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

Chapter 354 Overseas Hit, Ofo Bikes Launched! 800 Billion Yuan a Year, Cheng Wei's Shady Tactics!
On the morning of December 13, the three major e-commerce platforms successively released their sales reports for the Double Twelve promotion.

Ahri: 103.7 billion!
Pinduoduo's revenue reached 40.6 billion!
JD.com's revenue is 16.9 billion!
The total sales exceeded 160 billion yuan, and with the 300 billion yuan from Singles' Day, the cumulative sales from the two major promotions in Q4 reached 460 billion yuan.

Subsequently, the China Post Association released data showing that the average daily volume of parcels nationwide in December was 2600 million, and the total number of parcels handled by the express delivery industry for the year is expected to exceed 80 billion.

Combined with Ma Liyun's announcement that Ali's GMV has reached one trillion yuan, this marks the official entry of e-commerce into its golden decade of peak performance.

Netizens then remembered the bet between Ma Liyun and Wanda Group CEO Wang Jianlin: perhaps ten years from now, e-commerce will truly become the mainstay of the retail industry, occupying half of the market.

Meanwhile, under pressure to survive, Dianping and Meituan had no choice but to turn to Ali and join Juhuasuan in a high-profile manner in order to gain traffic support and extend the lifespan of their projects.

Chen Yansen's password-protected red envelope campaign is still ongoing.

The founders used a simple and direct marketing tactic of giving away money on social media platforms to attract user attention and increase product downloads, registrations, and activity levels—a first in China.

With over 6000 million followers across the internet, Chen Yansen brought over 700 million new users to Orange Pay and over 1000 million downloads to Toutiao. Pinduoduo's sales also saw a significant upward trend.

For Ma Wenteng, Orange Pay's addition of contact list and chat functions is likely a sign that Senlian Capital is entering the social software field.

He wanted to call Chen Yansen to test his true thoughts, but every time that half-smiling face appeared in his mind, his heart would tighten.

That kid is too cunning; you can't get any useful information out of him.

Ma Wenteng muttered to himself.

Privately, he instructed Zhang Xiaolong to copy Orange Pay and Yu'ebao, but Chen Yansen was equally ruthless, also stepping into the social software industry.

Therefore, after thinking for a moment, Brother Ma stopped taking out his phone.

Otherwise, if Chen Yansen calls to question us when WeChat Pay and Lingqianbao are launched, should we answer the phone or not?
Ma Liyun, who was far away in Hangzhou, couldn't help but have some ideas after learning that Orange Pay's red envelope function was a great success.

copy!
Copy it spree!

Not long after, the Zhifubao R&D team received a new task: to add social attributes to Zhifubao, modeled after Orange Pay's product logic and UI style.

In 2012, there was no awareness of copyright on the internet. Today you copy me, tomorrow I copy you; the one who survives is the big winner.

……

……

500 million downloads in the first week?
In Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park, Chen Yansen sat on the sofa in his office, dragged the mouse, and opened Mao Chaorong's weekly work report.

Mimo's start was even smoother than he had imagined.

With 500 million downloads in a single week and daily active users maintaining around 200 million, it's clear that the user engagement and retention rate are extremely high.

Cover song competitions for "Skyfall" and "Live While We're Young," as well as videos featuring Harry Potter's magic broom, hand gesture dances, facial expression dances, funny jokes, cooking videos, and makeup tutorials, all became popular on Mimo.

Chen Yansen picked up his phone, opened Mimo, and the startup screen displayed the words 'Moment in, moment out,' signifying the product's fast-paced nature and its ability to bring users instant and efficient joy in a short period of time.

The first video is created by a user using editing techniques to create the illusion of hovering in the air, wearing a Gryffindor robe, holding a wand, and with a broom between his legs, just like Harry Potter.

It received 138 million likes, 10 comments, and 37 shares.

The user who posted this video gained 15.7 followers in just three days.

The comments section was full of netizens asking the blogger how she did it!

To put it bluntly, this thing is nothing more than the result of forced perspective shooting and image splicing. In a decade or so, it would be considered an editing technique that has been overused. But in 2012, it instantly broke through Mimo's traffic pool.

User engagement data far surpasses that of cover videos of "Skyfall" and "Live While We're Young," which are even several times more popular.

It's worth noting that "Skyfall" is the theme song for "Skyfall" (007), sung by North American pop diva Adele, and it inherently carries its own popularity and buzz.

"Live While We're Young" is the title track of One Direction's second album. Upon its release, it topped the music charts in more than 50 countries around the world in less than 24 hours.

Their influence is equivalent to 10, or even 20, TFBOYS!

