Reinventing the Millennium

"Qingzi was able to make Dangtuan.com so popular this time, which really surprised me."

On March 10, it was already very late when Fang Zhuo got home. As soon as he walked in, he praised his old friend from far away who asked him to work overtime.

"Why can't he make a big splash? In terms of money, he holds the money from selling himself on Dangdang. In terms of people, he can attract a group of people. In terms of popularity, the group buying market is a good opportunity. In terms of resources, from Penguin We can get resources." Su Wei was in the living room reviewing the e-commerce speed-up plan that will be launched this month. She smiled and gave the reason after hearing this.

Fang Zhuo clicked his tongue, nodded and said, "That makes sense."

"But you still have a high opinion of Mr. Lei?" Su Wei glanced at him and saw the meaning behind this man's expression.

"A knife is sharpened on a stone, and a person is trained on things." Fang Zhuo poured a glass of boiled water, moistened his dry lips, and thought, "Mr. Lei probably didn't experience this when he was at Jinshan before. Just get used to it. "

"It's easier to learn from bad things than to learn well, right?" Su Wei teased.

"It's about recognizing the complexity in business competition." Fang Zhuo corrected.

He talked about today's situation in a little detail, and then commented: "Mr. Lei wants to radiate key areas in key cities. This is actually correct, but the rice balls are not radiating fast enough, and the radiation process is a bit polite."

Su Wei savored the description "gentle".

She thought for a while and gave her own experience: "The so-called radiation is not fast enough is nothing more than insufficient execution, but insufficient execution means unclear strategic thinking. This cannot be blamed on the execution team."

Su Wei looked at the slightly frowned brows of the man in front of her and said again: "I didn't pay too much attention to the cooperation between Yi Ke and Mi Tuan, but from my feeling, one thing that is good about Mr. Lei is that he doesn't have a certain amount of equity. Seeing how important it is, he only keeps 15% of the option pool, and he is willing to spend money to keep people."

"Since Yike has sent people to lead a team to help this time, in terms of strategy, if you have anything to say, just say it directly, why bother to be secretive?"

Fang Zhuo was slightly stunned: "Am I hiding anything?"

"I've heard you say several times that you don't agree with Mi Tuan's current strategy. At the very least, you're not very satisfied with it. If you have something to say, tell me. If Mr. Lei doesn't accept it, then let's find someone else. Since you're optimistic about the group buying market, then The goal is to win." Su Wei said calmly, "You said 'people practice on things', then Mr. Lei must also practice on your matter. If you can't practice, it means you haven't got the fate."

She doesn't understand what concerns this man has. It's okay if the competition situation eases. For example, although Taobao and Tesco are both e-commerce companies, they have different subdivisions, so they each develop their own. In fierce competition like group buying, it's hard to fight against others. Just kill it.

The old demon Henglong is already here. Why hesitate? Let’s get our troops together and act boldly!

Fang Zhuo's thoughts were spinning and he suddenly smiled: "If Mr. Lei is taken down, then I have to thank you."

Su Wei closed her notebook and said calmly: "No problem, I will tell him. Everything will succeed or fail, but we will come back next time."

"Wang Fengyi told me that Mr. Lei is very invested in rice dumplings this time." Fang Zhuo shook his head slightly, "It's beyond the ordinary investment."

"What does Wang Fengyi mean? I admire Mr. Lei very much. Are you afraid that you will kill him?" Su Wei asked.

Fang Zhuo glanced at Teacher Xiao Su and said sincerely: "Many words actually don't have much meaning when spoken. There is no need to extend it blindly. Since Mr. Lei is decisive in rejecting Ali, the cooperation between us is still extremely smooth."

Su Wei said "hmm". From a purely self-perception point of view, Yi Kebing was strong. As long as this man put aside his worries, the rice dumplings would not be too bad.

She turned the topic to Tesco: "We will upgrade the logistics speed in some domestic markets on the 20th of this month. Does Mr. Fang need any guidance?"

"No, everything depends on Mr. Su's intention." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Besides, what I said before has no effect."

He had long talked about speeding up Yishang's traffic, but Su Wei pushed it again and again, and pushed it to this year from last year. He took into account the logistics pressure of the Double Eleven and Spring Festival promotions, and the business in March Smooth and suitable for adjustments.

Su Wei smoothed her hair and said with a smile, "Okay, let's speed up the logistics."

Tesco has completed its logistics speed-up in the first half of the year and will be planning to go public in the second half of the year.

…

On March 11, the third day after the team collapse in two major cities of Mi Tuan, two of the five mid-level and senior management personnel dispatched by Yike rushed to Pengcheng and Yangcheng to urgently re-support the work system.

On this afternoon, Lei Jun was invited to Hang Lung 23 for a meeting. The discussion was about Mi Tuan’s strategic direction in the market.

