The person in charge of Pinduoduo’s related businesses stated that the company will continue policies such as zero commission for agricultural products in the future. Through leaning into billion-dollar subsidies, tens of thousands of group deals, resource allocation, supply chain optimization, and other measures, the company aims to perfect the ultra-short chain of direct farm product delivery, allowing consumers nationwide to enjoy fresh, affordable agricultural goods from Guangdong and aiding farmers in increasing their income and revitalizing rural industries.
Xuwen, Guangdong, located at the southernmost point of mainland China, is one of the small cities that first sense the arrival of spring. Here, with nearly a hundred years of pineapple cultivation history, it is one of the nation’s largest pineapple-producing regions, known as the “sea of pineapples.” Before gaining popularity, Xuwen pineapples, overly reliant on offline sales channels, once encountered obstacles in their sales due to the pandemic.
On February 19, 2020, a special farmer assistance live broadcast took place in the pineapple fields. The then-county head personally entered the Pinduoduo live broadcast room, cutting and eating pineapples, passionately endorsing Xuwen pineapples, attracting over 300,000 online viewers, and resulting in the sale of nearly 300,000 jin of pineapples. This live broadcast also opened up new business thinking for local farmers, with live sales and online circulation becoming one of the major sales models for Xuwen pineapples.
Four years later, the “pineapple planting army” has gradually turned into the “pineapple selling army.” Xuwen pineapples have continuously risen in rank, becoming one of the top trends in the fruit circle. Pinduoduo’s platform data shows that over the past year, Xuwen pineapple sales have increased by 60% year over year. Regionally, Zhejiang has surpassed Guangdong to become the largest consumer province for Xuwen pineapples, followed by Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Shanghai, making up the top five.
In late February, this year’s first batch of Xuwen pineapples hit the market early. It is understood that this year’s planting area for Xuwen pineapples is around 350,000 acres, with an annual yield of about 700,000 tons. Nearly 15% of pineapples have been marketed, with the price of fresh fruit stable at 0.8-1 yuan per jin, and the purchasing price for large pineapples at the place of origin could reach 1.2 yuan per jin.
The sales volume of the fruit also serves as a demonstrative barometer for the prices of fine fruits in Southern China. At the recent event “2024 ‘Let the World Eat Xuwen Pineapples'” and the “2020·219 Pinduoduo First Field Live Broadcast” review symposium, Xuwen county’s relevant leaders fully affirmed the farmer assistance live broadcast that was driven by the collaboration between the government, platform, and media, “We are thankful for Pinduoduo’s swift response and the media’s full support and participation. This live broadcast has had a very clear demonstrative and leading significance, both in Guangdong and nationwide.”
The leaders of Xuwen County pointed out that this action of finding markets online for agricultural products has also been highly recognized and supported by Guangdong’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, subsequently sparking a nationwide live broadcast phenomenon in support of farmers. Xuwen’s exploration in online sales for agricultural products has also become one of the most popular new models for the development of agricultural e-commerce that year.
“The county head’s live broadcast demonstrated Xuwen’s beneficial practice of leading fruit farmers to try new paths for agricultural products to ascend via the internet, and it also marked the starting point for Pinduoduo’s farmer assistance live broadcasts. The successful implementation of this ‘experiment’ owes much to the new ‘12221’ market system model established for Guangdong’s agricultural products,” said the person in charge of Pinduoduo’s relevant businesses. Pinduoduo will continue its farmer-friendly policies such as zero commission for agricultural products and through billion-dollar subsidies, significant group deals, resource allocation, supply chain optimization, and other measures to further optimize the ultra-short chain of direct farm product delivery, ensuring that consumers nationwide have access to fresh, affordable Guangdong farm products, thereby helping farmers increase their income and contribute to the revitalization of rural industries.
