Chapter 477: Group-Buy’s Major Move

The group-buy website displayed an upgrading notice for a whole day, and during this day it became the brightest star in Shanghai’s market.

Insightful reviews plus substantial real-money subsidies, combined with member plans and additional discounts, quickly led to overwhelming orders for the first batch of stores that joined, people swarmed the entire street.

In this brief period, the group-buy’s business area spread out rapidly. Nuomi was completely overtaken soon after.

Lashou Network was cornered during New Year’s day by the group-buy, yet they narrowly escaped this huge impact.

“What is group-buy doing now?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Well, not exactly nothing. They did take over our laid-off street marketing team.”

“?????”

In the meeting room of Lashou Network, everyone was stunned when Wu Peng reported feedback from the marketing department.

The market is heated up, consumer habits established, merchant information fully transparent. You can grab any young person off the street who might even know more about group buys than some website developers. What’s the point of street marketing then?

Naturally, a similar discussion took place within the group-buy’s internal meeting.

When Chen Jiaxin raised this question she quickly received a similar answer to Lashou’s, then emotionlessly waved her hand to dismiss the meeting.

She has a strong desire to dominate, especially over men who once boasted great power in the business world.

Yet, during this visit to Shanghai, she felt disappointed as the lackluster performance from the competitors made everything too easy, leaving her without any sense of achievement.

Enterprises without aggressiveness are destined not to go far…

She wouldn’t pity her competitors, just finding it all rather dull.

“Zhang Li.”

“Yes…”

Time flew by during the night, and by 6 AM, everything about group-buy had quietly changed.

Dawn was merely breaking, the sky not yet clear, even retaining some darkness. Trucks emerged from the back of Xi Han River Clean, delivering street marketers in yellow vests to specific spots.

Soon after, these trucks rapidly distributed boxes of goods to each street marketing stall.

These stalls, mostly set up near residential areas, caught the attention of many early commuters. Most recognized the yellow vests and group-buy logo, and passed by without much surprise.

Some, in a hurry to work, even quickened their pace fearing they might receive flyers.

But these marketers did nothing to stop people nor distribute anything. They just slowly set up tables and arranged eggs, fruits, rice, flour, grain, oil around them like a throne.

By 7 AM, morning light spread through the city, illuminating streets and alleys as Lashou Network’s work hours began.

Xiao Lin, responsible for monitoring competitors’ websites, leisurely made tea for himself then opened the group-buy website.

It was a daily routine he was extremely proficient in. Maybe in early morning confusion one might misbutton their shirt, but never mess up this almost muscle-memorized process.

“?”

As Xiao Lin leisurely opened the webpage, not having looked closely yet, his pupils suddenly dilated, then he sprayed tea onto his monitor, momentarily stunned.

Seeing this, colleagues responsible for other websites frowned: “What are you looking at this early morning, Tintin’s May?”

“No… Something big happened.”

“?”

“This update from group-buy might be the end of us…”

Robin and the executives arrived past nine since their morning meetings had been canceled since New Year’s Day.

No one could beat the spread anyway; what’s the point of meetings? Better to sleep a bit longer.

Exiting the elevator into the branch lobby, Robin, Wu Peng, Cui Yiting and Song Yaqian were still discussing group-buy and public mass dealings, puzzled, yet more with an attitude of watching a show.

It wasn’t until Xiao Lin blocked them at the door with his laptop blurting out “group-buy is stirring up trouble” that their expressions abruptly changed.

Five minutes later, Xiao Lin was brought into a meeting room, and his laptop linked to the projector.

Just a low-level employee, usually without access to executive meetings, Xiao Lin was nervous. So, gripping the mouse, he opened the entertainment section while mentally organizing his words.

Before he finished, an outbreak of “Holy shit” erupted in the room.

Everyone, executives included, stared at the screen in disbelief, mouths agape wider than that of a chicken’s egg.

They saw each merchant in the group-buy entertainment section tagged with distances: hundreds of meters, thousands of meters, kilometers…

As Xiao Lin moved the mouse selecting ‘Distance Priority’, from the closest to the farthest, all merchants became visible.

“Distance display? How is this possible?!”

“Was this what they upgraded last night?”

“Nonsense…”

Almost instinctively, everyone denied what they were seeing.

The group-buy market has seen thousands of websites since its inception. Why so many? Because the technological barrier is extremely low.

Just build a website, negotiate with merchants, and you could set up a small-scale group-buy site in minutes.

Frankly, this isn’t much different from some group-buy QQ groups, only that the medium has changed from QQ to websites.

