The current situation and new development model of agricultural product marketing at home and abroad
Agricultural product marketing refers to the process of transferring agricultural products from producers to consumers. In order to meet the needs of consumers, producers and operators also A series of creative activities taken to achieve its own goals, that is, to conduct research on the agricultural product market, produce products that meet market demand according to market demand, and then use effective publicity at reasonable prices to sell agricultural products in the market through efficient circulation channels. Sell ??to consumers when and where people want.
l Several characteristics of agricultural product marketing
(1) Agricultural product marketing includes the entire process of production, processing and marketing. It is highly risky and highly dependent on nature. There are many problems in the process. Uncontrollable factors, which lead to extremely high natural risks in agricultural product production and operation activities, small input-output ratio, long investment return period, and low rate of return. (2) The elasticity of agricultural products is low, and changes in supply and demand caused by price changes are small. (3) The production and consumption of agricultural products are inconsistent in time and space. This is mainly reflected in the self-sufficiency of farmers and the continuity of people's demand for agricultural products and the seasonality of production.
2 Domestic and foreign marketing methods and current situation of agricultural products
2.1 Current situation of foreign agricultural marketing
The production of agricultural products in agricultural exporting countries such as Europe and the United States is highly concentrated and the products are market-oriented , high in informatization and technology, so its marketing channels are short, and it is mainly sold directly from the wholesale market of the place of origin to retailers. Its characteristics are: (1) The market of the place of origin is concentrated. For example, the production of agricultural products in the United States is highly regionalized, forming production areas such as corn, wheat, soybeans, vegetables, and fruits. The origin markets of its agricultural products are very concentrated. In the entire sales channel system, transactions between origin wholesale markets and retailers account for 98.5%. %. (2) The sales wholesale market radiates to the urban agricultural product distribution market. For example, in the United States, road and rail transportation are well developed, and agricultural products can often be quickly transported to stations in big cities. In this way, the supply of agricultural products is not concentrated in the suburbs of big cities, but in remote production areas. Their wholesale markets account for 20% of the total transaction volume of agricultural products. However, It plays a leading role in the formation of agricultural product prices. (3) The sales channel is short, the links are few, and the efficiency is high. 78.5% of agricultural products in the United States go directly from the place of origin to retailers through distribution centers, while station wholesalers only account for about 20% of sales. Due to the fewer channel links and the fast and low-cost circulation of agricultural products, efficiency has been greatly improved. (4) The service channels are well organized. In order to cooperate with the efficient circulation of agricultural products, many channel organizations have been created specifically to serve the trading of agricultural products, such as loading and unloading companies, transportation companies, processing and classification distribution centers, and banks. (5) The internal transactions in the wholesale market are mainly auctions and agency sales. Based on the wholesale market, agricultural product futures markets have been formed, such as the Chicago Futures Market. Due to the use of public auctions, agency sales (or purchases and sales) and futures transactions, the market prices of agricultural products fully reflect changes in market supply and demand, allowing the wholesale market to dominate the formation of agricultural product market prices and the information dissemination mechanism.
Industrially developed countries such as Japan are mainly agricultural product importers, and they rely on imports for most of their agricultural products. The circulation channels of agricultural products are complex, including central wholesale markets, local wholesale markets, intermediary wholesale markets, retail organizations, and supply organizations, including order-limited production, life association order distribution, etc. Its channel characteristics are as follows: (1) There are many channel links and high circulation costs. Japan's "Wholesale Market Law" stipulates that middlemen are prohibited from engaging in wholesale business, causing a very small number of wholesalers (such as Zhu's Co., Ltd., etc.) to purchase goods from the origin market. Therefore, the vast majority of agricultural products have to go through multi-level wholesale markets, thus increasing the quality of agricultural products. circulation costs. (2) Channel circulation is standardized, legalized and efficient. Although there are many circulation links, the Japanese wholesale market adopts auctions, bidding, pre-sales, sample transactions, and even two institutions auctioning the same product at the same time, resulting in open and fair prices.
The experiences worth learning from our country are: (1) Regionalization of agricultural product production. The regional distribution of agricultural product production in the United States facilitates the formation of economies of scale in origin markets and is conducive to the distribution of agricultural products. (2) Learn from Japan’s experience, standardize agricultural product market behavior, and formulate laws and regulations. (3) Diversification of channel organizations, especially agricultural professional cooperatives. In Japan and the United States, the vast majority of farmers join cooperatives, and various cooperatives have been established to serve farmers and agriculture before, during, and after production. It is one of the best ways for farmers to enter the market. (4) Enterpriseization and marketization of management.
