Reborn, back to a small county town to become a wealthy family

Chapter 824 Gossiping is more important than discussing serious matters
Song Wan and Luo Yang got off the elevator together, and on the way, Song Wan casually mentioned the matter of helping out.

The request wasn't difficult; all Luo Yang needed to do was transfer her away from Shanghai for a period of time in the name of the company.

The reasons are readily available.

The shared bicycle project is about to be promoted in cities, with two cities being the first choice: Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The company has a strong presence in Shanghai, making promotional efforts relatively easier. Shenzhen, on the other hand, is a completely unfamiliar market, so it's understandable that CEO Song Wan would personally oversee the operations there.

Indeed, reality is reality, and fiction is fiction.

Just as the two were about to get into the car, Liang Yuxin called.

After hesitating for a moment, Luo Yang answered the phone.

"Didn't the board office tell you about my trip back to Shanghai today?"

The phone receiver was filled with noise, indicating that Liang Yuxin was talking to him in a crowded environment.

"The board office only told me to come to the group headquarters at 10 a.m. tomorrow."

Luo Yang had been intentionally ignoring it, but now that the phone call had come, he couldn't pretend not to see it anymore, so he had to take the initiative to ask, "It sounds like it's quite lively around you. Have you arrived at Baiyun Airport and are you about to go through security?"

"I'm already at Hongqiao Airport, I just got off the plane."

Liang Yuxin punched him in the face and said, "You're just about to get off work right now, right? Come pick me up and treat me to dinner while you're at it."

"You've already arrived in Shanghai?"

Luo Yang feigned surprise, then used Song Wan as a shield: "I just got off the elevator and was about to have dinner with President Song."

"that."

To everyone's surprise, Song Wan immediately interrupted loudly, "President Liang, if you don't mind, would you like to have something to eat together? I also wanted to talk to you about something."

"Of course I don't mind."

Liang Yuxin immediately replied, "Send me the address later, and I'll take a taxi there."

Because Song Wan was there, she felt embarrassed to ask Luo Yang to pick her up.

“I said. Beep beep beep.”

Luo Yang was about to say something when Liang Yuxin hung up the phone, giving him no chance to refuse.

"No, I was talking to Liang Wanying, why did you interrupt?"

"You were the one who used me as a shield first."

Song Wan looked at Luo Yang with shining eyes and said, "Besides, I'm about to be transferred to Shenzhen for a while. President Liang has been in the south for so long, she must have accumulated a lot of connections. It's a good opportunity to learn from her. It's all for work, President Luo, don't overthink it."

Ha ha
He was telling people not to overthink it, but his face was full of amusement.

I believed your evil deeds!

Just as I was about to retort, I saw the woman dash to the back seat, open the car door, and climb in.

Speechless, Luo Yang had no choice but to get into the car. He then saw her texting on her phone while telling the driver the destination.

Who should be sent to? Do I even need to ask?

The evening rush hour delayed their meeting time until 7 p.m.

"Where's your luggage?"

Seeing that Liang Yuxin only brought a handbag into the private room, Luo Yang asked her a question out of curiosity.

"My assistant went to book a room and asked her to take it to the hotel."

Liang Yuxin rolled her eyes at Luo Yang: "Who told you not to come pick me up? You made me look like a homeless person."

If Song Wan hadn't been there, Luo Yang would have retorted to her: "You have a home in Shanghai, after all!"

Now I can only say tactfully: "Next time you go back to Shanghai, let the board office know your flight time in advance, and I'll have someone pick you up from the airport and book a hotel in advance."

"hehe."

Liang Yuxin chuckled a few times and said sarcastically, "I still have a few friends in Shanghai, how could I trouble the busy President Luo?"

Luo Yang felt it was best to remain silent.

Having gained the upper hand in the conversation, Liang Yuxin didn't press her advantage and instead picked up her small bag and walked towards an empty spot.

The private room for dinner wasn't big; the small round table could seat five or six people.

Luo Yang sat in the center, his chair facing the door of the private room. Song Wan was to his right, and Liang Yuxin sat directly to his left.

"Mr. Song, I hope I haven't disturbed your private affairs?"

After taking their seats and facing Song Wan, Liang Yuxin's face immediately lit up with a smile: "Last time in the US, we were all busy with our own business and didn't have time to have a proper drink. It just so happens that we're all together tonight, so let's have a drink later?"

The woman was enjoying her melon when Liang Yuxin suddenly called her out, and she quickly left the scene.

"Hey, what's the big deal about disturbing you?"

