Chapter 538 Economic Community
Dianping’s seminar ended very hastily, with no fancy ending, not even a post-meeting dinner, only sweaty crisis public relations.
But some questions are really hard to explain.
Why didn’t so many brands come?
Let alone others, even Dianping is puzzled by this question and no one says a word when asked.
In sharp contrast to this is the explosive popularity of group buying websites.
A large number of empathetic consumers are constantly returning, and with the joint marketing of more than 20 top brands, the money in the entire market is not enough to make what group buying earns.
In just a few days, all the refunds that had been given out were recovered, and the pockets of the people who had made a profit were about to burst.
As the heat continues to rise, Dianping is already sweating profusely as it prepares to hold a press conference and plans to disclose its corporate accounts.
It is also at this time that the settlement cycle of group buying quietly arrives.
Merchants in Kyoto received their payments in full, and news about this began to flood the Internet again.
There was no early payment and no funding collapse, but group buying was still dancing wildly in this farce, slapping its peers in the face many times while dancing.
"Jiang Qin, have you left?"
"No, he's still staying in our hotel. He said he would wait until the market stabilizes before going back."
"Still staying in our hotel?"
"He said that on the night of the dinner, he had already booked a week's worth of coupons, the kind that included breakfast. He also said that although people online were speculating that Dianping's funding was going to be cut off, he didn't believe it. He trusted Dianping, so he dared to buy."
“Fuck…”
After listening to Yang Xueyu's report, Zhang Tao's blood pressure rose and his vision went black and white.
At this moment, Chen Jiaxin pushed the door open and walked in: "Boss, people from all the major websites are here, and the investigators are back too."
"Go to the meeting room!"
"OK."
Zhang Tao rubbed his temples to slow down his breathing, then took Yang Xueyu into the conference room on the top floor of the company.
The public opinion war is over, and group buying has won a great victory, but there is still a core question at present, that is, how did group buying convince those brands?
Because this is the strangest part of the whole incident.
These websites are currently targeting the markets in second- and third-tier cities, fourth- and fifth-tier cities, and even seventh- and eighth-tier cities, and they spent a lot of money to develop those markets.
However, in the sinking markets, these brands are still the leaders and still the brands that support most of the sales in the field of life services. If the relationship between group buying and them is not investigated clearly, everyone will feel uneasy.
"Those leading brands, like group buying, are members of the Linchuan business group."
"What?"
"It's a local business association in Linchuan. Although not all of them are, many of them are."
In the conference room of Dianping.com, the bosses and executives of several websites sat together, quietly listening to the results of recent surveys.
To be honest, the market has become like this now, and many website owners have begun to be wary of information asymmetry. They would rather share information flow than be hit hard like Dianping.com.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and the same is true in business wars.
But some people find it hard to accept after only hearing half of the survey results.
"That's it?"
"That's true."
"This is a bit ridiculous, isn't it? Dianping.com and Lashou.com are both good brothers of the Kyoto Internet Association. Didn't we beat them up hard when we beat them up?"
When Wu Bo heard what Zhang Tao said, he couldn't help but look up and thought to himself, what the hell are you doing politely?
However, Shen Yang, the boss of Nuomi, and Wang Binliang, the boss of Wowotuan, do support Zhang Tao's statement: "There are more than 100,000 associations of the same nature across the country. Apart from collecting membership fees every year and gathering everyone to brag during the Chinese New Year, what other functions can they have?"
After listening to this, Wu Bo also spoke up: "Those stupid associations paid a lot of money, but all of it was spent on eating, drinking and having fun. You tell me that they suddenly defected because they were members of the same chamber of commerce. Do you believe it yourself?"
"Boss, don't get excited. Let me continue. This business group of theirs is different from the ones you have joined. They really help each other."
"?"
"We selected several representative ones, such as Helilao, Burger King and Xianhui Xiansheng. Although the headquarters of some companies are not in Linchuan, their bosses are almost all from Linchuan."
The investigator said, "The most interesting thing is that their development paths are surprisingly similar. They all started in first-tier cities two years ago and moved to second- and third-tier markets a year later."
After listening to this, Zhang Tao leaned back in his chair: "It sounds a bit familiar."
"Of course I am familiar with it, because this is the development path of the group buying market."
After hearing this, everyone in the conference room was stunned for a moment, then their faces changed instantly, and the overlap of the two paths instantly appeared in everyone's mind.
