Reborn in 08, a heretical cultivator starting a business

Chapter 197 Tencent Crushes WeChat, the Final Battle Erupts!
"Yes, there's no need to talk anymore. We can't take any chances. Let's just go straight to QQ Farm!"

"With all-out war underway, forget about authorization!"

"Manager Cui, what do you think?" Chairman Ma asked Cui Zhen.

Cui Zhen sighed: "That's what I think too. It's unlikely that Wang Junshan will agree to authorize us."

"WeChat and QQ are now the biggest competitors, so it's impossible for us to support them."

"Even if we split it 73/40, Wang Junshan won't agree. Instead, he wants to drag things out for another six months!"

"In the past six months, with the user growth of 'WeChat Farm' and the efforts of Nokia mobile phones, WeChat will quickly reach 1.5 million monthly active users, thereby narrowing the gap with QQ."

Chairman Ma nodded: "In that case, there's no need to make things difficult for ourselves."

Cui Zhen sighed: "The next six months will be the most crucial six months. I really hope something goes wrong with WeChat. Otherwise, even if QQ Farm is launched six months later, QQ's 3 million monthly active users will have limited advantage over WeChat's 1.5 million monthly active users."

"Yes, WeChat has grown so big that it can't be contained. With the addition of 'WeChat Farm,' the prospects are even better."

"It would be great if something unexpected happened to WeChat."

"It's difficult, extremely difficult. WeChat is a social network among acquaintances, and it's inherently relatively clean. If something unexpected really happens, it won't be WeChat's turn."

Zhou Chengjun, the newly appointed president of Paipai.com, sighed: "If WeChat reaches 1.5 million monthly active users, then YouTuan.com can also reach 1 million monthly active users. Our Paipai.com... sigh!"

Last year, Paipai.com's monthly transaction volume in the first three quarters was around 5 million yuan, with an annual GMV target of 60 billion yuan.

However, with the sweeping reforms by former president Xu Tiannian, including the complete removal of commissions, Paipai.com experienced a continuous loss of merchants and users, and its monthly transaction volume plummeted to around 2 million yuan.

Even though Tencent quickly canceled all commission and deposit requirements, only a small portion of the lost users and merchants returned.

Last month, Paipai.com's monthly transaction volume was only 2.3 million yuan.

Thanks to the accumulation of the first three quarters, the total transaction volume for the entire year of 2008 barely reached 50 billion.

However, in 2009, Paipai.com's annual GMV was estimated to be only around 30 billion yuan.

What concept?
Paipai.com, a comprehensive e-commerce platform, is only equivalent to a combination of JD.com and Dangdang.com, both vertical e-commerce platforms.

Isn't that the end of it?

Normally, the transaction volume of comprehensive e-commerce should be 5 to 100 times that of vertical e-commerce.

For example, Taobao's GMV reached 100 billion last year, and its target for this year is 200 billion!
Paipai.com had a GMV of 50 billion last year and its goal for this year is 30 billion!
Isn't this a joke?
But Zhou Chengjun was helpless; he was at a loss as to how to deal with the mess that Paipai.com had made.

If your reputation is ruined and businesses are disheartened, it won't matter who comes to your aid.

You can only give up.

Seeing this, Chairman Ma frowned and asked, "Chengjun, how confident are you in the revival of Paipai.com?"

Zhou Chengjun pondered for a long time: "Thirty percent at most."

Chairman Ma's heart trembled: "!!!"

"so little?"

"There's nothing we can do, Chairman. Taobao, the dominant e-commerce platform, is already a match for us. We've been further ruined by Xu Tiannian, who has tarnished our reputation and damaged our future."

"And then there's Vipshop. It's supposed to be a vertical e-commerce platform, but it's long since become a comprehensive e-commerce platform. Home appliances, 3C products, baby products, cosmetics, daily necessities, alcohol and beverages—it's a complete comprehensive e-commerce platform, but it mainly focuses on B2C."

"Vipshop has also become a comprehensive e-commerce platform, focusing on direct sales from brands and targeting the high-end market. This year, its GMV is expected to reach 500 billion yuan."

"Vipshop dominates the high-end market, taking away 500 billion yuan. Taobao dominates the low-end market, taking away 2000 billion yuan."

"And then there are Dangdang, JD.com, Redbaby, Newegg, E-commerce, and a whole host of other smaller platforms. How much market share can Paipai.com really have?"

"This..." Chairman Ma didn't know what to say: "Could it be that Paipai.com is really finished?"

“At the very least, we won’t recover this year, and it’s hard to say what will happen next year. I advise the chairman to make plans as soon as possible, such as establishing a new platform, learning from Vipshop, focusing on B2C.”