Song Wan replied with a smile, "My family is pressuring me to go on blind dates, and I find it annoying. I'd like to ask Mr. Luo to help me transfer to Shenzhen in the south for a while so I can have some peace and quiet. I was thinking the same thing, since I might need your help after I get there."

Are bike-sharing companies preparing to expand into the Shenzhen market?

Liang Yuxin has a very keen business sense. After hearing just the beginning, she immediately guessed what was to come: "Simultaneous launch in Shanghai and Shenzhen?"

There is a slight time lag between the launch of the promotion and the actual promotion.

After signaling the waiter to serve the dishes, Song Wan replied to Liang Yuxin, "But overall, it can be considered as promoting the product in two cities at the same time."

The content covers the entire business plan; Luo Yang can discuss the details, but Song Wan cannot.

"Then you must be under a lot of pressure."

While wiping her hands with a damp towel, Liang Yuxin casually commented, "These are all first-tier cities with populations exceeding ten million. Putting aside the financial pressure, just coordinating external relations is incredibly troublesome."

She paused for a moment, then nudged Luo Yang with her right arm.

"President Song has taken the initiative to suggest going to Shenzhen to oversee things, which just suits your wishes, doesn't it?"

Edifier Technology will launch its Series B financing next week, and Tencent will be one of the investors in the project.

Luo Yang curled his lip and said, "They are local strongmen in Shenzhen. With this connection, there won't be any major difficulties. If the company's elites can't even handle small matters, then it's a joke. President Song went there for overall coordination, just to get things in line with Tencent."

"Eh?"

Liang Yuxin's eyes lit up immediately: "You've even gotten involved with Tencent's investment department?"

"What do you mean I've gotten involved with Tencent's investment department?"

Luo Yang immediately said to the Versailles track: "Get this straight, they're the ones who came to us. Venture capitalists are all optimistic about bike-sharing projects right now. You went to the US recently, don't you understand the appeal of this business idea?" IDG is even willing to cooperate with Edifier Technology to promote bike-sharing in the US and Europe.

"I know you're capable, is that alright now?"

Liang Yuxin rolled her eyes at Luo Yang before saying, "Then why don't you help Pinduoduo make some connections? If Tencent's funds can be included in the financing institutions, our company will have a much easier time competing in the national market."

Tencent's investment department has made numerous investments in recent years, and has the ability to directly or indirectly control and influence a considerable number of companies.

Pinduoduo's massive expansion will inevitably impact the market share of other e-commerce platforms.

Especially e-commerce giant Taobao.

Even though it hasn't started yet, Liang Yuxin can foresee the fierce competition that will follow.

If Pinduoduo could partner with Tencent in its fundraising efforts, the pressure on Pinduoduo would be significantly reduced.

"We currently lack sufficient internal strength, so we can only seek support from strategic partners."

With Luo Yang not wanting to say much and Song Wan only interested in watching the drama unfold, only Liang Yuxin's chatter remained in the private room: "That's why I invited two relatively strong companies to our headquarters this time, in order to discuss strategic cooperation with them. If Tencent could be added to this list, that would be even better."

Which two companies did you approach to negotiate with?

Seeing that Luo Yang remained silent, Song Wan decided to help warm up the atmosphere.

"One is a courier company called Shentong, which is a company in Zhejiang Province. The other is Gome Electrical Appliances, which I don't need to introduce much. Everyone should have heard of this name."

Liang Yuxin immediately replied, "Pinduoduo's expansion will be inseparable from logistics, so we need to find a courier company that can deliver goods to every city and town in China."

"Wait a moment!"

Luo Yang, who had been silent all along, suddenly interrupted Liang Yuxin: "Have you checked which courier companies Taobao has invested in?"

"what?"

Liang Yuxin was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized what was happening.

"I"

She said awkwardly, "I haven't paid attention to this kind of information."

I said if.

Luo Yang said with a stern face, "At a critical moment when we are fiercely competing with Taobao for market share, Taobao happens to have invested in the courier company that we have reached a strategic cooperation agreement with, and can influence their business operations. Have you thought about the consequences?"

In crucial moments, you don't need to do too much.

Even if they breach the contract, suspending your delivery for about a week would severely damage Pinduoduo, which is in a competitive situation, if not immediately crippled.

"Let's try contacting a few more courier companies."

Luo Yang glanced at Liang Yuxin and said, "At least five companies, and among these five courier companies, at least four do not have shares in Taobao, or we can also hold shares in them proportionally. Otherwise, how can people feel at ease with such a cooperation?"

