Chapter 433: Oops, We’re in a High-End Game Now!

This weekend, a warmer day graced Shanghai, and promotional posters for group-buying were plastered on designated stores across various business districts.

Besides, they distributed no-smoking signs bearing the group-buy logo, restroom direction signs, and caution wet floor signs to street merchants and shopping malls, also handing out tissue packs with group-buy ads in the malls.

This detailed advertising strategy, used since the Zhihu era, has gradually brought group-buying into more people’s awareness in a subtle way.

Meanwhile, competitors are distressed as more shops are temporarily closing.

“What’s the deal with these sudden store closures?”

“They say the recent surge in group-buy orders is more than they can handle, so they’ve had to cut back on getting orders.”

“So they shut down our channels? How does that make sense?”

Shocked, Geng Yong, the marketing manager at LaShou’s Shanghai branch, spent the morning cursing, with employees too scared to even lift their heads amidst deep-rooted national quintessences echoing through the office.

As stores close, the primary responsibility falls on the marketing manager, and Geng Yong is already sweating profusely.

The group-buy war kicked off at the beginning of the year, with Suixin Group firing the first shot with overwhelming advertising.

The most significant drain in the past two rounds of conflict was indeed the advertising wars.

Back then, grassroots promotions were insignificant in the eyes of group-buy websites, as they found these methods too slow—all sites relied on a variety of advertising to attract merchants and users.

Because it was all about burning cash to gain speed, who would bother going door-to-door?

It turned out, splurging on ads was indeed faster than grassroots promotions.

Many websites harvested market shares through advertising; at times, merchants lined up from the entrance to the next intersection just to register for a spot.

Even going so far to outpace competitors, many staff members acted privately, allowing merchants to set up first and formalize agreements later.

Not to mention forgery and proxy-signing were rampant—it’s like: there’s policy above, and tricks below.

This approach proved to be swift indeed, earning LaShou a reputation for rapid attacks.

But the quality of merchants signed up this way was mixed.

Some were speculators who opened shops just to grab the registration fees, tasting sweet success in this mad rush.

After Kang Jingtao took over the Shanghai market, he was immediately called back to Kyoto for a promotion, leaving the Robin team spending much time stabilizing the situation.

Hence, they didn’t thoroughly research the ROI on channels, sales volume of merchants, including customer sources and consumer types.

Initially, they saw no issues with this approach.

The entire market was theirs with no fierce competition—who would bother looking for problems?

But as group-buy kept adding store after store, Geng Yong realized through their activities list that these stores were all in the same district, even forming a traffic monopoly across the whole business circle.

You think it’s just one merchant’s order volume that’s missing?

No, it’s a domino effect.

Missing one bubble tea shop even affects the neighboring dog food store, and now LaShou is suffering from this pain.

“Manager?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Mr. Luo wants you on the third floor for a meeting; the other managers are already there.”

“Got it, go ahead.”

The secretary at the door, wearing high heels, looks timid and cautious.

Recently, the frequency of managers losing their temper has clearly increased, making secretarial work challenging.

Geng Yong pushes his chair back, grabs his suit jacket, and steps out of his office into the meeting room.

The meeting room is now full, and a contract’s photocopy is displayed on the projector, with more copies of the same contract on the conference table.

Robin sits sideways, hand on the table, his expression obscure.

“Mr. Luo, I’m here.”

“Take a seat, Geng. Have a look at the contract in front of you; we’ll have a focused discussion shortly.”

Geng Yong sits down, picks up the contract, and his eyes widen in astonishment as he reads.

Suddenly at the Food Festival, a surge of franchise brands appeared, and it was Cui Yiting who later revealed how group-buy achieved it.

Now, some top merchants suddenly leaned towards group-buy, closing shops, taking breaks—and this contract holds the answer.

“This contract was obtained by Manager Wu from a friend’s store, now we finally understand why these merchants suddenly offer services exclusively online through group-buy.”

“Early on, they began scouting for the busiest, most reputable merchants in various business districts.”

“Back then, the market was Suixin Group’s, but group-buy secretly signed a sort of gamble-like cooperative agreement with these merchants, also seen as a covert exclusive agreement.”

