Chapter 648: Courtesy Among Guests

At dawn, the east light whitened, and sunlight entered the window throwing shadows across the white wall through the blinds.

The twelve managers from Xitian in Linchuan are meeting the new heads today, specifically Wang Haini and Gao Wenhui, so both were up early preparing.

Honestly, managing people right after graduating is quite a challenge for them.

Just as they finished getting ready, the master bedroom door opened.

Jiang Qin came out dressed, and Feng Nanshu followed to the doorway like a poised young lady from a distinguished family, gently waving at him with a coquettish smile that shone radiantly.

“Goodbye, Miss Feng. I’m off to work.”

“Goodbye, brother.”

They spoke like friends and behaved politely as if they had only shared the bed last night without doing anything else, although last night was quite intense.

It’s tough how the little rich girl was cooed last night yet manages to seem aloof during the day.

Gao Wenhui and Wang Haini exchanged glances and rolled their eyes.

Watching Jiang Qin leave, Feng Nanshu looked at Gao Wenhui with some arrogance, “Brother still seems unaware of my feelings for him.”

“Ah, yes, absolutely…”

“I really do mean it. I secretly call him hubby, and he hasn’t noticed.”

Feng Nanshu puffed her cheeks, speaking as if it were true.

Wang Haini was numbed, thinking you didn’t secretly do anything, you just blurted it out because you couldn’t help yourself!

“How do these two even think?” Gao Wenhui couldn’t understand at all.

Feng Nanshu seemed clueless about what they were discussing, her expression blank.

Ten minutes later, Jiang Qin arrived at the Group-buy Headquarters to kickstart the promotion plan for Quick Flash Pay.

Group-Buy updated their payment list, followed by Group-Buy Delivery, Daily Specials…

In the payment options, Alipay remained first, with Quick Flash Pay ranked second.

Keeping Alipay as a primary payment option ensures normal transactions on the Group-Buy Apps without forcing users to switch to Quick Flash Pay immediately.

Otherwise, it would be off-putting if users are prompted to download another app right after they choose to pay.

Thus, Quick Flash Pay will remain second for at least half a year.

However, Quick Flash Pay boasts a small horizontal logo offering an 80% discount.

Meaning, while Group-Buy supports priority payment through Alipay after placing an order.

But if you want an 80% discount on various group buying apps of the Group-Buy series, you could manually select Quick Flash Pay.

Giving users the choice and control helps in gaining consumer favor and smooth promotion.

Jiang Qin is looking for download numbers with this step.

Alongside, various smartphone manufacturers received letters of intent for pre-installing Quick Flash Pay.

This step aims to skip the downloading process when there’s a user demand for Quick Flash Pay.

By late summer, after a silent yet grand debut, Quick Flash Pay underwent its first operational trial.

Xiao Sun in Kyoto works for a film marketing company in Galaxy SOHO, busy drafting a campaign for a film titled “You Are the Color of Humanity.”

With the film’s premiere approaching, the demanding client, Hua Ying Entertainment, squeezed even his lunch break.

As lunchtime neared, his hunger made him order takeaway. Pausing a bit at the payment page.

“What’s Quick Flash Pay?”

“An online payment software by Group-Buy, offering 20% off if you pay through it.”

Blinking, Xiao Sun downloaded it to have a look.

Group-Buy is well-known in the service sector with a solid corporate image. Its apps have indeed changed many people’s lives, especially working professionals.

So knowing Quick Flash Pay is a Group-Buy app made him quite interested.

After downloading, a pop-up appeared on Quick Flash Pay’s page: register and link a bank card to get a 100 yuan Group-Buy voucher.

“?”

Initially, Xiao Sun just wanted to have a look, but seeing the pop-up, he couldn’t help registering and linking his bank card.

And indeed, a 100 yuan voucher then appeared in his voucher wallet.

According to the rules, this 100 yuan could be used in all Group-Buy apps for takeaways, group buys, selections, specials unlimitedly, except it couldn’t be withdrawn, working just like cash.

Xiao Sun pursed his lips, returned to the Group-Buy Delivery app, and found the payment page showing【Use Group-Buy voucher to pay – 21.9】, making the actual payment zero.

“Holy smokes!”

“Initiate payment!”

After ordering his takeaway, Xiao Sun took a screenshot using the volume and power buttons, spent the waiting time crafting a WeChat post saying 【Eating for free, who else?】, and posted it.