However, it lost out to the magic broom flying video in terms of traffic. After some thought, Chen Yansen believed that the main reasons were: firstly, the poster was an ordinary person; secondly, Harry Potter has extremely high popularity in North America; and thirdly, the content was novel enough.

It must be said that Mao Chaorong's operational strategy is excellent. Under his guidance, Mimo quickly found the right direction for development.

First, retain regular users, then gradually expand to external compatibility.

Given the mobile phone tariff standards and network penetration rate in the United States, 5 million users are far from Mimo's limit. If it can maintain the current download growth rate, it may be able to achieve 100 million registered users in less than a year.

Of course, it is still far behind Facebook. After all, Facebook has a billion monthly active users in Asia, South America and Europe and the United States at this time. Otherwise, it would not be able to support a market value of hundreds of billions of US dollars.

Mimo's explosive popularity quickly spread to China. Despite the high data charges and the need for a VPN, tens of thousands of domestic users have secretly bypassed the Great Firewall to log in, driven by a desire to "open their eyes to the world."

But they had no idea that the software was developed domestically.

Time flies, and it's noon.

Chen Yansen stood by the window and glanced down. Groups of employees walked together toward the cafeteria.

He thought for a moment, then pushed open the door and went out.

the other side.

After failing to reach an agreement with Cheng Wei, Xiang Hailong of Didi Chuxing sued Didi Bike for unfair competition, accusing it of maliciously registering the trademark.

Cheng Wei was prepared for this and instructed his lawyer to argue: First, there is a difference in branding. 'Didi' evokes the sound of water dripping, while 'Didi' sounds more like a car horn. The two are clearly different in terms of visual appeal, auditory perception, and meaning. Second, there is a difference in service. One is a ride-hailing service, and the other is a bike-sharing service.

The two sides have completely fallen out!
While Cheng Wei's actions were controversial, Li Yanhong's actions were even more excessive. Under the guise of investment, he kicked the founder of Didi Chuxing out of the management team one day and then threatened to sue him the next.

For a time, entrepreneurs who were in contact with Baidu's investment department either gave up on cooperation or became more vigilant, fearing that they would suffer a similar fate.

"Qiandu is too domineering. When someone invites you to dinner, it not only takes away the pot, but also drives the chef away."

"Have you all forgotten about the fake medicine scandal two years ago? It's not like Qiandu is being this bad for the first time!"

"I remember now, the copyright infringement case involving Qiandu Wenku last year also came to nothing. It seems that President Li only allows officials to set fires while forbidding ordinary people from even lighting lamps."

Netizens are discussing the matter extensively, bringing up old issues again and pushing Baidu into the spotlight.

In the eyes of ordinary people, Cheng Wei has become a dragon-slaying hero who rebels against 'internet giants'.

Capitalizing on this surge in traffic, Cheng Wei immediately decided to launch Didi Bike service simultaneously in Tianjin, Tangcheng, and Anci.

But before he could be happy for even ten minutes, he received feedback from the marketing department that a large number of shared bikes had been spotted near Xizhimen, Dongzhimen, Guomao, and Wangfujing.

"Ofo bikes?" Cheng Wei's expression froze, and he immediately realized that a brand new competitor had appeared.

"Yes, the bicycles are painted entirely in yellow, and the product name is 'Little Yellow Bike.' It is estimated that a total of 5000 bicycles have been deployed."

"This is what Song Tianlu, the Marketing Director, said in response."

"Smart lock or mechanical lock?" Cheng Wei asked Song Tianlu after a few seconds of contemplation.

"Just like our first-generation product, it uses a mechanical lock." Song Tianlu seemed to understand what his boss meant and chuckled.

"Isn't this brain-dead? He doesn't want to fall into the same traps that Didi Bike encountered. Find a few people and give him a hand."

Cheng Wei squinted and gave the order.

Although it wasn't explicitly stated, Song Tianlu understood and readily nodded.

at the same time.

Chang Wei and a group of senior executives from Ofo (the bike-sharing company) waited at the entrance of Xidan subway station, watching the commuters coming and going.

Given his family background, the company's setup process went smoothly from the moment he announced his entrepreneurial venture, and negotiations with suppliers were also extremely successful.

In less than ten days, Yanjing Klock Technology Company was established. Immediately afterwards, Chang Wei brought in a group of top students from Peking University from the School of Computer and Software Engineering to form a product development team.

In just over a month, Ofo went from nothing to successfully deploying its first batch of 5000 shared bikes in Yanjing.

For him, starting a business is as simple as drinking water and eating.

How many shared bikes does Didi Bike have in Yanjing?

Chang Wei asked casually.

"When Cheng Wei was interviewed last time, he publicly stated that the number was 1.6. According to my recent observations, Didi Bike has deployed two more batches of new bikes, totaling approximately 2.6."

