A Businessman Flourishes with E-commerce on Wheelchair

Key Figures Related to Wang Maosheng's E-commerce Business

About 60 orders per day                 Nearly RMB800,000 per year

A dried lily bud store on the Pinduoduo e-commerce platform that receives around 60 orders a day, generating more than RMB60,000 of revenue a month, or nearly RMB800,000 a year... A paraplegic e-commerce entrepreneur from Zhongpu Township, Lintao County, Dingxi City, Gansu Province, named Wang Maosheng is responsible for these figures. Persistent and determined, he has reinvigorated his life by selling dried lily buds produced in Lintao to customers all over China and become one of the county's e-commerce sales leaders.

In 2013, Wang began experiencing a series of unfortunate changes in his life. First, his wife divorced him. He later lost the ability to control the lower part of his body after falling from a third-story balcony and landing on his pelvis at a construction site he was working at. The Lintao native's father also developed health problems, further complicating his life. Wang was very depressed and spent most of his time online for a long while. The burdens he faced did not disappear, however. His son and younger sister needed to be fed and go to school, his father needed to be taken care of, and his mother was getting old. Wang was unsure where his future lay.

"Even if you can't walk, you can still use your hands to make a living," a former migrant construction worker who was also injured on the job told Wang. The guy started an e-commerce business after returning to his hometown in Sichuan Province. The two became aware of each other's situations on the internet and began chatting.

Wang worked as a Zongzi (a traditional Chinese sticky rice dumpling stuffed with various fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves) agent prior to 2013 in Lanzhou, a city that is also located in Gansu, about an hour's drive from Dingxi, and sold the product to supermarkets and other stores. He was inspired by the words of his friend from Sichuan and began thinking about getting involved with business again, eventually deciding to sell dried lily buds online. Dried lilies have medicinal value and can also be made into a beverage that is very popular among Chinese households when soaked in water. Lilies are grown on more than 4,000 ha of land in Lintao, which is one of the main places that produces them in the Lanzhou area. Wang thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of his county's resources and sell the product to people across China.

In 2018, the Zhongpu government began supporting e-commerce entrepreneurship in the areas under its jurisdiction. Wang met Yang Liqing, general manager of a E-commerce company, at the Lintao E-commerce Service Center after township officials recommended the two getting in touch. Yang learned about Wang’s situation and began providing him with e-commerce training. He showed him how to handle operations, fill orders, and send goods out for delivery and gave him materials to study at home. Wang diligently absorbed what he received, sometimes spending four to five hours a day on the endeavor.

"I am really grateful for Yang," Wang noted. "He taught me how to be an e-commerce retailer and explained every step that is involved in the process. I mastered the skills that I needed in three months."

In 2019, Wang felt ready to launch his own dried lily bud store on Pinduoduo, one of China's three major e-commerce platforms, and called it Lanlin. It had a strong debut, and sales continued to grow. The Zhongpu government later renewed a poverty alleviation loan that Wang had taken out, which made it possible for him to begin renting cold storage space and establish his own drying workshop, and he began exploring more sales channels in order to expand his business.

The devoted father became a local e-commerce leader with the help of the Zhongpu government and the Lintao E-commerce Service Center. Wang has been successfully marketing lilies produced by some of the county's farmers and eventually hired four local residents to work for him as he emerged from poverty and began prospering. In 2021, the entrepreneur participated in a flash sale on Pinduoduo and received nearly 2,000 orders a day at the peak of the event. He generated RMB1 million of revenue that year, 80% of which came from Pinduoduo and 20% of which came from traditional wholesaling and other platforms. Prices slumped due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, but Zhongpu Mayor Zhang Qiang has been spending time at his livestreaming studio, which has helped with sales.

"I have never met any of Pinduoduo's employees, but the company has changed my destiny and made it possible for me to 'stand up' again," Wang concluded.

Wang Maosheng (left) and Zhongpu Mayor Zhang Qiang (right) promote dried lilies on Pinduoduo, the largest e-commerce platform focused on agricultural products in China. (Photo courtesy of a user of the NetEase News blogging platform)

For more information, please contact WFP China COE (wfpcn.coe@wfp.org)