In the eyes of Shijiazhuang, 2021 has had one of the most magical starts in history.
Although we have been fighting the new crown Epidemic for more than a year, this round of outbreaks first occurred in rural areas where awareness of epidemic prevention and control, prevention and control resources are relatively weak, and the rate of spread is not low.
In addition, the rural livelihood security system is facing great challenges. The lack of experience in fighting the epidemic and the lack of a mature logistics network make “Home prevention and control” the greatest difficulty for local villagers, not in terms of the epidemic, but in terms of their daily lives.
This issue’s microscopic story tells the story of a group of people who experienced the epidemic in Shijiazhuang Feng Village.
Some of them are self-employed supermarket owners, others are full-Time mothers who have just joined the community e-commerce business, and some are even over 100 years old and only tried online shopping for the first time three months ago. After the village blockade, as the head of the village, they became the village’s “red people” in one fell swoop.
They experienced the “grand event” of 1,000 pounds of flour being snapped up in one day, and also rode their electric bikes to and from each villager’s doorstep daily to deliver the freshest vegetables and fruits.
Although the epidemic blocked the village, it did not block the hearts of the people, and could not hide the strong flavor of the New Year in the village.
These people have witnessed how they chose to become “ferrymen” in the emergency and guarded the “vegetable baskets, rice bags and New Year’s Eve stores” of the whole village day and night.
The following is their true story.
More than 1,000 pounds of flour were sold out on the day of the village closure
My supermarket has become the livelihood of more than 4,000 people in the village
Guo Dan Post-80s
Individual supermarket owner in Dongcao Village, Xiaoqiao Town, Jinzhou City, Shijiazhuang
On the night of January 7, my cell phone suddenly vibrated non-stop. At that time, I was still busy in the supermarket and had no idea what was going on outside.
I was about to turn on my phone when people from the village committee came in to inform me that the village would soon be closed from tomorrow, and even Shijiazhuang would be completely blocked – they were coming in to buy the necessities of Life and prepare to go back to the village to work overnight to deploy future events.
I panicked all of a sudden, really not expecting the epidemic to be this serious.
That’s when I remembered to look at the messages in my phone, all of them placing orders to buy things – the orders in my phone were still on the same page as a few minutes ago, but I felt like the whole world had turned upside down.
Because I have opened a local supermarket for more than 20 years, plus the village committee came to me first, I was also the first wave of people who knew about the village closure. The whole Dong Cao village plus I have a total of 8 supermarkets, the inventory is probably enough to eat and drink more than 4,000 people in the village, I do not have too much to worry about.
The next day, the whole village knew that the village was closed. Many people came to the supermarket in groups to buy rice, flour and oil, and the supermarket sold out of its stock of more than 1,000 pounds of flour in one day, and another supermarket was similar.
Figure|The village entrance barrier in Guo Dan’s village
Although I kept emphasizing to the villagers that we would not lose Food and flour, they did not listen. People who usually buy a 10-pound bag of flour were now picking 50-pound bags of flour and moving them home. Also exploding were my cell phone messages, with new orders constantly knocking in on Meituan Youji.
In December last year, I started to do the head of Mission Preferred, in the small supermarket to move a few shelves as a dedicated pick-up point, the initial intention to broaden the store some vegetables, fruits and other fresh categories, these goods have a short shelf life, must be through the community e-commerce “pre-purchase + pick-up” mode, in order to avoid damage to goods, but also to protect the freshness.
I was stirred up by this situation also worried: usually up to 100 orders a day, after the village orders rose to more than 240 orders a day, now the truck and courier are not allowed to enter, Mission Preferred can still send the goods in?
Usually the supply truck will arrive at 10 a.m., but that day the truck time was slightly delayed. In the process of waiting, my mood and the anxious villagers are no different. Near noon, the van finally arrived at the supermarket door, I finally put my mind at ease.
Since then, this van has become almost the only supply line to and from the village, carrying orders from the village people to my supermarket every day, providing security for the daily life of the whole village.
Photo | A part of Guo Dan’s village
I am very glad that I made the choice at that time. I never thought that I would become the “hero” of the whole village during the epidemic.
After the closure of the village, my WeChat group was full and now I have a second group with more than 600 people in the village. Every day from morning to night, even my wife joined in to help me as a customer service to take orders, the order volume also rose 60% than before.
