Chapter 624: Simplify It

In April, at the official internet conference, Jiang Qin interacted with Mr. Ma from Alibaba and Liu from JD.com.

At that time, Liu Chuanzhi and Lei Jun were probing Jiang Qin face-to-face to see if he was interested in e-commerce.

Jiang Qin clearly stated he had no interest in e-commerce but he began leveraging resources from all corners to develop his supply chain aggressively.

Supply and logistics are inherently integrated.

Moreover, with Group-Buy Groupon’s genuine reputation developed over the years, and its substantial user base, their entry into e-commerce would be problematic.

This could even be more alarming than Tencent’s creation of Paipai.com.

Tencent, relatively inexperienced in e-commerce, was tinkering aimlessly, succeeding by chance, abandoning if failing.

However, Group-Buy had ample online sales experience and strong ground marketing forces, including major traffic platforms like Zhihu and Tonight’s Headlines, plus their own logistics network which posed as a formidable start.

The downstream of the e-commerce industry is storage, so JD Logistics and SF Express were naturally worried about Group-Buy suddenly expanding its logistics.

The news gradually spread from one circle to another, eventually permeating the entire industry.

Mr. Ma’s eyelids twitched on hearing this news.

“Logistics line…”

“Darn it, they’re targeting me!”

Unable to make a dent with its reputation, Alibaba bet on Ele.me, which, performing well, seized a portion of Baidu’s delivery market share, then locked horns with Group-Buy Delivery.

Group-Buy responded fiercely, burning cash quickly, but always remained just behind Ele.me.

At that moment, where was everyone’s focus?

On who would win this war!

Breaking from norm, Group-Buy used cash burn as a lure—a sight to see.

But unexpectedly, Jiang Qin’s frenzy online was a decoy; he was focusing all efforts on supply chain promotion.

Alibaba’s Zhong Gong got its strength from nurturing the entire e-commerce industry.

In contrast, Jiang Qin’s Nan Ying was built up by the entire group-buying industry, even more powerful.

With champions pushing forward and expanding, Group-Buy’s supply chain, rooted in Hengtong Freight, grew immensely.

Ele.me? Hardly a concern.

Group-Buy’s aim wasn’t really Ele.me but to dominate logistics.

Realizing this, Mr. Ma felt he had underestimated Jiang Qin’s ambition and ruthlessness.

Alibaba lacked its own logistics, limiting its reach, thus less sensitive to changes in this market.

Plus, this sector always worked behind the scenes, generally unnoticed by the public.

If not for JD Logistics stepping forward, Mr. Ma would still believe Ele.me had the upper hand, potentially losing millions to Group-Buy’s supply chain.

The situation reversed in an instant.

What seemed the main battlefield in delivery was trivial—the real battle was in logistics infrastructure.

A slight win in delivery, but it seemed there was a remote-controlled mine planted right in their yard.

“Who is really winning this game?”

“Building openly but smuggling secretly—how could someone be so cunning?”

“If Group-Buy’s supply chain keeps growing, the company’s valuation might double.”

“Damn, no wonder he won the group-buying war; it was never just luck.”

“Perhaps Jiang Qin’s strategy began the moment the group-buying war ended.”

Inside circles speculated retrospectively, realizing that Group-Buy might have started focusing on supply chains right after their group-buying victory possibly for this moment.

In other words, Group-Buy had always been prepared for large-scale cash burns; small-scale efforts were insufficient to impact the industry.

That meant Jiang Qin calculated the trajectory of the delivery industry to this point long ago.

Or perhaps even further.

On a Saturday morning, an internal video about Group-Buy’s logistics park started circulating within industry circles.

In the video, workers in the logistics park were efficiently handling unloading, moving, and packaging goods, on par with professional logistics parks.

These videos were reportedly from an espionage effort by a delivery company, capturing this first-hand data.

“Group-Buy’s supply chain now truly has the capacity to support an e-commerce industry.”

“Their digital storage developments are rapidly catching up to JD Logistics.”

“Moreover, the three new warehouses being built in Yi Zhou, Shang Du, and Tianjin might be termed warehouses but the construction scale is just slightly smaller than logistics parks…”

After hearing the news, Mr. Ma immediately sent Li Changming to Shanghai to meet Zhang Xuhao at Ele.me headquarters to call off the war.

Alibaba could tolerate competition in lifestyle services but not someone encroaching on e-commerce, their foundation.

