When a wall collapses, everyone pushes it; when a drum breaks, everyone beats it. When you're on top, everyone wants to lift you up; when you're down, those who once lifted you are quick to step on you. Back then, after the capital boom faded, the 'skinny dippers' were left exposed, and countless people pointed at community group buying, calling it a 'false proposition.' The black swan event catalyzed a revival, and community group buying cleared its own name. But the model itself isn't the problem; it's the fear that it might be ruined by those who misuse it. As the demographic dividend gradually disappears, the window for traffic is freezing. Many 'aspirants' outside the track, with keen senses, quickly noticed this newly validated model, which could be the final battle in e-commerce. The track instantly became a battlefield. Before anyone could truly transform into a dragon, the state's 'Nine No's' regulation on community group buying appeared, cooling down the entire track. But here's the thing: on one side, leaders from various industries are charging ahead, vowing to win; on the other, regulators are cracking down to warn the tigers. Small and medium-sized groups are left trembling in the middle. Some focus on public opinion, some on track trends, and some on where the giants are opening new cities. No one notices that the former industry leaders, these entrepreneurial groups that crawled out of the dead, are being 'marginalized.' 'After finally getting the model right, with ideas and know-how, you find yourself short on ammunition. That's the dilemma many local groups face. If someone truly empowers them, they can quickly rise.' This was said during a business trip to Zhengzhou, in a conversation with Mr. Zheng Yongqi, founder of Quantum Food, a top-3 community group buying platform in Henan. Facing the 'unprincipled' squeeze from cross-industry disruptors, is there still room for small and medium-sized community group entrepreneurs in 2021? As one of the oldest veterans in the industry, how is Quantum Food responding? -01- A Meeting of Minds In the conversation with Mr. Zheng Yongqi, founder of Quantum Food, discussing his entrepreneurial journey, it was a tale of tears. As a serial entrepreneur, he faced repeated failures but kept fighting. Early on, he did website development, then catering during good times, built an ecological park, sold insurance during low points, and later did fruit wholesale. And doing community group buying was by no means a whim; it was all 'premeditated.' As early as 2012, Zheng Yongqi had started building a website called Wujia Wang, a PC-based platform for community information exchange. Community users could initiate activities, trade second-hand items, and communicate with each other; merchants could expand their reach; property companies, power companies, and neighborhood committees could post announcements. The platform had a vast amount of information, solving both the timeliness issue of QQ groups and the pain point that same-city life could only be precise to the city, not the community. The project quickly replicated across neighborhoods, with each community having an admin responsible for maintaining activity. Advertising revenue was shared reasonably: after the company took its cut, admins received a share based on backend data. The more active their community, the higher their share. Soon, the number of admins exceeded 300, but problems followed. At that time, many people didn't know what WeChat was; the iPhone 4 and 4S had just been released, and smartphones weren't widespread. Such an information exchange platform, even by today's standards, wouldn't be outdated, but back then it was too ahead of its time. Combined with technical issues, the project eventually fizzled out. But fortunately, even though the execution wasn't clear, Zheng Yongqi always believed the underlying logic had great potential, especially around the community economy. So, even after early failures, when he later ran a restaurant, he made vacuum-packed cold dishes and braised products, and developed stay-at-home moms as agents in neighborhoods. At that time, with just over 40 agents, dishes that previously didn't sell well in the store began to sell out. Of course, the restaurant eventually couldn't withstand the industry's ruthless selection. After several failed ventures, 'I came to understand that you can't do things blindly on a large scale. Do small things well, then replicate,' Zheng Yongqi said. So, he decided to revisit the 'Wujia Wang' idea, first becoming a successful micro-merchant himself, then replicating thousands of himself. In 2016, he found partners to develop a system, bought fruit from the largest local wholesale market, and sold via WeChat Moments with the initial system. Community agents saw the posts, came to the store to settle and pick up goods, and could then mark up prices. But they soon found this model fun but not profitable. Because it took 1-3 days for the message to reach agents via Moments, fruit was either insufficient or overstocked. A bigger issue was that they were only reaching small B-end agents, not C-end users. The system became just a bookkeeping tool. Zheng Yongqi pondered: where was the problem? He had a bold idea: pre-sell by community, let consumers order and pick up, and have agents promote the system in reverse. Users should be retained in the system; that's the right model. When he combined his previous community economy ideas with new pre-sale thinking and redeveloped the system, he didn't know he was getting closer to a massive trend. -02- Mastering the Group At that time, the concept of community group buying wasn't fully defined, nor was it as hot as now, but early pioneers were already implementing it. Reversing the model and redeveloping the system would inevitably affect vested interests. Original agents wouldn't migrate from the 'small second-tier wholesaler' model to 'working for the platform.' So, why not completely overturn it and recruit new 'agents'? Zheng Yongqi mentioned that during that period, he didn't drive; he used Didi and 'painted a vision' for drivers, then through them, influenced their stay-at-home wives—full-time moms—to become his group leaders. At the time, the common way to expand group leaders was the old trick of paying 100 