The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

July 8th.

Many retail manufacturers have come to Shanghai, including Liu Biyang, who sells dew.

To be honest, selling water is definitely extremely profitable.

The premise is that you can sell the water. The price of dew is very low. The water source mainly comes from the city's tap water and undergoes a series of strict processing processes, such as reverse osmosis.

All other substances, including minerals, are removed from the water, resulting in clear and transparent pure water.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this type of water may not sound very good; most water is like this.

Water is not something that requires much technology; in fact, you could say it requires no technology at all.

The key to selling well is marketing. You have to get customers to choose you from a group of established brands, and that's the hardest part.

Yilu only managed to gain a small market share by offering low prices.

Just when he thought his life would be like this forever, an opportunity fell from the sky.

The "Snack Run" campaign also included a manufacturer alliance conference sponsored by Tencent Group. Isn't that an opportunity?
In recent years, Tencent Group has been incredibly successful in traditional sectors. For example, it sold milk tea and went public in less than a year.

They can even sell coffee on NASDAQ.

Nowadays, 10,000 snack specialty stores are opening in less than a year.

If someone else said this, they would definitely scoff.

Tencent Group is absolutely capable of doing it. If we're talking about the most successful ecosystem alliance in recent years, it's undoubtedly Xiaomi.

Who doesn't know Lei Jun's name?
It's clear that Tengying Group wants to leverage the offline channel of Snack Run to build an ecosystem alliance within the traditional retail industry.

It certainly has the capability to do this, once it gains access to Tencent's distribution channels and traffic support.

His "one dewdrop" might just be able to compete with traditional large water plants like "a little sweet" and "C'estbon".

However, the most popular one this year is Hengda Shui, which quickly became popular throughout the country by relying on football.

They then quickly disappeared from the market due to price reductions.

At five yuan a bottle, who would buy it from a real estate company?
Hengda has been selling water and grains and oils for years, trying many traditional things, but not doing any of them well.

Perhaps selling houses is too profitable, and they simply don't care about these worthless things.

In just a few days, more than 30 retail and manufacturing companies applied to invest in Tengying.

A series of manufacturers will subsequently submit proposals for equity investment and cooperation.

Chen Pingsheng's first task was to select high-quality manufacturers from among them.

Fortunately, he already had his own investment team and market research department.

The investigation can be conducted based on multiple aspects, including the founder, the specific circumstances of the factory's operation, and food hygiene and safety.

We'll decide whether or not to collaborate at the last minute.

In fact, it's only a matter of time before a traditional industry develops to the point where it starts building its own industrial ecosystem.

The most important thing is to think about this question.

What kind of development can he bring to others by taking their shares?
That is, the benefits.

After much deliberation, Chen Pingsheng decided to focus on establishing tens of thousands of offline channels.

This is the most obvious benefit.

This is also a major factor that attracts manufacturers to cooperate with him.

Secondly, it empowers. After investing, Tengying will not participate in the manufacturer's production management, but it can proactively provide traffic support.

This includes celebrity endorsements and online live streaming.

This is also a major benefit that is obvious to everyone.

He not only has celebrities and artists under his wing, but also so many top live streamers. With just a word from Teng Ying.

Countless people are vying to speak up for you; this is the kind of traffic that manufacturers desperately need.

Times have changed; whoever controls traffic controls business.

This is also a viewpoint that Chen Pingsheng has repeatedly advocated.

As it turns out, this is absolutely the right business philosophy.

The traffic resources that traditional manufacturers desperately need are not a problem for him at all.

After a direct review by the market research team, three brands were selected as the first to cooperate.

They are Yilu mineral water and a brand that specializes in producing spicy strips and ice cream.

Of the three investors, Yilu Mineral Water has the highest valuation.

With a valuation of 200 million, Snack Run invested 60 million to acquire a 30% stake.

The spicy strip business is valued at 100 million yuan, and we'll invest 30 million yuan to acquire a 30% stake.

The ice cream brand was valued at 80 million, and an investment of 24 million would secure a 30% stake.

The partner companies all hold a 30% stake.

If all 15 billion yuan were invested, Snack Run could acquire stakes in at least forty to fifty retail companies.

In the future, a series of actions will be taken to bring these brands to the public.

Chen Pingsheng was merely the developer of this business model, not its implementer.

After all, he considered a 15 billion investment to be a small investment.

Its main function is to help SnackRun achieve a full industry layout and build an unbreakable moat for its future development.

All of these developments are preparations for the eventual cashing out of the shares.

As for these manufacturers, how many will eventually become listed companies?

He didn't know either.

We'll have to see how SnackRun operates in the future.

It has to be said that, in the short term, the Snack Run brand has created quite a stir in the retail industry.

Those investors who were rejected by him, seeing that they couldn't invest in him, had no choice but to take their money and invest in others.

Chen Pingsheng ignored these matters.

Besides being busy with snack rushes in July, the most important thing was the mid-year cruise night at Shuiyunjian in Shanghai.

In other words, it's a sales conference.

Shuiyunjian chose to hold this grand event on a super cruise ship, so naturally, countless celebrities will attend.

We have already invited over a thousand top-tier clients.

The night at Shuiyun Pavilion in the capital has always been a great success.

This is the first time in Shanghai.

In order to make this grand event a success, his wife simply stopped bringing their children home.

He was completely focused on that.

Chen Pingsheng certainly hoped she would succeed, after all, he was broke now and needed this event to raise billions to keep his pockets full.

……

Chen Pingsheng went home.

