Chapter 479: Daily Specials

The launch of the group-buy’s map service caught the industry by surprise, leaving a sense of panic and helplessness.

While they focused online, holding meetings to analyze the impact of this new update, the offline scene was buzzing even more.

At dusk, a splendid sunset filled the sky. As office worker Xiaochen returned home, he noticed many new golden stars on the map indicating welfare stations, one of which was near his community.

These were booths set up by the group-buying team that morning, with a large, eye-catching logo.

“I’m Big Bear, your new group-buy leader for our community.”

“I’ll notify you of major internal discounts through the group-buying app first, and we offer home delivery services with the pickup point right here.”

Li Minghui handed over eggs and fruits to Xiaochen and invited him to leave his account details.

Clutching his goods, Xiaochen looked around and saw that the crowd was mostly elderly men and women from his complex, inquiring how to get the eggs.

The two patiently explained over and again, their faces wearing exceedingly friendly smiles.

“Auntie, get your son to check if you have any group-buy orders, old ones count too.”

“And it’s not just today; we’ll have promotions daily. I’m in charge of this area, and my name is Big Bear.”

“Ask your daughter to teach you how to use this; there are daily specials on eggs, fruits, and vegetables cheaper than other places.”

“Wondering where I’m from? I’m right here in this community.”

After overhearing a few words, Xiaochen returned home with the eggs and fruits and discovered he had joined a group-buying chat group.

The group already had about a hundred people, one ID being Big Bear, the leader, who posted a message titled ‘Daily Specials.’

The post included eggs, meats, grains, oils, and various household items listed at the original prices, then crossed out, followed by nearly half the price.

Each item listing had a yellow plus sign; a single tap added the item to a shopping cart.

“Special pre-order deal, family, hop on!”

“The pickup point is the convenience store downstairs, and I’m your local group-buy leader, Big Bear!”

“Our special products are direct from suppliers, skipping middlemen costs, but the quality is guaranteed, with a triple refund for any fakes!”

“Also, with the recent weather changes, remember to dress warmly, everyone. Don’t catch a cold.”

Xiaochen watched the screen for a while, then turned towards the door, “Mom, come here a minute!”

Chen’s mom came over, dragging her mop, “What’s up?”

“Are these things really that cheap?”

“Wow, this is much cheaper than the supermarket, really?”

“Not sure, I’ll buy just a little to try first, have it delivered to the community gate.”

Talking this over, Xiaochen added some grains, oils, and toilet paper to his cart, chose a delivery time, and paid via PC.

Since the rise of group-buying websites, his U-shield seemed permanently soldered to his main computer unit, only needing a password to complete transactions.

But…

Big Bear was just downstairs handing out eggs, surrounded by dozens of elderly folk, with neither computer nor phone in sight. How was he posting discounts to the group?

Lying in bed, Xiaochen felt the times were indeed changing; many things were becoming magically convenient.

The nation was progressing, technology evolving, and the world was getting better.

Meanwhile, at the group-buy’s local branch, operator Xiao Jiu was using friendly IDs like Big Bear, Orange, and Steamed Bun to push generated discount lists with a single click to various regional groups.

Rapid responses to the orders started coming in, and the rate of increase was astounding.

“Tomorrow night at eight, we have a special on red wine. Uncles and aunties who love wine, come grab your specials!”

“Oh, by the way, we’ll still be distributing eggs at the same place tomorrow. If you’ve pre-ordered today, remember to come pick up your extra share!”

“Lastly, posting the weather forecast for the next two days—everyone, remember to layer up.”

After sending these messages, Xiao Jiu stretched, an involuntary smile curling his lips. The more he was called ‘family,’ the more he felt he had a home here in Shanghai. Truly amazing.

Just then, Li Minghui and his colleagues returned to their station meeting the earlier-arrived colleagues.

“How did it go? All good?”

“Heard that the products listed under ‘Daily Specials’ sold out completely today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, just now heard that Ye, our manager, was scrambling for suppliers to restock.”

Indeed, inventory from chain supermarkets under contract with the group-buying service was booked solid, everyone eagerly seeking larger supply sources.

Li Minghui stripped off his yellow vest, “I feel like we’re changing the world.”

“It’s the boss changing the world.”

