I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 341, Zhang Wei: No deposit required? Just make money! Orange Pad 1 Orange MagicBo
"What did you say? OFO bikes don't require a deposit?"

At the Didi Bike headquarters in Yanjing Digital Valley Software Park, Cheng Wei frowned and asked the head of the marketing department again for confirmation.

“Yes, Mr. Cheng,” Song Tianlu nodded in response.

He paused for a moment, then added, "OFO bike users only need to deposit 199 yuan into Yu'ebao and bind their Orange Pay account in their personal information to ride without a deposit."

"Chen Yansen is truly a formidable opponent!"

Cheng Wei said through gritted teeth, his grip on the pen making a cracking sound.

He had a direct confrontation with Chen Yansen in the ride-hailing industry, and no one knew Chen Yansen's terrifying nature and aggressive fighting style better than him.

He possessed none of the indecisiveness of a businessman, only the all-out strike of a lion hunting a rabbit.

OFO bikes were launched with 3000 bikes deployed in Hangzhou, and the deposit-free promotion immediately put Didi Bikes at a disadvantage.

The only saving grace is that OFO didn't choose Yanjing as its first stop.

Based on his understanding of Chen Yansen, Beijing will definitely be on OFO's list of cities for its next expansion.

"Mr. Cheng, should we adjust our deposit policy?" Song Tianlu asked directly.

"Not for now, but we need to be on guard. Wait a moment, I'll call Haibo and Lao Hu over."

After pondering for a while, Cheng Wei had a preliminary solution in mind. He picked up the landline on the table and immediately dialed: "Haibo, call Lao Hu, you two come over together."

“Okay, boss,” Zhang Haibo replied.

Although Song Tianlu was curious, he didn't ask too many questions. He figured the boss would tell him once Hu Weijian and Zhang Haibo arrived.

A short while later, Hu Weijian from the R&D department and Zhang Haibo from the product department walked in together.

"Old Hu, Haibo, I want to implement two new features. First, the deposit will be refunded immediately after the ride to eliminate users' concerns about funds being tied up. Second, a pre-paid deposit deduction function will be available, so users don't need to pay a deposit as long as their account balance is not less than 199 yuan."

Cheng Wei explained the situation clearly and logically.

In fact, in 2012, when the regulatory mechanism was not sound, there were many benefits to charging users a deposit for riding bikes.

Firstly, it reduces operational risks. The deposit can constrain users' vehicle usage behavior and reduce situations such as unauthorized possession, damage, and theft of vehicles.

Secondly, by covering operation and maintenance costs, user deposits can alleviate the financial pressure of vehicle deployment, maintenance and dispatch to some extent.
Thirdly, the pool of funds formed by deposits is also a source of funding for project expansion.

Whether the money was misappropriated or not, the users have no way of knowing!
Cheng Wei didn't see anything wrong with using deposits to pay suppliers for goods, operations, and labor costs.

Therefore, both of his proposed solutions are somewhat cumbersome in operation, but their purpose is still to get users to pay deposits and expand Didi Bike's capital pool.

Hu Weijian and Zhang Haibo looked at each other blankly. They were unaware of the launch of OFO bicycles.

"Senlian Capital established a bike-sharing company called Xingchi in October. This morning, it deployed 3000 bikes in Hangzhou and adopted a deposit-free operating model."

Song Tianlu gave a brief introduction to the background.

"Boss, I understand. I'll check it out with Lao Hu later. There's no technical difficulty," Zhang Haibo replied.

"It will be developed and launched in twenty days," Hu Weijian confidently stated.

"There's no need to rush. If OFO wants to make its business model work, it will need at least two or three months. It's best to refine it and strive to ensure there are no system bugs when it goes live."

Cheng Wei waved his hand, giving a worried remark.

He was traumatized by the exploitation by "wool party" members and shady business studios, and was afraid that Hu Weijian and Zhang Haibo might accidentally cause huge losses to the project again.

