Chapter 428: I Can’t Understand This Move

“What’s wrong, Yiting?”

Seeing Cui Yiting’s blank stare, Ye Ziqing couldn’t help but ask.

Cui Yiting snapped back to reality and swallowed, “Group-buy… has officially entered the Shanghai market.”

“What?”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhenhao and Ye Ziqing were both stunned, and it took them a while to grasp the meaning. Their eyes widened just like Cui Yiting’s.

They had just been discussing Jiang Qin’s ideas and group-buy’s promotional strategies, believing they had fully understood Jiang Qin’s layout.

He wasn’t targeting the tier-one markets, indicating he had no plans for financing and thus wouldn’t pursue further.

On this basis, he kept sinking down, using other websites’ competition gap in tier-one cities to first seize the lower-tier markets—simply waiting to sell at peak value.

In fact, ever since group-buy entered the radar of major group-buying sites through lower-tier markets, that was everyone’s assumption.

Some had even made offers, just waiting for group-buy to nod and they would transfer the money to take over.

But no one expected group-buy to suddenly establish itself in Shanghai.

It made no sense.

Because if he really planned to sell, he wouldn’t continue investing funds at this point.

Since he did, it implied he had no intention of selling group-buy and wanted to keep going.

“Impossible. Are you sure you saw it right?”

“Their ads are already airing in Shanghai—on TV stations, bus stops, elevators, subways—all group-buy.”

Cui Yiting passed her phone over, displaying an email from a Shanghai market specialist.

It showed group-buy’s posters, brochures, and a video ad.

After hitting play, the slogan for group-buy, “Shop with ease, save more money,” popped up, and their poster claimed to be the first group-buying site in the country.

At this point, Zhou Zhenhao and Ye Ziqing were baffled.

Jiang Qin’s actions had overturned everyone’s predictions.

Now, Shanghai had two major websites, Lashou Network and Nuomi Network. For group-buy to publicly enter Shanghai meant facing these giants head-on.

This was the third time.

At the beginning of the year, he declared he’d never leave Linchuan. By year’s end, he suddenly took over the university town’s business using Zhihu’s channels. And at year’s close, he announced entering the national market.

Honestly, Jiang Qin’s every move was beyond everyone’s expectations, wildly deviating from the usual business route.

Looking back, everyone realized he truly understood the rules of group-buying.

While others competed in tier-one cities, he effortlessly took the university town’s market.

While everyone focused on tier-one cities, he silently targeted lower tiers and captured those markets.

These two moves alone elevated group-buy’s value to a peak. Selling now would make a fortune.

Yet, these steps were completely dependent on using overlooked opportunities, which is why he could steadily progress.

But what courage and right did he have to compete directly with sites like Lashou and Nuomi in tier-one cities?

“Has Jiang Qin gone mad? How much money does he have to daringly enter and contest in the fourth round?”

“I just can’t understand what he’s planning…”

“Greed can blind people. I think he’s not thinking clearly.”

After intense discussions, Cui Yiting flipped her phone open and called the airline to reschedule her flight.

She was now the marketing manager of the Shanghai division. Facing market competition, no matter who it was, she had to return. That was her duty.

Meanwhile, in the Tianjin division, Song Yaqian also saw the group-buy advertisement and was dumbfounded for a long time.

Previously, there had been talks about selling the site, and many had gradually sold theirs. Only Jiang Qin kept saying he was a bit greedy and wanted to expand further.

But no one expected group-buy to now enter Shanghai and pose direct competition with the group-buying giants.

At this moment, the entrepreneurial group of university students was in chaos, as many noticed this news. Compared to Ye Ziqing and the others, these people found it even more unbelievable.

“President Jiang is doing group-buying in Shanghai?”

“Isn’t Shanghai the turf of Lashou Network and Nuomi Group? He’s challenging both?”

“Is this a joke?”

“It’s no joke. I’ve been in Shanghai on a business trip recently and saw group-buy advertisements everywhere, including subway stations.”

“Jiang Qin, don’t you want to sell anymore? Want to continue?”

The last question was from Song Yaqian. Her HiBuy Group had sold a hundred and thirty, and she was flush with funds, waiting for group-buy to sell so she could leverage Jiang Qin’s network to start afresh.

But after this question, Jiang Qin didn’t reply immediately.

Since arriving in Shanghai, their focus was pushing forward business, starting with Yangpu University Town and moving towards the city center, holding meetings, and analyzing directions until the fourth evening when he finally showed up in the group chat.

“It was FOR sale, but after asking around, no one bought it. Pissed me off. They underestimate me? I’ll just make it bigger and stronger and buy them out. Life changes, don’t look down on the youth!”