Yao Mingchen strongly agreed: "I also support it. Now that Alibaba has Taobao Mall for B2C and Vipshop for Future Tech, Tencent should definitely follow suit. Especially now that Paipai.com is not doing well, we need to focus on B2C! As for the name, it can be called QQ Mall."

"I object." But other senior executives chimed in: "If we can't even manage Paipai.com well, why create another QQ Mall? We'll be splitting our limited resources in two, and we'll end up failing at both."

"Yes, I also object."

“For C2C, we can just build a platform, which is asset-light and doesn’t require building warehousing and logistics. But for B2C, we have to build warehousing and logistics, which requires heavy assets.”

"Vipshop has invested 50 billion yuan to build 12 international warehouses and is also building future logistics. It has also made a strong investment of 18 billion yuan in Haier RRS."

"Taobao Mall is also making efforts in warehousing and logistics, and is actively negotiating with STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express, preparing to acquire stakes in two of them."

"They are all asset-heavy and are starting to focus on logistics. If we want to launch QQ Mall and focus on B2C, we also need to fully keep up with the warehousing and logistics competition, which also requires asset-heavy operations."

"But the problem is that Tencent is an internet company; we've never done any real industry or heavy asset business!"

"Yes, that's a problem. And once we do it, it will require an investment of several billion dollars, which will consume a lot of cash reserves."

"That's right. Future Technology has taken out more than 50 billion yuan in loans and interest to build its warehousing and logistics business, and invested 18 billion yuan in Haier Ririshun, bringing the total to 70 billion yuan."

"Alibaba had to spend billions to acquire some shares of the four major express delivery companies. Tencent also needs to invest 50 billion to do B2C."

"Paipai.com failed. At most, we will lose some money, a few hundred million a year, and a loss of more than one billion over three years."

"But QQ Mall is different. If it fails, it's not just a matter of losing hundreds of millions of yuan every year, but also billions of yuan invested in warehousing and logistics, all of which will be lost!"

"It's safe to say that the losses will be at least several billion!"

"Moreover, the possibility of failure is very high. After all, we have no e-commerce experience, let alone experience in asset-heavy industries. These are all blank areas for us."

"If QQ Mall fails and really loses billions, Tencent will be in trouble."

"Chairman, please reconsider!"

Upon hearing this, Chairman Ma fell silent.

Yes, times have changed.

In the past, B2C could be done just like C2C, with light assets, and it didn't matter if warehousing and logistics weren't involved.

But things are different now.

Wang Junshan has no martial ethics!

They directly invested in warehousing and logistics, starting with 50 billion yuan to build warehouses and 18 billion yuan to invest in RRS.

Not only did they give a large amount of their cash reserves to Haier and buy 47.37% of Ririshun's shares, but they also took on more than 5 billion yuan in debt!
As a result, Vipshop's logistics are getting faster and faster.

Taobao Mall and JD.com deliver on average in a week, while Vipshop currently delivers on average in three to four days, and in the future it will be able to deliver in two days, or even the next day!
That's absolutely insane.

If QQ Mall wants to focus on B2C, it will be forced to participate in the logistics race and get caught up in the competition.

That would require an investment of several billion.

If it works out, that would be great.

But if it fails, the losses would be too great for Chairman Ma to accept.

"Well, you're right. Let's put this on hold for now and reconsider it further. Those who advocate for it, please write a proposal, and the board will make a decision later."

"Yes," everyone responded. Their attitudes toward the future of QQ Mall also diverged.

"However, we can't let WeChat continue to run rampant," Chairman Ma said calmly.

"Don't worry, I've already issued the order. QQ will completely block WeChat links and 'WeChat Farm' links." Liu Cheng laughed. "In this way, WeChat will no longer be able to promote itself on QQ channels."

Previously, the plan was to license "WeChat Farm" while still maintaining a degree of consideration for users.

They're not even planning to introduce it anymore; they've just banned it!

Headquarters of the campus network.

Sun Yizhou was shocked: "WeChat not only has over 100 million users, but it has also launched a mobile client!"

"Doesn't that mean our on-campus farm has an even bleaker future?"

The vice president nodded: "The situation is very serious. The number of users of WeChat Farm is at least 9000 million, and there are not many potential users left for our campus farm."

"Now they've launched a Nokia mobile app, completely locking users in. Even if our campus farm launches next month, it will be difficult to compete with WeChat Farm."

"Yes, playing 'WeChat Farm' can be done on PC at home or on mobile phone outside. You can steal crops anytime, anywhere. But playing 'Campus Farm' can only be done with a computer and internet access, and the experience is much worse."

"This impact is fatal, extremely fatal. If it were me, I would also choose WeChat Farm."

"Me too."

Upon hearing this, Sun Yizhou's expression turned even uglier: "If we're going to start our on-campus farm, we also need to develop a mobile app for it."

