Chapter 237 Only the ruthless can win in the end! The end of Ele.me!
In March, there was heavy wind and rain in Xucheng, and the sky and earth were all black.
The rapeseed on both sides of the road is growing vigorously with the help of the rain, and from a distance it looks like a lush and green scene.
Chen Yansen leaned against the car window, thinking back to Xu Zhenhui's words: "Mr. Chen, I don't care about other cities, but as long as you ask for Xucheng, the authorization documents for Kuaidi taxis can be delivered to your desk on the same day."
This is because he is really afraid that Orange Technology and Pinbei Mall will run away! In fact, Chen Yansen has no plans to move the company out for the time being, but he can make preparations in advance.
After all, the supporting facilities in Xucheng are a little lacking.
If he hadn't still been studying at Xuyuan, he would have moved away long ago.
Although Chen Yansen didn't even recognize all his teachers after two years, it did not prevent him from becoming a three-good student, an excellent student, an outstanding alumnus, the president of the Hui'an Province University Student Entrepreneurship Alliance, and a recipient of a national scholarship.
All these messy titles were forced upon him by Tang Qingshan.
No, it’s not possible!
"Boss, regarding the B round of financing for Kuaipao, when will it start? Ali, Penguin, DST and Sands Ventures all have strong investment intentions."
Gao Weilin, who was sitting next to him, asked softly.
"Let's wait until Pei Yi takes over the takeout market in Shanghai." Chen Yansen came back to his senses and said calmly.
At this time, Kuaipao had not yet completely digested Shanghai, let alone Luzhou.
He knew very well that in a provincial capital city with a permanent population of seven or eight million, the number of takeout orders per day was at least over 800,000.
Although Kuapao’s product categories are not complete and it lacks supermarkets, vegetables and fruits, medicines and other businesses, the current average daily order volume in Luzhou is only 170,000, which obviously has not reached the upper limit.
At the same time, heavy rain was also falling in Shanghai, hundreds of miles away.
Under such bad weather, the number of takeout orders surged, but the delivery speed was greatly slowed down.
The road was full of water, and there was a risk of slipping if the electric vehicle accelerated slightly.
On the streets and alleys, Kuaipao riders in orange work clothes kept passing by, and everyone unconsciously slowed down their speed.
In order to ensure delivery timeliness and rider safety, Pei Yi immediately asked the technical department to reduce the number of orders placed in the background.
The riders’ hourly wage on paper suddenly dropped by 30%, but after adding various subsidies, the delivery unit price was much higher than usual.
Firstly, Kuaipao provides subsidies for bad weather; secondly, Chen Yansen has specifically instructed that in hot, cold, windy or rainy weather, the delivery fee for each order must be paid in full to the deliveryman.
As a result, the number of online riders for Ele.me dropped sharply, but Kuapao was not affected at all, and the delivery time was still controlled within 29 minutes.
Users who ordered food on the Ele.me platform were miserable. The estimated arrival time was delayed again and again. Some people waited for more than two hours and couldn't help but call the merchant only to find out that there were no riders to accept the order.
Merchants are also helpless!
After applying for a refund, these users went to Kuaipao to place a new order. As a result, the food was delivered within twenty minutes after the merchant started.
In bad weather, using high unit prices to "force" riders to come out and take orders may seem unethical, but from a business perspective, it is the wisest approach.
Generally speaking, users’ tolerance limit for delivery delays from a food delivery platform is two or three times at most. When they find that Ele.me’s delivery time is far slower than Kuaipao’s, they will immediately change their ordering tools.
If similar situations occur a few more times, even the most loyal customers will choose to uninstall the Ele.me app without hesitation.
No one wants to eat cold rice! In the cold March, no one wants to drink a cold milk tea!
Lane 200, Longcao Road, Kuaipao’s headquarters.
"Boss Pei, as of 16:00, a total of seven riders were injured, but fortunately, they were all superficial injuries." The head of the delivery department walked up to Pei Yi's position and reported.
"I understand. Tell the brothers in the distribution department that the medical expenses and lost wages will be borne by the company."
Pei Yi took a deep breath and replied in a calm tone.
Kang Guodong, who was far away in Luzhou, suggested to him after learning about today's weather conditions: force the riders to go offline, or suspend service in some areas with inconvenient traffic and heavy rain.
Pei Yi decisively refused and sneered at this! He was not cold-blooded, but he was well versed in human nature.
Once Kang Guodong acts according to his idea, those Kuapao riders who have been taken offline might register for Ele.me rider accounts and then take orders to make money.
It is so stupid to hand over the market to competitors!
"Okay, Mr. Pei." The head of the distribution department sighed and turned back to convey the instructions.
If Chen Yansen was present, he would also support Pei Yi's decision.
He chose Pei Yi instead of Kang Guodong. Besides the fact that their abilities were different, there was another important point: Pei Yi was rational and calm enough and he valued interests more.
