After reaching an agreement with Wang Xing, Lin Chen called Zhang Xuhao again.
"Alright, send someone to connect with Wang Xing and let's work together with Meituan on group buying and home delivery. Just keep the commission rate low. Labor costs are relatively lower in second- and third-tier cities, so it shouldn't be a big problem."
"Alright, then I'll compete with Wowo Takeout in subsidies in big cities while secretly developing my business in second- and third-tier cities."
"Yes, the Ele.me mobile app has been developed. You need to convince Meituan to connect with the data interface so that Meituan can send you the order information for in-store group purchases in real time, so that your delivery drivers can deliver the food as soon as possible."
"This should be fine. Is this data useful?"
"Hehe, of course it'll work."
"Lin Chen, when I hear you laughing so lewdly, I know Wang Xing is in trouble again."
"Why are you speaking such obvious truths?"
Soon, in addition to the group-buying war, a food delivery war also broke out in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.
For a while, Wowo Takeaway was offering massive subsidies to merchants and delivery drivers, and it looked like Ele.me was on the verge of collapse. Then, Ele.me, seemingly out of nowhere, started offering large subsidies as well.
The amount of subsidy from Wowo Takeout is the same amount that Eleme will subsidize.
At first, Wowo Takeaway didn't believe it. They thought, "You're going to add more subsidies, huh? I'll add more." But no matter how much subsidy Wowo Takeaway added, Ele.me could keep up, which made Xu Maodong a little panicked.
You have to understand, he's burning money not only on Wowo Takeout, but also on Wowo Group. Burning money on both of them at the same time, no amount of money can sustain it.
There was nothing that could be done, so Wowo Delivery stopped adding subsidies and could only hope that Ele.me was just putting on a show of strength for a short time and would run out of money in a couple of days. The battle thus reached a stalemate.
Xu Maodong was worried. He had already found a professional listing team, estimated the company's market value, and prepared for the listing, but no matter how he calculated, he was still short of market share.
Lala.com and Ele.me are now like two mountains blocking WowoTuan's way, making it difficult for WowoTuan to move forward.
A few days later, Zhang Xuhao personally went to Meituan's headquarters to find Wang Xing.
"Hello Mr. Wang, this is Zhang Xuhao from Ele.me."
"Hello Mr. Zhang, Mr. Lin has already told me that once you have assembled your delivery team, we will send you the orders that need to be delivered in bulk, and then your delivery drivers can just deliver the food according to the information."
“Mr. Wang, this is too inefficient. The delivery time is too long, and sometimes customers complain.”
Wang Xing thought for a moment and said, "Hmm, that is indeed a problem. So how are you solving this problem now?"
“We have established a data interface connection with Lashou.com. When Lashou.com’s backend receives a group-buying home delivery order, it will automatically transmit it to our system. Then our system will automatically assign a delivery person based on the address and send the information to the delivery person’s mobile phone.”
"Data interface integration?"
Wang Xing hesitated. This method was certainly feasible and could improve efficiency many times over, but it would mean handing over the data to someone else.
"Mr. Wang, let me tell you, this method is great. It can save a lot of labor costs. Think about it, if we follow your method, you'll need to hire someone to send us order information, and we'll also need to hire someone to receive order information and assign delivery drivers. And this will be necessary for every city..."
This statement hit Wang Xing's weak spot: how much money could this save!
Wang Xing immediately made the decision: "Let's do it the way Mr. Zhang suggested, and we'll get the data interface connected as soon as possible."
"Okay, Mr. Wang, I'll arrange for technical personnel to come over and take over immediately. It'll be a pleasure working with you."
"It's a pleasure doing business with you!"
As soon as they left Meituan's headquarters, Zhang Xuhao told Lin Chen the news.
Lin Chen arrived at Zhang Yiming's office and knocked on the door.
"Mr. Zhang, there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Ele.me and Meituan are about to cooperate to launch group-buying and home delivery services in second- and third-tier cities. At that time, they will connect their data interfaces to transmit merchant and customer information. You can compare this customer information with the users of our Huasuan.com and push more discounted food delivery information to them."
"Okay, Mr. Lin."
That's right, that's Lin Chen's plan. Group buying to your door is essentially the same as ordering takeout, but customers will choose it because the group buying price is more favorable.
But what if the food delivery service itself offers discounts?
Then these customers might not choose your group-buying home delivery service and will order takeout directly.
At first, it may not have much of an impact, but over time, Meituan will find that, hey, why are fewer and fewer people using group-buying delivery?
But by the time Meituan realized this, it was too late. They thought that by then, Eleme had already grown big and had its own customer base, so it didn't matter whether Meituan was there or not.
But Meituan can't do without Eleme, because without Eleme, your group-buying home delivery business can't continue.
This is what Lin Chen told Zhang Xuhao: "It's not that Eleme is helping Meituan, it's actually that Meituan is helping Eleme."
As for Wowo Group, Lin Chen felt it probably wouldn't last much longer. Xu Maodong's funds were also limited. He had to fight Lashou.com on one hand and Ele.me on the other. Fighting on two fronts, how much money would he have to burn every day?
It's estimated that before long, Wowo Group will be forced to withdraw from the battle due to insufficient funds, and Lashou.com will collapse on its own due to the inability to raise funds. At that time, I will step in and take it all.
Just as Lin Chen was daydreaming, Lei Jun's voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Brother Lin, you're here! No wonder I couldn't find you in your office."
"What's wrong, Brother Jun?"
"Here's the thing, Xiaomi's product design team just submitted a tablet design proposal to me, and I'd like to get your feedback."
"Xiaomi tablet?"
"Yes, Apple released the iPad at the beginning of the year. Although it's a larger version of the iPhone, it sold very well and has many uses."
"Brother Jun, why are you making a Xiaomi tablet? This thing isn't suitable for Xiaomi."
"Huh? Why? I use an iPad myself, and I think it's great."
"I'm asking you, who are the users of the iPad?"
"Um, it seems like it can be used by all kinds of people."
"No, the current target customers for iPad are mainly wealthy or high-income people. Think about it, an iPad costs more than three thousand yuan, and it can't make phone calls. Its functions are not as complete as those of a normal computer. It can only be used to check emails and watch videos."
"Now that you mention it, it's true."
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