However, he didn’t notice that a watermark at the top right corner of the screenshot had automatically generated, reading 【Group-Buy Quick Flash Pay – 20% off across the web】.

Thus, messages of zero-cost takeout and group-buys slowly started fermenting in social media.

Commercial promotions have thresholds, but freeloading doesn’t.

And Group-Buy’s big move was like a boulder suddenly smashing into the tranquil internet commerce pool, causing waves.

“Holy smokes! Group-Buy’s rolling out its payment software!”

“When did they get the license?”

“QuickPay; they bought QuickPay and used it to provide payment services for Group-Buy Quick Flash Pay, all within regulations.”

“Wasn’t Xiaomi Tech negotiating it just last week? Mr. Lei even said they nearly had it.”

“Looks like Xiaomi Tech was just a facade, maybe the two companies reached some agreements, or maybe… Xiaomi was just used.”

“I finally understand why Jiang Qin initially refused Alibaba’s investment years ago—must have already planned this…”

Meanwhile, at Alibaba headquarters, Pang Rui looked over Quick Flash Pay’s interface and the screenshots, feeling like she’d fallen into an ice cave.

The payment market is a big cake, essential in terms of traffic and commercial value in the internet commerce ecosystem. Competition is inevitable.

Since 2004, when Alipay was launched, third-party payment software wasn’t legally permitted, yet they kept evolving.

Even when hindered by banks, they never gave up.

So when officially licensed for payment processing, Alipay quickly dominated the payment market.

Along this journey, their long-time competitor Tencent and its Tenpay had revised its platform three times.

But frankly, Alibaba wasn’t worried.

Tencent’s Paipai didn’t take off, Public Review got wrecked, and Alibaba snatched the major shareholder position from Hungry Yet?, apart from in-game currency charging, Tenpay lacked a supportive payment ecosystem.

But Group-Buy is different.

Group-Buy nearly dominates the life-service payment ecosystem. If they get Quick Flash Pay going, it could unpredictably disrupt Alibaba’s market strategies.

“Let’s not panic. It’s not so easy for Group-Buy to succeed with Quick Flash Pay.”

“But they’re already doing it.”

“Our biggest market is offline payments, and Quick Flash Pay is just catching up to our progress online. We can simply speed up the QR code payment system.”

Dressed in champagne-colored business attire, heels clicking, Pang Rui stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, reflection showing no sign of panic.

But at that moment, Jin Bin, offline promotion manager, started rubbing his hands, sweating profusely.

After the Autumn Equinox, the summer heat only faded completely with the first autumn rain, which gently dampened the still green leaves.

Within a month, Quick Flash Pay, propelled by online promotion and registration bonuses, broke through to over one hundred thousand active users.

During the same period, Alipay swiftly cut off the Group-Buy channel promotion, starting a money-burning ad campaign across various platforms.

As with all monopolies, running unopposed means moving smoothly and seamlessly.

But once competitors emerge, timing becomes crucial.

Alibaba too has a robust ground marketing team, now established in metropolitan areas, setting up booths, inviting passersby to use QR code payments for rebates.

A competitive showdown between Group-Buy and Alibaba formally unfolds this autumn.

“Boss, Alibaba’s offline promotions have rolled out.”

“What’s their strategy?”

“Supermarkets and brand convenience stores.”

Tan Qing flipped through the worn 【Quick Flash Pay Promotion Plan】, remarking, “Their plan simply cuts off the Group-Buy channel, the rest remains as usual.”

Jiang Qin scratched his head, “Feels like I have a full map view turned on.”

“Boss, should we do both offline and online?”

“Sure, let’s start right after the National Day.”

Tan Qing closed the promotion plan, “Boss, don’t wear yourself out. Your dark circles are getting serious.”

Jiang Qin coughed, “Got someone at home keeping me up…”

As the National Day holiday approached, tourism heated up rapidly, boosting cross-regional consumption and speeding offline payment developments.

Through dedicated promotions by Alipay, the wallet-free payment method, a simple ‘beep’ to complete transactions, gradually became commonplace.

Over the seven days of the holiday, Alipay’s QR code payments soared past one million.

Only then did everyone realize a trend capable of revolutionizing lifestyle had arrived, and by then, Quick Flash Pay’s online user base had doubled.

Following this, Jingdong updated in early October; Quick Flash Pay officially integrated.