Chapter 472: Talent Poaching War

Jiang Qin and Feng Nanshu’s friendship is heating up so fast; they no longer need sweet potatoes as a cover. The tug-of-war in the group-buying market is intensifying, with no regard for so-called morals anymore.

After mid-February, during the weather’s whimsical warm and cold spells, Dianping sent two business teams to Tianjin and Xijing without setting up branches, simply to share drinks with the team from Lashou Network.

Nuomi also sent its top talents to pamper the regional managers of WoWo Group with foot spa and karaoke sessions.

Nuomi’s strategy revolves around making Shanghai its core area and aggressively moving into the southern market, where WoWo Group has been the leader. Targeting them wasn’t a surprise to anyone.

Geng Manager from WoWo Group later recalled those times, mentioning he was so nervous, he couldn’t even pee straight; his shoes often ended up wet.

Meanwhile, the mass resignation at 24Coupon’s Jiangcheng marketing department has also come to a conclusion.

What was the outcome?

Their multimillion-dollar nurtured market in Jiangcheng all went to Lashou, and the new team sent to control the situation did nothing but witness that brilliant dusk.

How brilliant?

That day, the streets were flooded with Lashou’s flyers offering a 50% discount for new users—consumer loyalty shifted faster than lightning.

It was only then that the group-buying market truly entered a full-scale commercial battle, inherently devoid of morality.

Take Lashou, for example, during last year’s group-buying industry conference, their boss Daniel Wu repeatedly spoke about guiding healthy industry development and cooperating with peers to benefit merchants and consumers. But then, they sneakily poached a tower from a competitor.

Embarrassed? No, because all is fair in war.

Moreover, making money isn’t shameful.

Of course, Pintuan couldn’t remain unaffected in this whirlpool of talent wars.

From the sixth day of the month to when Jiang Qin resumed school, the Ice Queen Tan Qing received around fifteen invitations, with some people even waiting outside her apartment.

“Boss, I can’t handle this anymore!”

“What’s the matter?”

“This manager they sent, I don’t know where they found such a handsome guy, exactly like Jang Geun-suk—he’s near explodable, just slightly less so than you. I can resist money, but not a handsome face!”

In the past two years, a popular Korean drama called “You’re Beautiful,” starred by Jang Geun-suk, has gained significant fame across Asia, changing public aesthetic standards.

Tan Qing sounded insanely infatuated, you could hear it over the phone.

“Tsk, barely less handsome and he dares to be called good-looking.”

“True, but if they send someone even more handsome than you next time, I definitely won’t stand a chance!”

“Oh? No worries, no one’s more handsome than me.”

Tan Qing laughed for a long while over the phone, then hung up and dove into her blankets to binge dramas.

She had followed Jiang Qin out of school, and she blindly trusted him believing they would ultimately be the victors. Jumping ship to a rival company, only fools do that.

Meanwhile, Jiang Qin drove to Pintuan headquarters and called Xu Kaixuan in Shanghai.

“Hey Xu, has anyone tried to poach you?”

“Huh? No.”

“Damn, you’re this handsome and not targeted means you need to work harder!”

Hanging up, Jiang Qin stepped into the office building. By then, Su Nai, Wei Lanlan, Dong Wenhao, and Lu Feiyu were already in the meeting room.

After the New Year, everyone seemed to have gained weight. Su Nai already had a round face, and now it was even rounder, but Dong Wenhao’s chin was noticeably plumper.

“How was the New Year? Look at Wenhao, at least two areas looking handsomer. Seems like wealth indeed nourishes people.”

“Boss, which two areas exactly? Do elaborate.”

“Firstly, the chin.”

Jiang Qin’s gaze appraised him, “The second is still the chin.”

Lu Feiyu finally realized, “Holy moly, Dong, you’re even sporting a double chin now?”

“Ate too well…”

Jiang Qin clapped his hands, “Let’s postpone the double chin discussion, report your work first. Nuclear bomb, you start.”

Hearing this, the room hesitated for a second before focusing on Su Nai.

“Boss, I don’t want this nickname, sounds too fat!”

“But you are indeed a ‘nuclear bomb’. I was busy dealing with work at home, what did you teach my wife? You know what I mean.”

Su Nai adjusted his glasses, thinking he just taught the boss’s lady how to wear a short skirt and black stockings to tempt him. Looks like the dog boss was quite enticed, really fired up.

“Fine, ‘nuclear bomb’ it is,” Su Nai muttered.

“How’s the app’s progress?”

“Both Zhihu and Pintuan apps are ready.”

Jiang Qin turned to Wei Lanlan, “As planned previously, contact the phone factories, spend some money to subsidize them, and make our app a pre-installed feature.”

Wei Lanlan nodded, “Understood.”

“Nanako, continue.”

“The tech department currently has three tasks: optimizing the newly independent Tonight’s Headlines website, their app development, and some routine updates for Pintuan and Zhihu.”