The agricultural industrialization in European and American countries has differentiated various professional industrial enterprises within agriculture. (5) The channel structure is shortened and integrated.
2.2 Current situation of agricultural product marketing in my country
2.2.1 The construction of agricultural product market has developed rapidly. This is mainly because my country’s agricultural product trading market has experienced rapid growth and scale expansion for more than ten years. After that, the transformation from quantity expansion to quality improvement is gradually being realized. The scale of circulation has increased, the market hardware facilities have been significantly improved, the grade of goods has been improving day by day, and the quality of market operations has become increasingly promising.
2.2.2 The wholesale market of agricultural products has become the main channel for the circulation of agricultural products. Currently, 80% to 90% of the fresh agricultural products consumed in large, medium and small cities are provided through wholesale markets.
2.2.3 Modern circulation methods, mainly distribution, supermarkets, hypermarkets, etc., are developing rapidly. This has become a new member of the agricultural product marketing channel system, and is developing at the retail terminal with traditional bazaars. fierce competition.
2.2.4 Agricultural product marketing intermediaries are developing actively, and various agricultural product purchase and sales entities such as self-employed individuals, professional households, and consortiums continue to develop and expand these intermediary organizations, allowing farmers to realize small-scale production and large markets one by one. This has changed the embarrassing situation of disconnection between production and marketing in the past, and effectively alleviated the problem of difficulty in selling agricultural products. Their emergence has promoted the development and growth of upstream production bases, led farmers to the market, helped farmers become rich, and played a certain positive role in regional agricultural development.
3 Main problems existing in the marketing of agricultural products in my country
3.1 Insufficient basic investment in agricultural product marketing
This is mainly due to insufficient markets and channels for agricultural products, and insufficient storage facilities for agricultural products. , insufficient cold chain construction for agricultural product marketing and unfavorable tax and transportation preferential treatment for agricultural product marketing.
3.2 There are few professionals in agricultural product marketing
At present, most of the agricultural product marketers are born from farmers. In the past, most of them were involved in production and marketing. Now, although a group of small traders have developed into professionals Agricultural product marketing agents often lack professional training, and it is difficult to integrate modern marketing. It is even more difficult to find comprehensive talents who can integrate agricultural product production, marketing planning, and sales implementation. This is incompatible with our agricultural country.
3.3 The cost of product standardization and branding is relatively high, and agricultural product marketing rules need to be standardized
Although my country has established a series of standards and certification systems for the quality production and sales of agricultural products, The use, construction, and management of standards require a lot of costs, which farmers cannot afford. In addition, market competition is unfair, farmers' interests cannot be protected, circulation links are not smooth, and high quality but low prices are common.
3.4 The construction of agricultural information network is weak
It is difficult for farmers to obtain market information in a timely and accurate manner, and the production and consumption market information is asymmetric. In addition, some farmers have insufficient quality and self-protection, and do not know how to analyze, judge, and identify various information. They only rely on subjective judgments and are often unable to effectively carry out market segmentation and accurate product positioning, resulting in the majority of bulk goods and homogeneity. Seriously, people often follow suit after making money, but the products they come out with are not accepted by the market.
3.5 Leading agricultural product processing enterprises are underdeveloped
The science and technology related to the storage, transportation and preservation of agricultural products cannot keep up, resulting in serious waste of agricultural products, and the added value of agricultural product marketing is not reflected.
4 How to do a good job in the current marketing of agricultural products
Nowadays, agricultural products basically continue the old sales method, with the farmer’s market in the place of production as the main source, extending to the farmer’s market in the place of consumption, and finally through supermarkets and Community markets have entered thousands of households. This method will exist for a long time in the future. However, modern marketing of agricultural products has quietly emerged. On the basis of continuously enriching the original methods, it is gradually penetrating and changing the traditional model to promote Farmers became wealthy. Generally speaking, modern agricultural product marketing is about emancipating the mind and closely linking consumption habits, consumer psychology, consumption potential, consumption mentality and many other aspects. It learns from advanced Western practices and extends the marketing and sales of agricultural products to all aspects of production, processing and packaging, transportation and warehousing, and sales channels. Through diversified channels, various humanized marketing models are established to fully guarantee product quality and food safety, while promoting the flow of agricultural products and farmers' wealth with speed, efficiency, and increased income. The following is a brief introduction to these marketing methods and ideas.
