Chapter 543 - 396: Don’t Even Think About E-commerce, or I’ll Beat You to Death

It really wasn’t easy for Brother Dong to hold his tongue for half a month.

He fired off three Weibo posts in a row, ruthlessly tearing into Zhang Jindong.

While Chen Yansen was eating his noodles, he also took the opportunity to enjoy the drama between Handsome Dong and Zhang Jindong.

Back in 2013, everyone from entrepreneurs to celebrities used Weibo like their personal social media feed. A decade or so later, you’d never see such explosive online feuds.

But when it came to flame wars, Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yijun were in a league of their own. Others could at least refrain from cursing, but those two went straight for personal attacks.

After the launch of Lao Zhou’s 360 N2, it snatched a huge number of customers from Xiaomi. Combined with the 360 N1 and 360 G800 Pro Shine models, total Q1 sales had already surpassed 4 million units.

At the current sales pace, the target of 16 million units set at the beginning of the year was highly likely to be met.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi’s sales for the same period were just over 3 million units. If they wanted to hit their annual shipping target of 15 million units, they clearly needed to step up their game!

What’s the point of achieving something if you don’t show it off? Otherwise, what’s all the hard work for?

So, Zhou Hongyi posted a self-answered Q&A on Weibo: "What were Xiaomi’s Q1 shipments? 3.13 million. Can they hit their 15-million-unit target for the year? I doubt it!"

With that, he attached 360 Mobile Phone’s Q1 sales report. The glaring figures, "4.01 million," were incredibly jarring.

"Redmi 1 must launch before June!"

Lei Yijun said through clenched teeth, his eyes bloodshot.

Mobile Phone’s prices were all just over a thousand yuan. Relying on its low-price strategy, it had been putting constant pressure on Xiaomi for a long time. In terms of sales revenue, however, 360 was no match for them.

He was long past tired of this passive position and planned to use the Redmi 1 to deliver a resounding slap in the face to Zhou Hongyi.

After finishing lunch, Chen Yansen returned to his office for a short break.

Suddenly, a news headline caught his eye: "Qian Du Weigou Launched. Following Ali and Penguin, Another Internet Giant Enters the E-commerce Sector."

’Li Yanhong is getting into e-commerce?’

Chen Yansen was taken aback for a moment. After getting the gist of the situation, he opened his computer, typed a URL into the browser’s address bar, and hit Enter.

He thought for a moment, then searched for the two words "Apple phone." Sure enough, in the center of the page, the Qian Du Weigou web app interface appeared.

Two rows of products were displayed. The top-left corner of the main image indicated the sales channel, which included Yihaodian, Dangdang Network, Jingdong, Shunfeng Selection, and Sunning.

Li Yanhong had certainly been thorough, roping in five B2C platforms at once.

It seemed Qian Du Weigou’s model was similar to FoxTao’s, functioning as a shopping guide e-commerce platform.

Chen Yansen didn’t give it much thought and casually clicked on a main image. To his surprise, instead of redirecting to Jingdong, an order submission page popped up.

Qian Du was intercepting order data from users of Yihaodian, Dangdang Network, Jingdong, Shunfeng Selection, and Sunning. ’What kind of shopping guide platform is this?!’

’What are Liu Qiangdong, Zhang Jindong, and Wang Wei thinking? Are they so shameless they’d do this just for a few more sales?’

He then called Yan Peng. "Tell everyone in charge of our sales channels that I don’t want to see any Orange Technology products on Qian Du Weigou."

"Understood, Boss," Yan Peng quickly replied.

After hanging up, Chen Yansen called Huang Zheng. "Qian Du has launched a web-based e-commerce app on its search results page."

"Boss, I know what to do." Huang Zheng was already aware of Qian Du Weigou. He had been just about to call a meeting with the managers of the merchant operations department when Chen Yansen’s call came through.

"Pinbei is an open and free e-commerce platform," Chen Yansen said coolly. "Let the merchants choose for themselves."

Huang Zheng immediately understood. He knew exactly what his boss was implying.

「Meanwhile.」

Hang City Ali Headquarters, Taohua Island office.

After trying out Qian Du Weigou’s features, Ma Liyun’s expression was grim. He cursed out Liu Qiangdong, Zhang Jindong, Wang Wei, and all the rest.

’Li Yanhong is obviously trying to use them to build his own business. Are those bastards all morons? How could they not see it?’

"Notify the account managers. Any merchant who dares to join Qian Du Weigou gets their right to apply for on-site promotions suspended for six months."

Ma Liyun said gravely.

Forcing merchants to "pick a side" was a breach of business ethics, but it was also the most effective way to stifle a competitor.

Tmall Mall and Taobao Network held the largest market share. If Qian Du Weigou were allowed to gain a foothold, Ali would suffer the most. Lao Ma had to take precautions.

"Understood, Mr. Ma," Zhang Yong replied with a nod.

The pressure from Pinbei, Tmall, and Taobao was quickly felt by the merchants.

’Qian Du Weigou?’

’What the hell is that?’

Facing this threat, the merchants quickly weighed their options. They began contacting their liaisons at Yihaodian, Dangdang Network, Jingdong, Shunfeng Selection, and Sunning one by one with a clear demand: they would absolutely not join the Qian Du Weigou channel, and if forced, they would pull their stores!

More channels meant more sales; everyone understood that.

But with Pinbei and Ali joining forces to apply pressure, what merchant would dare to ignore them?

Although the top brands felt the two companies’ actions were overbearing, none dared to step forward and publicly object.

After all, losing Qian Du Weigou was a minor inconvenience. But losing Pinbei and Ali would make it nearly impossible to meet their annual KPI targets.

The merchants were crystal clear on which was more important.

Initially, the e-commerce platforms collaborating with Qian Du dismissed the merchants’ feedback. But as the number of complaints grew, word eventually reached the ears of senior management.

At Jingdong, Xu Lei thought for a moment, sighed in resignation, and then called Li Mingyuan, the project lead for Qian Du Weigou. "I’m sorry, President Li, but Jingdong has to pull out of the Qian Du Weigou project."

"And the reason?" Li Mingyuan demanded, his brow furrowed.