As internet traffic dividends peak, tech giants have suddenly turned their attention to the 'vegetable basket.' Community group buying, a trend that swept through a few years ago, has resurfaced with a new look. Alibaba, JD.com, Didi, Meituan, and Pinduoduo are all rushing in, drawing criticism from People's Daily and a wave of antitrust calls. After months of capital-fueled price wars, user reactions vary—some are bargain hunters, others sympathize with street vendors. Recently, some users have noticed that prices on these platforms are starting to rise! They downloaded these apps for deals like 1 cent eggs and 9 cent cabbages, but prices keep climbing: corn from over 1 yuan to over 3 yuan, eggs from 10 yuan to 15 yuan. The battle is still raging, the outcome uncertain, and community group buying is sharpening its knives for the 'leeks.' **-01-**Price Discrimination Mr. Chen from Nanjing recently noticed that prices on community group buying platforms are rising too fast! Take eggs, for example: from 10.99 yuan per 30 eggs on his first order half a month ago, to 12.99 yuan a week later, then 13.99, 14.99, and today it's 15.99 yuan. "Community group buying cuts leeks even more ruthlessly than market vendors!" From left to right: eggs before and after price increase For items that haven't risen much, Mr. Xia from Anhui sees it as a trick. Influenced by overwhelming advertising, he ordered fruit from a community group buying platform, only to find the actual product didn't match the pictures: one of two red dragon fruits was about to rot, the other was the size of an egg, and the yam looked like leftovers. The quality of dragon fruit on community group buying is worrying After hearing friends' stories of price discrimination on these platforms, Mr. Xia decided to quit: "At the market, you can pick and choose; with community group buying, you get what they send. What's the point of such cheapness?" Ms. Wen from Xi'an initially got 2.5 jin of oranges for 3 yuan on Orange优选, and they tasted good. But that luck was rare; the cheap prices couldn't offset the inconsistent quality, and she soon returned to the supermarket. Even if she wanted to continue bargain hunting, Ms. Wen had no chance. On the evening of December 16, staff from Orange优选 issued a price adjustment notice in the Chengdu group leader chat. The notice stated that to ensure the healthy development of the community group buying industry and avoid vicious competition, prices would be adjusted immediately. Four days later, the state intervened with the "Nine Prohibitions" for community group buying. The first prohibition is against abusing pricing power through below-cost dumping, price collusion, price gouging, or price fraud. Group leaders' feelings were mixed: happy that the industry finally had regulations, but sad about losing customers. Group leaders mainly earn commissions from sales. For example, with Xing Sheng You Xuan, Shi Hui Tuan, and Qian Xian Hui, commission rates are roughly 10%-15%, meaning for every 1,000 yuan in sales, a leader earns at least 100 yuan. A group leader surnamed Xu in Henan recently complained that promotional discounts are decreasing, average prices for vegetables and fruits are rising, and some daily necessities are even more expensive than in physical stores. The "0.99 yuan fruit" promotions have disappeared. "I have to admit, many people come for the low prices. Now that advantage is gone, making it harder to attract customers." When ofo was refunding deposits, some lamented that they had earned over 100 yuan from Mobike red packet rides, only to return it as a deposit to ofo. Community group buying is ending the era of bargain hunters much faster than bike-sharing or power banks. Who knows when we'll have to pay back the 'wool' we've sheared from capitalists? **-02-**Playing Games Price increases are just one aspect; poor experience is another major reason consumers abandon these platforms. New 10 Billion Business Reference contacted community group buying users across the country and found that this business model, supposedly "convenient and cheap for everyone," is bringing more and more troubles, mainly in the pickup and delivery process. Mr. Zhang from Changsha said bluntly, "Community group buying has problems; residents are complaining, and group leaders are confused and blaming each other." He summarized: First, every community convenience store has more than three grocery mini-programs. A store owner often serves as a group leader for five or six platforms, leading to a WeChat group flooded with promotional messages from different apps daily. To save a few yuan, you have to compare across multiple platforms, which is exhausting. Second, there's no quality guarantee for products. It's all about price, quality is ignored, returns are inconvenient, and refunds are slow. Third, pickup is troublesome. Previously, you could pick up by just providing your WeChat ID; now you need to give the order number for each platform, and the leader has to find and match orders, which can take five or six minutes. Ms. Chu from Shaanxi tried Duoduo Maicai for the first time and described it in four words: "poor experience." Cheap goods are bad enough, but the pickup process is too cumbersome: "Groceries are piled in a corner of the 711, fresh items are stuffed in the freezer, and you have to search for your own items. If you buy a lot, it takes forever." Ms. Yu