Chapter 382 Let’s Do It

"Welcome to this episode of Focus on Entrepreneurship. This time, our guest is the first learning star of Linchuan University and a famous young entrepreneur in Linchuan, Jiang Qin."

"Hello, Jiang Qin."

"Hello, host, and hello to all the audience friends. I am Jiang Qin."

"Let's talk about Zhihu. It is said that the number of Zhihu users has reached 10 million so far? The average daily active users are also around 3 million?"

"Yes, Zhihu has become the largest campus social networking site in China."

"How did you do that?"

"I think the reason why Zhihu Campus is successful is that our team is made up of college students, and we understand what college students need better."

“…”

"I heard that when you founded Zhihu Campus Network, you also founded a group buying website called Pintuan? The group buying industry is so hot across the country now. Do you have anything you want to share with everyone?"

"Zhihu encountered a period of funding shortage in the middle of its establishment, and the plan for group buying was determined during that time. We have been able to get to where we are today by monetizing traffic and giving back to Zhihu."

"In other words, group buying is a tool used to nurture Zhihu. Can we understand it this way?"

"Well, the emergence of group buying has indeed nurtured Zhihu in a certain sense."

"Now that group buying is so popular across the country, do you plan to continue this project?"

"There is no such option in the current plan. After all, I am just a college student with limited ability, financial resources and energy."

In early April, the sky outside the window was gloomy and a drizzle had been falling since morning. The whole Linda University looked like it was drizzling with spring rain.

At this time, a video of Jiang Qin participating in a news interview some time ago was playing in the cafeteria of Linchuan University.

In the picture, the Study Star is sitting on the sofa in a suit and tie, chatting with the female host who is wearing black stockings, with a humble and kind smile on his face.

"Damn, look at me, I'm so handsome!"

Cao Guangyu felt very unhappy: "You are so handsome, but I have lost weight in this period of time."

Jiang Qin looked at his plate: "Then this chicken leg..."

"Don't even think about it. I have to eat even if I can't finish it!"

Jiang Qin's evil plan failed, so he had to look up and continue watching the TV in the cafeteria, admiring his every move.

In addition to attending classes, he also accepts some interviews every day during this period. Because the group buying craze has already started, the host will more or less ask about group buying during the interview.

After all, in their opinion, with so many people doing group buying now, Jiang Qin, who started to build the group buying system as early as 2008, should have a lot to say.

Jiang Qin usually responds by saying, "I'm a student, I have no money, I'm afraid."

Everyone also expressed understanding of his mentality, because the current group buying market is really terrible.

To date, there are more than 600 group-buying websites in China, with a wide variety of group-buying advertisements appearing on various television programs.

After a month of competition from March to April, several group buying websites have become famous.

The first is Lashou.com. With strong financial resources and various publicity campaigns, it took off quickly and entered the markets of the four first-tier cities very smoothly, and continued to encroach on the number of merchants.

The second is Sui Xin Tuan, which is known as "the first group buying website in China". They adopted a branch-station cooperation model and dispatched personnel in every city. The number of team members exceeded a thousand in a blink of an eye, with employees from all over the world.

Then there is WoWo.com, which uses a more radical approach, namely cooperating with telecommunications operators to send advertisements directly to users' mobile phones.

In addition, the coupons purchased by users on WoWo.com will also be sent to the user’s mobile phone via text messages, opening up a consumer era where users can enjoy discounts by simply showing the text message code.

Back in early March, these group buying websites still had their own territories. Although they were eager to expand, the focus of their business was still to consolidate their own little piece of land.

But before long, the market became saturated, and unsurprisingly, hundreds of companies were caught up in a melee.

How to fight? Spend money.

The ads are already fully loaded, so retaining users becomes the top priority at the moment.

You're giving me 20% off, right? Okay, I'll give you 30% off. You're giving me 30% off, right? Then I'll give you 40% off.

This continued until April, when Lashou.com directly offered a 40% discount, and those who joined their membership plan could enjoy additional discounts. It was almost like giving it away for free. Consumers were so happy that they couldn't stop smiling, but they thought to themselves, is this appropriate?

But the problem is that if you offer a discount, he will also offer a discount. Users will simply go with whoever offers the cheapest price. There is no sense of belonging at all.

So can you stop the discounts?

No, because if you stop discounting, you will be left with nothing.

As a result, the battle for market share has turned into a war of capital consumption, and using money to exchange for market share has become an unwritten rule in the industry.