"When everyone was competing fiercely in first-tier cities, they suddenly appeared and became the favorites in the group buying market with their high-quality services. When everyone quickly moved down, they followed you to the second- and third-tier markets."
"We have consulted the marketing specialists of each city branch and found that these brands are indeed the most active in signing contracts."
"When many merchants don't know much about group buying and are afraid of being cheated, so they plan to wait and see, they have already signed the contract. If you want to organize an event, they will cooperate with you to organize the event. If you want to offer discounts, they will cooperate with you to offer discounts..."
"In addition, their business model is very suitable for group buying. For example, they have dedicated ticket checkers."
"Moreover, they will open stores wherever there is a money-burning war, because the expanding market can also help them quickly gain popularity."
"Then they will share channels and drive the brands that join later to grow together."
After the investigator finished speaking, he looked at the people present and said, "We all know that Jiang Qin is the one who knows the most about group buying, so in other words..."
Zhang Tao raised his head: "Jiang Qin relied on us to burn money to compete and helped these brands to expand nationwide."
"right."
After the words fell, everyone fell silent. Only some anxious emotions spread in the meeting room, accompanied by the creaking sound of chairs rubbing against the ground.
Money, like energy, is conserved. If you burn money, someone will definitely benefit from it.
Websites like Lashou, Nuomi, Wowotuan, and more than 5,000 already defunct websites have all poured money into this market. Some even lost their eyes and accidentally burned through their entire fortunes.
In the end, the market did grow, but many people looked back and found that the money they spent was not proportional to the returns.
Some people even burned their websites to bankruptcy without knowing what they had gained.
As a result, Jiang Qin relied on the money they invested in the market to effortlessly nurture a large number of national brands, continuously incubating, connecting, and riding the trend, and finally became the backbone of the entire group buying industry.
【Group buying is never a one-man show】
This sentence kept ringing in Yang Xueyu's mind, and the suspense was finally resolved.
But can everyone accept it? No, almost 80% of the people present felt that this survey result was unacceptable.
"He left for two years and then just sat there waiting for us? This is how third-party payment works, and is this also the case with brand incubation now?"
"hehe."
"When group buying first emerged, we didn't even know where this industry would eventually go, but he was already making a crown for his own coronation? How the hell is that reasonable?"
"Stop playing, stop playing!"
"We spent money to burn the market, and he used our money to support the brand. In the end, it's time for the final battle. We have no knives or swords, and he has all the swords back?!"
"Impossible, I can't accept it. Now the second and third tier cities are all dominated by these brands. Should we still do group buying? I would rather believe that Jiang Qin spent money than believe this result."
There was a lot of discussion at the scene, and many people questioned the results of the investigation.
But this kind of doubt is not unreasonable, but out of fear. If this is all true, then there is no point in them continuing to do group buying. Are you going to spend money to support his brand and then let him reap the benefits?
The investigator sighed and said, "This is indeed the result we found. Based on this result, everything makes sense."
Zhang Tao was silent for a long time before he spoke: "What on earth is Jiang Qin doing? Isn't he doing group buying? Why... is he doing so many small things?"
"I think what Jiang Qin did from the beginning was not just group buying. To be more precise, group buying was just one part of his business layout and a channel he valued more..."
"So we are being suppressed by dimensionality reduction?"
"That's about it."
The investigator turned to the last page of the report: "In addition, we screened and compared the equity of these brands and found a private equity organization called Jinsinan Foundation."
Wu Bo frowned: "Why is there a private placement involved here?"
"Yes, Mr. Wu. Except for XiTian and Dadi Cinema, they have invested in other brands, and their share is not small. You can regard them as a community with a shared economic destiny."
"Is this also Jiang Qin's?"
“The structure is unclear, but judging by the time of its establishment, investment style and investment areas, this foundation should also be led by Jiang Qin.”
“…”
After the meeting, everyone left.
Except for the people from Dianping, everyone else went back to the hotel first, packed their luggage, and prepared to return to their city the next day.
Once some things are noticed and seen, they are no longer secrets.
In addition to the general public, some people in the same industry and circle will have heard of it.
For example, at the Internet Industry Exchange Summit currently being held in Shanghai, some bigwigs who were attending the conference also received the news at the first time and their expressions were slightly stunned.
“Dianping lost.”
“Those brands were nurtured by Jiang Qin himself.”
(End of this chapter)
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