Articles by 韩志鹏

The Current State of Community Group Buying: Unprecedented Involution

After community group buying shifted to a 'profit-first' approach, suppliers and distributors are facing harder times. Hu Mingchun (pseudonym), a grid warehouse distributor in Hunan, said that in 2020, as Meituan Select and Duoduo Maicai entered Hunan, he chose to join one of the platforms and set up grid warehouses in seven cities across the province. Nearly four years later, Hu has lost over 10 million yuan on grid warehouses. According to Hu, in the first half of this year, as the platform gradually reduced grid warehouse delivery fees and subsidies for large items and long-distance delivery, profits further declined, leading 80% of distributors in Hunan to request contract termination.