Scan the QR code in the image to register 5% commission gap ignites the community leader elimination round. In the last month of 2020, the group buying circle experienced a rare calm after the release of the 'Nine No's' regulations. Now, a month has passed since the new rules were introduced. It can be seen that price competition and low-price subsidies among many community group buying platforms seem to have been curbed. The prices of some fresh products have basically returned to levels comparable to traditional supermarkets, and some are even slightly higher than ordinary community markets. However, although community group buying is gradually showing healthy competition and orderly development, in areas invisible to consumers, community leaders are sparking a new round of 'elimination round.' -01- Were the first wave of leaders 'cannon fodder'? "Only six orders today? How come it's getting fewer and fewer." At 2 p.m., community leader He Yong (pseudonym) began unloading fresh products ordered by residents from his Wuling van. When talking about recent business, he shook his head and complained to the author: "Since the beginning of January this year, my station's daily order volume has basically been less than ten." He Yong, who runs a convenience store in a urban village in Longgang, Shenzhen, joined a community group buying brand in early 2020, becoming one of the brand's earliest station leaders. "At first, there weren't many brands doing community group buying. Around the three surrounding urban villages, only my store was a fresh produce station." According to his recollection, because there were few pickup points, users from the three surrounding villages would have their online pre-ordered fresh products delivered to his convenience store for distribution. In March 2020, at the peak of business, nearly 200 fresh group buying orders were delivered to He Yong's station daily. Every day at 6 p.m., users coming to pick up their orders would crowd the convenience store entrance, and even regular customers with shopping needs were ignored. "Because my station was the only pickup point nearby, users had no choice when ordering. Some users had to walk nearly a kilometer to pick up their goods. Those with many items even rode their e-bikes to the store after work." He Yong revealed that during that period, the monthly order value delivered to his station reached as high as 210,000 yuan. According to the agreement, as long as group buying users chose his station for pickup, the platform would give the station a 4.5% commission. Therefore, the community group buying business brought He Yong nearly 10,000 yuan in monthly income, almost exceeding the operating profit of the convenience store itself. "It probably started around June or July last year. Several new community group buying brands recruited station leaders in nearby urban villages. Suddenly, more than a dozen convenience stores, fast-food restaurants, and grocery-hardware stores joined as pickup points, and competition became fierce." He told Dongdong Notes that business has never been the same since. In the same village, there are as many as three pickup points for the same brand. The number of group buying brands users can choose from has increased, and the number of pickup points has also increased, severely dividing orders. When users pre-order fresh products online, they prioritize product discounts and promotions, followed by the distance to the pickup point, and they only choose the nearest one. "My convenience store is a bit far from the community, which is one reason for the decrease in orders at my station, and thus commission income has dropped sharply." He Yong said that in January 2021, his station's commission income was only 348 yuan. As for February, he expects even lower income. Besides the increase in pickup points and stations for fresh group buying brands in the same community, he believes that the 'individual leaders' that various community group buying platforms are vigorously developing are his biggest threat. -02- Individual leaders grow 'wolf-like' "Don't set up your stall here; a truck will be unloading soon." At around 4 p.m., a middle-aged woman carrying a portable table and a box of eggs was about to set up a stall in front of He Yong's convenience store. He quickly ran out and dissuaded her, citing unloading. Perhaps seeing the displeasure on He Yong's face, the woman reluctantly moved elsewhere. When the author thought He Yong was worried about the stall blocking his business, he turned and explained that the woman trying to set up a stall was also a community group buying leader. The difference was that she was an 'individual' without a physical pickup point. "This kind of individual leader's pickup point is set up at home. To preserve fresh products, most have purchased professional cold storage equipment." The woman trying to set up a stall in front of the convenience store is exactly the type of individual leader that community group buying platforms are vigorously developing. He Yong said that since the end of last year, many individual leaders have come to the urban village to set up stalls and develop new group buying users. The methods individual leaders use to develop new users are mostly simple and 'rough': scan the QR code to join the group and get free eggs. As long as users join the WeChat group established by the individual leader, they can immediately receive six fresh eggs. Village residents are very willing to do this. "I've observed that sometimes they can invite ten to twenty new people into the group in an hour or two." Compared to station leaders, individual leaders need to develop group buying users themselves, and users place orders through special links and mini-programs sent by the individual leader in the WeChat group for settlement. In terms of commission, because individual leaders develop incremental user groups, their commission is higher than that of station leaders and pickup points, generally reaching 10% to 12%. For example, if an individual leader can maintain and serve 150-200 users, with 30% of users ordering daily necessities and fresh produce daily, and the average order value reaches 40 yuan, then the monthly