Reborn in 08, Public Enemy of Competitors

The next day, while the whole country was still immersed in the joy of the opening of the Olympic Games, Shen Mo and his team were busy as bees.

After the voting plugin passes testing, it will be officially launched at 9:00 AM. The event rules will be gradually improved through communication between Shen Mo and others.

The prize pool operates on a floating system, with an additional 1 yuan added for every 4000 new users participating in the lottery.

Winners share the prize pool, with prizes ranging from 2.88 yuan to 888 yuan. The prize money will be deposited into the user's account balance and can be withdrawn to Zhifubao (a wealth management platform).

To improve user retention and first-order conversion rates, Shenmo, like Woshou.com, set a withdrawal threshold of 5 yuan.

In order to withdraw their winnings, the winners had to place another order.

"Wenbin, revise the copy I sent you."

Shen Mo instructed, "Change 'classmate' to 'dear' or 'family member' in the message, and then send it to our merchant group."

"Alright, Mo-ge!"

Lu Wenbin immediately got to work. If the number of merchants on the Woshou.com platform had already exceeded 10,000, there were dozens of advanced groups alone.

Qin Feng asked, "Brother Mo, should we also post it to the 'brushing' group?"

"Not for now."

Shen Mo waved his hand, "Those people who 'brush' are all experts at exploiting loopholes. If you let them register, each person can register more than a dozen accounts. This kind of data is meaningless except for looking good."

Just then, Xu Kun's shouts came from room 308.

"Brother Mo, should the Olympic prediction contest be launched simultaneously?"

"No!"

Shen Mo strode over and said, "We'll launch the Olympic-themed campaign once the website's registration count surpasses 5000."

Zhuang Bifan, Zhang Wei, and the others exchanged glances, both surprised and suspicious.

Zhong Xue rolled her eyes. "The naming vote is just a prelude. First, lure people in, and once they're itching to participate, launch the Olympic prediction activity. One climax after another, and they'll be hooked."

What kind of indecent and lewd words are these!

Shen Mo smacked his lips. "Uh, that's roughly the idea."

"Brother Mo, are you going to unleash a series of attacks?"

Chen Bo suddenly realized what was going on and couldn't help but sigh.

"We need to be prepared to withstand the pressure on the database and server sides."

Shen Mo nodded, then looked at Zhong Xue, "Don't let it get out of control when there are too many people."

"Don't worry, I'm a professional!"

Zhong Xue adjusted her glasses. "To prevent the database from being overwhelmed by excessive traffic, I've implemented read/write separation and connection pool optimization. It's durable and robust, so even the most aggressive users can handle it."

The room fell silent. Shen Mo cleared his throat. "Okay, you... keep a close eye on things."

After confirming there were no bugs, Shen Mo was the first to send the website link to the class group.

"Dear students, our Lingyun Technology's new product will be launched soon. It's a discount website where you can get cashback on Taobao purchases. We haven't decided on a name yet, so please help us vote to choose the most suitable one."

"In addition, students who participate in the voting can share a minimum of 10,000 yuan in cash, and a maximum of 888 yuan..."

"The prize pool is at least 10,000 yuan! Individuals can win up to 888 yuan!"

This caused a complete uproar, even drawing out students who had been lurking in the group chat.

"@Shenmo is Jinmo, weren't you working on Handshake.com? Why are you suddenly creating a new website?"

"@Shenmo is really rich! You get 888 yuan in cash just for voting?"

"@ShenMoShiJin Holy crap, Brother Mo, are you giving out freebies or doing charity? I'm registering right now!"

"@ShenmoIsGolden, where's the link? Hurry, or it'll be gone!"

Driven by profit and widespread dissemination, the number of registered users on the platform skyrocketed, like a rocket.

"Beep beep beep!"

"Beep beep beep!"

The news of the naming vote quickly spread to the fashion design department group.

Liu Xin stared at the computer screen, angrily slammed her hand on the keyboard a few times, feeling extremely regretful, as if she had missed out on a fortune.

I should have agreed to Shen Mo's proposal back then, instead of rejecting him time and time again.

Just as she was feeling depressed, Du Manqing jumped up from her chair with great joy.

Clutching SpongeBob SquarePants, she excitedly ran out of the room, only to bump into Du Zhou sitting in the dining room.

"Go wash your hands and get ready to eat."

Qin Xinyue carried a plate out of the kitchen.

Du Manqing said, "Mom, I plan to go back to school tomorrow."

Qin Xinyue frowned. "You just got back, why did you go back so soon?"

"The orders for the Taobao store are about to explode, I have to hurry back and help Ye Xiao and the others pack and ship the orders."

Du Manqing couldn't hide her excitement.

Du Zhou couldn't help but be surprised, "Didn't your Taobao store just break 20 items per day? Is it going to increase again?"

"Yeah, this time we're probably aiming for 30, no, 50 pieces."

Du Manqing held her chin slightly up, like a proud little peacock.

Du Zhou looked doubtful. "If you're so confident, tell me, what gives you that confidence?"

Du Manqing briefly explained the shopping guide platform that Shen Mo had created, including consumer rebates, voting activities, Olympic prediction contests, and most importantly, driving traffic to "Manman Wardrobe" through the platform.

"According to you, your Taobao store might sell thousands of items a month?"

A shrewd glint flashed in Du Zhou's eyes.

"Not just that! If things go well, we could easily sell over a thousand pieces. Just you wait and see!"

