Chapter 385: Everything’s in Disarray

“Xu Wanshi has defected? With his entire team?”

“Yes, I didn’t see this move from Lashou coming. Looks like we won’t be able to hold onto our business in Shanghai.”

“This scoundrel, doesn’t he fear ruining his own reputation? He betrays us, he’ll betray others too. Who would dare to employ him in this industry?”

Suixin Group’s Shanghai subdivision manager, Zhou Zhenhao, was pacing around the conference table, ranting wildly and furiously kicking over several chairs.

Because Lashou’s influence in Kyoto is too strong, they chose to avoid direct confrontation early this month. They set a strategy to stabilize Shanghai first, then attack Shanghai.

In the four major first-tier cities, if Suixin Group can control two, they’ll definitely get massive funding that surpasses other sites. With terrifying cash flow, they could crush their way through unparalleled and dominate the battlefield.

By then Lashou, Wowo, 24Coupon — none would be a match.

But now, the entire Shanghai team has defected. The market they painstakingly built has been handed over to others. With Kyoto, Shanghai, and half of Yu Cheng under their belt, Lashou now firmly holds the top spot in group buying.

And them? They’re still struggling in the Shanghai branch as before, no changes after a month, even trailblazing newbies like Nuomi are hot on their heels.

In the internet sector where geographical distance is irrelevant, the only competition is speed and burning cash. Who’s faster, who’s first — that’s the recognized truth within the industry.

But after going in circles for a month, they realized their efforts were wasted.

Most crucially, in order to set up SZ’s market operations, their available funds have nearly burnt out.

Fact is, if they had consumed all of the Shanghai market it might have been fine, but Nuomi has also taken a part of their original market share, and its momentum is increasingly fierce.

“Everything’s gone chaotic…”

Zhou Zhenhao stood by the window, hands on hips, staring out at the brightly lit city with a gloomy expression.

Cui Yiting looked even more distressed since she was the one who built up Shanghai’s business and promoted Xu Wanshi to manager. Now with his defection, she’s the one to blame.

Most importantly, Lashou’s move to dig out competitors’ teams has set a precedent, which might encourage other websites to follow. Soon enough, poaching will become an industry norm.

Then, who would dare to build a team?

Suixin Group had the upper hand starting first in Shanghai and had prepared for a month beforehand. Their biggest advantage was their complete team; they had reliable people in every target city ready to roll anytime.

But what if there are more traitors like Xu Wanshi? How can they even compete?

Seeing her two partners, one engulfed in anger and the other in self-blame, Ye Ziqing couldn’t help but feel disoriented.

For some reason, she suddenly remembered what she had said to Jiang Qin a year ago.

“Let’s first capture the four major first-tier cities, get the funding quickly, and spread out before anyone can react. Using the first-tier cities as the core to radiate outwards.”

“…”

“How could it not work? As long as we seize the right moment, success in group buying is guaranteed.”

“…”

“You need to broaden your perspective, don’t limit your vision to Linchuan. The internet sector’s battle is all about scale, and the rule is winner takes all.”

Thinking about it, Ye Ziqing sighed, realizing that not only capturing the first-tier cities was a tough problem, even holding onto Shanghai is now challenging.

Back in school, when she was running a group buying website, although there were several groups trying to compete with her, most lacked capability and she easily recruited them with little incentives, strengthening her team and expanding her business channels at the same time.

But now, every competitor is as fierce as a wolf, eyeing every piece of meat that might fall off you, and that’s when she realized the national market is nothing like the regional ones.

“The national league isn’t played like this. It’s a scenario you couldn’t possibly imagine.”

“Sister, don’t consider yourself a tiger, because you’re not qualified.”

“You only have choices in the middle of the food chain; either be a harmless sheep and make a quick buck and leave, or be a pig, get fat then let others slaughter you. Which one do you think you want to be?”

Jiang Qin’s answer echoed in Ye Ziqing’s head, now understanding his concerns. Maybe it was this foresight that made Jiang Qin content with sticking in Linchuan, not daring to venture out.