Last December when I started to try to do Meituan preferences, many people in the group questioned whether the vegetables and fruits were fresh, and people did not know how to place orders online, and the few orders were placed by young people.
But it was also these young people, after the closure of the village they recommended to the elderly in each Family, and immediately grew the sales of orders during the epidemic. A few days ago, a very delicious orange came out on Meituan Premium, and I sold more than 20 baskets in one day.
I have been asked before whether doing community e-commerce will steal business from small supermarkets, but I think the positive effect is almost overwhelming.
Now the supermarket traffic than before a big boost, people come to the supermarket every day to get the goods ordered, always by the way from the supermarket to buy some more side dishes.
And those who come to the supermarket, see the boxes of fruits and vegetables delivered neatly arranged and fresh, always ask me “closed village you still have such fresh vegetables, how to sell?”
Photo|The shelves in Guo Dan’s supermarket are specially used for placing orders from Mission Preferred
Previously I thought that doing Meituan Preferred was to increase the channels to earn money, but after this village closure, now I think the meaning is different.
Like my Huinong supermarket, it is now my business. Being able to provide the whole village with stable, high-quality and fresh and cheap products has become my motivation and pride in my daily work.
During the village closure, I changed from pick-up to home delivery
Also spray the outer packaging with disinfectant
Jia Lihuan Post-90s
Mother of two children in Xi Zhaozhuang Village, Taoyuan Town, Jinzhou City, Shijiazhuang
After the closure of the village, I suddenly became the village’s redhead.
On January 7, the village of Zhaozhuang was closed and the village committee set up a barrier on the road in and out of the village entrance. As a result, six supermarkets in the village were snapped up by everyone, going out to replenish the goods needed nucleic acid testing and other procedures, and some supermarkets were closed for three days.
As a result, the number of people coming to me has become more. Every day at 10 o’clock, many people in my WeChat group on time to grab the new online fresh food, every day less than half an hour my side of the goods are snatched up.
Most of the people in the group are old acquaintances from when I was a beauty store in the village. Before the closure of the village, the group was only 100 people, and within a week of the closure, it doubled to more than 200 people.
Everyone was curious as to why I could do better than the supermarket and be able to get fresh vegetables and fruits during the village closure. But what they don’t know is that I can receive the goods from Mission Preferred every morning at 10am.
After the village closure, because the procedures were more complete, the Meituan Preferred truck could still drive directly into the village, while I rode an electric tricycle to deliver the goods to everyone at the first time after picking them up.
In order to reduce contact, I would deliver the stuff to the entrance of the yard, spray disinfectant water on the outer package once, not knock on the door, send a WeChat to tell the other party that the goods have arrived, put down the stuff and leave.
The first thing I did was to shut down the beauty store in order to take care of Erbao more, and turned the store into a community e-commerce business, which I was still very upset about. I didn’t expect that, during this period of time, the community e-commerce business was even busier than the beauty store!
Figure|Jia Lihuan delivery of electric tricycle
But I am more accomplished than ever.
Our village is not large, before online shopping to buy things for the second baby, I have to drive to the town 4 km away to get, courier can only to the town not into the village, very inconvenient. Later I learned that the order placed by Mission Preferred can be delivered to the village, I can also take orders at home to take care of the children, I decided to join.
After the village was closed, the convenience of home delivery was immediately evident. Villagers do not have to risk going out, food is delivered directly to the door. In addition, in the past, the village can not buy live fish, shrimp, can also be delivered to the door, eat even richer than before.
Many elderly people in the village heard that they also want to order, they asked me how to operate, I will teach them step by step, once to learn not to teach twice, twice to learn not to teach three times.
Some time before the closure of the village, the village 65-year-old aunt Han is very interested in the community e-commerce shopping, find me want to learn how to place an order. I taught her by hand for a week or so, and guided her through several shopping sessions. She just became proficient in placing orders and then she ran into a closed village, and now she can operate the orders at home, which I feel quite pleased with.
But after they learned to place orders, they don’t know how to check the products and miss out on a lot of good deals and quality stuff. Sometimes they ask me which products are better value, so I pick three categories and send them to them, so that they can compare them before placing an order.