Lei Jun probably knows what it means. It may be that Mr. Fang wants to further discuss his thoughts on group buying strategy.

However, when he was led to the small conference room of Hang Lung 23, he did not see Mr. Fang yet, but he met several senior executives of Yike. Liu Qiangdong, the president of Yike Huaxia, and Qi He, the vice president of Yike Huaxia and the head of YMS business , Li Songqing, head of Yike Supply Chain, etc.

After a while, Geng Deheng, Fu Xu, and Ling Jisheng, three of the five heroes they saw yesterday, also walked in.

When Lei Jun saw this formation, he was suddenly a little flattered.

He was extremely polite and exchanged brief greetings with everyone, and then talked about his views on the future of group buying.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Fang Zhuo walked into the small conference room filled with people and explained the purpose of the meeting simply and directly.

"Yike invested in Mi Tuan and believes that this market has great potential."

"The online and offline leveraging of the group buying market is conducive to the development of electronic payments. It is an interface that Yipay must pay attention to. Considering the complexity of our competitors, we must have a certain initiative."

Just look at the giant competitors who have also entered the group buying market. Alibaba has e-commerce and Alipay, Penguin has communication traffic and Tenpay, and Baidu has search traffic and Baidu Pay. They have one thing in common, they all have money.

Baidu's payment system is very immature, and its group buying activities have only launched the "Group Buying Navigation" function on Hao123. Although it can be ignored now, it can enter this market in a big way at any time in the future.

Under such competition, for Yike, group buying is just a business extension to compete with giant rivals, but it and Mi Tuan have common interests, which is to gain an upper hand in the competition.

Fang Zhuo only said a few words, but the senior management has their own thoughts and ideas. The company focuses on the development of Yipay. If there are opportunities like group buying based on payment interfaces in the future, the same approach may be adopted. .

"Group buying is relatively new in China. Everyone is rushing in with their heads down, but it has only been half a year. We have to brainstorm how to fight and win the battle of Mi Tuan."

Fang Zhuo stated the purpose of the meeting.

The conference room was very quiet. Mr. Fang's words sounded like he was planning a brainstorm on the development of Mi Tuan. Moreover, considering the presence of Geng Deheng, Fu Xu, and Ling Jisheng, it was likely that this would be implemented after the storm.

Several senior executives were thinking.

After a moment, Liu Qiangdong took the initiative and said: "Since we are talking about rice dumplings and group buying, although I know some of the situation, I would like to ask Mr. Lei to briefly explain the overall situation."

Lei Jun nodded and immediately started talking. The entire group buying competition situation was in his mind.

At present, this market has more than 300 projects, and the fast-moving websites include Dangtuan, Wowotuan, 24Quan, Tuanbao and other websites.

Especially Tuanbao, the domain name it registered in China beat Groupon, the originator of foreign countries.

, the strategy pursued is "fast but not broken", with strong online and offline promotion efforts. It is said that the number of cities where the business has been launched has exceeded 50, and the target is to exceed 100 within the year.

Fang Zhuo has always said that Qingzi’s Dangtuanwang is radical, but compared with Tuanbao, it is still conservative. There are currently 29 cities.

As for Mi Tuan, it has established its business system in 5 cities, and there are 10 cities in total including the surrounding cities where it has started to have business points.

Lei Jun didn't know how much these Yike executives knew about the market situation. He tried his best to talk in more detail. He thought that after he finished speaking, there would be a period of quiet thinking, but he didn't expect that as soon as he sat down, he was greeted with questions.

"Since group buying is about cities occupying the market, what are Mi Tuan's principles for setting up urban business?" Liu Qiangdong asked.

Later, he added: "How many cities can this group buying business be opened in? What is the business form? For group buying operations, is it possible to open it in small counties?"

Lei Jun pondered, organizing the content of the answer.

Qi He, the person in charge of YMS, did not wait for Mr. Lei to speak, but also spoke: "Competition in the group buying industry is interesting. Whether it is active or passive, whether it is Mr. Lei's Rice Group or Mr. Li's Dang Group, they must compete in Kaicheng. Make a choice, whether to drive to Shanghai or Yangcheng, whether to move to the second tier or lower, and how many are appropriate."

"These need to be sorted out. How many cities does Mi Tuan want to open?" Li Songqing, head of supply chain, also asked.

"We are actually looking at how many cities are suitable in the end. We are calculating as we go." Lei Junxian answered a question honestly.

But his answer did not surprise Liu Qiangdong and others. The group buying market has only been popular for half a year, and the form, development, and competition are all being explored. I believe that this kind of open-and-shut approach is the true situation of most group buying projects at present.