Du Manqing took Du Zhou's arm and shook it gently. "Dad, is your factory busy right now? Could you spare one or two production lines for me to do OEM manufacturing? Just consider it supporting your daughter's entrepreneurial endeavor!"

"Why not? The factory's got plenty of free time right now..."

Before Qin Xinyue could finish speaking, Du Zhou interrupted her, saying, "Sure, no matter how busy the factory is, we'll keep the production line open for you."

"Thank you, Dad!"

Du Manqing's eyes lit up, and she happily ran to wash her hands.

Du Zhou watched her retreating figure, smiled, and took a sip of his drink. "Her friend is quite something."

"You're one to talk! If this keeps up, your little cabbage is going to get stolen away."

Qin Xinyue shook her head and chuckled, "Why didn't you tell Manqing about the factory's situation just now?"

"There's no need for that. Even if the sky falls, I, her father, will hold it up. She doesn't need to worry about it."

Du Zhou's brows furrowed deeply as he thought about the precipitous drop in the garment factory's export orders and the fact that most of the machines had stopped.

………………

In less than two hours, the number of registered users had exceeded 5000 and was heading towards the 1 mark.

"Brother Mo, 83.6% of users have now voted for 'YiTao GO'."

Yuan Hua held a bowl of braised pork trotters and rice, eating as he spoke.

"If we keep leading in the votes, the website will be called 'EasyGo' from now on."

Shen Mo looked at Zhong Xue and handed her a Sprite. "You suggested this name, so here's a 200 yuan reward."

"Thank you, boss!"

Zhong Mixue took the Sprite and gently hooked her finger on the pull tab.

"Brother Mo, is it time to start the Olympic-themed campaign?"

Xu Kun let out a burp.

Shen Mo nodded and said, "Let's start by promoting the 'First Gold Moment' campaign. I estimate that it won't be long before China's first gold medal is won. We need to take advantage of this nationwide excitement to completely ignite the online buzz."

Xu Kun readily agreed, "Then how about we hold the 'final suspense' tonight?"

"That's right!"

Shen Mo said, "In addition, you should also organize a 'Daily Gold Medal Guessing Game' activity, allowing users to guess how many gold medals the Chinese team can win that day, and users who guess correctly will share the prize pool."

"This is great. There are new gimmicks every day, keeping users engaged and naturally increasing their stickiness."

Zhong Xue immediately understood the subtlety of it.

Zhuang Bifan pressed further, "Then how much of a bonus should be awarded?"

"1000 yuan a day is fine."

Shen Mo weighed the options: 1000 a day, 16 days would amount to 1.6.

Woshou.com can currently provide a stable monthly income of 24 to 26 RMB, which can basically cover the cost of this Olympic competition.

"However, in that case, boss, you'll need to rent several more VPS (Virtual Private Server) or dedicated servers."

Zhong Xue said calmly, "Otherwise, once the event starts, the server might be overloaded with traffic."

"Ahem! I'll rent a few large ones from an IDC."

Shen Mo glanced around and said, "Next, we need to make good use of this traffic to drive the shopping guides on YiTaoGO, especially for Olympic-related products."

"For example, we need to make users feel that this is the place to buy Olympic merchandise at the best price, such as T-shirts and Fuwa mascots."

"Brother Mo, are you planning to use these as bait to lure people in first, and then use rebates to keep them hooked?"

As soon as Lu Wenbin said this, Xu Kun, Zhang Wei and the others quickly understood.

"That's right, we're spending money on prize draws not for charity, but to convert them into purchase orders."

Shen Mo said, "It would be best to create one or two hit products and make the data look good. Then, many merchants will come to us seeking cooperation."

"Brother Mo, can we shake hands like...?"

Yuan Hua suggested, "Uh, how about writing a few advertorials, like 'Buy Fuwa mascots while watching the Olympics: Save 20% with this method' or 'I bought an Olympic T-shirt using YiTaoGO and saved XX yuan,' and then posting them on Taobao forums, Renren.com, Baidu Tieba, and QQ groups?"

"very good!"

Shen Mo smiled and said, "But don't just focus on the Olympics. You can also publish articles like 'Hidden Rebate Tips for Taobao Shopping, I Don't Tell Just Anyone.'"

Everyone's eyes lit up and their blood boiled as they listened, and they rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

With the conclusion of the "First Gold Moment" event, many winners shared screenshots of their winnings on QQ groups, QQ Spaces, and Renren.com.

"I won XX yuan!"

The thrill of "showing off" is just like winning a lucky red envelope; it works better than any other form of promotion.

More and more people were spurred to flock to YiTaoGO, registering, participating in guessing games, and even placing shopping orders.

The links sent out by Shen Mo are spreading outwards from the university town like ripples, spreading outwards across the country.

Until the number of registered users exceeded 3!

Shen Mo then realized that he had far underestimated the terror of platforms such as QQ, Renren, and Tieba.

At this point, the prize pool has been increased to 8.5!

A sophomore student and an e-commerce startup project won over 100,000 yuan in prize money through a series of Olympic promotion activities!

The combination of the keywords "Olympics" and "college student entrepreneurship" immediately became the focus of news media attention.

Even the local channels of the three major portal websites, Sohu, Xinlang, and NetEase, reported on Shen Mo and his entrepreneurial projects.

Registrations then began to surge dramatically, unstoppable!