yuan for referrals. Zheng Yongqi directly applied the insurance company model he learned to group leader fission. He set up exclusive fission rewards: 'I'm a group leader; if I refer you to become a group leader, when users buy from you, you earn commission, and I earn a reward.' With this 'insurance company model,' Quantum Food's group leaders multiplied rapidly, and they also poached group leaders from competitors. That's why some joked, 'Quantum Food is a platform that rose by poaching group leaders!' But as the number of group leaders grew, quality became uneven. Entrepreneurial groups don't just want good numbers; they want everyone to be able to fight and win. So, Quantum Food implemented a team management system: teams of 50, with top group leaders as team captains, sharing experience to drive the whole team forward. To avoid vicious price competition from other platforms, Quantum Food also launched a station-master-only feature in the backend, setting cost prices and group-leader-only prices, visible only to group leaders. For example, a shipment of paper products costs 27 yuan ex-factory, given to group leaders at 30, who can mark up to 35, turning them into group wholesalers, but the order calculation stays in the system. So, Quantum Food quickly achieved and stabilized monthly GMV of 6 million yuan in Zhengzhou alone, with group leaders exceeding 1,000, and rapidly replicated to six cities in the province. -03- The Future of Community Group Buying But what came faster was the 'flood' of giants. Xingsheng Youxuan's ground promotion is often called 'pyramid scheme'; 160 BDs entered Zhengzhou and swept through. Didi, always chasing order volume, broke 200,000 orders on its first day in Zhengzhou. Meituan entered with capital subsidies, losing over 1 million yuan per day, and reached 50,000 orders in 10 days. When asked if he ever felt anxious about running such a large platform alone, even facing the scorched-earth battle of giants, Zheng Yongqi told New Distribution, 'Of course there's worry, but Quantum Food believes that as long as regional platforms don't get led astray by big platforms, don't burn money, maintain healthy operations, and move forward steadily, more people will understand, and even capital will join.' 'And as for the so-called giants coming, anyone who says they haven't been affected is lying.' Zhengzhou has only about 10 million people; whether existing or new increments, under price wars, they can be quickly divided up. Under the squeeze of giants, Quantum Food's strategy is clear: protect the 'spark' and stay at the table until the storm passes. Zheng Yongqi has publicly expressed his view: the simple 'cut off an arm to survive' rule. So, what is the arm being cut? Cutting nearly half of the disloyal group leaders, keeping the most core half as the 'spark.' When giants enter with price wars and territorial expansion, they will inevitably squeeze small and medium groups. But giants won't be foolish enough to actively attack regional groups, because attacking downward would put them in a dilemma, and the 300 or so local groups nationwide can 'spring up again' at any time. But with giants gradually occupying territories, you can avoid them for a while but not forever. Zheng Yongqi remains optimistic. In his view, the community group buying pie is not small and hasn't been fully developed. In fact, 'community group buying' has infinite possibilities. In the past, Quantum Food did community group buying 1.0: based on offline LBS community distribution, developing community KOLs as group leaders, doing pre-sales in WeChat groups, with users picking up offline the next day. This is what most regional platforms do now, relying on hot products to drive traffic and pursue individual transactions. Categories are mostly limited to kitchen and bathroom consumption scenarios. Now, Quantum Food is doing community group buying 2.0: local life + drop shipping, which leans more toward community e-commerce. For example, everyone knows some platforms, after 'monopolizing,' use big data to 'rip off' familiar users and squeeze merchants, even taking up to 20% commission. In contrast, joining community group buying offers free traffic for merchants. Zheng Yongqi said, 'Earning one yuan is still earning. These virtual coupons don't require extra manpower or material costs. Group leaders earn commission on each sale, directly empowering them.' In the future, Quantum Food will lay out community group buying 3.0: community economy, returning to the original 'Wujia Wang,' with each community as a unit, providing products + services + information exchange. China has 350 million households in communities. The demand for community services (education, healthcare, housing, elderly care, travel, consumption, etc.) will directly form a trillion-yuan consumer market. So, community group buying has an infinite future; so, giants from all industries rush in without thinking; so, it's hard to form a monopoly in this track; there will be both 'big and comprehensive' and 'small and beautiful.' Summary: The future of community group buying is full of possibilities, but it's definitely not a quick-money business, and now is not the time for quick money. A platform's biggest opponent is often itself. If you manage all aspects well and maintain smooth internal operations, profitability is not a problem. Even if revenue temporarily drops, in the long run, it will bounce back. Don't blindly think that with giants around, the future is bleak. As the old saying goes, 'Stay in the trade whether profitable or not.' The pandemic also boosted medical stocks, but 90% of mask sellers lost money, perhaps because they weren't in that field. Giants are indeed powerful, and it's often said that money doesn't equal competitiveness, but those with competitiveness do have money. However, big platforms aren't as invincible as we imagine, as seen from the combat effectiveness of their smallest units. So, whether you're on the way or about to enter community group buying, practice your internal skills, build a solid foundation, don't overdraw the future, and don't treat users as fools. You will surely have a day to shine. Add the author's WeChat for communication. Note: NameCompanyPosition. Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan if adopted.