"Big cities, second- and third-tier cities, small cities." Liu Qiangdong spoke very quickly and thought quickly. "It's so rough. In fact, how many cities Mi Tuan opens is a strategic issue. It depends on the head. The strategy still needs to be all-in and all-out.”

"The market in small cities is relatively easy to compete for. As long as we are willing to invest resources, our resources and funds can try to compete for more cities." Lei Jun said after considering.

At present, Mi Tuan is working on the head, but he takes into account the actions of its opponents. In particular, Tuan Bao's strategy this year is so radical, which makes the market more optimistic. Therefore, can Mi Tuan also start with small companies that have never been conquered? Start with the city?

A group of people discussed the number of cities and the difference between large and small cities.

There are many merchants and users in big cities, so it is difficult to seize them all and it is easy to pull back. However, small cities have fewer merchants and users, so it is easier to monopolize and defeat other opponents.

To put it simply, small cities have limited living space, and winning means the difference between life and death. Big cities have a lot of space. Even if they win 70%, they will still leave 30% to their opponents. This 30% may be the foundation for its resurgence.

Fang Zhuo didn't say much. When the key points of the opinions in the conference room gradually became apparent, he thought about it and asked the question: "What do you think is the winning factor in this group purchase?"

Liu Qiangdong replied without hesitation: "Although there are 300 projects in this market, only a few will have a sense of presence. In the end, it is nothing more than a comparison of size and financial status."

"Size and finance within a few years?" Fang Zhuo looked for a time limit.

Lei Jun answered this question: "One group will die this year, and then we will gather together to fight for another group next year. The outline of the market within two years will definitely be clear."

If the scale and finance cannot be listed within two years and continue to live, 99% of the projects will die, and if they want to be listed, 99.9% of the projects will not be able to do so.

Li Songqing from the supply chain was somewhat interested in Mr. Lei's time and asked emphatically.

Lei Jun explained the logic of his judgment.

Fang Zhuo listened and combined the answers he got with the previous discussion: "Since the competition is about size, big cities must not give up. How many tail cities can one Shanghai city compare with? Once there is a project in this two-year period, If someone dies in the process, their first reaction is to close the business in the city, and they will naturally withdraw from the tail cities."

Group buying has opened a magic box for money-burning users. This is a cruel process that is irreversible until almost everyone is dead.

"There is another comparison with finance. Isn't it about who can lose less? With the same size, the smaller the loss, the better the survival." Fang Zhuo said, "There must be a choice between cities, otherwise, blindly pursue the number of cities , tail cities will consume a lot of management and capital costs, creating a vicious cycle."

Liu Qiangdong and Lei Jun were the first to understand what Mr. Fang meant. Comparing the size and finance within 2 years was the same as the number of cities to be opened.

A simple head strategy will not work, nor will pursuing a comprehensive city scramble.

This requires a balance between maintaining the number of cities to accumulate the size of the company, and also making choices to cut off the attractive tail cities that occupy management and capital costs.

"We discussed yesterday and believed that the domestic city business can be opened to more than 300, but now it seems..." Lei Jun talked about the internal discussions within Mi Tuan.

Liu Qiangdong glanced at Mr. Fang, running through the data in his mind, and estimated: "I feel that if we open around 100 stores within 2 years, this number should be enough to maintain competitiveness and optimize the financial situation."

"Well, the actual urban business management level needs to be trained. This is very important. As the management width increases, your input-output ratio will become lower and your financial level will also become lower." Fang Zhuo said slowly, "100 cities, this number can be temporarily studied and verified, and we will first use this target to promote projects and allocate resources."

Qi He from YMS suddenly said: "Mr. Fang, the group buying market has just started, and the management level of each company is not very good. I think Mi Tuan should immediately advocate a comprehensive urban strategy and announce the 300 city plan to the outside world. Tuanbao If the net wants to run fast and the Dangtuan net wants to run fast, then add some fire."

There are too many cities and the management level is not in place. It is like stretching a rubber band and it may collapse first.

Fang Zhuo said nothing.

But Liu Qiangdong, Li Songqing and others all clapped their hands and praised it. It's so good. The group buying market is in chaos. Let's start with a strategic deception. After the opponent has laid it out, if we really encounter problems, we will still face the dilemma of choice. After all, this is a city that we have worked hard to occupy.

"This still needs to be judged by Mr. Lei. Today we are just giving you ideas." Fang Zhuo looked at Lei Jun, "Whether this idea is right or not, it is Mr. Lei who has the final say."

Lei Jun blinked, everyone was of high level, had good ideas, and helped Mi Tuan a lot, so there was nothing to hesitate about.

Take 100 cities, promote 300 cities, compare the size with weak and small projects, and compare the finance with projects of the same level.

Coupled with Mr. Fang's sharp skills, why worry about the big plan failing?