"Group buying?"
"That's right, we need to address some of the users' pain points. A phone only has so much memory, it's so troublesome to install so many group-buying apps, isn't it?"
"Therefore, we can allow users to place orders for group-buying coupons directly on Huasuan.com without having to be redirected to their respective websites or apps to make the purchase."
"Look, this way we've saved those group-buying websites that haven't had time to develop their apps a development cost, killing several birds with one stone."
"But we only have one Meituan."
"Who said that? Doesn't Taobao's big data platform have a bunch of small group-buying websites?"
"Can……"
Just as Zhang Yiming was about to say something, he suddenly remembered the cooperation that Lin Chen had previously reached with Taobao because of Pinduoduo's red envelope campaign.
Wow! So President Lin had already thought that far ahead?
Lin Chen: You might not believe it, but I just thought of it myself.
Lin Chen took out his phone and made a call to Jack Ma.
When Jack Ma saw Lin Chen's call, his heart skipped a beat. He knew this brat couldn't be up to anything.
"Hey, Mr. Ma, this is Lin Chen."
"Hehe, Mr. Lin, what's up?"
"Of course I called Mr. Ma to deliver money to him."
"Oh? Mr. Lin, you have money to make secretly, but you're thinking of me?"
"Look at what you're saying, we're brother companies that help each other out."
Jack Ma's lips twitched. Even he couldn't bring himself to say something so shameless.
"Well, Mr. Lin, I have a meeting to attend in a bit, let's talk another time."
"Hey, Mr. Ma, don't hang up yet! We haven't talked about serious business yet. Do you remember that virtual shopping cart I set up for Singles' Day?"
"I remember, of course I remember."
"I plan to port this feature to group buying."
"Huh? Mr. Lin, what's going on...?"
"Of course, it's to counter Lashou. I want to shorten the time users spend thinking. When they see a group-buying deal they like on Huasuan.com, they can immediately complete the group-buying. No matter what website it is, they don't even need to download the other party's software."
Jack Ma gasped. Clearly, Lin Chen's feature wasn't specifically designed for the three giants of group buying.
Nowadays, most users who like group buying have three group buying apps installed on their phones: Lashou, Meituan, and Koubei.
The other smaller websites mainly attract users on computers and have no plans to develop apps for the time being.
One reason is that smartphones are not widely available. Although Xiaomi has significantly increased the smartphone penetration rate in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, not many people in third- and fourth-tier cities are buying smartphones.
Lin Chen: Have you forgotten about our Redmi phones?
Secondly, because its scale is small, it is only active in a few cities or even a single city, so there is no point in making an app, as few people would download it.
These websites invest most of their money in creating a few super cheap, blockbuster group-buying products, and then bundle them with other group-buying items. This is the only way they can get a share of the pie in the fiercely competitive group-buying war.
Of these small websites, a small portion are on Huasuan.com, while the majority are banding together on Taobao's big data platform. Is Lin Chen trying to poach customers?
Thinking of this, Jack Ma said, "Mr. Lin, isn't this inappropriate? You're blatantly stealing customers."
“Mr. Ma, these small websites can only earn you a few dollars a year. I can give you all of that money. My goal is not to make money. My goal is to use this method to compete with Tencent Big Data.”
"But have you forgotten Tencent's signature move? The copying technique? Your virtual shopping cart function will probably be copied by someone else in less than two days."
"So, Mr. Ma, that's why I'm here to see you. The feature is easy to copy, but all the smaller websites are on our side. What's the point of Tencent creating this feature?"
"President Lin is really good at scheming."
"Hey, Mr. Ma, we're on the same side now."
"Okay, I understand. I'll cooperate with you. As for the money, forget about it. It's not much money anyway. I'll just wait until Lashou.com collapses and then take over a portion of the market."
"Mr. Ma's insight is brilliant."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Chen patted Zhang Yiming on the shoulder.
"Jack Ma has taken care of it. At that time, most of the small group-buying websites on our Huasuan.com and Taobao's big data platform will be added to this feature."
"Mr. Lin, I have a suggestion."
"Oh, what suggestion?"
"We don't need to use a shopping cart this time. Group buying is different from online shopping. Online shopping requires adding items to a cart and paying together, but group buying doesn't. Group buying is basically a one-order-one-payment system, and almost no one will pay for multiple group buying links at the same time."
"So, we can skip the shopping cart step and click to checkout directly."
"That's right, that's exactly what I mean, so what?"
"Mr. Zhang, that's fantastic! You're a genius! Keep doing it this way, get the functionality working as soon as possible, and start implementing our plan sooner."
"Okay, Mr. Lin."
Tencent probably never imagined that these small websites would have such a big impact on them.
Three days later, Huasuan.com updated with a new feature: one-click quick payment for group buying. Of course, this one-click payment function is only available on Huasuan Pay.
When you find a group-buying product you like on Huasuan.com, simply click the "One-Click Order" button next to the price comparison information, and the payment will be automatically deducted from your Huasuan Pay account linked to Huasuan.com, completing the transaction.
After a group purchase is successful, a group purchase QR code will be generated and displayed in the group purchase function menu of Huasuan.com, making it convenient for merchants to scan and verify the code when customers arrive at the store.
Because when Lashou.com used QR codes as a weapon to compete with major group-buying platforms, the QR code scanning machines were already available at each group-buying merchant's premises, which is why Huasuan.com's plan was able to be implemented so quickly and with such high acceptance.
This directly negated the major advantage of Lashou.com's QR code.
However, this was originally given to them by Xingchen Technology for free, and now that Lin Chen wants to use it on all group-buying websites, Lashou.com has nothing to say.
On Huasuan.com, Zhang Yiming personally called the heads of those small group-buying websites to persuade them to participate in the program.
"Phew~ Mr. Lin, this is exhausting. The managers of these small group-buying websites are all incredibly cunning. They only came to participate because I offered them money."
"Give them money? They're dreaming. Mr. Zhang, next time you encounter a situation like this, you must handle it according to our company's corporate spirit."
"Okay, Mr. Lin, but what is our company's corporate spirit?"
"Why are we called Star Technology Company? Because all the little money in the world is like a star, and our company's spirit is to save little money and bring it home!"
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