The user count on the Jingyuanxuan WeChat mini-program finally passed 1,000 today.
For plenty of people, that is a number they could reach in minutes. Here, it took more than a year. There were countless moments when giving up seemed like the sensible thing—sales were genuinely thin—but the project kept going because every so often one or two orders would come in.
Selling glasses online is not easy. Unless the item has very low added value, most of what moves through a shop like this is small: airbag nose pads, lens wipes, and similar accessories. Many buyers are from other cities and have no personal connection to the shop. No one knows exactly how they found it—maybe through the main site, maybe through someone's recommendation. Either way, those strangers are part of the reason the storefront survived. Often, after shipping costs, there is barely anything left from a sale. But there is still hope.
A few customers have turned into friends. These little items are not worth much on their own; the shipping is the expensive part. So the owner often tucks in something extra—a small screwdriver, an ear hook, whatever fits—and people seem to notice the gesture.
Eventually it became clearer that the main site, the blog, and the mini-program are all just platforms for showing up. The goodwill you put out tends to reach someone. Teacher Zhang Bo, Xiong de Mao, Fourth Battalion Commander, Little Flying Squirrel, and other friends and readers are proof of that.
A thousand is only a number. Still, it is a number worth hoping on.