Song Yaqian: “…”

Zhang Wenchao: “…”

Guo Feng: “…”

At that moment, everyone in the chat had one thought: Are you joking? Has he lost his mind?

But subsequently, the development of events far exceeded everyone’s expectations.

By the end of November, group-buy quietly signed contracts with over a hundred merchants starting from Yangpu University Town, using advertising channels to attract users and establish a brand image.

While making a name, Jiang Qin had Sun Zhi lead teams, using the university town as the core area, radiating outwards with an initial goal to expand business five kilometers out, heading towards the city center.

Additionally, the local teams in Shanghai started from their respective university towns and began radiating outward.

In just five days, about a quarter of the merchants in the northeast area were signed, the speed astonishingly fast.

Honestly, the current scope of group-buy isn’t large, even compared to Suixin Group before its acquisition, group-buy’s scope wasn’t a match.

But the key issue—they did this in just five days. The effect achieved in such a short time staggered all who were watching group-buy’s moves.

Lashou Network, a behemoth in the group-buying market, typically wouldn’t consider such volume a competitor, but this time, they were somewhat unsettled.

Why?

Because it was too fast.

Ignoring whether its size was big or small, they only knew this site named group-buy was setting record speeds.

Meanwhile, they still had a lot of things unclear.

Based on investigations, group-buy primarily operated in second and third-tier markets, likely having staff there. In Shanghai, they supposedly only had a small, roughly fifteen-member team from university towns—so where did this promotional team come from?

To achieve such signing efficiency, these people couldn’t possibly be newly recruited. They must be veterans among the elite to be so swift.

Moreover, Cui Yiting had someone check—group-buy hadn’t publicly recruited in Shanghai; otherwise, they would have been prepared.

Yet such a large and efficient promotional team had emerged quietly, almost like a wish granted by a magic lamp.

Bear in mind, Lashou Network had the most aggressive advertising, Nuomi Network had the flashiest activities, Suixin Group had the largest team.

Even with all of Suixin Group’s teams combined, they’d struggle to match this efficiency.

On December 5th, Lashou Network’s Shanghai division called a meeting. The current head, Robin, was Luo Ping’s younger brother.

He just couldn’t understand where group-buy’s promotional team had sprung from, outshining Lashou’s elite team—wasn’t that breaking the rules?

“Recently, feedback from lower-tier markets reported that group-buy’s sub-station staff had noticeably decreased last month.”

“You mean those people were transferred from sub-stations?”

“That’s my guess.”

“Impossible, absolutely impossible. Teams from other regions coming to Shanghai to operate would need a month just to get acquainted with the environment. They can’t be this adept just after arriving—that’s nonsense.”

“Maybe those who came from other regions aren’t necessarily from other regional teams?”

“What do you mean?”

“This is a photo our market specialist took—these three individuals, and those two, were identified by our staff members to have earlier appeared in Xijing. The leader was even on ‘Kung Fu Star’.”

“And then?”

“Group-buy’s operations started in April. They were doing both tier-one university towns and lower-tier markets simultaneously. Over this half-year, I believe their staff were rotating, each one having visited at least three cities, each for over a month.”

Lashou’s promotional director held two photos, sharing his speculations without omission.

Just then, Cui Yiting suddenly remembered something and her mouth fell open slightly, “Group-buy’s CEO is Jiang Qin, and the hottest Zhihu belongs to him. As far as I know, nearly two hundred of their promotional team members have operated Zhihu promotions simultaneously in Shanghai.”

“So, does that mean their team is more familiar with the environment than ours? Even their signing capabilities are stronger?”

“Yes, and… Zhihu had long-term advertising partnerships with merchants near university towns. They are practically old friends with these merchants.”

Cui Yiting had heard this from conversations with Ye Ziqing, not paying much attention at the time.

But thinking about it now, if Jiang Qin was preparing for group-buy’s Shanghai station during his Zhihu promotion, that was terrifying.

When did Zhihu go national? Around September 2009, perhaps even earlier, when group-buy’s operations had barely begun in Linchuan.

Reversely calculating, he might have been planning this since 2009 for the end of 2010, which is simply astounding.

In fact, Cui Yiting’s guess was spot on.

This team that suddenly appeared in Shanghai really gained experience of the surrounding business environment through the prior Zhihu promotions. That’s why the first thing Jiang Qin did at the year’s start was sign official employment contracts with them.

Advertising is indeed a powerful marketing method. But in the group-buying industry, ensuring high efficiency depends enormously on the ground team’s experience.

I’d say going door-to-door is certainly more effective than flashing on the TV for a few seconds.