But such a waste of money is destined not to last long, so the most popular group buying websites are now trying every way to raise funds and also trying every way to outlast each other.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the drizzle had not stopped and the temperature was slightly cold.

In the passenger hall of Linchuan Airport, Jiang Qin, holding two bouquets of flowers, received Wei Lanlan's team and Sunai's team who had returned from Kyoto.

After being away for two months, they had lost weight, but their eyes were extremely bright, and you could tell at a glance that they had gained a lot.

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

"It's not hard work for the boss, it's what he should do."

"Let's go to Juxian Tower. I'll welcome you guys."

Arriving at Juxianlou from Linchuan Airport, the accompanying staff were arranged to stay in the next room. Jiang Qin, Wei Lanlan and Sunai entered the private room specially reserved for them in Juxianlou.

As soon as she entered, Wei Lanlan took out a contract from her bag. It was an exclusive authorization agreement from Gaode.

Sunai also took out a notebook, which contained her inspection records of the ocean supply chain and her thoughts on the commodity management system.

After reading it carefully, Jiang Qin raised his lips and said, "They're halfway to winning. I'm scared for them."

"What should we do next?" Sunai couldn't help but ask.

“How long will it take to build a product management system?”

“I have sorted out my ideas, but it will take me about three months to make a mature product.”

Jiang Qin nodded: "What about the access to LBS?"

Sunai thought for a moment and said, "If we want to do both projects at the same time, I'm not sure how long it will take."

“Can it be completed before the end of the year?”

"That's no problem. There are still nine months until the end of the year, which is more than enough."

Jiang Qin looked at the date and said, "It's almost time. Let's do something big. It should be done with a sense of ceremony. Lanlan, please help me book a room at Longkai Hotel and call the heads of each branch over so that we can have a meal together."

Wow, Long Kai has already made the arrangements. Wei Lanlan knew that the boss was going to be serious, so she nodded immediately: "Okay, I'll arrange it when I get back."

"No hurry, eat first, Nanako too. Eat more good food to replenish your nutrition. Your work is the top priority in the mid-term development of our group buying."

The most important thing? Sunai thought for a moment and said, "Boss, give me a glass of water."

Damn, this female programmer surnamed Su is a little bit arrogant! Jiang Qin muttered in his heart, and then quickly poured her a glass of water.

After returning from Juxian Tower, Wei Lanlan sent gathering notices to supervisors at all levels via email, while Jiang Qin began to work late into the night thinking about the promotion details and preparing for tomorrow's selection of troops, staying up almost all night.

It was not until six o'clock in the morning, when it was almost dawn, that Boss Jiang climbed into bed and took a nap. When he woke up, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon.

Seeing that there was not much time left before the banquet began, he washed, dressed, and prepared to go out.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

After learning that Jiang Qin was going to Longkai Hotel, Master Cao and the others insisted on following him no matter what. The cafeteria had been full of news about Jiang Qin these days, which made him unable to eat and he has lost weight. Now that he heard that he was going to Longkai, he wished he could fly over and have a meal with him.

"It's not impossible for you to go for a free meal, but you have to sign a confidentiality agreement." Jiang Qin laid out the conditions.

"Sign! I'll sign the contract to sell myself if I can get a meal from you!"

Cao Guangyu patted his chest and asked, "What is a confidentiality agreement?"

Jiang Qin glanced at him and said, "Forget it, there's no point in explaining it. You'll understand when you go there. Are Lao Ren and Chaozi going?"

"Go ahead, I've never eaten at an international hotel before, this is definitely not to be missed!"

In fact, the focus of today's banquet is not eating, but holding the meeting. Even if a lot of food is ordered, it will be a waste, so Jiang Qin simply called Feng Nanshu and his friends from the dormitory.

This is called riding a bicycle to the bar, save where you should and spend where you should.

It was around six o'clock in the evening, the sky was getting dark, and a large group of people gathered in the lobby of Longkai International Hotel.

The manager in charge of security came with a team of security guards and stood guard on both sides of the hall door. Later, the core employees of 208 and the heads of various branches arrived one after another and found that they could only enter after signing a confidentiality agreement.

Seeing this scene, everyone felt a little nervous, thinking that something big might happen today.

Once everyone entered the hall, the projection that had been prepared in advance began to play the video.

The first half of the video shows the growth in the number of group buying websites each month, the middle half shows the various advertisements and marketing activities done by these group buying websites, and the second half shows a pie chart of the market share of these group buying websites in various cities.

