Rebirth: Starting with Capturing the Goddess Mentor

Chapter 236 Fighting to the bitter end, the subsidy war! Zhou Wei sells cars and watches!

Around 10 a.m., Chen Yan arrived at the CBD center of Gulou District, Jinling City, Jiangsu Province.

After parking his car in front of an office building, he went straight inside.

Taking the elevator to the 15th floor, Chen Yan followed the signs to office 1505—Daily Technology's office in Jinling City.

Pushing open the glass door, one sees Zhou Xiaobing, looking melancholy, sitting in the office area smoking.

He was all alone in the huge office area, which looked rather desolate.

It's not because there's no one else in the company, but because of the nature of the "Daily Part-Time Job" business, if the branch office is small, there's no need to set up administrative staff. Therefore, the entire Jinling City branch office only has a business development manager and a team leader—Zhou Xiaobing.

Even Zhou Xiaobing isn't at the Jinling branch every day. He currently manages four branches in Jinling, Wuxi, Xuzhou, and Suzhou, and he's constantly busy. He's often in Jinling on Mondays and Tuesdays, in Wuxi on Wednesdays and Thursdays, in Xuzhou on Fridays, and his weekends are allocated to Suzhou.

Yeah, he does have a bit of a scumbag vibe about him.

Upon hearing the door open, Zhou Xiaobing looked up and saw Chen Yan walk in with a nonchalant expression.

Zhou Xiaobing thought to himself, "As expected of the boss, he can remain so calm and rational in the face of such a situation. Perhaps this is the essential psychological quality of those who achieve great things."

He stubbed out his cigarette, stood up and went to greet him, his voice tinged with barely concealed guilt: "Boss, I'm sorry, I didn't do a good job on the task you assigned me."

Chen Yan waved his hand gently, gesturing for Zhou Xiaobing to sit down first, while he walked to the window and looked down at the bustling street below.

Sunlight streamed through the glass, casting a steady silhouette on him.

After a long pause, he slowly spoke: "Soldier, tell me the specific situation over the past few months."

"Ok."

Zhou Xiaobing organized his thoughts and began to speak: "Three months ago, not long after I arrived here, my BD manager went out to explore the market and discovered that there was already a software in Jiangsu Province that was exactly the same as ours. They had already started promoting it on a large scale at the beginning of the year."

“Initially, they were taking a commission, but when we started promoting it, they switched to a zero-commission strategy.”

"In this way, users will naturally prioritize using their software, since we still have to take a 15% commission, but theirs is completely free!"

"So I immediately returned to Shanghai and reported this to you."

Zhou Xiaobing paused for a moment and looked at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan nodded, signaling him to continue.

"After returning to Jiangsu Province, I followed your instructions, boss, and also began implementing the 0% commission policy..."

Zhou Xiaobing had already reported what happened next to Chen Yan in a phone call yesterday.

After a two-month tug-of-war, [Daily Part-Time Jobs] surpassed [Easy Part-Time Jobs] in market share last month, but in response, the latter directly offered a 10% commission subsidy.

Then, the profit-driven user group once again overwhelmingly favored [Easy Part-Time Jobs], and its market share surpassed that of [Daily Part-Time Jobs] again, with the gap gradually widening.

It's fair to say that the current situation is extremely serious!
Generally speaking, if the market size is large enough, the top two internet companies can survive, such as Ali and JD.com, and PrettyTuan and Ele.me.

However, if the existing market is not large enough, then it's a case of "two tigers cannot share one mountain," and ultimately only one company can survive.

Clearly, the domestic part-time job market is not large enough to accommodate two internet platforms.

Therefore, we can only win this battle, we cannot afford to lose!
Now, Chen Yan has two paths before him.

The first strategy is to leave a few people here to try and maintain the existing market share, then the main force will withdraw from the Jiangsu market and focus on expanding into other provinces. After seizing most of the domestic territory, a "rural-to-urban" strategy will be used to gradually attack the Jiangsu market.

The second rule is to fight the other side head-on to the very end!
Damn it, it's just throwing money around!
Not to mention the money lying in the company account, I myself have 3000 million yuan in hand, and I'm just worried about where to spend it!
Do you expect me to make way for a plagiarist?