Of course, giants like Lashou, Nuomi, and the public took on capital injections and made several tech upgrades such as membership systems, points systems, and lottery systems.

But these were mere rudiments in the internet technology world —cheap and elementary.

Nobody ever thought a group-buy website might one day arrange the nearest shops according to users’ addresses, showing distances. That was akin to a myth.

How did they map it out? How did they calculate distances? What were the costs?

Currently, the best technology in this area is from the public, but their search systems only sort by city selection, sales, discounts, latest, and past purchases; never by distance.

For instance, many who buy coupons for specific shops might have to cross from east to west of the city to use them.

Especially during flash sales, some purchase without even checking the location. After buying the coupon, they find out, “Damn, how much will the taxi cost?”

This leads to many platforms having refund orders due to non-intuitive locations, making it impossible for users to genuinely use the service.

But if group-buy’s recent update is real, it’s a game-changing smackdown. Other sites simply can’t offer this service.

Once consumers experience something convenient and quick, they can never go back, spelling disaster for others.

“Ladies and gentlemen, don’t panic just yet. I… I still have more to say.”

“What now? Is it fake?” Hope flickered in Robin’s heart.

Xiao Lin fell silent, then casually opened one of the shops and clicked on the route guide below it.

Soon, a map with route instructions appeared, astonishingly alongside a transportation guide recommending buses and subway lines…

Seeing this, the room fell silent. But even more eye-catching was the watermark below the map, reading ‘Gao De Maps.’

“What’s Gao De?”

“It’s a map service company with A-grade surveying credentials, famous in the car navigation field. Last year’s World Expo route services were provided by them. But it’s not free and has pricey annual fees which most companies can’t afford.”

“How did group-buy manage…?”

“I’m not sure, but I found a news piece online stating that early last year, this company announced a pivot to enter the internet market.”

Upon hearing this, Robin felt a buzz from his head down to his toes.

Fine, the technology is provided by a professional map service company, but…

What about group-buy’s shop locations? How do they match those with the map? Current car navigation only displays nearby routes and area names, certainly not nearby businesses.

Unless… they required precise address information from merchants at the time of signing, while developing the market and simultaneously matching it with Gao De’s maps.

When did they sign up merchants? Earliest was last April…

Chains from the Food Festival, deeply collaborative popular merchants in business districts, and now an over-a-year-long hidden plot?

The ridiculous thing is, the 그oup-buy industry is only about a year old.

In the meeting room, everyone’s heart raced, unable to recover for a long time.

Robin even harbored a very outrageous idea: group-buy had everything prepared a year ago then waited for capital to mature the market before making their move. No… that’s impossible.

“President Luo, you know what I was just thinking?”

After a while, Wu Peng, looking at a merchant on the screen, broke the silence.

Robin took a deep breath, “Let’s hear it.”

“I never imagined there was a highly rated spa just about five hundred meters from here. You should know I’m not focusing on the spa, although I like spas… You understand, right?”

“…”

As soon as he finished, everyone grasped the underlying message from Wu Peng.

The distance service updated by group-buy, even attracting those who are in the group-buy business, let alone consumers.

Who would have thought that so many merchants around us had not yet been explored? Who would have imagined that just going downstairs during a lunch nap, one could indulge in a quick massage!

“I think we should follow its map and check it out ourselves to see how accurate it is and what threat it poses. We must find out.”

“Makes sense. Xiao Lin, you come too.”

“Yes, President Luo.”

They then left the branch, following group-buy’s provided map, winding all the way to a mixed-use building where they found the spa on the fourth floor.

Glass doors, light curtain drapes…

Frankly, there was a discrepancy in the actual distance versus the map’s marking, but since they could find it following the route instructions, it meant the service was already solid.

Eyes met across the room, and everyone’s expression became awkward.

Group-buy is about moving services online; a well-known statement in the industry. But this time, group-buy pulled the industry straight into the tech field, a big enough leap to chill everyone.

“I need to write a report for the headquarters. This is not just a crisis in Shanghai’s market anymore. We must find a way to catch up…”

Robin’s face darkened, and he turned to exit the building, while Xiao Lin opened his mouth to add something but never got the chance.

He wanted to say that the map service wasn’t all group-buy updated; they also added a group system feature on the homepage’s right side.

But because that group system didn’t have much practical content, Xiao Lin wasn’t sure of its purpose. So, after pondering for a long time, he decided to observe more before reporting.

“President Wu, shall we go?”

“Uh… you guys go ahead. I still have something to do.”

“?????”