"Is such that."

"Then our progress has slowed down again."

Sun Yizhou said helplessly, "The PC client for Campus Farm is almost finished and won't be fully launched until next month. We finally caught up. Now, we've fallen behind on mobile again, lagging behind by three or four months."

"There's nothing we can do, Chairman. The development speed of 'WeChat Farm' is too fast. We can only keep sprinting and trying to catch up!"

"That's true." Sun Yizhou nodded, his anger burning.

"It's all that damn bastard Dai Hede's fault for insisting on reverse engineering. Not only did the reverse engineering fail, but it also wasted several months of our time."

"Otherwise, why would the campus farm not be launched until next month? It could have been launched before New Year's Day."

"It's all because of that damn bastard Dai Hede."

"We should have just sent him in from the beginning!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions became complicated, and they even felt a sense of shared sorrow.

Previously, Dai Hede was Sun Yizhou's favorite general and his future successor.

Now, however, they hate him to the core, not only kicking him out but also wanting to send him to jail.

All I can say are that capitalists are the most ruthless!

Sun Yizhou grew angrier the more he thought about it: "It's because of Dai Hede that Xiaonei Farm was launched three months late, and Xiaonei was completely surpassed and crushed by WeChat. Now WeChat has over 100 million monthly active users, while Xiaonei only has 20 million."

"It's all because of that damned Dai Hede that the total sales of the Renren.com online store have only reached 700 million yuan after three months of operation. And the profit is still negative!"

"Damn it, Dai Hede deserves to die!"

"If this guy hadn't concealed the truth and missed the opportunity, our campus farm would have been launched long ago, our campus network would have reached 50 million monthly active users, and our revenue would have exceeded 100 million. Why would we have suffered losses for three consecutive months?"

"Damn, damn it!"

The vice president sighed: "Chairman, there's no point in saying all this now. The most crucial thing is to accelerate the final research and development and testing so that the campus farm can officially launch next month. At the same time, I suggest that we start developing the Nokia version of the campus farm now!"

"Okay, let's start right away. The sooner we launch, the sooner we can compete with WeChat Farm!"

"Okay, let's aim to launch the PC version of Campus Farm in February and the Nokia version in May."

"Okay, let's do it as soon as possible. If this continues, Renren will never catch up with WeChat."

"You know, just six months ago, WeChat looked up to our Renren.com. But now, Renren.com is looking up to WeChat!"

"Dai Hede, you fucking deserve to die!"

Everyone: "..."

U-Tuan Technology Headquarters.

Looking at the backend data, Wang Junshan smiled: "In just half a day, Nokia's WeChat user base has surpassed eight million. Excellent! At this rate, we'll reach fifteen million today!"

Tang Zhi nodded: "It's not a big problem. It's mainly because people are switching from the PC version. They all find the mobile version convenient and novel. Of course, it has also attracted a lot of new users."

"According to backend data, 80 users are not PC users, but purely mobile users."

Wang Junshan was not surprised: "It's normal. Many users who don't have computers also want to play 'WeChat Farm,' and now that the mobile version is available, it's their opportunity."

"Next, both the number of users of WeChat Farm and WeChat will experience a crazy surge."

"If we don't seize this opportunity, the future situation will become very serious."

"Tencent will definitely take action."

Just as Wang Junshan finished speaking, a knock sounded at the door, and Shen Huaijin walked in:
"Chairman, just now, QQ blocked all WeChat links and 'WeChat Farm' links!"

"They've come as expected!" Wang Junshan said calmly, "Alright, I understand. Initiate a high-level meeting; the decisive battle is about to begin!"

"Yes."

Soon, all the senior executives arrived at the conference room.

Wang Junshan began, "As you all know, just now, QQ completely blocked WeChat. This is a huge challenge for us."

"It is undeniable that in the past, QQ, Baidu Tieba, Tianya Forum, and the four major portal websites all played a significant role in the rapid spread of WeChat."

"Especially QQ."

"But now, QQ has taken action and completely blocked WeChat, which means we will have far fewer channels for dissemination."

"And this is just the beginning. Tencent will launch a full-scale attack to crush WeChat."

Everyone nodded, their expressions becoming serious.

"As the saying goes, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' Let's all think about where the opponent might attack next."

Tang Jinghe spoke first: "Tencent will follow up with 'WeChat Farm' and create a QQ Farm to compete with us for users."

Wang Junshan nodded: "That's inevitable. I already have a plan on how to deal with it. What else?"

Tang Zhidao said, "Tencent.com will reduce its coverage of WeChat, especially positive and uplifting content."

"Therefore, we also need to build a platform for public opinion to counter the four major portal websites."

Wang Junshan nodded: "That's right, we created Weibo for that purpose. How's the progress?"

(End of this chapter)