“Eh, well, we are helping the boss change the world.”

Li Minghui poured himself some tea, took out a pack of roasted chestnuts from his pocket, and stretched towards the setting sun.

During this time, the number of orders kept increasing, community by community, being processed in the backend.

Gaode’s GIS service provided mapping guidance, but it lacked GPS positioning, a task complicated by not yet widespread smartphone adoption, making food delivery laborious.

Without being able to locate delivery personnel or provide them with precise door-to-door routing, real-time delivery was impossible.

Achieving real-time would require at least another year from a hardware perspective.

While food delivery posed challenges, community group-buying was proving straightforward.

This mirrored Jiang Qin’s earlier group-buying ventures in Linchuan University City: forming orders through pre-purchases, assigning inventory to partner businesses for delivery, and organizing time-slot-based distribution.

Pickup points were selected from several convenience store brands in the Linchuan Business Group and a few deeply cooperative brands.

Thus, the daily active users for the group-buying service were reasonably ensured, appealing not just to internet-savvy youths but also to elderly customers.

Also, pickup and distribution traffic could lead back to commerce circles established by Xihan and Qing, a strategy known as ecological layout.

By using map services to enhance the group-buying in-store experience, and community group-buying to massively increase online retail orders.

Their delivery was faster than e-commerce, ensuring freshness with three possible deliveries a day, clearly showcasing its advantages.

This scheme had been in play for three years in Linchuan University Town, merely transitioning from dormitories to residential areas, swapping yellow caps for yellow vests, both figuratively and literally. It effortlessly replicated its success in Shanghai.

This was Jiang Qin’s business strategy: small-scale tests followed by large-scale rollouts.

“Next, we should purchase a few more warehouses, partly for the ‘Daily Specials’ project and partly to further develop the group-buying select brand.”

“Keep pushing on the ground; it should continue for a week, shifting from daily to weekly, and after a month, we should have covered all potential customers.”

“Also, we need to keep searching for better supply channels, cutting costs at the source to benefit our consumers.”

On the first day ‘Daily Specials’ went live, the situation was promising. Jiang Qin held a meeting at the branch to assign upcoming key tasks.

As Tan Qing took notes, she suddenly checked the time on her phone: “Boss, the Dianping coupon flash sale is starting.”

“Meeting adjourned, quickly, grab those coupons!”

As if on cue, everyone at the meeting sprinted out, logged into Dianping, and dived into the flash sale.

Instantly, the atmosphere in the division turned intensely tense and somber.

Dianping was releasing many half-price vouchers for fixed stores, but the universal half-price ones were harder to snag. While store-specific vouchers might be subsidies by merchants looking to boost sales, the costs of universal vouchers were borne entirely by Dianping, thus they were rarer.

Lately, this had been their routine whenever it was time for these flash sales.

“Boss, I got one!” Ye Ziqing suddenly exclaimed.

Tan Qing also held up her phone, “I got one too!”

Jiang Qin, looking at the ‘Thank you for participating’ on his screen, chuckled bitterly, thinking about his bad luck, “Gather all the coupon codes. Tomorrow, let the guys with the trucks head to Dianping’s partnered supermarkets to stock up—remember, big trucks.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The few of us here, and we’re grabbing so few coupons. Call headquarters and the customer service center, have them join in during their free time to help us reduce costs.”

Sipping his tea, Jiang Qin nonchalantly remarked, “We’re not philanthropists; we’re just carrying the load for fellow businesses.”

Next morning, the weather was clear with not a cloud in sight.

The truck drivers took down the banner reading ‘Group-buying makes life better’ from their trucks and drove to a Dianping partnered supermarket, nearly clearing out the stocks of fruits and eggs.

Soon, these Dianping-subsidized fresh fruits and eggs were delivered to various group-buying stations, kickstarting a new round of street promotions.

The truck drivers were also busy as they headed back, following map indications to collect orders from partnering merchants, delivering them to various pickup stations according to group-buying orders.

Community group-buying tended to spread by word of mouth, like when Aunt Wang invited Liu Grandma to buy vegetables. Liu Grandma would chuckle, “No need to go to the market, son has started ordering veggies online, cheaper and more convenient!” And thus, a small spark could soon become a blazing fire…