Chang Fu also brought his wife and children with him. Next month, Deer Antler Coffee will be officially listed on Nasdaq.

Based on the development over the past few months, reaching a market value of over 20 billion is definitely not a problem.

One of them is now Fu Ye, a well-known figure on Xin Teng's live streaming platform, and the other is the president of Deer Horn Coffee, making them a well-matched couple.

"Old Chen, you probably have no idea who I ran into in Shanghai!"

Who else could you possibly run into?

"Yang Kang, our junior high school classmate, that tagalong Yang Kang, do you still remember him?"

"I remember, we haven't been in touch with that guy for many years, have we?"

Many friends grew up together, but somehow they drifted apart over time.

In the decades of life, most of our friends are only friends for a short period of time.

Chen Pingsheng had a pretty good impression of Yang Kang. He had followed them around since junior high school, doing whatever they asked.

Their family was also the best-off.

"It's been quite many years since I've seen this."

"You brought the child here, you didn't just want to talk to me about him, did you?"

"Of course not, it's mainly because Yang Qian's best friend is also our classmate, and she's coming to Shanghai to hold a class reunion."

"Holding a class reunion in Shanghai?"

Chen Pingsheng asked in confusion, "Why?"

"Isn't it because you're so famous now?"

Chang Fu handed the child to his wife, saying, "Now that your snack 'Runaway' is so popular online, it'll probably be on the market next year, right?"

"There shouldn't be any major problems next year."

Chen Pingsheng said, "There are no barriers to entry for this thing. I'm just moving a bit faster now. The competition will definitely be fierce in the future. On the other hand, I heard from Hangzhou that major internet companies are all going to enter the vegetable selling field."

"Selling vegetables?"

Chang Fu asked in bewilderment, "There are only a handful of companies that you would call major internet companies. Why would they go into selling vegetables? Is it really necessary?"

"You underestimate selling vegetables!"

Chen Pingsheng shook his head. "Do you think that big internet companies are going into selling vegetables just for a few cents in profit?"

"If you look at it from the perspective of the retail industry, what item is more essential than selling vegetables? Do you know why Teng Hui Department Store has such a large foot traffic? The core reason is that it does a good job in the fresh food sector."

"The vegetable market has not been valued by the capital market in the past, mainly because it is too difficult to unify. But putting aside the difficulty, the vegetable market is a trillion-dollar market and the most frequently consumed essential market in the country. If it can be unified, it is definitely possible to create a hundred-billion-dollar internet company."

"The key is still selling vegetables, basically small vendors. Do you think these people can compete with big internet companies?"

"Old Chen, aren't you the most qualified to do this?"

Chang Fu believes that when it comes to understanding the fresh food industry, no one among the billionaires knows the market better than Chen Pingsheng.

Since it's a trillion-dollar market, why doesn't he just do it himself?

"Being qualified is one thing, but being willing to do it is another."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Go to the vegetable market and see what kind of people sell vegetables every day. These people get up early and work late. They have to start buying and selling goods at one or two in the morning. Or they are old men and women who bring out the vegetables they grow themselves to sell."

"You say that if internet giants choose these people as their competitors and let them rampage into the vegetable selling industry, it will be nothing more than the same old tricks."

"Burn money, burn money, keep burning money to acquire customers, and then directly eliminate all the middlemen and get rid of them."

"When a grocery delivery app like this comes along, do you know how many people who rely on it to earn a living from dawn till dusk will go out of business?"

"Old Chen, isn't this something you should be considering?"

Changfu felt that he had become a completely different person since he became rich, and his perspective on things was on a completely different level from his own.

"It really shouldn't be something I should be considering."

Chen Pingsheng said, "I just can't bring myself to do it, because the thought of a few people wanting to make money would lead them to eliminate small vendors who make a living by selling vegetables at all costs."

"However, this is not entirely without benefits for me. As of yesterday, three major internet companies have contacted me, meaning they want to acquire my Tengsheng Fresh Food."

Which three?

"Which three companies could it be? It's Meituan, Alibaba, and Richard Liu. They all want to acquire Tengsheng Fresh, the number one retail fresh food brand in the country that has already been established."

What's your quote?

"They quoted $12 billion."

"12 billion US dollars??"

Chang Fu was quite shocked by him; he had no idea how Chen Pingsheng had come up with that price.

Even if Tengsheng Fresh goes public, its market value won't reach this level.

There's nothing more outrageous than this; it's just that he can't comprehend it no matter how hard he tries.

Internet giants have gone mad, spending $12 billion to buy his fresh produce business.

Chen Pingsheng lay on the rocking chair, indifferent to the situation.

He would never sell it for less than $12 billion.

Besides, he has invested a total of 1.8 billion yuan in Tengsheng Fresh over the years.

Selling it for $12 billion is not unusual.

For those big internet companies, money is not an issue at all, as long as it has its eye on something.

Anyway, none of it belongs to me. The key thing is selling vegetables; the traffic is huge.

Nothing is consumed more frequently than vegetables.

Whoever controls the vegetable sales portal controls the core user channel.

In this sense, his offer of $12 billion is justified.

It's no exaggeration.

It's even relatively low.

He wouldn't have even considered $12 billion if he didn't want to use the money to activate the Golden Finger.

It all depends on whether those big internet companies are willing to do it.

Once he gets this money, he'll have a secure source of funding to support new energy vehicles for the next few years.

That's one good thing about big internet companies; they're really willing to spend money.

(End of this chapter)