Chapter 501: Bullying Men and Dominating Women

In the blink of an eye, June arrived and the blazing summer temperatures began to rise, but the group-buying market remained unusually calm.

This likely stemmed from the group-buying upgrade that initially shocked everyone. Plus, Kang Jingtao’s own moves had severed his roots, causing all websites to hesitate to make sudden moves but instead progressively refine their business within their current domains.

Yet group-buying remained fiercely competitive.

Jiang Qin truly lived up to his word, becoming a master then descending the mountain to bully men and dominate women.

After securing Shanghai and Shanghai, they quickly turned their attention to Guangzhou, now owning thirty percent of the market.

The stronghold at the university town, the martial arts expert street team, the positive image from buying genuine products at Pin Group Selected, combined with a huge base of good reviews from Zhihu users and the launch of GIS services and community group-buying.

The same tactics, the same approach, even if opponents like WoWo Group were prepared, there were elements they couldn’t block.

Besides WoWo Group, Nuomi was also planning its strategy in southern markets without touching Guangzhou, hesitating in second and third-tier cities, planning to restructure their business before entering Guangzhou.

As Pin Group gradually established itself in Guangzhou, the Nuomi boss hesitated and ultimately chose to retreat to the secondary markets to guard his turf.

They feared that Pin Group would suddenly turn around and make a feint, then come back to devour Nuomi’s setups in all the southern secondary cities—that would truly end them.

Baidu is currently building databases for its map app, which upon completion will enhance their GIS services. Thus, rushing in wasn’t wise.

Throughout June, most news related to group-buying invariably mentioned Pin Group.

“Pin Group’s entrance into Guangzhou is fierce, displaying the demeanor of a king.”

“Group-buying market remains hot, Pin Group breaks through to remain at No. 1 in market share!”

“Pin Group Selected among CCTV’s top ten integrity brands, COO Wei Lanlan says: Respect for users is consistent.”

“Pin Group’s valuation has nearly increased a hundredfold, becoming the biggest dark horse in capital markets!”

“From trial to practice, Pin Group conquers half the group-buying market in just six months!”

Pin Group, born in a campus environment and initially too timid to reveal its name or step outside university towns, had only dared to plan expansions into top-tier cities by the end of last year, always viewed as an underdog by first-tier group-buying websites.

It came with many tags of ‘weakness’ but has now shown the demeanor of a major industry demon, creating a killing spree.

However, other websites were unwilling to sit back helplessly and certainly wouldn’t watch as Pin Group monopolized the market, leading to a collaboration between southern market players like Nuomi and WoWo Group.

Meanwhile, sworn enemies Dianping and LaShou began to covertly unite funds to thwart Jiang Qin’s further penetration into Kyoto.

“Dianping’s top reviews are on par with Pin Group’s, effectively countering their moves in both dining and entertainment industries.”

“LaShou can focus on service industries, pooling funds in these areas, making it hard for Pin Group to break us down without making two strategic shifts, which they can’t accomplish quickly.”

“This is the best strategy.”

“Because if they devour the entire markets of Guangzhou and Kyoto, there would be no game left to play.”

Chen Jiaxin stood atop the headquarters of Dianping, her eyes deep as she spoke.

In the time that followed, Dianping and LaShou indeed began to differentiate their business focuses as planned, shifting from opposition to complementarity.

These two websites were not truly weak; this powerful alliance and strategic divergence indeed formed a tight blockade, solidly holding their business territories and effectively hindering Pin Group’s expansion.

Because ultimately, consumers and merchants have different preferences; consumers might stay for convenience and accurate reviews, but merchants follow the adage, ‘Whoever feeds them, commands them.’

Thus, Pin Group’s operations in Kyoto temporarily stagnated.

Mid-June, just before the summer solstice, Wei Lanlan drove a BMW to Linchuan University and delivered a custom-tailored suit to Jiang Qin’s dorm.

The well-fitted black suit highlighted his figure impressively, paired with a gleaming Patek Philippe watch, exuding an air of luxury.

Just as he changed into the suit, a sudden snap from the balcony echoed as the ill-master Cao, pale and sick from last night’s bad meal, emerged from the bathroom. Seeing Jiang Qin dressed sharply in a suit, he immediately held his breath.

Trouble, dressing up, definitely about to show off!

“I can’t see it, I can’t see…”

“I won’t say anything, I won’t say anything…”

Cao Guangyu murmured as he groped back to his bed, pulling the sheet over his head, seeming very much at peace.

