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

Chapter 481 OTA War, Traffic Ban! Since Liang Zhangjian is courting death, let's grant him his wish!

On Teachers' Day, Ctrip, together with eLong and Qunar, launched a campaign against Kuaipao Travel, while Tuniu and Tongcheng chose to remain on the sidelines, not daring to participate, for fear of being included in Senlian Capital's crackdown list.

Liang Zhangjian's provocative tactic of poaching talent with high salaries left his peers speechless with astonishment, all marveling at his audacity.

After all, Baidu had just suffered a defeat. It took three months and more than 3 billion yuan to win over even 20% of the market share.

Now, with Kuai Pao's counterattack, its market share has shrunk again.

Who can guarantee that Ctrip won't become the next Baidu?
According to data from iResearch Consulting, the market structure of online travel agencies (OTAs) in China in 2013 was as follows: Ctrip accounted for 36.1%, Kuaipao accounted for 29.4%, Tongcheng accounted for 11.6%, Tuniu accounted for 7.3%, Qunar accounted for 6.2%, and eLong accounted for 4.9%.

This shows that the current situation is that the eldest brother is leading the fifth and sixth brothers to fight the second brother, while the third and fourth brothers are watching from the sidelines.

Liang Zhangjian's fight back was simply because Kuaipao Travel's market share was about to exceed 30%, which had already threatened Ctrip's leading position in the industry.

He primarily targets regional managers and above, key sales personnel, supply chain management team members, and core product and technical staff at Kuaipao Travel.

For example, if a middle-level manager at Kuaipao originally had an annual salary of 40 yuan, Ctrip would offer them 80 to 90 yuan.

Of course, this is a package price including salary and stock options.

For key grassroots sales personnel, their base salary will be doubled, and KPI bonuses will be increased by 50%.

For developers of the Kuaipao Hotel & Travel Automation System, generous offers were made, including double the salary and an additional signing fee of 10 or 20 yuan.

It must be said that this tactic was very effective; not many people could resist the temptation of double wages.

That afternoon, Ctrip poached more than half of Kuaipao's hotel and travel team in the Nanjing area, including managers and team members, totaling more than 10 people.

Even if it's a temporary resignation, requiring them to forgo N+1 compensation, lose an unfrozen stock option, and be subject to a non-compete agreement, these people are determined to leave.

Ctrip is willing to bear all the compensation costs and has even proposed a plan to exchange Ctrip stock for Kuaipao stock options.

It's worth noting that Ctrip went public a decade ago. Once employees receive their shares and the lock-up period is over, they can cash them out, making the liquidity undoubtedly stronger.

However, Kuai Pao has not even shown any signs of going public!
Pei Yi sneered after receiving the message.

He was always the one to take the initiative, and this was the first time he had been surrounded and attacked. Although it felt a little strange, he was not afraid at all.

He knew very well that the hotel and travel industry was a low-frequency consumption industry, while Kuaipao had three high-frequency consumption scenarios: food delivery, group buying, and grocery shopping.

He firmly believed that there was no reason to fail in using high-frequency attacks against low-frequency attacks.

Ctrip's approach is indeed disgusting. If they raise the salaries of the employees in the travel and hospitality department, other departments will definitely be unhappy. But if they ignore it, the turnover rate of the travel and hospitality department will rise rapidly.

Even if he offered the same salary as Ctrip, it wouldn't help; what if they offered three times that?

Does this mean it's going to keep rising indefinitely?
After a moment's thought, Pei Yi called Zhang Xuhao, Shan Jiawei, and Liang Changlin to discuss countermeasures. Kou Zhen, who was in charge of the takeout sales promotion business, and Kang Jia, who was in charge of the group-buying sales promotion business, also entered the meeting room.

"President Pei, I suggest initiating arbitration against employees who violated the non-compete agreement. We need to let these people know that double pay from Ctrip isn't so easy to get."

"I said in a cold voice."

He came from Ali's Chinese supply team and had already accumulated mature and rich experience in dealing with this kind of situation.

Although Ctrip may evade responsibility by having employees join under pseudonyms or signing labor contracts with other companies, the necessary legal proceedings still cannot be avoided.

Otherwise, everyone will think that Kuaipao is weak and easy to bully, and even Tuniu and Tongcheng, who want to reap the benefits, might take the opportunity to pounce and bite.

Pei Yi nodded after hearing this. He knew that doing so would not be of much practical use, but he still agreed. He then said, "There are three things I wanted to tell you."

"First, we adjusted the organizational structure by merging the on-the-ground sales team for the hotel and travel business with the catering team to reduce the efficiency of Ctrip's targeted poaching; then we transferred elites from other departments to temporarily support vacant positions in the hotel and travel business."

At this point, Pei Yi looked at Kou Zhen and Kang Jia, and solemnly instructed them: "Kou Zhen will serve as the general manager of the ground sales team, and Kang Jia will be promoted to vice president. The two of you must unite the ground sales team into one force and crush Ctrip!"

Upon hearing this, Kou Zhen's face lit up with joy, and he quickly replied, "Yes, President Pei!"

“President Pei, no problem.” Kang Jia echoed.

In terms of experience and seniority, he was no match for Kou Zhen, so it was reasonable for him to lose to him.

Moreover, being a vice president was still a promotion compared to his previous position as director, and although he was unwilling, he could only accept it calmly.

"Secondly, the company will grant the Hotel & Travel Business Unit an additional $100 million stock option award in the first quarter of next year, which will be vested over four years and will be forfeited once the employee leaves the company."

"Third, we will launch a five-year loyalty program: employees with five years of service can redeem an option worth 50% of their annual salary."

Pei Yi slowly announced the two decisions.

There was no salary increase, only stock options.