But isn’t the future fought for? If everyone was as afraid of wolves ahead and tigers behind like him, then they might as well watch themselves be swallowed by others.

Thinking of this, Ye Ziqing suddenly felt a surge of courage and resolve. She shouldn’t fall into negative emotions.

“Zhenhao, Yiting, don’t panic. This is just the beginning. We still have a chance.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhenhao and Cui Yiting turned to look at Ye Ziqing.

Suixin Group hadn’t reached a dead end yet because, despite losing two battles, they still held a large market in Shanghai. They were only falling behind in the top tier, but still ranked high in the national group buying business.

So the opportunity Ye Ziqing mentioned wasn’t about how to survive, but how to win back.

“After a two-month long war of attrition, whether it’s us, Lashou, or Wowo, 24Coupon, everyone’s funds are dwindling.”

“Now, the most important thing is to be the first to get funded. As long as we have sufficient ammo, we can also poach people, we can offer steeper discounts than they do.”

“So, we need to do two things now.”

“First, I’ll go back to Linchuan today to run for funds, every minute counts.”

“Second, let’s sell our existing Shanghai resources to Nuomi.”

Cui Yiting raised her eyebrows: “You mean, let Nuomi tie up Lashou in Shanghai?”

“Nuomi entered the race in April, they didn’t participate in the first round, their funding is still quite substantial. If we let them continue to develop in Shanghai, we might not be able to hold onto our current market before we get funded.”

Ye Ziqing paused before continuing: “Lashou may have poached our team, but they can’t dig away the merchant resources. Nuomi won’t pass up this opportunity.”

Zhou Zhenhao took a deep breath: “I disagree, that’s like nurturing your own enemy.”

“We have no other choice, either sit and wait for death or take a risky move; pick one.”

“…”

Cui Yiting didn’t ponder long before raising her hand: “I agree with Ziqing’s idea, attract Nuomi to Shanghai to preserve the Shanghai market.”

Suixin Group was established by the three of them, and their shares are more or less equal. Now that Cui Yiting and Ye Ziqing stood together, Zhou Zhenhao had no choice but to agree.

Afterward, the three of them each took on a task.

Ye Ziqing went to tap her family’s channels for public financing, Cui Yiting went to negotiate terms with Nuomi’s person in charge, and Zhou Zhenhao continued to hold the fort in the Shanghai market, firmly not losing another brick or tile.

As long as the three of them successfully complete their tasks and secure key nodes, then it would be Lashou’s turn to worry.

Meanwhile, what was Lashou doing? Obviously, they were throwing a celebratory banquet for this great victory, drinking merrily and getting utterly dizzy.

Just then, Luo Ping, manager of Lashou’s Kyoto market, suddenly received feedback from a front-line representative saying their people near the university town in Kyoto got beaten up and were now at the police station.

“Who did this?”

“Another group buying site called ‘Pintuan.'”

Luo Ping frowned: “Pintuan? Who are they, I’ve never heard of them.”

The representative’s voice came from the receiver: “Seems like they’re aiming to capture the university town market, and they’re quite sneaky, already got all the nearby merchants signed up.”

“Probably just some small fry trying to fish in troubled waters. They don’t have much money, only fists to clear the way. Such low tactics.”

“Mr. Luo, what should we do? Report to headquarters?”

Luo Ping smiled slightly after a moment of silence: “Let them be. What can a university town amount to? We at Lashou are currently at our peak; we’ll eventually unify the national market and can just annex them later — it’ll save some effort.”

The representative nodded: “Okay, Mr. Luo, I understand.”

After hanging up, Luo Ping put on a brilliant smile, walked to the center of the banquet hall, and engaged in lively discussions with other managers.

One of them, Kang Jingtao, was the general manager of Lashou’s Shanghai subdivision and the very person who facilitated Xu Wanshi’s defection, taking a big bite out of Suixin Group — thus, he was the guest of honor at this banquet.

The group chatted and shared their experiences, exchanging grand statements and planning for a bright future.