4.1 Market orientation and differentiation strategy
The production and marketing of agricultural products in any place should be determined according to the local climate, resources, location, market and consumer groups. Farmers should Pay attention to mastering the melons and vegetables. We should wait for the objective law of the price difference between the peak season and the off-season of agricultural products, try our best to actively develop early-maturing or off-season varieties, and deliberately create a "time difference" so that the products can be put on the market earlier or later, so that they can be sold at a good price at the right time. Farmers need to learn market planning to produce agricultural products. For example, we divide urban household consumption into three classes: the first is the working-class consumer class, the second is the young white-collar workers and high-paying retired class, and the third is the well-off class. The agricultural products consumed by these three classes are completely different: the working-class consumer class mainly consumes ordinary agricultural products, pursuing cheapness and benefits, and most of them are sold in farmers' markets (vegetable markets), with relatively favorable prices and large quantities; young white-collar workers and high-paid retired people , consume above-average agricultural products, pursue the nutrition and appearance of the products, pursue the fashionability of the products, prefer clean agricultural products, such as off-season seasonal agricultural products grown in greenhouses, pursue freshness, and like to consume in supermarkets; the well-off class has higher consumption requirements , mostly pursue high-end, unique, health care and pleasure functions, such as silky chicken, colorful turtle, black wheat and other agricultural products.
4.2 Agricultural product marketing branding strategy
The role of brand is not only in product identification, but more importantly, in transmitting product quality and market reputation to consumers, and to consumers With confidence and market influence, we not only provide consumers with material enjoyment, but also bring them a certain amount of spiritual enjoyment. In practice, the first is to use famous brands to register trademarks for advantageous products with strong market competitiveness; the second is to create brands with quality, produce in strict accordance with quality standards and improve product taste; the third is to create brands with packaging to beautify the appearance of agricultural products. ; The fourth is to increase brand promotion efforts and establish a good brand image; the fifth is to do a good job in protecting famous brands. Enterprises must register trademarks for their own brands and seek legal protection. At the same time, internal management should be strengthened, product reputation should be improved, product quality should be improved, and brand reputation should be cherished and maintained.
4.3 Agricultural product processing strategy
Agricultural product processing refers to the application of certain engineering and technical treatments to agricultural products through cooperation with leading agricultural enterprises to change the appearance, shape or intrinsic attributes and quality of agricultural products. flavor, thereby achieving the process of extending shelf life, improving product quality and increasing product value. Such as quick freezing, dehydration, pickling, segmentation, packaging and distribution, etc., to extend the marketing time of agricultural products and increase the added value of agricultural products; in addition, the benefits of the same agricultural product vary greatly due to different time on the market, some are profitable, and some are even losing money. Generally, methods such as trying early products and selling them early, storing them for sale, and selling more during festivals can be adopted. For example, in the past, agricultural products generally had to wait until they were fully mature before being put on the market. At that time, the price was not necessarily high and the efficiency was not necessarily good. Agricultural products such as green edamame, green broad beans, green peanuts, and green corn are not only popular when they are launched in advance, but also have higher prices than similarly mature products. This is because people's consumption habits have changed and people value fresh and tender food. Therefore, higher benefits can be obtained by picking these agricultural products in advance and putting them on the market. There is no need to stick to waiting until the products are mature before harvesting and putting them on the market.
4.4 Packaging strategies that highlight special elements of food
Currently, consumers’ demand for agricultural products has undergone tremendous changes. They not only require agricultural products to taste good, but also require them to look good. Therefore, As a producer, you not only have to adjust your planting habits and come up with some new patterns to cater to consumer fashions, but also certain agricultural products often have certain special backgrounds, such as historical and geographical backgrounds, humanistic customs backgrounds, myths and legends, or natural landscape backgrounds, etc., such as Appropriate use of these special elements in the packaging design of Huai'an Pucai, Qingong Rouyuan and Wenlou Tangbao can effectively distinguish similar products, and at the same time enable consumers to effectively connect the product with its background and quickly establish concepts. For another example, one New Year's Day, an old lady was guarding two large baskets of apples at the entrance of a certain university. Because the weather was very cold, there were very few people buying apples. A professor who just happened to give a lecture on marketing passed by here and came up to discuss a few words with the old woman. Then he went to a nearby store to buy red ribbons for festival weaving, and together with the old lady, he tied apples two by two. Then he shouted: "Couple apples, two yuan a pair!" The lovers who passed by felt it was strange. The pair of apples tied together with red ribbons really looked interesting, so many people bought them, and soon all the apples were available. Sold out. In addition, methods such as pasting auspicious words or patterns on apples and putting square glass cabinets on watermelons to produce square watermelons can increase the added value of agricultural products.