income is at least 6,000 yuan. Some individual leaders with strong business capabilities can even earn over 10,000 yuan per month. "And platforms have tricks for recruiting individual leaders, mainly targeting housewives and mothers." He Yong told the author that the reason platforms are focusing on developing housewives and mothers as individual leaders is that they are unemployed and have relatively ample free time. In addition, some stay-at-home housewives and mothers have high living expenses and are eager to find a flexible part-time job to supplement their income, so they work very hard in developing incremental group buying users. "Now community group buying is not allowed to fight low-price wars, so many brands that want to quickly seize territory can only rely on a human wave tactic." He Yong believes that the reason many platforms focus on screening housewives, mothers, and even unemployed people is to use their tight finances and free time to cultivate 'wolf-like' combat effectiveness and compete for the community group buying market. In his view, as long as they smell money, individual leaders can roam the community day and night, setting up stalls everywhere, and even paying out of their own pockets to give gifts to invite users to join groups. Sometimes at 11 or 12 at night, he can still see individual leaders distributing flyers at the village entrances and alleys, waiting for overtime workers returning home. It can be said that the rise of a large number of individual leaders has seriously affected the income of early pickup points and station leaders who joined community group buying. And 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' The emergence of individual leaders has also made station leaders from different community group buying brands put aside their differences and gather to discuss countermeasures. "Some convenience store stations have said that the impact of individual leaders is too great, commissions have dropped sharply, and they plan to withdraw." Although He Yong often says on the surface that if commissions continue to decline, he will end his franchise like other station leaders, behind the scenes he is quietly taking the initiative to attack, preparing to win back group buying orders from individual leaders. "If some franchise stations really withdraw, competition will be less, which isn't a bad thing, right?" -03- Leaders have become 'salespeople' "After generating the link, how do I forward it to the group?" At 8 p.m., after the last group buying user picked up their fresh products, He Yong, who could have ended the day's work, began a new business attempt. The 51-year-old He Yong, wearing reading glasses, picked up his newly purchased smartphone and asked his daughter beside him how to forward the mini-program link. He told the author, station leaders currently only get a 4.5% commission on natural orders, and the order volume depends on users' choice of pickup point when placing orders. If they learn from individual leaders and actively convert users to develop incremental orders, the commission per order will rise to 10%, and income will increase. "I used to resist using smartphones and maintaining WeChat groups; it was too difficult. But now I have to learn slowly and do it slowly, or I'll fall behind." After the winter vacation began, his daughter, who studies in Guangzhou, became He Yong's tutor, teaching him how to use a smartphone to maintain WeChat groups and develop new users in private traffic. He Yong's 'task' for his daughter is to teach him how to send voice messages and text content to maintain users in the group before the winter vacation ends. As for how to invite new users to join the group, he seems to have his own methods. "As long as the convenience store is open, customers will come in. That's more face-saving than individual leaders setting up stalls." During the day, when the store is open, occasionally tenants from nearby rental houses come to buy daily necessities and snacks. While at the cash register, he would strike up conversations with customers, with the aim of inviting them to scan the QR code to join his group. In his view, this slow and steady approach is no less effective than individual leaders' street canvassing. "Generally, I first introduce the advantages of community group buying and the discounts on some platform products to attract them to join the group." He Yong told the author that nearby tenants are mostly familiar faces and usually don't refuse his invitation to join the group. If some customers are very resistant and refuse to join, he will try to 'lure' them by giving away cheap candies and snacks first, then slowly attract them to join the group buying group. To differentiate his service from individual leaders, he even launched a community fresh delivery service, delivering to customers' homes, to reach end users. "I can earn three or four yuan commission per order. How hard can it be to deliver to their homes? Climbing stairs is just exercise." Why not just run the convenience store well instead of competing with individual leaders for community group buying business? He Yong said helplessly, "In recent years, e-commerce has developed too fast, and the convenience store business is not as good as before. If I don't keep up with the times, I won't make money sooner or later." Conclusion: More and more community group buying platforms are launching 'human wave campaigns' by screening and recruiting individual leaders, continuing to expand their territory in the community group buying field and develop incremental users. At the same time, new platforms, with similar product prices and discounts, intensify competition among leaders by opening franchises, thereby cultivating 'wolf-like' combat effectiveness and accelerating market share grabbing. For early community leaders, merely acting as pickup points for community group buying platforms makes it difficult to compete with scattered individual leaders. Today's station leaders, in order to survive and earn high commissions, have begun to counterattack and engage in close combat. An 'elimination round' between individual and station leaders has quietly begun. Source: Dongdong Notes (ID: dongdong_note)