From “Unsaleable Fruit” to “Wealth-Generating Fruit”
In February 2020, during the pineapple harvest season in Xuwen, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “The trip from Beijing to Xuwen had very few people,” recalled a purchaser at a symposium, “especially on the ferry from Haikou to Xuwen, there were hardly more than 5 people besides the crew. The ship was large but the passengers few; it felt like I had chartered the boat.”
The county mayor’s live streaming ignited life and energy in Xuwen. In just half an hour, it attracted the attention of over 300,000 netizens, and the two-hour online event sold out the initial 30,000 pieces of pineapple, with an emergency restock of 20,000 pieces during the stream, eventually promoting close to 300,000 catties in pineapple sales. After the live stream, local farmers in Xuwen County quickly gained 30,000 followers for their Pinduoduo store and sold a total of 51,000 pieces of pineapple in nearly 20 days.
This live stream was a positive practice for local leaders and fruit growers in Xuwen to explore new pathways for internet-based agricultural product sales, encouraging local farmers to broaden their business ideas and learn about live-stream selling and online store management. Xuwen pineapples gradually became a nationally recognized regional public agricultural product brand, and this exploration of online sales models for specific agricultural products has been widely praised.
To increase the market influence of Xuwen pineapples and turn them into a “city business card,” the local authorities continued to advance digital marketing efforts and fostered an irreplaceable live-streaming force. Nowadays, engaging in e-commerce no longer requires government initiative; instead, more locals are spontaneously involved in agricultural e-commerce.
Zou, a local young man born after 1995 in Xuwen, returned to his hometown from Guangzhou last year to try his hand at agricultural product e-commerce on Pinduoduo, “because I saw many friends around me making money from it.”
During the peak selling seasons of pineapples from April to June and August to November, Zou focuses on Xuwen pineapples on Pinduoduo, while other times he deals with local specialties such as custard apples, apple bananas, and red heart papayas. Relying on the platform’s pro-farmer policies such as zero commission on agricultural products, by the end of 2023, the shop accumulated sales orders exceeding 300,000, and profits also met expectations.
The diverse consumer demand on the Pinduoduo platform allowed Xuwen pineapples to find more possibilities. Taking his own family’s 100 acres as an example, “in the past, the offline market preferred larger fruits, and medium and smaller ones often just went to canning factories or even rotted in the field; but now, with the help of e-commerce platforms, mid-sized to large fruits have a broader market, increasing the overall value by 10%.”
Zou, energized by the “sweet success” of his e-commerce business, immediately arranged the work plan for the new year right after the Spring Festival holiday, “We are taking inventory recently and plan to go online around Qingming festival.” This year, he decided to increase his investment on the Pinduoduo platform, expanding the number of shops from over ten last year to 20-30, and simultaneously strengthen quality control of the pineapples.
Beyond selling his own pineapples, last year Zou also helped nearly 200 nearby planting households sell their pineapples, and the purchase price was generally higher than at offline stalls, “for every catty of pineapple sold, the farmers can earn an extra 0.1-0.2 yuan.”
Xuwen pineapples have welcomed a bumper harvest, with fruit farmers busily and joyfully engaged. Photography | Shen Zhao.
From 2020 to 2022, Xuwen pineapples have experienced a highlight moment as the field purchase price did not decrease but increased instead, peaking at more than 3 yuan per catty and setting a sales record. The once overstocked “surplus fruit” has transformed into “fortune-bringing fruit” for the local farmers.
Currently, the “Sea of Pineapples” industry is becoming more mature, with Xuwen’s “Pineapple Planting Army” essentially becoming the “Pineapple Selling Army.” Merchants from all over the country gather here, with trucks bearing different provincial license plates parked by the roadside at the edge of the fields, waiting to load and transport the pineapples.
Leveraging big data and live streaming to strive for “World Pineapple” dominance
Xuwen pineapples have made a powerful comeback, which cannot be mentioned without a set of digital codes: “12221.”
