it is "refreshing", because he no longer has to be "treated in a pretentious manner" by the vendors. "I can sit at home and order online. I don't have to go out to set up a stall or be ordered around by others. This is the first time I've had such a good life."

At that time, Xiong Yajun knew a little about e-commerce operations, but not much. Pinduoduo's intelligent promotion tools just happened to bridge the gap between novices and experts. As for his understanding of figs, the hardships Xiong Yajun experienced in those three years were not without purpose.

"I have lived with the figs for three years. I know exactly where the figs are of good quality, when the yield is high, and even which day has more figs and which day has fewer." Xiong Yajun said, "In recent years, many 'outsiders' have collected figs and sold them online. They sold them for one year and then withdrew the next year. The reason is not that the platform is not good or their operational capabilities are not good, but that they don't know enough about figs."

Xiong Yajun believes that the essence of the fig e-commerce business is how to continuously output fruits with stable quality and try to isolate the impact of factors such as weather, origin, and logistics on the consumer experience, so as to expand on a large scale and increase profits.

As for how to "isolate", experts who understand the goods will make the correct prediction. For example, when Xiong Yajun saw a planting base using bamboo sticks to reinforce fig seedlings, he would give this kind of garden a second look, because when he was growing figs himself, one year when figs were on the market, a strong wind blew down the trees, the fruits were soaked in water, and the price plummeted.

In the past, large farmers and leading enterprises could access abundant market resources through three-dimensional circulation, but small and medium-sized farmers could not. The emergence of e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo has opened the door to the national market for them. In addition, the many transaction and service innovations launched by the platforms have also transformed the core elements of agricultural products from the operational skills emphasized by traditional e-commerce platforms to supply advantages.

▲ E-commerce platforms are playing an increasingly important role in helping niche fruits go viral. Photo by Wu Chuan

In the past, local fruit farmers mostly sold figs offline, which not only suppressed the price but also made it difficult for the fruit to be sold. In recent years, Xiong Yajun has promised to purchase figs at a price 2 yuan per kilogram higher than the market price. "We use e-commerce platforms to help stabilize prices and open up sales channels." In the season when figs are ripe in large quantities, each local household produces an average of 100 to 200 kilograms of figs per day, which means that the villagers can increase their income by 200 to 400 yuan per day.

Many employees of the Fig Base that cooperated with Xiong Yajun also benefited from the program. Most of them were mothers who came to the base to help out after taking care of the elderly and children. They could earn a monthly salary of 5,000 to 6,000 yuan without having to work outside.

Xiong Yajun is striving to take his fig business to the next level, and he has begun to actively investigate fig bases in Yunnan. "With the help of platforms such as Pinduoduo, figs are no longer as niche as they used to be, and consumer demand is growing." Xiong Yajun said that since the fig season in Sichuan ended in December, the market supply became tight in winter, so he chose to come to Yunnan. (Pinduoduo)