I also have to be familiar with the products of Meituan Yousei in order to help the village elders make good recommendations.
In fact, I rarely pay attention to what I can get now, especially after the closure of the village, I see that this purchase channel has become a way for the village people to discover the joy of life in the days when they can’t go out, so that the villagers can eat well and live lively without going out.
Every time I think of this, I become more motivated when I make deliveries in the cold winter wind.
After this village closure, I got a lot of people’s understanding and attention, and I have made a lot of progress. I will continue with this service of home delivery, which is my most important job and my obsession.
Staying up late every night to select and grab goods
Sealing the village does not hinder life, the epidemic can not hide the village’s New Year taste
Cheng Jiao Post-70s
Individual supermarket owner in Nanbaitan Village, East Zhuoshu Town, Jinzhou City, Shijiazhuang
I never thought I would live a life of “online shopping” at the age of 51, and even open my own “online store”.
Three months ago, I had never bought anything online, and when my neighbor recommended that I place an order online, I pouted at him, “I can’t see what I’m buying online, what can I buy?”
As a result, now I not only “shop online” myself, but also lead the whole village to “shop online”. Especially after the closure of the village, I was so nervous every night that it was like a blitzkrieg.
“Flour is on sale today for $15.90, add to your cart if you want it, and place your order as soon as 12 o’clock passes!” At 11:30 p.m., I sent this sentence to my own supermarket’s customer group, and soon several people replied, and others sent screenshots of their shopping carts.
I didn’t have time to reply, and quickly returned to Meituan Premium to check other new products, and immediately recommended those with high cost performance in the group, and operated until late at night 12:00.
As soon as 12 o’clock passed, I immediately called on everyone in the group to hurry up and place orders, and then go back to their shopping carts to complete the order and payment process, to see the order in the state of pending delivery, the day’s zero point on the new purchase is officially over.
This is the late night life of my half-century-old person for the last 3 months.
I originally opened a small supermarket with my husband, but there are already 7-8 similar ones in the village. Our location is not good, and this supermarket has not been very profitable.
When I was worried, a friend from the county supermarket introduced me to Meituan Premium in November last year, and he taught me to place an order for a bag of special flour on the spot, which I didn’t expect to receive the next day. After that online shopping, I became a bit addicted to it, and became one of the first small supermarkets in the village to do community e-commerce.
This time the epidemic closed the village, in just a few days I opened a new WeChat group, the total number of people rose from 500 to more than 700, the most a day received more than 300 orders.
From that day onwards I stepped up my efforts and called on my family to join me when I encountered limited products, and sometimes called on people in the group to help place orders, hoarding a lot of rice, noodles, grain and oil products in the store, enough for the village to eat for a while.
When the village was first closed for management, people mainly came to buy necessities such as rice, flour, grain and oil, as well as masks, disinfectant and other epidemic prevention supplies.
The products I share in the group after 11 p.m. are slowly becoming less common fruits such as watermelon, wogon and ginseng fruit, adding some freshness to the villagers’ home life.
Among the supermarket operators in our village, I am the oldest, but the most energetic one. Now I am like a young person, I can’t leave my cell phone all day long and keep an eye on orders. My family even laughed at me and asked me if I had become an “Internet addict”.
Now when people in the village tell me what they want to buy but can’t, I keep it in my mind and send it to them immediately when I see something suitable. In my opinion, it is my duty to provide a stable livelihood for the villagers during the village closure period.
A mother in the village went back to her mother’s house in another village the day before the village was closed, and the next day she was closed outside the village and could not return.
She said to me during the chat, if not for the method of placing orders across the village, she did not know how anxious she would be at her mother’s house.
Although I am now busy until 1:00 a.m. every day and can’t sleep for a few hours, I feel it is worth it to get the villagers’ affirmation.
These days the supply of dumplings is tight, one person can buy up to 10 bags, I mobilized everyone to help order to stock up on 90 bags. It’s about to be New Year’s Eve, so I wanted to prepare the New Year’s Eve goods in advance.
Although the village is temporarily closed, but the festive and New Year’s flavor can not be sealed. These days, meat stuffing, sugar oranges, etc. are selling particularly well, and everyone still wants to wrap a dumpling and wait for the New Year.
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