This time, he chose stability over speed!
Moreover, even if these two features were developed before OFO entered the North China market, he wouldn't launch them immediately.

Let's collect the deposit first!
“Yes, boss.” Hu Weijian replied quickly.

After Hu Weijian and Zhang Haibo left, Cheng Wei asked again, "The second generation of Didi Bikes is about to be launched on the market. You and the operations department need to work together to put the user's riding experience first."

“Okay, Mr. Cheng,” Song Tianlu replied.

The second-generation Didi bikes are at opposite ends of the spectrum from the first generation. They not only use an all-aluminum frame, but also feature magnesium-aluminum alloy wheels, solid explosion-proof tires, and smart locks, combining the advantages of being sturdy, durable, safe, and easy to find.

The problem is that while the combination of solid run-flat tires and magnesium-aluminum alloy wheels does effectively reduce the risk of punctures and blowouts, the riding experience is far from ideal. It's acceptable on flat roads, but going uphill can be incredibly difficult.

He knew it in his heart, and he knew Cheng Wei knew it too, but there was nothing he could do. In order to extend the lifespan of Didi Bikes, he had to sacrifice some user experience.

at the same time.

Hangzhou, Wulin Square subway station.

Hu Weiyi, Wang Zihao, and a group of senior and middle-level managers from Xingchi Technology each rode an OFO bicycle westward along Huancheng North Road.

This is Chen Yansen's requirement for the subsidiary's management personnel: they must fully experience the entire process of their own products.

Just like Kuaipao delivery, no matter which department you are a supervisor, director, or general manager, you have to log in to the Kuaipao rider app for at least 8 hours a year.

Otherwise, policies formulated by the business and R&D departments are prone to going astray and losing their human touch.

"This car is of good quality, fast enough, stable enough, and goes uphill without any effort."

Wang Zihao had been riding a bicycle since junior high school and was very skilled. After riding for three or four kilometers, he stopped and said to Hu Weiyi.

The remaining dozen or so executives, their foreheads beaded with cold sweat, parked their cars at the entrance of Wanxiang Park, then plopped down on the ground and began massaging their thighs and calves.

"The design draft was revised several times before the boss approved it. Under the premise of ensuring supply costs, OFO bikes have reached the optimal level of performance. I believe that opening a flagship store on Pinduoduo will result in good sales."

Hu Weiyi glanced at a group of executives resting by the roadside and shook her head inwardly.

"This is a good idea; it might even be a source of profit growth for our project."

Wang Zihao pondered for a moment, then replied earnestly.

“I was just kidding.” Hu Weiyi was slightly taken aback. “That just shows that President Hu does indeed have a talent for business.” Wang Zihao laughed loudly.

Hu Weiyi smiled and didn't take it to heart, just taking it as a joke.

But Wang Zihao thought it had great potential!
However, the most important thing for StarDrive Technology right now is to thoroughly understand and implement its business and business model, gradually expand its investment scale and service scope, and then use its scale advantage to negotiate with suppliers again in order to obtain lower supply prices.

Chen Yansen said that if all else fails, they can buy a bicycle factory, which would save costs and provide more jobs.

While they were experiencing OFO bikes, locals in Hangzhou, following their free taxi rides, were treated to another wave of free rides.

New users will receive 7 coupons worth 1 yuan each on the day of registration, with 1 coupon valid for 30 minutes each day.

With the help of Cheng Weixing's connections, Wang Zihao easily delivered OFO bicycles to the campuses of Jiangnan University, Jiangnan University of Technology, Jiangnan University of Science and Technology, and Jiangzhe Normal University.

After all, Cheng Weixing has been in Hangzhou for over a decade. The title of executive director of the Hangzhou University Student Entrepreneurship Alliance may not be useful elsewhere, but it is definitely effective in terms of school resources.

For college students, being able to ride from the teaching building to their dormitory or canteen for just one yuan is not an unacceptable thing.

OFO bikes are becoming increasingly popular on campus!