In 2019, to implement the market marketing work for the brand-building of Xuwen pineapples, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs set up a “12221” special task force, proposing the “12221” market system. This entails the establishment of “1” big data for agricultural products, forming “2” teams for sales area purchasers and cultivating local brokers, expanding “2” major markets of the sales area and the production area, planning “2” events for purchasers to enter the production area and agricultural products to enter large markets, with the aim of achieving “1” comprehensive goal, including brand building, sales volume increase, market guidance, variety improvement, and farmer wealth.
For five years, the task force has been meeting in Xuwen every spring to summarize the focal points of the phase, bring thought-provoking suggestions and help farmers sell fruit. As winter turns to spring, a new season of pineapples is approaching harvest, and the development blueprint for Xuwen pineapples becomes clearer during the meetings: e-commerce, digitization, and internationalization are the keywords for the next stage.
This year’s newly released central No. 1 document explicitly proposes implementing a high-quality development project for rural e-commerce, advancing the construction of county-level e-commerce live streaming bases, and developing the online sales of rural and regional specialties. Xuwen County is also vigorously promoting e-commerce live streaming sales, having held activities such as training and live streaming for a thousand people each, striving to become the “Top Live Streaming E-commerce County in the Nation.”
Spring 2020 saw the first county mayor live streaming event supported by Pinduoduo, inaugurating the “Xuwen Exploration” initiative.
Xuwen County has also been riding the digital wave by launching AI Pineapple, hoping that in the era where data becomes the new agricultural resource, mobile phones the new farming tool, and live streaming the new farm work, they can continue to deepen the “12221 market system construction” for Xuwen pineapples. With AI technology, they aim to solve various issues such as pineapple planting, preservation, processing, logistics, advertising, and marketing, integrating data elements with the entire agricultural process, vigorously developing live streaming, short videos, and other new e-commerce formats, exploring new models of integrated online and offline development.
It is reported that this year about 316 tons of pineapples have been exported to countries like Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and North Korea, marking the first export to North Korea. On February 29th, a batch of Xuwen pineapples from Zhongli Group was also ready to be exported to North America. The emergence of AI Pineapple has provided a platform for Xuwen pineapples to break through regional constraints and evolve from “China Pineapple” to “World Pineapple.”
To strengthen and expand the Xuwen pineapple industry, it’s essential to focus on both production and sales. While smoothing out the sales channels, the area also actively promotes diversification of production, continuously exploring industrialization, food processing, and cleanliness. New products such as grilled pineapple fish, fresh-cut mini pineapples, pineapple mooncakes, pineapple rice cakes, and pre-made pineapple dishes have been launched. During the meeting on February 29, leaders also officially inaugurated the “Xuwen Pineapple Pre-made Dish Raw Material Direct Supply Base,” laying the foundation for Xuwen pineapple to improve its industrial chain and expand its commercial channels.
With the rising popularity of Xuwen pineapples, other regions in Guangdong Province have followed suit, exploring online sales models. Pinduoduo previously signed a cooperation framework agreement with the Guangdong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to jointly promote the entry of Guangdong specialty agricultural products into cities and to co-incubate 50 brands of special agricultural products from Guangdong Province, comprehensively aiding Guangdong’s digital agriculture “new infrastructure.” From Kaiping duck eggs, Suixi sweet potatoes, Lingnan lychees to Huilai abalones, Meizhou honey pomelos, and Chaozhou tea, the rise of these distinctive agricultural products has been supported by Pinduoduo.
Data shows that in 2020 alone, Pinduoduo held more than 240 farming support livestreams, covering 29 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country, with more than 430 key officials from cities, counties, and districts entering the livestreams to promote local agricultural (side-line) products, resulting in 670 million supportive orders for farmers, selling more than 4.12 billion jin of agricultural (side-line) products, and aiding 1.13 million farming households.
In the future, Pinduoduo will continue to speed up moving Guangdong goods from villages to cities by tilting resources, optimizing the supply chain, and promoting the standardization, branding, and digitization of Guangdong’s specialty agricultural products.