This video is not exquisite, and is even a bit rough, but its advantage is that it is intuitive and many things can be seen at a glance.

Everyone stood in the magnificent hall, and after looking at it for a long time, they were shocked in their hearts.

To be honest, they also knew that there were many group buying websites on the market, but no one could have imagined that there would be so many of them, and the battle in the four major cities was so fierce, it was obviously like a blood-thirsty war, it was extremely terrifying.

At this moment, Jiang Qin walked onto the stage, holding the microphone in his hand, waved to Wen Jinrui, and then the TV turned off.

"Group buying websites are very popular recently. I think everyone should know about it. Even if you don't know about it, you should know more about it after watching this video."

"Some of you here have started your business with me since 2008. Even those who joined later have all experienced the city-wide promotion of group buying. I know everyone has been wondering whether group buying will continue or not. What on earth is this boss thinking?"

"Now I can tell you that I am waiting for the right time, until the concept of group buying becomes clear among consumers."

"In 2009, apart from Linchuan, how many people knew what group buying was?"

"You don't know, right? People take the word literally and think group buying means group shopping, and they don't know anything else."

"But now it's different. After the widespread popularity of more than 500 group-buying websites, people all over the country now know that group-buying saves money, is cost-effective, and is convenient. It is simply unethical to spend money without group-buying."

"Then it's time for us to go on stage."

As soon as the words fell, the whole place was silent, and many people were still unable to react, but then, an uproar broke out instantly.

The most excited among them are the core employees of 208. They know that the boss has been waiting, so they are a little impatient. Now that the opportunity has finally come, they can't wait to rush into the market and strike hard.

At this moment, Jiang Qin waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, and then the voice came out again through the speakers.

"The main reason I called everyone to dinner today is to announce this matter. There are also some other things that I hope everyone can understand first."

"We have to go on stage, but we need to change our mindset and not play the same game as them. In summary, we need to determine two key points in our promotion strategy this time."

“The first priority is to surround the cities with the countryside.”

"The battle in first-tier cities is too intense. Everyone is killing themselves and spending money like crazy. You know, I'm worth tens of millions, so I'm not afraid of them at all. But I think this is too stupid. Damn it, it's not easy to make a little money, I can't put it all in."

"So we started in second- and third-tier cities first, avoiding their edge and quickly gaining market share."

"After Lashou, Wowo, Suixintuan and others have fought to the death, they will definitely move into second-tier and third-tier cities. Then I will turn around and steal their homes, using the second-tier city market to exchange for their first-tier city market."

"Of course, we are not not working in first-tier cities. We are working in first-tier university towns. We don't work in other cities."

“The second point is that we need to spend our money wisely.”

"You have seen the style of other group buying websites, spending a lot of money to sign merchants. We don't do that. We screen for quality and sign suitable high-quality merchants from the user's perspective. We also sign exclusive contracts, even if we have to pay three or five times the price."

“For example, if there is a street with 10 businesses, and LaShou spends 200,000 yuan to sign all of them, then we will pick the best one and buy it out directly for 200,000 yuan.”

"In the early stages of the promotion, we allowed these merchants to participate in group purchases on other websites, but they had to stop when I told them to."

"Afterwards, I will send you the detailed manuals of the tasks according to your departments. I hope that everyone will work together and tell the entire group buying market that their emperor is back."

Listening to the sounds coming from the speakers, the people at tables 503 and 208 on the left side of the banquet hall had different expressions and postures.

The rich girl's saliva was about to flow out, her bright eyes didn't even blink, and one could tell from her expression that she was completely obsessed with Jiang Qin, and her brain was in a state of shutdown.

"My big bear."

Feng Nanshu pointed at the stage and looked back at the people around him.

Cao Guangyu covered his face with tears in his eyes, thinking to himself, I fucking came here to eat for free to avoid being bullied, but now look what happened, he gave me a live version of it.

Meeting with so many people, talking about killing this and that, isn't this what I've always dreamed of? Damn! (Give me some monthly votes) 　Today is the seventh anniversary of my wife and I being together. I've booked a restaurant tonight, so I'll post it first. When I wrote about Zhuang Chen before, many people asked me if I had ever been a bootlicker since I wrote so deeply about it. Sorry, I really haven't. My wife and I have been together since our freshman year, but we didn't have the opportunity, hehe.

(End of this chapter)