Chapter 703 I will rule the market
Kyoto, Guomao Hotel, the deep night in spring is already charming, and with the thousands of street lights and continuous sparks, it looks even more dazzling.
A table of exquisite Western food was set up in Travis' suite to entertain his friend Peter Fenton who came from Silicon Valley.
"You haven't been back for a long time?"
“I will go back when the market stabilizes.”
“Is business here good?”
Travis opened a bottle of whiskey and walked over with a bright smile: "To me, the Chinese market is like a toy made of gold. It's very shiny, but... it can only be played with by me."
Fenton picked up his glass and smiled: "It seems that the real Chinese market is far less dangerous than rumored."
"certainly."
Travis toasted: "Great people often like to find excuses for their failures. Amazon, eBay, and Groupon, for example, always felt embarrassed after being driven away, so they had to describe the market as more dangerous."
Fenton put down his glass: "But I always thought that Chinese consumers were very exclusive to Americans."
"Of course they reject it, but that doesn't stop them from using our things."
“What an interesting country.”
Travis cut the steak and said, "If you have time, you can stay for a few more days to see how Uber wins. I think the time is almost right. I will conquer this continent again like my ancestors did."
Fenton nodded. "It sounds grand. I like grand performances."
The two men raised their glasses and just took a sip when they heard the sound of a door opening in the suite. Travis's secretary walked in and smiled at Fenton.
Travis raised his head: “Miss Anna, what’s the matter?”
"Mr. Cheng and Mr. Chen just called and are afraid they can't attend your dinner."
"Why?"
"They said they were unwell, but it sounded like they both had the same illness."
Travis's face turned cold. "They are still delaying in vain. Then we should not leave them any room for maneuver. We should crush them to ashes in the market."
Fenton held his glass and thought for a moment: "Who is Mr. Cheng? Who is Mr. Chen?"
“CEO of Kuaidi and Bibi, China’s local taxi-hailing platforms.”
“A rival to Uber?”
Travis looked at him and said, “You must be drunk.”
Fenton grinned: "It sounds like you are very disdainful of your opponent?"
"Weakness is the original sin. I gave them a choice: merge with Uber and cash out. They agreed verbally but kept dragging their feet. Chinese businessmen really have no integrity."
“All yellow people are like this.”
Later, after a Western meal, Travis planned to take Fenton to visit his China headquarters, so he asked Anna to call a car.
After the two got in the car, Fenton looked at the surrounding street scenes along the way and was attracted by the words "Didi" that could be seen everywhere.
"Uber only has two competitors in China, Didi and Didi Kuaidi? Why do I always see Didi? Uber has even fewer ads than Didi."
“A platform that tried its best to market itself but couldn’t even see the taillights of Uber.”
"Anna, what's written on that car?"
Anna, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked out the window after listening to it: "Mr. Peter, it says Didi Taxi, low-carbon travel, which is also one of the advertisements."
After listening to this, Travis also looked out the window and found that there seemed to be a lot of cars with "Didi Chuxing" written on them on the street. They were of different styles and brands, driving on the roads that extend in all directions.
He frowned slightly, showing a thoughtful expression, and finally couldn't help but snorted and sat up straight again.
Soon, the car arrived at Uber's China headquarters, and the two people visited various departments, but were stopped by Trott, the operations manager, halfway.
"Mr. Travis, I have something to report."
"What's wrong?"
Trott flipped through the data sheet in his hand and said, "Recently, the number of Uber orders has been decreasing, and other data has also shown an overall downward trend."
Travis took a look: "Spring Festival effect?"
"No, the Spring Festival has been over for a long time, and it has been a month since we resumed work. This is not right, especially the overall decline in daily activity, frequency, and new user registration rate. This cannot be regarded as an ordinary fluctuation. There must be a reason."
"Impossible. The people in charge of Bibi and Kuaidi are both sick. This is just a normal fluctuation. Don't be too nervous. The market is already ours."
Trott opened his mouth and said, “Mr. Travis, there is also Didi on the market. Its owner is the great Jiang Qin. You will be cursed if you underestimate him.”
Travis laughed instantly: "Trote, this is the funniest joke I have ever heard. You should have saved it for April Fools' Day."
Trott said with a serious expression: "Sir, I have seen such data fluctuations before."
"?"
"This is how Lashou.com's data performed during its rise and fall."