“They offered a chosen few merchants ten thousand yuan, promising to spread their business across Shanghai in six months. If they couldn’t, they wouldn’t take back the money, considering it a gift.”

“Hey, tell me, if you were a merchant, would you agree? A fifty-fifty chance to get ten thousand yuan for free.”

Hearing Robin’s words, all the managers in the room fall silent.

This amount is not too big or small, but involving a free gift truly hits a chord with human greed.

“Of course, if the spread fails, it’s a gift. But if it succeeds, then the contract officially kicks in, and the signed merchants need to prioritize group-buy’s orders.”

“Now their activity has begun, and the contract is in effect; group-buy’s online order volume has surged, and all signed merchants have abandoned orders from LaShou.”

“Look at this contract’s signing date, May of this year. At that time, group-buy had just started consuming the university town market in Shanghai, and their business wasn’t even stable—they had planted such deep foresight.”

“What about us then? We didn’t even have a market strategy for Shanghai.”

“So, group-buy never considered us as competitors. They just pushed through, clearly ready to crush anyone in their path.”

Feeling this statement sinks everyone into a chilling sensation, as if a cold sweeps up from their spine to their head.

When group-buy announced their entry into Shanghai, the sudden appearance of their aggressive grassroots team took everyone by surprise. Some guessed that Jiang Qin had been training this team for half a year, aiming to counteract everyone’s move to lower-tier markets.

Back then, no one believed it.

How could he see from the beginning to the end of the year? How could he plant such deep foreshadows?

But when this contract was exposed, some things had to be acknowledged.

While everyone else was busy competing and sniping at each other, a sneaky website continuously stole the show, taking bombs and both jokers into their fold.

If the group-buy war was still a primitive burn money battle before December, then group-buy’s series of moves in Shanghai transformed it into a high-end game.

But upon entering the high-end game, LaShou found they not only lacked the cards but also the money.

“Are we still doing the event?”

“It’s no use now; group-buy can’t be stopped anymore. Even if we throw out this 1.2 million at once, it would just be pouring water into the sand.”

Listening to the discussions, Robin suddenly waves his hand: “The funds have already been approved. How can we do nothing? What, when we lose the market, do we tell headquarters we did nothing because we felt we couldn’t win?”

Hearing this, the meeting room falls silent again.

Blocking isn’t possible, but if you truly do nothing, it’s even harder to defend yourself when headquarters holds you accountable—such is the rule of the workplace.

But if you attempt and fail, the fault is lesser—this is having no merit but suffering.

“Mr. Luo, I’ve already arranged for a specialist to conduct market research. We can select a batch of high-traffic merchants that haven’t signed a deep cooperation agreement and center an event around them.”

Geng Yong offers his opinion and solution after seeing online merchants gradually go out of business.

After hearing this, Robin nods, “Not a bad idea. When can we get the list?”

“Should be out by the end of work today.”

Robin turns to Cui Yiting, “Manager Cui, the event budget will be in your hands. Follow up quickly with a plan based on the list Manager Geng provides.”

“Understood, Mr. Luo.”

Cui Yiting nods then looks at the photocopy of the “Deep Cooperation Agreement” in her hands, her eyes reflecting complex emotions.

They had originally created Suixin Group, which used to be the largest group-buy market in Shanghai, yet upon facing LaShou, they were utterly defeated.

Yet now, group-buy, not as large as Suixin Group, is forcing LaShou into a series of retreats with almost no resistance—she feels like she’s been tactically outmaneuvered, causing her deep fear of that college student.

By 5 PM, the marketing specialists return and hurriedly compile a list, handing it over to Geng Yong.

Consequently, LaShou’s Shanghai branch finds itself working overtime again for a meeting.

“Group-buy may have captured many popular merchants, but there are still those who don’t buy into their tactics. Here’s the list we’ve compiled; take a look.”

“Meiye KTV, Dadi Cinema, Yunshui Spa, Wagyu Barbecue, Xianhui Beef Brisket Pot… Oh, and Xitian Milk Tea, which has a large customer flow and is currently promoting new products—there’s significant room for maneuver.”

“Most importantly, these brands, which haven’t signed a deep cooperation agreement, are also major traffic harvesters in their respective business districts.”

“This is our opportunity.”

Geng Yong deliberately pauses to emphasize the point.