Kang Guodong’s idea is actually not wrong, but he should not have chosen the period when the market competition is the most intense.
When Kuaipao has formed a monopoly advantage in the takeout industry and has abundant distribution resources, Kang Guodong's strategy will be more advantageous than Pei Yi's.
But right now, Kang Guodong’s plan is no different from seeking death!
The person who had the same train of thought as him was the CEO of Qiandu Waimai four years later. On the eve of the Spring Festival, he announced that all riders would be given holidays and ticket subsidies.
As a result, after the new year, not only did all the riders go to Meituan and Ele.me, but even one-fifth of the users were lost.
Because during the Spring Festival, if you want to order takeout, you can only go to Meituan or Ele.me.
However, the real idea of the CEO of Qiandu Waimai is that the population mobility in first- and second-tier cities is high, and the order volume during the Spring Festival will drop to the lowest point of the year, and the income of riders will shrink significantly. If you want to retain riders, you can only offer three or four times the overtime pay.
After weighing the pros and cons, he made a seemingly reasonable but extremely stupid decision.
The original intention was to reduce labor costs, but not only did it lose market share, but it also caused Qiandu Waimai to be stuck in a long-term dilemma of insufficient delivery capacity.
The other side.
Zhang Xuhao stood in the office at No. 335 Guoding Road, looking at the heavy rain outside the window. He could not see the road conditions ten meters away at all.
He looked at Kang Jia and asked, "What is the current order delay rate?"
"31%." Kang Jia reported a number with difficulty.
There is no way. There are too few online riders, and the orders are piling up, so they cannot be delivered at all.
"I do not understand."
Zhang Xuhao muttered to himself.
In order to compete with Kuapao, he paid social security and purchased accident insurance for Ele.me riders, and also provided them with a basic salary of 1,600 yuan per month. However, one-third of these people went offline when the platform was in the most difficult time.
As a result, complaints from users and merchants have increased more than tenfold! "Some riders feel that Ele.me does not have quarterly bonuses, nor does it provide subsidies for bad weather such as high or low temperatures."
Kang Jia said with a self-deprecating smile.
Before Kuaipao entered Shanghai, these riders did not even have five social insurances and one housing fund or basic salary, but they still worked very hard.
But after the comparison, the Ele.me riders changed their minds.
"Part? I'm afraid it's the majority." Zhang Xuhao sneered. He admitted that he had underestimated human nature.
Kang Jia remained silent.
He knew, and Zhang Xuhao also knew, that there was a big gap between Ele.me and Kuaipao in terms of delivery route planning and order scheduling.
In the same amount of time, Kuaipao riders can complete more order deliveries faster, better and in more situations, but Ele.me riders cannot.
"I'm going to make an announcement. Riders who work online today will get a 100 yuan reward if they work for 6 hours or more, and a 200 yuan reward if they work for 10 hours or more."
Zhang Xuhao thought about it and gave instructions to Kang Jia.
The underlying logic of a successful business cannot be emotional, and financial incentives are the most realistic.
Kang Jia nodded and went out to do his work.
As Kuaipao’s business scope expanded to cover the entire Hong Kong area, Ele.me’s office atmosphere became increasingly dull.
Sometimes, Kang Jia could even occasionally see delivery riders from Kuaipao near the company.
This shows that Kuaipao already has a site in the YP area.
When the field sales BD occasionally meets the business people from Kuaipao offline, they just glare at each other and everyone tries to restrain themselves.
After all, no one dares to ignore the interview from the inspection office!
At 9:30 in the evening, the heavy rain in Shanghai gradually subsided, but puddles of varying depths still remained in the alleys.
After working for more than ten hours in one go, the number of orders gradually decreased, and the Kuaipao riders finally had some time to rest.
Groups of three or four gathered in open spaces in the commercial district, busy eating dinner while loudly discussing the day's income.
"Dragon Scale Horse! I'm exhausted today! This company is such a piece of shit. It rained so hard this afternoon that I couldn't even open my eyes, and they still won't let us log off!"
"Brother Zhou, stop scolding me! When you were looking at the estimated income just now, your mouth was stretched to the back of your ears. How much is it? Why are you so happy?"
"Go away! Stop asking questions." Li Zhou unscrewed open a bottle of iced black tea and took a big gulp.
"I estimate it to be 1,500! I only have 70 orders, and with the subsidies it's almost 1,000. Brother Zhou must have made more than me. It's a bit tiring, but it's really easy to earn this money!" said a little fat man with a crew cut and a round face happily.
"What do you care about me? I'm risking my life!"
Li Zhou rolled his eyes and cursed angrily.
After these words were spoken, many riders fell silent.
Yes, I was terrified at the end of the day! I earned four or five days’ worth of money in one day, but my hands and feet were shaking.
