Reborn in 08, Public Enemy of Competitors

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

"Get up, wake up!"

Qin Feng stood in the center of the dormitory, hands on his hips, and shouted loudly.

Lu Wenbin rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head: "Just five more minutes of sleep..."

"Screw sleeping, get up and party!"

"How can someone your age sleep well?!"

Shen Mo put the takeout box, bamboo skewers, Coke can, and other items left over from last night's late-night snack into a trash bag.

Seeing that Lu Wenbin and Yuan Hua were sleeping like logs, they had no choice but to resort to their trump card.

"We have 'Compiler Principles' this morning! It's finals week, so we'll highlight the key points in class. You don't want to fail and have to retake the exam, right?"

"Ah! They're here! They're here!"

Upon hearing the word "failed," Yuan Hua sprang out of bed and quickly put on his clothes.

I was halfway through putting it on when I realized I was wearing it backwards, so I took it off and put it on again, feeling like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Lu Wenbin hurriedly got off his bunk. "Brother Mo, how did the results go on Handshake.com yesterday?"

"Merchant registrations: 234; User registrations: 358."

"90% of the merchants placed their first order, and over 60% placed repeat orders. The total number of orders was 366, and the average order value was 1.5 yuan..."

Shen Mo changed the trash can bag.

"If everything is fulfilled, the turnover for this one night will be five hundred... five hundred..."

Lu Wenbin immediately perked up.

"549 yuan!"

Qin Feng calculated: "The platform and the person who makes the purchase split the money 60/40, so the person who makes the purchase gets 329.4 yuan in the end. That's about 10,000 yuan a month."

Yuan Hua's eyes widened in disbelief. "Holy crap, it's already broken 10,000?!"

"What's the big deal? Don't forget, this is only 200-plus online stores. What if there were 2000?"

Lu Wenbin's tone carried a hint of envy, "10 a month is nothing to them."

"That's not all! Merchants don't fully trust the platform yet, with an average of only 1.56 orders per person."

Yuan Hua said, "Once the first batch of tasks is completed and merchants taste the benefits, the order volume will snowball and grow bigger and bigger."

"My goodness, with a cost of less than 1000 yuan, you can make over 10 yuan."

Qin Feng gasped, "A 10000% return rate? That's more profitable than robbing a bank!"

"That's not how it works."

Shen Mo forced down a smile that was harder to suppress than an AK.

It's so good to be reborn! Making money is as easy as breathing!

"Brother Mo, how should we calculate it?"

Yuan Hua was brushing his teeth, with foam in his mouth.

"Most Taobao sellers don't keep boosting their ratings. In the early stages, they have to boost their ratings because of their low credit score, so the demand is the highest."

"Once we reach the Diamond rank, traffic increases, ranking improves, and the store's sales and popularity also improve."

"At that time, some merchants who are worried about being discovered and having their accounts banned will reduce their need for fake reviews."

Shen Mo pulled out "Compiler Principles" from the bookshelf.

Lu Wenbin nodded: "Yes, like me, I don't dare to advertise anymore, I'm just honestly selling my shoes."

"Of course, not all merchants will stop once they reach the diamond level."

Shen Mo said, "Whether it's to maintain the ranking or to stay competitive, they will continue to engage in order-brushing, but the frequency will decrease."

"Wouldn't that mean these merchants will receive fewer and fewer orders?"

Yuan Hua wiped his face with a towel.

According to the Pareto principle, 20% of active merchants contribute 80% of the orders.

"Those merchants who want to grow bigger and stronger will constantly post tasks, and they will have at least dozens or hundreds of orders a month."

Shen Mo clapped his hands. "So, we need to maintain our existing customers while also figuring out how to attract new ones."

…………

As the group left the dormitory building, the sunlight hit them, and the maple trees lining both sides of Xuelin Street cast large patches of green shade.

Lu Wenbin, munching on a vegetable bun, said, "Brother Mo, you just said you want to attract new customers, does that mean we should start with the merchants?"

"I think scanning the mobile app is more important."

Yuan Hua shook his head and said, "There aren't enough people to do the 'brushing' (fake order) work. No matter how many tasks the merchants post, no one will take them."

Lu Wenbin disagreed: "No, the merchant side is definitely more important. Without merchants issuing tasks, it's useless no matter how many people are 'brushing' (fake orders)."

Qin Feng tried to smooth things over: "Didn't Brother Mo say before that we should do both things well? Why can't we do them simultaneously?"

Lu Wenbin pressed further, "Brother Mo, what do you think?"

"You're all right, but the problem now is that we have limited funds, limited manpower, and limited energy, so we can only choose one side."

Shen Mo stood with his hands in his pockets and his textbook tucked under his arm.

Yuan Hua asked, puzzled, "I'm a little confused. Which side should I start with?"

"Here are some data I recorded from the merchant and the data-collecting app. Take a look."

Shen Mo stretched his hand out.

He pulled out a piece of paper from the left, and then pulled out a piece of paper from the right.

Yuan Hua asked in surprise, "Brother Mo, why didn't you put them in the same pocket?"

"It will swell up and look bad."

Shen Mo shrugged. A man has to put on an act.

Lu Wenbin, Qin Feng, and the others were deeply impressed and silently remembered it. Elegant! Absolutely so elegant!

Shen Mo secretly adjusted the trajectory. There was nothing he could do about it; it was innate! My second brother is invincible!

"The growth rate of mobile payment is 17 percentage points higher than that of merchant payment!"

Yuan Hua compared the two pieces of paper.

What does this tell us?

"The barrier to entry for acquiring new users is low, and the conversion rate and retention rate are high."