"This will cost a lot of money."

Liang Yuxin was convinced, but she still stubbornly said, "Given Pinduoduo's current financial situation, we can't do it yet."

"Money is not something you need to worry about."

This time it was Luo Yang's turn to glare at her.

"There are so many things you need to spend money on Pinduoduo, can you really solve them all?"

Liang Yuxin's momentum weakened, but she insisted on her last bit of stubbornness in a low voice: "Our e-commerce platform doesn't have its own payment system yet. Our platform has just over ten million registered users. If we want to add more registered users, the cost of each new user acquisition may be 100. If we add tens of millions more, then we will need billions of yuan. Where will you get so much money?"

Is the cost of acquiring new customers really that high?

Luo Yang scoffed, "Pinduoduo's user acquisition costs won't be as high as you think. I estimate it'll be about one-tenth of what you said. Besides, the increase in registered users has always been exponential. The initial cost might be more than 100, but the intermediate stage might only require one percent of that."

In his memory, Pinduoduo became invincible with its "cut-the-price" strategy, catching many competitors off guard.

In fact, Pinduoduo's "cut a price" strategy is a marketing activity based on the social e-commerce model, and it is a unique marketing method of the Pinduoduo platform.

The activity aims to increase user engagement and purchase intention, and promote sales through user interaction. Users can get discounts by sharing product links or inviting friends, that is, by having multiple people participate in "price slashing", the price of the product will eventually be reduced to the lowest possible price.

In this process, many users will use their social connections to bring people who were not originally Pinduoduo users to the Pinduoduo platform in order to buy cheap goods.

Besides attracting customers with low prices, this business strategy also has a certain fun factor, making many young people willing to join in.

Of course, Pinduoduo's "cut a price" promotion is also controversial, as it has been accused of being deceptive and misleading.

Pinduoduo's "cut a price" campaign is designed to give users hope that they are about to complete the task, but in reality, the last 0.1% progress is very difficult and requires a lot of invitations and repeated operations.

This design actually exploits people's psychology, especially their anticipation of completion, and could be considered a form of subtle deception and misleading.

Users invest a lot of time and energy inviting friends to complete tasks, only to find themselves far from achieving their goals. This not only wastes their time but may also damage their relationships with friends, adding unnecessary social pressure.

Some users found that the price reduction was consistently 0.9% lower than expected through the price-cutting activity. Pinduoduo explained that some of the items offered for free had large amounts, and the amount reduced by a small number of users was insufficient to change the percentage, so consumers thought the price reduction had not changed.

Therefore, many jokes and memes were later created online using the "cut a price" method on Pinduoduo.

However, one thing is undeniable: Pinduoduo used this business promotion method to increase registered users in a very short time, enabling the company to expand rapidly, increase its valuation, obtain more funds in financing, and put the company's subsequent development into a virtuous cycle.

Although Liang Yuxin didn't quite believe what Luo Yang said, he still didn't bring out the business promotion plan for "cutting one's hand".

Now is not the time to talk about this.

"Also, there's the issue you mentioned about online payment platforms."

Luo Yang retorted to Liang Yuxin, "The company has already applied. According to what we've heard, the central bank will issue a batch of third-party payment licenses by the end of the year, and we should be on the list. So starting next year, Pinduoduo can use its own third-party payment platform. What are you worried about?"

"real or fake?"

Liang Yuxin seemed to have forgotten the blow she had just received from Luo Yang. Upon hearing the news, she immediately grabbed Luo Yang's arm with delight.

But this happiness didn't last long.

After a moment, she said with a serious expression, "We are still using Alipay as the payment platform. After October, it is best to start with the preparation work first and not make any big moves in the market. It is best to wait until we get our own third-party payment platform before we start the formal expansion."

"Wasn't your trip back to Shanghai all preparation?"

Luo Yang continued, "This includes acquiring shares in courier companies, waiting for the third-party payment license to be issued, and negotiating with more strategic partners. These are all preparatory works before officially launching market expansion."

As the two were chatting, the door to the private room was pushed open, and the waiter began to serve the dishes.

During this time, Luo Yang and Liang Yuxin kept talking about work, so Song Wan didn't get to know much about the gossip.

She was somewhat dissatisfied, so she tried to steer the conversation.

"Isn't Mr. Liang a local from Shanghai?"

While pouring the drinks, Song Wan casually asked, "Why are you staying at a hotel tonight?"

(End of this chapter)