"Brother Zhou, I heard that the company is planning to put some takeaway cabinets in ASE. Does that mean we don't have to climb stairs anymore?"
"What the hell are you dreaming about! The takeaway cabinets haven't even been put into action yet, it's too early! But the brothers near ASE are relieved, their area is a pilot area, and they can just put the takeaways in the cabinets in the future!"
Li Zhou said with a smile, a hint of envy in his eyes.
Of course, the strong demand for takeaway cabinets is only limited to commercial office buildings. Due to the large number of companies and complex personnel, access control will be set up in most places, and takeaway can only be delivered to the first floor.
For users, the emergence of takeaway cabinets solves the risk of losing food or taking the wrong food, and also increases the flexibility of meal pickup time.
But for residential areas, takeaway cabinets are a false demand, which is why Pei Yi only promotes them in commercial areas.
A week later.
Kuaipao has set up 17 stations in the YP area. Kou Zhen led the ground-based business team to sweep down one street after another and moved Ele.me's platform merchants to Kuaipao.
The order ratio between the two parties quickly changed from 1:9 to 8:2.
At this point, the service areas of Kuaipao and Ele.me highly overlap, and they compete fiercely in the four major districts of Xuhui, Hongkou, Yangpu and Jing’an every day.
Ele.me even increased the subsidy for new customers to a 20 yuan discount, and for old customers, there are also 5-12 yuan discount red envelopes every day.
At this point, all marketing strategies have become useless, and it all depends on who is cheaper and who delivers faster.
However, as Kuaishou opened more and more takeout cabinets in the ASE, Zhongyin and Taifu Plaza areas, the pressure on Ele.me increased.
Seeing that the funds in the account were about to run out, Zhang Xuhao had to face the reality. After three years of running the takeout business, he actually lost to a latecomer imitator.
After he reached an agreement with Wang Yuan, Kang Jia, Deng Ye and others, he called Gao Weilin.
"Want to sell the company to Kuapao?" Gao Weilin was surprised after understanding the other party's intention.
"Mr. Zhang, I heard that Ali is planning to acquire Ele.me in full?" Gao Weilin asked with a smile after he realized what was going on.
What I mean is, you should go find Ahri.
Ele.me doesn’t have much surplus value anymore, so spending money on it now would be a complete waste of money.
After being rejected, Zhang Xuhao hung up the phone in despair, and then found Ji Gang of Ali.
Unexpectedly, Ji Gang didn't wait for him to speak, and said bluntly: "Mr. Zhang, you missed the best opportunity, do you understand?"
Zhang Xuhao opened his mouth, took a long sigh, and finally said "thank you" dryly, then put down his phone.
"Deng Ye, how much money is left in the account?" Zhang Xuhao locked himself in the office and calmed down for most of the day before walking to Deng Ye's workstation and asked.
"A little over 2 million." Deng Ye bit his lip and saw what Zhang Xuhao was thinking.
"Please say sorry to everyone for me and pay out the money." Zhang Xuhao smiled bitterly. He originally wanted to give N plus one compensation to the employees in service to keep the last bit of dignity, but the reality slapped him in the face.
On March 16, Ele.me announced the suspension of its services.
Riders for Ele.me resigned one after another and joined the delivery team of Kuaipao.
The HR of Kuaipao was even more arrogant. They set up a temporary interview room directly in front of the gate of No. 335 Guoding Road, and accepted all of Ele.me's software engineers, database administrators, operations and field business, and even did not let go of the customer service.
In Pei Yi’s original words: Many of these people are graduate students from Jiaotong University and Tongji University. They just didn’t choose the right company, which doesn’t mean they don’t have the ability.
In the first food delivery war of 2012, Ele.me was defeated in less than two months.
The takeaway market in Shanghai opened its arms to Kuaipao. Without the constraints of competitors, Kuaipao began to expand wildly, preparing to quickly expand its business scope to the entire Shanghai area.
The next day, Wang Yuan, Kang Jia and Deng Ye, who were still handling the finishing work, received calls from Kuapao HR one after another, leaving the three of them confused.
When Zhang Xuhao found out, he was so angry that he started to curse: "Little bastard, you're eating and carrying!" What made him most upset was that his three brothers received the calls, but no one called him.
Isn't this looking down on people?
"Mr. Zhang, I'm sorry. You should understand the difficulty of changing industries." Kang Jia, who is in charge of Ele.me's local promotion and delivery team, said to Zhang Xuhao with an apologetic look after some thought.
"It's okay. I wish you a bright future."
Zhang Xuhao forced a smile and patted Kang Jia on the shoulder and said.
He caused the project to go bankrupt. To be honest, he didn't have the face to influence other people's decisions, even if the other party went to Kuaipao.
Wang Yuan and Deng Ye looked at each other, with a hint of intention in their eyes.
…
…
On March 18th, I took a taxi to Jinling!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
