Chapter 627: Seizing the Opportunity in the Heat of Battle

Weekends are when group-buying really ramps up.

A full-scale push means not just group-buy delivery but also in-store group buys, group buy premium selections, daily deals, and ground promotions.

These are the standard projects.

Non-standard items include platforms like Zhihu and Tonight’s Headlines which have surged in popularity.

Since so many departments need to coordinate, even though the internal system of the group-buy is highly responsive, Jiang Qin alone can’t handle it. Consequently, senior executives converge in Room 208.

Under the brilliant slanting sunset, the tree outside the window sways gently in the breeze, almost as if mirroring their bygone youth.

It’s been a long time since they worked in this place, and the core members of Room 208 felt as though they were reverting to their startup phase. They quickly reconnect with their original aspirations and passion, plug in their computers, and start working hard, sending countless task instructions in every direction.

“Boss, it’s time to eat. Let’s continue later.”

Lu Feiyu and his team brought back a load of takeaway meals, the broths sloshing about.

Jiang Qin frowned, “Keep that away from my fragrant clothes!”

“It’s not even new, what are you afraid of?”

Wei Lanlan chuckled lightly, “It might not be new, but the boss’s wife washed it.”

Lu Feiyu widened his eyes, “The boss’s wife is like an angel. Boss, you actually let her wash your clothes!”

Jiang Qin coughed softly, “I’ve rolled out big discounts. We’ve revamped the group function of the daily deals to time coupon releases and then monitor the situation and test traffic.”

Lu Feiyu, munching on a bun and clicking away with the mouse, “The guide on how to exploit group-buy delivery discounts I previously wrote has also been sent out.”

“Okay, let the bullets fly for a while.”

The market turned chaotic, molded into Jiang Qin’s shape. In this adverse climate, Hungry Yet? particularly struggled.

On one hand, they faced consumer distrust; on the other, they had to withstand the assault from the group buy. In the meantime, several unlicensed little shops were exposed.

The entire marketing department plunged into deep trouble, and the higher-ups at Hungry Yet? felt a panicky helplessness.

Zhang Xuhao’s greatest regret was that he was the one who had initially stoked this fire.

Facing the current predicament, this man, once dubbed the next Jiang Qin, when actually facing the true Jiang Qin, suddenly realized this might not be sarcasm but a form of praise.

“Group-buy had updated a group function in the age of group-buying, called daily deals. It’s essentially an in-built group-buy group. Now, daily group buys have split off into Group-buy delivery, but the function remains.”

“Currently, they’re using this function to release group-buy delivery coupons to consumers on a scheduled, regular basis.”

“A post on Tonight’s Headlines and Zhihu recently went viral, titled ‘How to scalp group-buy delivery discounts’. It’s quite popular.”

“Moreover, the progress bar plan they previously used to screen delivery riders is now employed in a user referral program for viral growth.”

“They also added a secondary page called ‘Guess You Like’, probably using the algorithm system they’ve been developing for Tonight’s Headlines…”

In Hungry Yet?’s ninth meeting this week, the marketing department’s Dai Qing and the group focused on watching Group-buy took turns reporting. The room was silent throughout.

The commercial elite watching from the sidelines smelled even worse trouble brewing.

Jiang Qin used forums as a traffic pool to nurture Group-buy, and Group-buy used the traffic from group-buy in-store to fuel daily deals. Today, orders from daily deals have become a steel knife in the delivery market.

At this moment, the now-matured delivery system is in turn nurturing the Group-buy supply chain.

Hence, this supply chain, if nothing goes awry, is set to be another steel knife.

There’s also big data algorithms, Group-buy premium selection, Linchuan Business Group…

Group-buy as a company was raised in the midst of warfare; how could someone hope to crush it during the war?

At the same time, Chen Jiaxin, watching the continuously declining graph before him, suddenly recalled the feeling from when he was scaling up Public Review.

“You strike, I hold; then I strike, can you hold?”

The answer is, they can’t hold.

Even though it’s not the same battlefield, Chen Jiaxin, thinking Zhang Xuhao in recent years resembled Jiang Qin in style the most among entrepreneurs, still finds the result is unholdable.

At that moment, a knocking sound came, and Zhang Li entered, whispered into Chen Jiaxin’s ear.

“President Chen, Alibaba’s investment manager has arrived and is in the conference room.”

“What are they here for?”

“Mr. Ma plans to merge Praise Delivery into Hungry Yet?”

Although Praise Delivery’s performance has worsened, they shifted their development strategy not to compete in the first-tier markets, so it still does well in the third and fourth-tier markets.

Mr. Ma hopes using the strategy of surrounding the cities from the rural areas in conjunction with Hungry Yet? will encircle Group-buy.

After the group-buy wars, except for Group-buy and Public Review, other websites went bankrupt while the elites dispersed in all directions.

Once known as the golden spade, Kang Jingtao, now with Praise Delivery, handed in his resignation immediately upon hearing the news of the merge into Hungry Yet?