I'm sorry, I'm afraid it would be a disgrace to reborn people if I told anyone!
There's a saying that goes, "You don't feel bad about spending unexpected wealth." Young and impetuous Chen Yan decided to be reckless and fight the other side to the bitter end.

So, with a wave of his hand, he said directly, "Starting tomorrow, we will subsidize the salaries of part-time staff by 20%!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiaobing's pupils contracted slightly—a 20% salary subsidy meant that the trading platform would have to pay out 20% of its real money for each transaction.

Based on the current daily turnover of nearly 100,000 yuan in the Jiangsu Province market, this one region alone burns through nearly 20,000 yuan every day. Adding in rent, utilities, staff salaries and other expenses, the monthly cost is close to 800,000 to 900,000 yuan.

Moreover, once a large number of users return, it will lead to a sharp increase in revenue, which means that the amount of subsidies will also increase significantly.

This would mean monthly expenses exceeding one million!

This is an incredibly extravagant gesture!

After a moment of deep thought, Zhou Xiaobing decided to voice his concerns: "Boss, if our subsidies are 10% higher than theirs, we can indeed attract users to migrate in the short term."

"But the boss behind [Easy Part-Time Job] is said to be a rich second-generation heir whose family is in the textile business, and it seems that the factory is quite large."

"I'm afraid... if we end up spending all our money but fail to win the battle, we'll lose everything."

Ha ha.

Traditional manufacturing or the textile industry?
As Chen Yan turned around, a cold smile appeared on his lips. In his previous life, he had met some owners of textile factories. Generally speaking, the profit margin of such labor-intensive industries was pitifully low; a profit margin of 5% was already considered quite good.

To put it bluntly, they earn their money through hard work, unlike those who make money quickly in the gaming, e-commerce, and live-streaming industries, who also try to make money in the capital market through IPOs.

These capitalists don't feel bad about spending money, while the older generation of entrepreneurs who earned their money through hard work wouldn't let their children run wild.

"What are you afraid of? Have you forgotten who's behind us?"

Yes!

Zhou Xiaobing then remembered that behind "Daily Part-Time Jobs" stood Tencent, a wealthy and influential company.

A fighting spirit immediately rose in Zhou Xiaobing's eyes. He had been feeling quite frustrated lately because of the opponent's "money power".

Now that we have the big boss's instructions, we can finally hold our heads high.

What goes around comes around, and now it's my turn!

"Tonight I'll call a video conference with the BD managers of the four cities to share the subsidy details and on-the-ground sales pitches." Zhou Xiaobing looked up, and the sunlight from the window brushed past the bloodshot eyes, illuminating the burning battle within them.

"Oh, by the way, contact the property management companies of major commercial centers in Jinling; I also need to place LED advertising screens..."

........................

The following day, the subsidy policy involving the four cities was officially launched.

That evening at 7 p.m., the LED screen at the intersection of Jinling New Street displayed the slogan, "Daily part-time jobs, so your free time is no longer wasted! Starting tomorrow, all new and old users will receive an extra 20% salary bonus," accompanied by a dynamic red envelope rain that played on a loop.

At the same time, advertisements for "Daily Part-Time Jobs" appeared on large outdoor LED screens in major business districts such as Nanchang Street in Wuxi and Huaihai Square in Xuzhou.

Chen Yan's original words to Zhou Xiaobing were: Go for it, don't set any budget limits!
"If I don't show some attitude, then any Tom, Dick, or Harry will try to copy me."

Chen Yan decided to crush the opponent regardless of the cost, as a way to make an example of them.

At midnight, Zhou Xiaobing's phone displayed real-time data from the operations backend: 2.7 new registered users in the four cities, 18 times that of the previous day.

Zhou Xiaobing looked at the data on his phone screen, his eyes slightly red.

This feeling is absolutely amazing!

………………

On the other side, in an office building in Xinjiekou, the lights were on in an office on the 22nd floor, making it particularly eye-catching in the dark night.

This is the location of the company behind 【Easy Part-Time Jobs】.