Jiang Qin looked at Lu Feiyu, “The company’s main focus is to keep up with the Pintuan project, and Tonight’s Headlines is all yours now. You can start hiring openly for your department.”

Lu Feiyu puffed up, “No problem, boss!”

“Zhihu isn’t too busy right now, Wenhao can give you a hand, Feiyu.”

“Understood, boss.”

Jiang Qin turned to Su Nai, “We can integrate GIS services now; complete internal testing by the end of March, and go live in April.”

Su Nai nodded, “Got it.”

Jiang Qin stretched lazily, “Okay, now we can talk about double chins…”

In March, the group-buying market was in utter chaos, the talent poaching wars had reached their pinnacle.

The rootabies manager of the WoWo Group hadn’t been poached, but he immediately poached back the Nuomi team in Hongcheng almost strangling their southern layout.

At the same time, Dianping poached a high-level executive from Lashou, although it didn’t cause any substantial impact, the grudge slowly built up.

The group-buying market was in disarray again because the stakes had gotten bigger, this turmoil was far greater than the early unruly growth phase.

Some wondered, is it that easy to poach? Don’t these people have any loyalty to their companies?

Sorry, that’s a lower-employee mindset. For the executives, constantly jumping ship actually boosts their market value. Offered a salary of three hundred thousand at one, they’d dare ask for four hundred thousand at the next.

Everyone knows this war will end someday, maybe even tomorrow. If you don’t jump now, will you wait until no one’s making offers?

Think back to last March when Suixin Group settled in Shanghai, and within half a year, the number of group-buying sites peaked at three thousand.

Then those that were to close did, and those to be acquired were. Six months later, only a dozen remain. The rapid iteration of internet commerce doesn’t allow for hesitation. If you don’t jump ship, you miss out when finally, only one dominates.

Throughout this, Pintuan remained aloof, snacking and enjoying the show.

Like when Jiang Qin stayed holed up in Linchuan during the cash-burning wars, or hiding in the university town during merchant battles.

The Shanghai team was Jiang Qin’s loyal force, not just faithful to Pintuan but almost superstitiously so. Their market share in secondary cities, driven by Xihan Heqing, wasn’t high enough to give competitors a chance.

The key point was, as Lashou’s boss once mocked, Pintuan didn’t even have its own business district; poaching from them might inadvertently benefit others.

Thus, Pintuan drifted further from the core of the war.

By then, Ye Ziqing at the Shanghai station was lost in thought.

They had been deep in the vortex when working on Suixin Group, forced to spend as others did, and engage as others did.

Only now did she realize what Jiang Qin must have felt back then.

Laying low and watching was unexpectedly thrilling. Damn, it was like having a divine viewpoint, knowing where the joy was.

Moreover, Ye Ziqing found that being on the periphery of the war allowed her to see things more clearly.

Poaching was indeed a fitting tactic, as it not only snatched teams but inadvertently low-cost markets, much cheaper than cultivating your own teams and user base.

It strengthened oneself and oppressed the opposition—an incredibly tempting prospect. However, when the poaching wars peaked, everything changed.

Initially, only Lashou had no shame, but now everyone was poaching from each other, back and forth, yet no one gained the upper hand.

Who really benefited? Those high-level managers, fickle as weathercocks.

Once started, some things just can’t stop because if you don’t poach, I will, and you’d inevitably perish first.

No wonder after the Lunar New Year festivities, Jiang Qin halted Shanghai station’s offensive, giving Lashou and Nuomi a breather.

Despite the market shares of the three, the situation in Shanghai still appeared tripartite, allowing a tactical avoidance of conflict.

Ye Ziqing turned her head, eyeing the spiritedly inked character “Lay Low” on the east wall.

Mid-March, and the talent poaching wars persisted while the people at Room 208 completed two tasks.

One involved integrating the GIS services following internal testing, and the other in promoting Tonight’s Headlines in the university town.

Among Jiang Qin’s ventures, Zhihu was the weakest, with limited advertising spaces, poor monetization, exorbitant server, upkeep costs, and human resources expenses—barely breaking even.

For such a website, the only way out seemed to be going public to raise funds.

Yet, it’s undeniable that Zhihu, as a nationwide campus forum used by university students, had formidable traffic attraction capabilities.

If not for Zhihu establishing a traffic pool first, locking down the entire university student demographic, Pintuan’s trial in Linchuan wouldn’t have sailed so smoothly.

This time, Tonight’s Headlines leveraged Zhihu’s channels, making the promotion work incredibly smooth.

Pintuan, a group-buying site, and Zhihu, which prioritized content sharing, had their differences in traffic acquisition, but Tonight’s Headlines, originally a segment of Zhihu, faced virtually no barriers with its content-first approach.

“This site… is quite interesting.”

“The same news, yet it presents so many different viewpoints, huh?”