"Because all it takes for someone to become a 'brushing' agent is to register an account, verify their identity, and accept or grab orders."

"He doesn't need to purchase inventory, doesn't need to operate, and doesn't even need any start-up capital."

Shen Mo explained, "But it's different for businesses. They need a store, goods, money, and they also need to overcome the psychological barrier of 'store closure'..."

"So, shall we start with the brushers?"

Yuan Hua suddenly realized.

"Yes and no."

Shen Mo shook his finger.

The purpose of "brushing" (or "fake reviews") to attract new customers is not for the brushers themselves, but to show the service to more merchants.

It's impossible for Woshou.com to be the only platform for fake reviews on the entire internet. How can Woshou.com stand out among so many platforms?

What they rely on are the hundreds or thousands of active "brushers" from different IPs, which is one of Woshou.com's "core competencies".

"With more people actively buying and placing orders quickly, merchants will be more willing to use Woshou.com, and they will place more orders."

Lu Wenbin's eyes lit up. "More orders, more money, and more brushers will join Handshake.com. Holy crap, it's a closed loop."

"This is called supply-driven demand."

Shen Mo snapped his fingers. Actually, just like ride-hailing services, the first step is to focus on the drivers and increase the number of vehicles.

"Now that you put it that way, I understand."

Qin Feng pressed further, "However, I have another question. Since the merchants and those who place orders are all operating directly on the 'Handshake' website, why do we still need to create a QQ group and add them in?"

Shen Mo replied, "Because these are valuable resources, both now and in the future."

"resource?"

Qin Feng, Yuan Hua, and the others exchanged glances.

"Take the 'brushing' team for example. We can select those who are stable, reliable, and efficient from the group and form a dedicated team."

"We provide customized boosting packages for merchants. For example, if the transfer fee for a Diamond 1 online store is 600, we'll set it at 500."

"A crown costs 10,000, so we offer discounted packages with a 20% or even 30% discount."

Shen Mo gave a concise and to-the-point description.

Lu Wenbin couldn't help but understand: "Brother Mo, is this the kind of nanny-level service you mentioned before?"

"It's a value-added service; boosting online reputation is just the first step."

Shen Mo smiled and corrected him.

Merchants are more valuable than those who place fake reviews; even if you set up a Pinduoduo platform, these people can be converted into the first batch of customers.

………………

Five or six minutes before class started, the classroom was noisy.

A dozen or so boys surrounded the back row, blocking Shen Mo and his friends in their seats, bombarding them with questions.

"Shen Mo, did you create Handshake.net? That's awesome!"

"I completed 3 orders yesterday and earned 5 yuan. Now I have breakfast for the next few days and I don't have to eat dirt anymore. I'm so happy."

"Yes, the only problem is that there aren't enough orders; there simply aren't enough to go around!"

"..."

"Brother Mo, I also want to open a Taobao store, can you teach me?"

Facing the chattering crowd, Shen Mo smiled and said, "There's an entrepreneurship exchange meeting this afternoon. Those of you who want to open an online store can go and listen to it."

"Hey, alright, alright, class is about to start. Ask me anything during break."

Qin Feng spread his arms wide, blocking the crowd like a door.

As the crowd gradually dispersed, Yuan Hua breathed a sigh of relief: "Brother Mo, weren't they a bit too enthusiastic?"

"They weren't enthusiastic towards me, they were enthusiastic towards the RMB."

As soon as Shen Mo finished speaking, his phone buzzed with a barrage of QQ messages.

Yuan Hua leaned closer. "Brother Mo, are some upperclassmen or underclassmen looking for you again?"

Shen Mo exchanged an emoji with Du Manqing, then said without changing his expression, "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Yuan Hua chuckled, "Can you handle this? Why don't I take over and you rest for a bit?"

"Do you think I don't know what you're thinking?"

Shen Mo joked, "Helping you is just an excuse; you really want to meet girls, right?"

Yuan Hua said helplessly, "Brother Mo, you're detached from worldly desires and don't date, but the rest of us still want to find partners and get out of singlehood."

"Why would we programmers worry about not having a partner?"

Shen Mo glanced around and saw Qin Feng, who had been single for 20 years and had a super strong arm; Lu Wenbin, who was obsessed with anime characters; and a future cross-dressing master.

Goodness, this tiny dormitory room is truly a gathering place for all the brilliant minds.

"Isn't that right?"

Qin Feng scratched his head.

"Programmers will never lack clients."

Shen Mo joked, "Because there's something called 'bug' that will never abandon you."

Yuan Hua's lips twitched slightly. "Brother Mo, this joke isn't funny at all."

Lu Wenbin declared righteously and sternly, "Yes, I am mortal enemies with bugs!"

Shen Mo said in a joking tone, "It's okay if you don't like bugs. As a future programmer, you can always create a new object, or use `var`, or if all else fails, just use `let`. Or, when AI develops, you can create a cybernetic companion."

My cyberpunk waifu!

Lu Wenbin's breathing quickened, his mind filled with images of Kanzaki Kaori, Rei Ayanami, Misaka Mikoto, Hatsune Miku...

Just then, Li Hao, who was in the front row, suddenly turned his head, looking mysterious.

"Shen Mo, I have something to ask you, please don't mind."

"you say."

"Weren't you pursuing Liu Xin from the fashion design school? Did you succeed?"

"What, you want to pursue Liu Xin too?"

Shen Mo looked him up and down.

No, no.

Li Hao waved his hands repeatedly, "Don't misunderstand, I don't like Liu Xin, it's...it's..."