“Old Kang, that move of yours was brilliant. What’s the use of painstakingly fighting in the market when you can just buy one!”

Kang Jingtao humbly smiled, about to share his thoughts when his phone suddenly started vibrating in his pocket.

He apologized, placed his wine glass on a passing waiter’s tray, and went to a corner to answer the call.

The caller was a market representative from Shanghai, mentioning their people got beaten during a promotion in Shanghai’s university town and needed to compensate.

Kang Jingtao felt baffled after listening: “What the hell, we get beaten and we have to pay?”

“We started the conflict first, and they even had a lawyer, said in court we’d have to pay, not sure if it’s true or not.”

“Why was there a conflict?”

The representative pursed his lips: “Some random shopping site, probably looking to make a quick buck amid our chaos with Suixin Group, sneaking around distributing flyers in the university town.”

Kang Jingtao sighed heavily: “We just got our hands on Shanghai’s market; your most important task is to stabilize the situation. Can’t you not meddle in every darn mess?”

“Understood, Mr. Kang, I got it. So, how should we handle this?”

“Do we need to consult me for these small fries? There are over five hundred group buying sites nationwide, do you need to call me for every single one?”

Having just pulled off a feat like poaching an entire team from a competitor, Kang Jingtao was extremely confident and irritable, scolding the Shanghai market representative into silence.

Meanwhile, Nuomi quickly received a call from Cui Yiting expressing interest in selling all of Shanghai’s merchant resources as a package, collaborating to restrain Lashou.

Hearing this, Nuomi’s responsible person got very interested and set up a meeting with Cui Yiting right away.

They entered the game a bit late and were the weakest among the first-tier players. Although their main battleground was also Shanghai, after much struggle, they had only managed to grab the share of a few university towns in Shanghai.

But damn, university towns are tough to handle. There are thugs around university towns.

Recently, they had been promoting to college students on the ground, but each time they got surrounded by thugs and cursed out — this had been the seventh time this week.

As per the investigation, the thugs who came to curse them daily were from a small shopping site from a second-tier city also trying to break into the university town market.

Relying on their large size, Nuomi hadn’t taken them seriously at first. While management wasn’t concerned, the promoters couldn’t handle it — who wants their ancestors disparaged every day?

Here’s what you dread the most in business: not competition or scheming, but dealing with pesky low-level thugs who also understand the law.

Moreover, although the sum of Shanghai’s university towns isn’t small, they’re too dispersed from each other. Nuomi considered this its market entry point, but was somewhat disdainful in plain and dark terms.

Look at Lashou, with Kyoto as its main hub and now gaining Shanghai. Suixin Group, though weak, still occupied most of the Shanghai market. And let’s talk about WoWo, currently focusing on Yu Cheng and its surroundings.

What about us? Do we only have a single Shanghai university town? What the hell is this?

So when Cui Yiting was willing to hand over the Shanghai resources, Nuomi Network was thrilled right away.

With the merchant resources of Shanghai and their sufficient funds, swallowing up LaShou’s territory would really be easy, who would care about University Town then, especially the one where they get cursed at every day.

No more, gather all forces, march south, and conquer!

Meanwhile, at the moment Nuomi Network and Suixin Group reached a preliminary cooperation intent, a marketing representative from Pintuan Shanghai rushed into the office.

“Qing Sister.”

“Call me Queen.”

“Oh, Queen, the guys from team four said the field team from Nuomi Network seemed to have knocked off early today.”

Tan Qing looked up: “Really?”

The marketing representative nodded: “Really, the tents have already been taken down.”

“Looks like the boss was right after all…”

Taking a deep breath, Tan Qing grasped her mouse and opened the email she received this morning to review it again.

Lashou Network winning big, likely to get arrogant.

Suixin Group’s only chance is a desperate move to swap resources for time.

Nuomi has been long disadvantaged, seeing an opportunity in moving south to Shanghai to establish a stronghold.

Pintuan, be prepared, if everything goes as expected, wait for the right moment and clear the field.