Fenton was also staring at Trott at this time: "Mr. Trott, are you Chinese or Japanese?"
Trott narrowed his eyes: "Talk is talk, don't curse!"
"Hey, this sentence seems to be Chinese. It seems that you are Chinese. I have always been interested in Chinese culture. Can I know your Chinese name?"
"My name is...Kang Jingtao."
When Travis established the Chinese team, he learned from the failure experiences of Amazon, Groupon and Waimai Chaoren, and deliberately chose the most localized team.
At the beginning, Kang Jingtao worked at Koubei Waimai. Because he was afraid that Jiang Qin would leave, he later joined Uber.
There are many reasons. Foreign companies pay more and provide ample rest time, but the most important reason is that Jiang Qin is not interested in this market.
But who would have thought that at the end of the year, Jiang Qin suddenly left the scene, causing Kang Jingtao to be worried for the past few months.
However, Didi's subsequent performance has been disappointing, which alleviated his anxiety until the overall data table for this month came out.
Some people, once bitten by a snake, become afraid of ropes for ten years.
He had actually seen this data, and he thought that this kind of data fluctuation could be named Jiang's fluctuation line.
In the following half month, things began to develop rapidly in the direction that Kang Jingtao was most worried about. Kang Jingtao, who had been keeping an eye on the data, found that the data was still dropping, but Travis still did not believe that there was a hidden crisis. This was the arrogance unique to Americans.
Some small things may not be noticed when they first happen, but when they attract attention, the crisis has already arrived.
"Private car...?"
As Uber's data continued to decline for a few days, a large number of private cars suddenly flooded into the entire Shanghai and Kyoto markets, and all of them were private cars with the Didi Chuxing logo.
The response speed of Didi's taxi service has gradually increased from fifteen minutes to one to two minutes.
In mid-March 2014, just a few days before April Fools' Day, a piece of news only available in Shanghai and Kyoto was quickly forwarded to the Moments of WeChat users.
"I work part-time as a Didi driver and earn over 10,000 yuan a month"
So in the half month after March, the number of Didi drivers increased rapidly, and many people had never seen such a speed of increase.
Because Didi did not invade its competitors' market, it opened up a completely new market.
Travis was completely shocked. Looking at the Didi cars filling the streets, he felt a huge shadow roaring towards him, making him feel suffocated like never before.
[Didi is coming, Uber should withdraw quickly]
[China's best business dog is here, and time is running out for Uber]
Travis suddenly remembered the comments he had seen online before, and the man who was deified by many people. His deep eyes widened: "What the fuck?"
As a bystander, Fenton realized the dangers of the Chinese market. It seemed that Amazon did not deliberately exaggerate to save face. There was no grand show. What appeared now was... a catastrophe!
In just half a month, Uber lost one-third of its users.
They came like a raging tide, but now it seems that the tide has been turned...
"Private car?"
"How could it be a private car?!"
"The Shanghai Transportation Commission issued a regulation last month that private cars are not allowed to carry passengers privately!"
You should know that in the Chinese market, private cars are not allowed to carry passengers and make money.
Bibi and Kuaidi have been cooperating with the taxi industry in their marketing, and their initial idea was to move taxis online.
Uber mainly provides high-end services at low prices, but it also signs contracts with regular business travel companies, high-end escort companies, luxury car fleets with operating qualifications, and event celebration fleets.
Now Didi directly uses a part-time approach to allow every private car to operate online after information registration, which is equivalent to breaking the market rules.
How many taxis are there in Shanghai? And how many private cars are there?
At this time, Bibi and Kuaidi, who had already learned about this matter, had organized people to investigate privately.
"At present, Shanghai and Kyoto have clear management regulations prohibiting private cars from carrying passengers. If you dare to do so, you will be fined."
"But there is another question here. Does this clause apply to private cars that have gone through the formal real-name system and information registration, are controlled by the platform, and can track their routes?"
"The boundaries are very vague, and the details of the regulations are not clear. We can call it a gray industry, which is not clearly illegal, but not completely legal either."
"Currently, the management of urban road traffic is controlled by the local transportation committee. The purpose of prohibiting illegal taxi operations is to maintain social order. So if Didi's behavior does not endanger urban management, how should it be dealt with?"
"The most critical thing is that Didi's current operating rules are to give drivers bonuses based on the number of orders, rather than direct transactions between passengers and drivers. This loophole is huge."