4.5 Greening Strategies for Agricultural Products
The greening marketing strategy for agricultural products comes about with the current environmental pollution of agricultural products and the improvement of people’s living standards. At present, consumers are paying more and more attention to food safety, and it has become a trend to consume pollution-free agricultural products and green foods. To this end, we must seize the opportunity and develop green marketing of agricultural products. The specific measures are as follows: First, establish the concept of green marketing, collect green market information on agricultural products in a timely manner, conduct in-depth research on the authenticity and feasibility of the information, discover and identify consumers' "unmet green needs", and then combine the company's own situation, Formulate and specifically implement green marketing strategies for agricultural products; the second is to formulate green plans and develop green resources. Local agricultural resources must be carefully studied and protected, follow the principles of sustainable development, strengthen the protection of the ecological environment, and cooperate with the outside world to develop and utilize scientifically and rationally. Agricultural resources, relying on scientific research departments, pass product testing and certification by authoritative departments, and use green labels for green marketing. For example, chickens are raised free-range in hillside woodland to produce "native chickens", and corner land is used to produce wild vegetables.
4.6 Distribution Strategy
As cities continue to expand, it is becoming more and more inconvenient to buy agricultural products (especially safe and nutritious agricultural products). Therefore, specific consumers need high-quality agricultural products. Distribution, such as some hotels, schools and some high-consumption families, who are willing to enjoy efficient and convenient services brought by distribution, build these target databases, establish a large and stable sales system, and establish advanced e-commerce, telephone, storefronts, etc. Distribution system, this will be a development direction in the future.
4.7 Free experience strategy and educational service strategy
Completely reflect the advantages and disadvantages of agricultural products in front of consumers through viewing, smelling, tasting and inspecting the products. , allowing consumers to understand what kind of products meet their needs, which will greatly shorten consumers' sensory recognition, thereby establishing a strong sense of product trust and promoting local and seasonal consumption of products, such as agricultural sightseeing tourism and farmhouse marketing forms . In addition, by contacting the property management and neighborhood committees, some residents in the community can participate in the production, processing, and transportation of agricultural products, demonstrate the quality inspection process of agricultural products, and communicate with agricultural product producers, which is conducive to establishing a good supply and demand relationship and improving mutual trust between supply and demand. degree, and at the same time do a good job in coordinating production and consumption.
4.8 Public welfare strategy
The strategy of “public welfare” of agricultural products is also very important. For example, it can be combined with sports (agricultural products produced for the Olympic Games are now very popular) and many public welfare activities such as conferences, travel, catering, etc., through various forms of involvement of agricultural products to increase the visibility of agricultural products, so that they can be widely used in various channels. Agricultural product sales and agricultural product brand building can also be rapidly improved.
4.9 Small-scale group buying strategy
Group buying of agricultural products has great advantages. All food in the home kitchen can be sold as gifts
. For example, through the packaging and OEM of agricultural products, a simple agricultural product can be packaged into a fashionable consumer gift package, especially aquatic products, fruits, grains, oils, eggs, etc. Small-scale group buying is within a certain effective unit range, including government canteens, offices, units, etc. Since there are many festivals in our country, the sales of agricultural products and gifts during festivals will be extremely hot.
4.10 Individual direct sales strategy
Agricultural products can be effectively integrated with local community convenience stores in various places, such as through water stations, laundries, canteens, teahouses, community clubs, etc. Docking and publishing information about agricultural products can greatly speed up the direct sales of products.
4.11 Media Internet Advertising Strategy
Product promotion on the Internet will become more and more popular, and all kinds of product information can be found online. The Internet focuses on introducing the production and sales process of the product, focusing on the nutritional value of the product, what consumers will adapt to it, what its benefits are, what changes it can have on the body after eating it, etc. The more popular this kind of publicity becomes on the Internet, the more popular the product will be. The higher you are, the better you can integrate with the Xiaofei family. When necessary, television and newspaper media can be combined to speed up the pace of modern marketing of agricultural products.
4.12 Science and Technology Marketing Law
Farmers who have the conditions can invite science and technology experts and scholars to use celebrity effects or special scenes to carry out unique marketing publicity to arouse consumers' attention and interest. , Improve the social visibility of your agricultural products, so as to achieve the purpose of selling in large quantities and quickly.
4.13 Exchange Marketing Method
When the agricultural products in the hands of farmers cannot be sold at a high price, they can negotiate with some merchants to exchange for some products suitable for them, which not only solves the problem of difficulty in sales for merchants , and can exchange what is needed and benefit each other. This kind of barter exchange promotion may also be a development direction in the future.