from Sichuan found three items missing when picking up her order from Orange优选. The group leader blamed the salesperson, who said items were out of stock. Worse, she called customer service for three days without getting a refund. Other users also complained that Orange优选, despite having over 20 group leaders in one community, can't solve basic supply issues and often has out-of-stock items. Community group buying operates on a "order online, pick up next day" model: users order via mini-program or app, and the platform delivers to the group leader's pickup point the next day. Some platforms like Duoduo Maicai offer delivery to your door, but at an extra cost. As a result, various pickup experiences have left many feeling dissatisfied. A tech blogger from Guangdong shared his experiences on different platforms on social media: With Xing Sheng You Xuan, one group leader was a downstairs neighbor, the other a community convenience store. The former delivered to his door the next day; the latter had a missing fruit item, and since there was no return button on the app, the leader had to refund via WeChat. Duoduo Maicai's biggest feature is its tricks: the so-called "new user full refund" turned out to be a bunch of 5-yuan coupons, requiring one per day, expiring if unused, and only usable on orders over 40 yuan. Duoduo Maicai coupon page Meituan Maicai delivers on time, and fish is relatively fresh, but prices are higher. After trying them all, he'd rather pay more than fall into Duoduo's "monkey game" trap. An industry insider who follows new retail said, "Community group buying is a good thing, but without regulation, unified standards, quality assurance, or after-sales service, and with everyone fighting price wars, it feels like a street market, regressing several eras." "If there's a supermarket selling vegetables near the community, community group buying won't succeed," the insider added. **-03-**The Pie When community group buying first emerged, many criticized that foreign tech companies are exploring space, while Chinese internet giants are focused on vegetables, snatching food from street vendors. Their goal is simply to tap into the lower-tier market. Pinduoduo took 5 years to gain nearly 500 million monthly active users, becoming a behemoth feared in e-commerce outside the top cities, proving the immense power of the lower-tier market. Are the same people using community group buying? Many group leaders say that whether in lower-tier cities or first-tier cities, online shopping is still dominated by young people. Community group buying is also mostly used by young users. Mr. Lü, a self-media person from Foshan, Guangdong, believes that society is stratified: middle-aged and elderly people still shop at familiar markets, while younger people choose community e-commerce. So he doesn't agree that community group buying will squeeze out street vendors, as each has its own customer base. A report from China Merchants Securities provides a clearer answer: community group buying serves "family consumption scenarios," targeting group leaders (mainly stay-at-home moms and convenience stores) and consumers (mainly 20-40 year olds in lower-tier markets with high-frequency vegetable needs, mostly married women, with 30-39 year olds (post-80s) making up about 45%). Consumer characteristics of community group buying, source: China Merchants Securities According to Tencent Research Institute, Pinduoduo's users include: housewives, young people, and compared to other e-commerce platforms, more retired seniors and students. The overlap is young and middle-aged housewives, who are price-sensitive, fitting the low-price strategies of both community group buying and Pinduoduo. But community group buying is far from comparable to Pinduoduo. Most community group buying platforms sell fresh produce, fruits, and vegetables, which are hard to standardize; taste and freshness can't be shown in pictures. This leads to users receiving subpar products that don't match expectations, and returns are difficult to standardize. Another overlooked issue is supply chain and logistics. Young people might buy cheap Apple earbuds and wait for delivery, but vegetables can't wait. This is why Beijing, a fast-paced first-tier city, lacks community group buying. New 10 Billion Business Reference (ID:xsy-shangyecankao) downloaded four community group buying apps in Beijing; three showed the service wasn't available, and the one that was had so few products that there was no desire to buy. From left to right: Orange优选, Xing Sheng You Xuan, Meituan Maicai, Shi Hui Tuan Kantar's "2020 Community Group Buying White Paper" shows that about 20% of consumers started using community group buying during the pandemic, and 98% continued after, proving the model's sustainability. According to Kaiyuan Securities, 46% of community group buying leaders are in fourth-tier and below cities, 24% in third-tier, and over 70% are in third-tier and below. Undoubtedly, following Pinduoduo's path, the lower-tier market is where giants seek growth. Pinduoduo has captured more than just stay-at-home moms; its expanding product range and strategy toward higher-spending consumers are directions community group buying needs to catch up on, and must consider to break its own limitations. Source: New 10 Billion Business Reference (ID:xsy-shangyecankao) Author: Qian Xia Tips for submissions: 400-2000 yuan