After saying this, he added: "Employees who left Kuaipao and jumped ship to Ctrip are not allowed to return for 60 years, and no amount of pleading will help."

In reality, although Kuaipao has a non-compete agreement, it has never been used. However, at this critical juncture, if anyone dares to cooperate with Ctrip and disrupt the company's expansion, they should not expect him to show any leniency.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuhao, Shan Jiawei, and Liang Changlin immediately agreed.

"Starting tomorrow, you will personally lead the team to sign 10 mid-range and budget hotels for me within three months. Ctrip's hotel commission is 15%, but I'll give you a minimum of 8%; for high-star hotels, the commission will be at least 5%."

Additionally, inform the hotel chain's contact person that they must either remove their listings from Ctrip or terminate their cooperation with KuaiRun.

Pei Yi looked at Kou Zhen and said, "Forcing businesses to choose between two options, while unethical, is always the most effective business warfare tactic."

Although Kuaipao's market share is not as large as Ctrip's, Kuaipao's O2O ecosystem is more complete.

When users open Gaode Maps and search for hotels, Kuaipao's hotel and travel group-buying packages will be automatically recommended.

When users use Kuaidi Dache (a ride-hailing app) and arrive at their destination, the app usually recommends nearby restaurants and hotels on the payment success screen.

What can Ctrip offer to compete with KuaiPaoPin?
Relying solely on poaching talent and engaging in price wars won't guarantee victory!

Poaching talent ultimately comes at a cost, and Liang Zhangjian will likely have a headache once next month's labor cost data is released.

“Okay, I understand,” Kou Zhen replied.

Next, Pei Yi made comprehensive arrangements.

First, they attacked Ctrip's weak points. Ctrip's coverage of low-star hotels was less than 30%, and its coverage of third- and fourth-tier cities was only 60%, which was exactly the opportunity for Kuaipao.

Secondly, the hotel entrance was elevated to the first-level page, allowing users to access it by swiping right or clicking on the channel resource slot.

Next, the "automatic order acceptance" and "hotel booking" systems were launched to improve the experience for both merchants and users from a technical perspective.

Finally, leveraging its strengths in the search field, it reduced the search ranking of Ctrip, eLong, and Qunar.

For example, when a user searches for hotels in Shanghai, the information for these three hotels will be displayed on the third or even fifth page of the search results.

They cut off access to websites like Ctrip from the upstream of the traffic source.

At the same time, negative news about Ctrip, eLong, and Qunar was dug up, such as issues like "brushing orders," "poor service quality," and "goods not matching descriptions," and pushed on Xiaohongshu, Mimo, and Toutiao, with the aim of leaving users with an impression of "dirt, disorder, and poor quality."

On the first day of the iPhone 5s launch, KuaiPu also started an OTA battle against three other competitors.

The next morning, Kang Jia led more than 20 people to Nanjing and took over the local hotel and tourism business.

The dozen or so Kuaipao employees who were preparing to switch jobs were arranged by Kang Jia to wait in line next to the toilet to hand over their work.

He won't release the person immediately; he'll drag it out for at least a week to increase Ctrip's recruitment costs.

At 10:00 AM, KuaiRun launched a promotion offering a 30 RMB discount on the first order for new customers and a stay discount to attract price-sensitive users.

After receiving the latest commission and reward policy, the ground sales staff in first- and second-tier cities and third- and fourth-tier cities hurriedly ate a quick breakfast and went straight to the nearby hotels to talk to the owners about 'exclusive agreements' or cooperation matters.

the other side.

Liang Zhangjian quickly realized something was wrong; Ctrip's organic traffic had dropped by 17.1%, which was definitely not normal.

He ordered the data department to investigate immediately!
In less than ten minutes, he received a reply: Lingxi Browser had removed Ctrip from its website navigation, and when using Lingxi search, it usually took flipping through five or six pages to find Ctrip's product links.

"That bastard Pei Yi is truly shameless."

Liang Zhangjian squinted and cursed viciously.

But he forgot that his own act of poaching hotel and travel staff with double salaries was equally shameless.

Pei Yi's move hit Ctrip right where it hurts.

From Ctrip's own business perspective, 80% of its orders come from search pages. Search ranking is its lifeline for traffic, and search engines are one of the important sources of search traffic.

Lingxi Search has a market share of up to 25%, and when Ctrip cuts off its traffic, Liang Zhangjian can't hold on.

However, he had already prepared a plan, and immediately instructed his assistant, "Book me a plane ticket; I need to go to Yanjing."

If Lingxi Search can block Ctrip, then Baidu Search can certainly block Kuaipao as well.

He and Robin Li have a common competitor, so it's reasonable for them to join forces.

As early as a month ago, Ctrip had already begun negotiations with Baidu, intending to reach a strategic cooperation through equity swap.

He had been a little hesitant at first, but now he no longer hesitated.

at the same time.

Upon hearing the news, Chen Yansen, who was vacationing in Northern Europe, hesitated for a few seconds before dialing Zhou Hongyi's number.

“Block Ctrip? Mr. Chen, they are a major client of 360’s advertising business.” Zhou Hongyi looked troubled.

"I will make up for the advertising revenue lost by 360 through Kuaipao's advertising partnerships," Chen Yansen said calmly.

“Ctrip deserves to die! Mr. Chen, the advertising issue isn’t urgent. I’ll immediately instruct the head of search operations to demote Ctrip in search rankings.”

Zhou Hongyi's ability to change his expression is as fast as turning the pages of a book.

"Thanks, Mr. Zhou," Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

After hanging up, he called Ma Wenteng and Zhang Chaoyang respectively.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Chen Yansen had secured all the search engines except Baidu. Starting tomorrow, Ctrip will lose half of its search traffic on PC and mobile.

Since Liang Zhangjian is so eager to die, let's grant his wish!
(End of this chapter)