The delivery industry was just an investment, but e-commerce was their cornerstone.

Currently, after this delivery battle, Ele.me had burned through two billion yuan with three billion yuan remaining, a fortunate mishap among misfortunes.

Upon receiving instructions from Mr. Ma, Zhang Xuhao’s face stiffened, struggling to exhale.

Money was still available, but the aggressive fighting had to stop, a tough pill for someone as aggressive as Zhang Xuhao to swallow.

Ele.me was ahead and could potentially cripple Group-Buy Delivery with one more push; pausing now would miss a golden opportunity.

Isn’t the business of the internet era built on the ashes of money burned?

He feared them growing their logistics, but why should he worry if he’s not into e-commerce?

However, when the financial backer speaks, Zhang Xuhao had no choice but to start reducing discounts and gradually restore original pricing.

With discounts reduced, high-end restaurants partnered with Super Delivery Man felt the impact the most.

Good or bad, meals had to be eaten but the quality might differ.

Ele.me didn’t inform Super Delivery Man and directly limited their traffic; previously booming “high-end foods” became deserted in an instant.

Feng Shihua awaited Super Delivery Man’s performance to prove his decision-making prowess; upon hearing the news, he hurried to the company.

“What’s happening?”

“This delivery battle was ostensibly for the delivery market, but Group-Buy has its own supply chain; they drew fire in primary and secondary markets, consumed all cargo orders, and expanded their logistics scale through mergers, building logistics networks in downstream cities.”

Super Delivery Man’s Liu Yihua spoke up: “Ele.me’s major shareholder was always worried about Group-Buy entering the e-commerce sector, now seeing them leveraging to develop their own logistics, ordered an urgent halt to the cash-burn war.”

After hearing this, Feng Shihua paused, then grasped Group-Buy’s overt actions and covert intentions, feeling bewildered.

That is, because of this, Ele.me might even be scared to burn money going forward.

If this continues, Ele.me wouldn’t have a foothold in the delivery market.

With this thought, Feng Shihua couldn’t help but recall Jiang Qin’s presence at the internet conference, still incredulous that the man manipulating everything behind the scenes was his daughter’s boyfriend.

“Mr. Feng.”

“Hmm?”

Liu Yihua looked up at him: “It’s being rumored outside that Group-Buy’s Jiang is your son-in-law; why didn’t Super Delivery Man collaborate with Group-Buy then?”

Feng Shihua came back to his senses: “That’s a family matter.”

“Understood.”

Feng Shihua couldn’t disclose to Liu Yihua that not joining Group-Buy wasn’t out of unwillingness but due to not paying enough attention to his daughter; he wasn’t a good father thus never met his son-in-law.

Half an hour later, Feng Shihua left the Super Delivery Man headquarters and returned to Sheshan Manor.

Duan Ying was in good spirits recently, reassembling her ladies’ card games at home with the continuous clatter of mahjong tiles.

After all, following the recent cash-burn war, Ele.me had eaten into a part of Baidu Delivery’s share and now led the industry.

She and her nephew owned a bit of Ele.me’s stock, and although the burned savings hurt, they managed to earn back a fraction.

Most importantly, Feng Nanshu’s boyfriend came over to support her, directly ruining Meal Point in a show of arrogance.

In her view, Jiang Qin might now resemble her nephew a month ago, probably frantically worried, likely not looking pleased.

As a traditional lady without access to information channels, Duan Ying could only see the delivery market, blind to the bigger picture.

But one thing she guessed right—Jiang Qin’s expression wasn’t pleasant right now.

“Boss, Ele.me’s discount strength has weakened.”

“?”

Ye Ziqing called on a Sunday morning, reporting the latest on Ele.me.

Their significant discount coupons had been discontinued, no longer issued, leaving only minor coupons to maintain the campaign’s heat, seemingly reducing market enthusiasm.

Unless something unexpected happens, Group-Buy’s supply chain issues might have been exposed.

Jiang Qin thought the delivery battleground would divert attention, allowing Hengtong Freight’s operations to stay hidden for at least a month, but it lasted only half that time.

Jiang Qin disappointedly exclaimed: “Damn, my three logistics warehouses aren’t even finished yet!”

“What’s next?”

“Though Mr. Ma is Zhang Xuhao’s financial backer, they’re not from the same company; their hearts aren’t aligned. Zhang Xuhao is reckless by nature and won’t easily yield. Now, accepting a truce only because they’re ahead, we should push him into a corner.”