At this very moment, everyone in the company is holding an emergency meeting in the conference room to discuss countermeasures.

The projector in the conference room flickered with blue light, casting a pale glow on everyone's faces.

Zhou Wei tugged at his tie in frustration. The tailored suit was still impeccably tailored, but it couldn't hide the anxiety in his eyes.

On the conference table were freshly printed photos of daily part-time field promotions—promoters in uniform stood at the entrance of the university town, with the bright red words "20% subsidy, no tricks" on the banner behind them particularly eye-catching.

"Mr. Zhang, they're going to fight to the death!"

Marketing Director Wang Qiang slammed his hand on the table, causing the liquid in his coffee cup to splash out. "A 20% subsidy is clearly a tactic that kills a thousand enemies but also hurts eight hundred of your own!"

Zhou Wei grabbed a cigar from the ashtray and took a deep drag, the smoke swirling and twisting above his head.

The financial report showing a 12% drop in profits this month from his father's textile factory is still sitting in his desk drawer, and company executives have begun to question his investment in internet projects.

He went to his father during the day, begging him to invest another 1000 million, but was refused without hesitation.

He even stated that "easy part-time jobs" are a bottomless pit, and he would never invest another penny into them.

"Why are you panicking?"

Zhou Wei exhaled a smoke ring, feigning composure: "They subsidize 20%, we'll increase it to 25%! I refuse to believe we can't outspend an outsider who survives on financing!"

CFO Li Juan pushed up her glasses and her fingers flew across the keyboard of her laptop: "But President Zhou, the company only has 150 million yuan in usable cash flow left. If we increase the subsidy to 25%, I'm afraid the company's cash flow will only last for a month at most, or even less."

"enough!"

Zhou Wei suddenly stubbed out his cigar and called over his assistant, Xiao Yang.

Xiao Yang pushed open the conference room door and walked to Zhou Wei's side. "Mr. Zhou, you wanted to see me?"

Zhou Wei pondered for a moment, then, as if he had made a decision, a resolute look flashed in his eyes.

He suddenly ripped off the Vacheron Constantin watch from his wrist, pulled the Ferrari 458 car keys from his pocket, and slammed them on the table: "Xiao Yang, sell all of these first thing tomorrow morning!"

There was dead silence in the conference room.

Assistant Xiao Yang stared at the wristwatch, its surface gleaming with a deep blue luster under the cold light, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Mr. Zhou, this...this is your favorite watch, and that car too."

"Cut the nonsense!"

Zhou Wei's temples throbbed. Recalling his father's scolding of him as a "spendthrift" this morning, an inexplicable anger surged in his chest. "The company is facing a life-or-death situation. Can this stuff feed us? I want to see cash in my account within three days!"

Marketing Director Wang Qiang swallowed hard and cautiously said, "President Zhou, even if we raise the money, we can't just go all out like this. Daily Part-Time has Tencent backing them up, and their spending speed is far beyond ours. How about we try negotiating with them?"

"negotiation?"

Zhou Wei suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot behind his glasses. "Don't you understand the saying 'two tigers cannot share one mountain'? Do you think the other side will coexist peacefully with us?"

He grabbed the ashtray and smashed it hard on the ground, sending shards of porcelain flying. Li Juan was so startled that she almost dropped her laptop.

Xiao Yang took two steps back, clutching the car keys and watch, and hesitated before saying, "Mr. Zhou, I know the Changshu secondhand market well, and I can get a good price for the car there. But this watch... if I'm in a hurry to sell it now, I'm afraid I won't get much money. Why don't you keep it?"

"Sell!"

Zhou Wei unbuttoned the mother-of-pearl button on his shirt collar, revealing the veins on his neck. "I'll sell it at half price if I can raise enough money!"

"alright."

Seeing Zhou Wei's insistence, his assistant, Xiao Yang, stopped trying to persuade him and left the meeting room with his watch and keys.

After that, no one expressed any further opinions, and everyone raised their hands in favor of the proposal to subsidize 25%.

Ultimately, they're just employees; as long as they get paid, they don't care what others sell.

………………

(Godfathers, please vote for me~)

(End of this chapter)