The marketing manager of Ofo (the bike-sharing company) thought about it carefully and then responded.

"We still need 2.1 more! We need to deliver 10 finished bicycles to the bicycle factory in Tianjin by the end of the month."

Chang Wei frowned slightly and whispered his instructions.

Before its launch, Ofo had secured 3000 million yuan in investment from Weile Capital and GSR Ventures. Including user deposits, this funding was sufficient to support the project to deploy 50 bikes.

"Yes, boss," the marketing manager replied quickly.

Chang Wei was completely unaware that Didi Bike's maintenance staff were using their phones to enter the serial numbers of each of the yellow bikes and record the unique password for each one.

After a long day of hard work, an Excel spreadsheet containing the unlock codes for 2700 Ofo bikes quietly began circulating on social media platforms such as Baidu Tieba, Renren, BBS, and QQ Space.

Furthermore, thanks to the efforts of enthusiastic netizens, the number of passwords in the table increased, eventually reaching more than 3900.

Then, a tech enthusiast emerged and turned the spreadsheet data into a query software. By simply entering the bicycle number, the corresponding unlocking password could be obtained immediately, thus saving a lot of time searching.

The software was well received upon its release.

Because it's a mechanical lock, these people don't even need to download the Ofo bike-sharing app.

As for a deposit? Of course, you don't need to pay one.

In the first few days, Chang Wei didn't realize anything was wrong. He just felt that the daily usage frequency of Ofo bikes was too low, only 1.4 times, and the daily revenue was between 4000 and 5000 yuan, which was completely different from what he had expected.

It wasn't until he was browsing the forum that he stumbled upon a pinned post: [Featured] Ofo Bike Password (Updated in real time, currently 5684 bikes).

Chang Wei was stunned for a moment, then his face turned ashen!

Damn it, there are only 8000 Ofo bikes in total, and these bastards have managed to collect the unlocking codes for 5684 of them?
He quickly downloaded the form and sent it to the operations and maintenance department for verification.

Ten minutes later, the operations and maintenance department sent an affirmative reply: "Boss, the password accuracy rate is 98.7%."

The implication is that the mechanical locks on Ofo bikes are seen as a joke by bargain hunters.

"It seems I overestimated the quality of the people."

Chang Wei sighed. He couldn't understand why these users were unwilling to spend even a single yuan, yet insisted on exploiting system loopholes.

Unlike Didi Bike, Cheng Wei used mechanical locks to reduce costs. He was foolish; he didn't even have a smart lock alternative. Finding a supplier and replacing the locks would have taken at least a week.

Chang Wei had no choice but to watch helplessly as people took advantage of Ofo bikes.

Upon learning this, Zhu Xiaohu of Jinsha Venture Capital was both amused and exasperated, secretly thinking: With a brain like that, he wants to start a business? Isn't that ridiculous?

Anyway, the first payment has already been made, so whether Ofo bikes survive or fail is not of much concern to him.

His reason for investing money wasn't based on the project's potential. In the world of business, while fighting and killing are important, navigating interpersonal relationships is even more crucial.

Seeing that Chang Wei was being completely fooled, Cheng Wei chuckled and threw himself into the work of market development.

December 21st is the winter solstice, which is also the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world.

After successfully implementing its business processes and business model, OFO deployed a total of 7.5 shared bicycles in six cities, including Nanjing, Luzhou, and Shanghai, expanding at an extremely rapid pace.

Cheng Wei breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, as the other party seemed to have no immediate plans to head north.

After inquiring around, he learned that the person in charge of OFO bike-sharing was actually the CEO of an automotive magazine. Although he had some business operation experience, he had never been involved in the bike-sharing industry.

However, OFO's market expansion efforts still made him wary. He immediately convened a mobilization meeting with middle and senior management, planning to completely take over the North China market before moving south to compete with OFO.

He didn't even notice the tiny yellow bicycle.

That afternoon, Pei Yi was interviewed by Shanghai TV, where he revealed for the first time the latest developments of Kuaipao Takeaway.

After conquering the East China, Central China, North China, South China and Northeast China markets, Kuaipao's daily order volume surged in December, with a month-on-month growth rate of 21.4%, officially breaking the 6 million mark. The company has as many as 70,000 full-time riders and 30,000 part-time riders.

The platform's daily transaction volume is over 2 million yuan, and it is expected to reach 800 billion yuan annually.

Two years ago, the food delivery industry was disliked by investors, but it suddenly became a hot commodity.

Besides Taobao Takeaway, Minzhou's '123 Takeaway Network' also has 7000 orders per day. Despite Kuai Pao's dominant position, there are still many small takeaway websites struggling to survive.

(End of this chapter)