Cheng Wei opened his eyes wide after hearing this: "In other words, if we also refer to Didi's bonus model, we can also operate private cars?!"
The expert invited by Bibi nodded: "Yes, as long as the local transportation committee allows it."
"Then I'll go to the Transportation Committee right away!"
After getting this answer, Cheng Wei quickly left the company and found Director Chen, who was in charge of road operations, with a heart full of questions and new hopes.
Director Chen had just eaten with Cheng Wei before the New Year, and he felt embarrassed to see him coming to visit: "Mr. Cheng, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"It's like this, Director Chen. I noticed that Didi seems to hire private cars to carry passengers. Can we use BiDi?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Cheng, this won't work."
"Why?"
Director Chen pursed his lips and said, "Didi got approval last month, but you didn't."
Cheng Wei frowned: "Whether to approve or not is just a matter of your words, isn't it, Director?"
"But why should I approve you? I didn't set the road operation regulations. I don't have the right to do so."
"Then why did you approve Didi's operation?"
Director Chen smacked his lips and said, "Mr. Cheng, Didi is not doing road operations, it is doing charity activities."
Cheng Wei was stunned after hearing this. He thought, you must be lying to me. The taxi war has been going on for a year. Everyone knows that they are fighting hard in the market. But when it comes to Didi, it has become a public welfare activity? "Director Chen, I don't have much education, so I don't quite understand. Why is Didi a public welfare activity?"
"Do you know that international public opinion is constantly accusing our country of excessive carbon emissions and repeatedly criticizing China for using any means necessary to pursue development? Some European and American countries are protesting in the streets, and the United Nations has also repeatedly stated that China needs to reduce carbon emissions. This is very damaging to our international image."
Director Chen sighed: "This year, the green indicators for energy conservation and emission reduction have come out again, which are twice as high as last year. The city leaders are very worried about how to achieve results in energy conservation and emission reduction."
Cheng Wei opened his mouth and said, "So Didi is saving energy and reducing emissions?"
"Did you know that Didi has launched a carpooling function? It means I can pick up four people on my way to work. In this way, four people don't have to drive. This is energy conservation and emission reduction!"
"Then we can also do it. I will do it right away when I get back. We can also say that we are saving energy and reducing emissions!"
Director Chen waved his hand: "It's not enough to just talk. We are not fools."
Cheng Wei had a puzzled look on his face: "Didi said that it is energy-saving and emission-reduction, but we say that is not okay?"
"Mr. Cheng, I've eaten a lot of your food. There are some things I shouldn't show you, but since you asked, I can only show you. Didi didn't say they were energy-saving and emission-reducing themselves."
"?"
Director Chen opened his drawer and took out a sheepskin document bag.
Cheng Wei had seen this file bag when he came last time. It was printed with the logo of Linchuan Municipal Government.
Director Chen reached into his file bag and took out a piece of paper and placed it in front of Cheng Wei. It was a copy of the certificate.
At the end of February this year, Didi won the 2013 Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Science and Technology Innovation Award. The awarding units were China Environment News and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the recommending unit was the Linchuan Municipal Government.
Seeing this, Cheng Wei suddenly understood.
The platform's hiring of private cars to carry passengers is a gray industry, but it can greatly increase the urban employment rate, and even ease the pressure on urban traffic and reduce the burden on the transportation department.
In fact, the attitudes of local transportation commissions towards platforms hiring private cars have always been ambiguous.
This thing is good, it promotes economic development and helps per capita income, but the problem is that there is a document that stipulates that private cars cannot carry passengers. What should I do? I really want to turn a blind eye, but I have to have a reason and a name.
Jiang Qin's medal certificate directly delivered the honor to them. Everyone is doing this for environmental protection.
"What Didi gives to drivers is not a share of the orders, but a low-carbon bonus."
Director Chen added: "You can understand that Didi is a large public welfare organization that has gathered a large group of environmental protection enthusiasts and has made outstanding contributions to reducing the use of vehicles."
"How...how can there be such logic?"
"You can also run for election. Let me talk to the city leaders and recommend you to run. You can get the award next March."
Cheng Wei opened his mouth and said, "By March next year, the market will be completely taken over by Didi!"
Director Chen was stunned for a moment, with a look of confusion in his eyes: "What market are you talking about? We are talking about environmental protection."
(Double monthly tickets at the beginning of the month, 4,000 words, please vote...or2, family members, please have pity on me)
(End of this chapter)
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