After college students use up their cycling vouchers for the day, they usually don't wait until the next day, but instead choose to pay to continue using them.

Offer one coupon per day to cultivate users and the market first, then aim for profitability.

On the first day of its launch, the 3000 OFO shared bicycles earned a total of 7400 yuan. After deducting depreciation, maintenance, operation and labor costs, the gross profit margin was less than 10%.

This shows that, like the ride-hailing industry, the bike-sharing industry relies on economies of scale to be profitable.

Invest heavily upfront, reap the rewards later.

Of course, if you fail to become the ultimate winner in the industry, then all the money you've invested will have been wasted.

For example, companies like Gaopeng.com, Wowo.com, and 24quan.com, which went bankrupt during the group-buying war, saw investment institutions pour billions of yuan into them, but ultimately didn't recoup a single penny.

……

……

Xucheng, Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park, Building 9.

Chen Yansen leaned back in his chair, flipping through the work emails sent by Hu Weiyi. The product had generated 7400 yuan in revenue on its first day of trial use.

In his view, it was a very good start.

Once the deployment scale is expanded to 100 million vehicles, it can generate 10 billion in revenue per year; 300 million vehicles would generate 30 billion in revenue.

In addition, when the time is right, OFO can also enter the shared electric vehicle sector and cooperate with Kuaipao to operate a battery swapping business for electric vehicles.

In this way, the advantages of having many subsidiaries and a wide range of businesses can be highlighted, and many resources can be shared, including maintenance, repair and dispatch personnel.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk-!"

At this time, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter!"

Chen Yansen responded.

Zhou Shouzhi walked in, carrying two new products.

"An engineering test unit of the Orange Pad 1 and Orange MagicBook? It looks pretty good. Lin Qingbai's design aesthetics have improved very quickly."

Chen Yansen put down the mouse and joked with a smile.

Previously, when Lin Qingbo was designing the Alexa smart speaker, he was repeatedly tormented by him and almost ran away with a bucket.

"If President Lin heard this, he'd probably be so excited he wouldn't be able to sleep all night," Zhou Shouzhi said with a faint smile, casually joking along with Chen Yansen.

"What are you and Wang Teng thinking?" Chen Yansen leaned back and asked Zhou Shouzhi.

Orange Technology's new products are all in preparation. Orange Pad 1 and Orange MagicBook are two 'money-making' products. From hardware to software, they have almost no self-developed patents and rely entirely on borrowed technology.

Therefore, Chen Yansen does not intend to 'boast' about these two transitional products at next year's spring launch event.

To be frank, aside from their cost-effectiveness, the Orange Pad 1 and Orange MagicBook don't have many outstanding advantages.

It can be seen as a trial project by Orange Technology to make up for the lack of product lines.

"Wang Teng wanted to hold a small-scale launch event via online live streaming. However, without any pre-launch promotion or publicity, relying solely on online channels for sales would make it difficult to improve the reputation and sales volume of Orange Pad 1 and Orange MagicBook."

Zhou Shouzhi explained slowly.

"Sure, don't worry about resources. What's Worth Buying and Toutiao will push content to promote the products first. Next, Pinduoduo will drive traffic to the entire site for Orange Pad 1 and Orange MagicBook."

Chen Yansen made the arrangements calmly.

Make money, don’t be shabby!
If sales meet expectations, the Aurora Future OS will be featured on the next generation of Orange tablets and laptops.

“Okay, boss.” Zhou Shouzhi nodded slightly, then placed the engineering testing machine on Chen Yansen’s desk for his boss to try out.

The two talked for more than ten minutes and finally set the product launch date for November 25.

the other side.

After receiving an 8 million yuan investment from Qiandu.com, Didi Chuxing quickly expanded its business to the Central China region.

Despite the provocative subsidies from Kuaidi Dache, Didi remained unmoved, focused solely on surviving.

However, due to the lack of subsidies for existing customers, Didi Chuxing's development has been extremely slow, posing almost no threat to Kuaidi Dache.

(End of this chapter)