However, despite his complaints, Zhang Xuhao wasn't about to let the money slip by.
"Hey, Brother Chen, hurry up and give me Wu Bo's contact information. I can't wait to go pick up some money."
The next day, Lashou.com issued an announcement that it would join hands with Ele.me to create a "group buying to your door" event. When merchants post group buying links, they can choose whether the group buying products support food delivery. If they do, they can check the box to participate in the event.
After placing an order on Lashou.com, users receive a coupon code for the group-buying order. They can then open the Ele.me website, enter the coupon code, and place an order. A delivery person will automatically accept the order and deliver the food to their door.
"This joint event is amazing! A couple of days ago I saw a discount at one of my favorite sushi restaurants on Lashou.com, but I just didn't have time to go. Ordering takeout directly wasn't as cost-effective as group buying. Your collaboration has solved my problem. Thumbs up!"
"Yeah, yeah, food delivery is convenient, but it's not as cost-effective as group buying. Group buying is cost-effective, but it requires me to go out. As a homebody, I really don't want to go out at all. Why don't your two companies merge?"
Three days later, Ele.me updated its website and launched a user map feature. After setting their delivery address, users can open the user map to see the distance of all nearby food delivery merchants and the approximate delivery time. Moreover, during the promotional period with Lashou.com, it can also show whether merchants have group-buying deals available for customers.
This coordinated effort had an amazing effect, propelling both Lashou.com and Ele.me to new heights, with order volumes skyrocketing.
Seeing how well it was doing, Lin Chen thought of his own Heytea and realized it would be a shame not to capitalize on this trend, so he made a call to Fatty.
"Fatty, how's the Heytea branch opening going?"
"Brother Chen, I was just about to call you. The last branch has been renovated and will open tomorrow."
Where are the employees?
"The staff have already been recruited and sent to the Jiaotong University main store for rotational training. They can start working tomorrow."
"Okay, not bad. By the way, after we open tomorrow, put up a group-buying link on Lashou.com. It's 9.9 yuan a cup of milk tea, valid at all branches, and you can also get it delivered to your door."
"Okay, I'll take care of it right away."
Soon, Heytea's group-buying link was listed on Lashou.com. Wu Bo thoughtfully gave Lin Chen's milk tea shop a top recommendation. The first batch of 1,000 cups of Heytea's 9.9 yuan group-buying link sold out in less than half a day.
The fat man was dumbfounded. After confirming with Zhang Xiuxiu that he could handle the order volume, he put up a second group-buying link for 9.9 yuan, which sold out again by evening.
So, the fat man called Lin Chen and told him about it.
Lin Chen thought about it for a moment and then understood. Heytea had already become a popular online store, and people had been queuing up early in the morning before. It was understandable that the group-buying link had been snapped up immediately. In that case, they couldn't continue to increase the quantity. Scarcity makes things valuable.
Lin Chen replied to Fatty, telling him to stop releasing group-buying coupons. Then he called Wu Bo and asked if he could put a broken link to the Heytea coupons that had already been snapped up on the top spot on Lashou.com for a day. Wu Bo readily agreed, saying that he would only lose a day's advertising fee for the top spot, which was a drop in the ocean compared to what Lin Chen had recently made for him.
However, Wu Bo did not expect that Lin Chen's suggestion would cause Lashou.com to become a trending topic, and it was a topic of criticism. People said that Lashou.com was not updating in a timely manner, and that Heytea was still listed at the top even though there were no coupons left, making customers think that Heytea still had coupons, and frantically refreshing the page, only to be disappointed time and time again.
When Wu Bo saw this, he was overjoyed. So what if he was criticized and trended on social media? This was free advertising! It would be so expensive to buy a trending topic himself. Sigh, he thought Lin Chen was taking advantage of him, but in the end, he found that he was the one who benefited from Lin Chen's actions.
With Heytea's popularity remaining high, Lin Chen instructed Fatty to continue recruiting employees and searching for suitable store locations in popular shopping malls across Shanghai. The next step was to open stores all over Shanghai.
That day, Lin Chen was slacking off in his office watching a movie when he unexpectedly received a call from his counselor, Qian Ming.
"Lin Chen, how long has it been since you came to class?"
"Ahem, Teacher Qian, I'm sorry, I've been a bit busy lately. I even flew to Beijing a few days ago."
"Alright, come to the school now, the vice principal wants to see you."
"Huh? I just skipped a class, how did it get to the vice principal's attention?"
"It's not about you skipping class, come over here right now."
"Okay, I'll be right there."
Lin Chen left the office and drove directly to the school.
"Teacher Qian, I'm here."
"You came pretty quickly, didn't you? Come on, I'll take you to see the vice principal."
"Teacher Qian, which vice principal did we go to see?"
"Vice Principal Chen Jianguo, who is in charge of student employment, let me give you a little heads-up. It's probably about the employment of graduating seniors. You should probably think about what to say in your head."
"Okay, thank you, Teacher Qian."
After arriving at the vice principal's office, Qian Ming knocked on the door.
"Please come in."
Qian Ming pushed open the door and entered: "Principal Chen, Lin Chen is here."
"Oh? You must be Lin Chen. My grandson often mentions you at home. Please have a seat."
"Principal Chen, does your grandson know me?"
"Chen Tianfeng, you're in the same dorm as me."
"Oh? Chen Tianfeng is your grandson? He's never mentioned it."
"Hahaha, my grandson is quite low-key. Little Qian, could you make me two cups of tea?"
"Okay, Principal Chen."
After Qian Ming made the tea, he left first.
Chen Jianguo took a sip of tea before getting down to business.
"Lin Chen, I know you started a company, and it's quite successful. I think it's called Star Technology, right?"
"Yes, thanks to the strong support from our school. I started my company in our school's entrepreneurship center at the beginning, and then moved it outside after the number of people increased."
"Hehe, the school only provides a platform. In the end, it still depends on your own ability. Here's the thing, I'm in charge of student employment, and I was thinking that the new batch of outstanding graduates should not go to outsiders. Of course, we should give priority to companies that have graduated from our own school, right? That's when I thought of you."
Lin Chen understood immediately. They wanted him to recruit some of Jiaotong University's graduates this year. Listen to that, the leaders are so nice to talk to. They ask him for a favor and make him feel like he's getting a good deal. The key is that you have to agree to it.
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