Jiang Qin watched Old Cao’s every move, speechless. Damn, you could at least ask me what I’m up to. Is our brotherhood so fragile? You’d rather die than see me?

“I’m heading out, Cao bro?”

“…”

“Cao bro, I’m off to manage a meeting for over fifty city managers, okay with you?”

Cao Guangyu feigned a grunt, “Go and come back soon, I’ll stay out of sight.”

Jiang Qin gave a thumbs-up, shouting “Awesome!”, then headed out to the Long Kai International Hotel.

This was Pin Group’s first meeting for city managers, including leaders from various branches and the headquarters, filling the conference hall to capacity.

The first half of the meeting focused on summarizing previous operations with speeches from city managers, while the second half centered on Pin Group’s future strategies and plans.

“No need to push further in Guangzhou, just secure a small territory for now. We’ve reached their doorstep, can’t be too arrogant at once, let’s stick to the previous routine and focus on the core business area.”

“Additionally, the Kyoto market is currently facing significant resistance as LaShou and Dianping seem to have started applying pressure together.”

“No wonder though, when they were alone, they might have felt a bit scared, having a partner seems to make them feel sure.”

“Thus, the team responsible for Kyoto needs to adjust strategies; focus will shift to three key areas.”

“First, continue with Pin Group Selected, establish a genuine product image, and maximally gain consumer trust.”

“Second, keep expanding the community group-buying area, adding more personnel.”

“Third, we will focus on specific categories each time, like hot pots the first week, buffets the second, pouring money in to offer major discounts and rapidly build up customers.”

“In this joint-pressure scenario, trying for all categories would be very challenging and not only time-consuming and costly but might also spark a new round of costly competition.”

“So, we’ll continue with segmented group buying, focusing on these aspects to quickly attract consumers.”

“Our service level is far above Dianping and LaShou, once consumers come to us, they really can’t leave; once we build up enough users, we’ll primarily promote Pin Group Selected and community group-buying using Xi Han River Qing’s existing channels.”

“This war, we’re playing the early stages at a fast pace, but later on, we must slow down, see who loses patience first.”

“Our points with Pin Group are sufficient now, even if we don’t score in the second half, just dragging it out can lead to a win.”

“As for the managers in second-tier cities, you can start making some moves, bring back some of the business areas we’d thrown out there earlier to intimidate them.”

Jiang Qin sat on the stage, donned in a sharp suit, holding a mid-air Patek Philippe watch, a copy of the 2011 second-half plan in hand, corners of his mouth lifting into a canny smile.

After the city managers’ meeting concluded, branches began adjusting their operations.

Stabilization was the main focus in Shanghai and Shanghai since other sites were now in a defensive stance, making surprise attacks unlikely.

As for Guangzhou, the strategic approach was similar to that in Kyoto, altering business direction, focusing on single categories to gather localized users for Pin Group as cost-effectively as possible.

Pin Group had a foundation in both cities, even if their market share wasn’t as high as others’, focusing on a single category was more than manageable.

And as Jiang Qin had planned, although Pin Group hadn’t expanded its business areas in Guangzhou and Kyoto, the increase in user numbers was still very notable.

Because channeling funds into one category meant there was plenty of money for hefty discounts.

Even if some people didn’t fancy hot pots, hearing about a three-for-one or one-yuan flash sale, how could they not be tempted?

During this process, Pin Group Selected officially launched, and all offline ads were replaced, now emphatically promoting buying genuine products from Pin Group Selected.

Dianping and LaShou were somewhat baffled throughout because their strategy remained focused on signing up a large volume of merchants to form a contiguous business area, then retaining users to gain market share.

But Pin Group changing its business direction to accumulate users through major discounts in segmented categories without rushing to sign stores was a move they hadn’t anticipated.

They later realized that Pin Group was different.

The biggest difference was that it ran its own operations for Pin Group Selected and community group-buying deliveries.

It didn’t need its own business area, but as long as it had users and channels, they could still manage to do business.

This had actually gone beyond the scope of traditional group buying, resembling more the e-commerce model of supplying directly to users through channels, bypassing the physical stores they desperately tried to contract. This business chain was still viable.

“Damn, can you really do it this way?”

“Whether you can isn’t the point; where are their supply channels from?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never heard them talking about finding channels.”

“Damn, it’s really weird. Initially in Shanghai, whether they said they’d focus on Selected or community group-buying, the channels seemed to appear out of nowhere.”