Business license.

Recently, the State Food and Drug Administration issued the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Food Business (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which clearly states that online food sales must obtain a food business license or record According to the certificate, the third-party online food trading platform must bear the responsibility if it cannot provide the specific information of the operator. Sales of local specialties and home-processed edible agricultural products through the Internet will be included in the scope of supervision. What does this mean for agricultural producers and operators who are already in a weak position in the market?

Taobao store owner:

What should farmers do if the threshold for opening an online store is too high?

In the circle of friends, more and more WeChat public accounts or individual micro-businesses use pictures and texts to show the charm of "A Bite of China" to "foodies" and also provide many traditional and high-quality agricultural products. A sales channel with low cost and high profit has been opened.

Du Qianli is the owner of the Taobao store "Taihang Mountain Specialty Products". After obtaining a master's degree in business administration from Zhengzhou University in 2008, a trip to the mountains set him on the road to e-commerce for agricultural products. "Mountain people guard many treasures but live a hard life. There are too many good specialties in mountainous areas that cannot be sold at good prices." This is the driving force that prompted Du Qianli to stay in the mountainous area and sell mountain products by opening a Taobao store.

Nowadays, Du Qianli’s “Mountain Pregnancy” has been rated as one of the top 100 online merchants in the world by Alibaba. He who is still dealing in mountain products learned about the release of the “Methods” and couldn’t help but feel sorry for the many businesses that have not yet reached a certain scale. The e-commerce of agricultural products is sweating. “Applying for a Food Circulation License requires a fixed business location, and many online stores selling agricultural products do not have physical stores, so there may be obstacles in applying for relevant certificates.” Du Qianli said, “Sales of agricultural products through the Internet should be standardized. However, how to help farmers with weak mobility to apply for relevant documents and whether government services are in place are the key points for the smooth online sales of agricultural products."

Xu Mingxia is a "micro-business" who runs a business. The homemade beef sauce and organic rice sent directly from the base are quite popular among friends. However, after hearing about the release of "Methods", she told me, "My customers are all accumulated one by one in the circle of friends, completely through word of mouth and trust of customers. If I can't sell products freely on WeChat, I may quit This platform."

Xu Mingxia is not opposed to regulating online food sales. "There is indeed a phenomenon of shoddy goods and chaotic prices in the sales of agricultural products in Moments. If the industrial and commercial departments and the food and drug supervision departments can help us. If more convenient registration procedures are provided, I am willing to apply for the registration certificate.”

As for this concern of farmers’ e-commerce, a staff member of the Chaoyang District Industry and Commerce Bureau in Beijing told me that in recent years, the industry and commerce industry has become more and more popular. The department has effectively streamlined various approval matters. Operators who sell agricultural products can first go to the local industrial and commercial department to apply for a business license and delineate the scope of the business license with their valid identity documents. Many procedures can be handled directly online. "Applying for a food circulation license does require a fixed business location. After all, once a problem occurs, the location of the food in question needs to be traced. Currently, many entrepreneurial incubation bases provide such convenience to small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. As long as the operations are standardized, the relevant documents should be processed It’s not a big problem.”

Third-party platform:

Forcing operators to establish stable connections with production bases

The Spring Equinox National Cooperative E-commerce Internet Mutual Sales Platform is An agricultural product sales platform established by the Beijing Federation of Farmers' Professional Cooperatives. The online products are basically directly supplied and sold by the cooperative base, and the information about the products and the person in charge is very clear. Chairman Feng Leping told me that the issuance of the "Measures" may eliminate a number of agricultural product e-commerce companies with substandard product quality and insufficient product standardization. "This also encourages agricultural product operators to establish stable ties with production bases, and product quality must start from production."

A Taobao staff member told me that since the end of August, Taobao has released the "Food Industry Special Business Qualification Registration Notice", sellers who have not submitted food special business qualifications are not allowed to publish products, and existing products will be removed from the shelves.

“Taobao is helping online food operators grow from small e-commerce businesses into ‘enterprise stores’.

"The staff member told me that, however, for merchants who purely deal in agricultural products and local specialty foods, such as self-produced and sold agricultural products, fruits, vegetables, aquatic products, seafood and other products without QS packaging, the requirements will have to be relaxed for the time being, because the low Cost and low threshold are the keys to selling these agricultural products through the Internet. “On the one hand, we will pay more attention to these stores. Once the sales volume of these stores reaches a certain level, we will also require them to transform into ‘enterprise stores’. , provide corresponding qualifications. On the other hand, we are also discussing with relevant departments the management measures for this type of e-commerce. ”

Consumers:

It’s time to control “online food sales”

Although you can often find high-quality, low-price, and unique tastes in Moments Regarding agricultural products, Ms. Wang Qing from Xi’an also had an unpleasant shopping experience. “I bought moldy rice cakes from acquaintances in her circle of friends. Although I know she may not be trying to deceive customers, the edible agricultural products sold on a small scale are indeed unacceptable to a certain extent. Ensure stable quality. ”

Mr. Li, a Beijing citizen, told me that he never buys food in his circle of friends. “If I eat something bad, do I ask for compensation from the seller?” If you don't ask, you'll be angry. If you ask, it's hard to ask because they are acquaintances after all. ”

For the same bottle of jujube honey, some Taobao stores sell it for 70 or 80 yuan a bottle, while others only cost more than 20 yuan. It seems that the packaging and grade of the product are the same. Confusing online shopping prices is a major headache for Ms. Peng, a Beijing resident. “Online food sales should be regulated. Many attractive pictures are too different from the real thing, and food is not like clothes. You can try them on and then return them if they don't fit. ”