It’s just a job, not worth risking one’s life.

He’s still young, not yet forty. Can’t afford a brain congestion.

Kang Jingtao still remembered the time in the Shanghai market when Jiang Qin’s single comment ignited internal strife and their brilliant sunset downfall.

“You’re the only one in Praise with seasoned market experience and who has faced Group-buy head-on. How can you simply say no?”

Praise Delivery can’t pull it off, having switched leaders several times. The current person in charge is named Fan Rong.

Speaking of talent, this person isn’t very distinguished, but his strength lies in utilizing people. So, now, the second and third-tier business of Praise Delivery is actually managed by Kang Jingtao.

Now that Kang is withdrawing, Old Fan is getting anxious.

“President Fan, honestly, I’ve never directly clashed with Group-buy. I was always just on the receiving end.”

“?”

Perhaps because he was about to leave, Kang Jingtao felt much lighter: “Like Chen Jiaxin, Luo Ping, Robin, Yang Xueyu, all of them who emerged from the group-buy wars claim to have fought against Group-buy. But really, it’s all nonsense. We were just getting beaten up.”

Fan Rong: “…”

“President Fan, if anyone tells you they’ve gone head-to-head with Jiang Qin, treat it as a fart. Don’t believe it anymore.”

After saying his piece, Kang Jingtao suddenly thought of his old partner, Zhu Jinfu.

Back when their local station in Shanghai collapsed, Zhu Jinfu packed up overnight and joined Group-buy. He must be doing well now.

Damn, seeing a partner thriving is harder than dying oneself.

And like Kang Jingtao, there were many others, like Zhou Zhenhao currently messing around with a rental website and Cui Yiting who started her own cosmetics brand.

Plus, people like Luo Ping, Robin, Yang Xueyu who still stand at the O2O forefront.

Watching Hungry Yet? getting hit hard, they couldn’t help but recall the years of getting beaten.

Many initially regarded Jiang Qin as a rival when their websites were in their heyday, all harboring a delusion that they were on par with Jiang Qin.

Even when their own websites got trashed, they still thought it was because of insufficient funds, resources, or poor high-level decisions.

People are like this, making excuses for failure isn’t anything unusual.

But seeing Hungry Yet?, backed by two major firms, still getting thrashed by Group-buy shattered their delusion of once being equals.

“I always knew Jiang Qin must have something up his sleeve. Just didn’t expect it to come this soon.”

“Hungry Yet? might not last till the end of the year.”

“I’m not so pessimistic. After all, Praise Delivery is about to merge into Hungry Yet? soon.”

“All patched up after being riddled by Group-buy, and you’re not pessimistic?”

“Speaking of which, Alibaba is really going all out this time, giving both resources and money.”

“They have no choice. With in-store group buys, community group buys, supply chain, brand merchants, Group-buy’s closed loop is almost complete, and they’ll definitely step into e-commerce eventually.”

“Now, thinking back, the fact that we even had the delusion that we were equal to Jiang Qin was the biggest gap between us.”

Whether Hungry Yet? can hold on till the end of the year is unknown, but the first to falter is Super Delivery Man.

Originally, they focused solely on high-end delivery. Although small in scale and slow in growth, at least their reputation was good.

They spent enough money that Super Family’s delivery was definitely distinct from others, even their packaging was significantly nicer.

But after tying up with Hungry Yet?, it too got splattered by Group-buy’s sweeping accusations. From being slightly expensive, it became both expensive and terrible.

Many wealthy individuals felt cheated, leading even the original users to abandon them.

As Hungry Yet? is already overwhelmed, they naturally can’t spare any effort for Super Delivery Man, causing both it and its parent, the Feng Corporation, to fall into the same plight.

That is, losing profitability while still continuously burning through cash flow.

Straining further and further, they are just a step away from financial rupture.

“When I grow up, I become your… dead ringer.”

“President Feng, we can’t make payroll. I need some funds.”

“I can’t help you anymore.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have the authority anymore.”

“?”

Just as Hungry Yet? is being cornered, Hurricane Investment’s investments in the internet domain were completely halted. The board specifically convened a meeting instructing Feng Shihua to focus on real estate, while all affairs of Hurricane Investment were temporarily managed by Cai Ming.

Meaning, Feng Corporation had decentralized power.

Feng Shihua can now only meddle with the commercial real estate sector, while he no longer controls Hurricane Investment.

The shareholders are out of options too. Not earning money is one thing, but continuously pouring money in—who can endure that!

Feng Shihua had nothing to say but silently accepted.

He hadn’t experienced the group-buy wars, hadn’t witnessed Group-buy’s rise, nor heard about Jiang Qin once driving countless shattered group-buy sites to sink and clear the market for him.

While both Alibaba and Tencent were betting on Hungry Yet?, he was very confident; yet he truly underestimated Group-buy, and surprisingly, his daughter’s boyfriend exceeded his business expectations.