Chapter 318 Let Xie Jingxing spend tens of billions more

"Please be patient and listen to my explanation. The change in menu prices was caused by a technical malfunction of the platform. I will report it to the leader tomorrow."

"Don't try to play tricks on me. This is not the first time you've changed the prices. If you change the prices on my menu again, I'll call the police!"

"What's wrong with you? You can't talk to me, right? Other stores can offer low-price promotions, so why can't yours? I'm telling you, if your boss gets me because you can't meet the promotion performance targets, then I'll get you! I'll make sure you don't get a single order!"

The next morning, a detailed report by Southern Media titled "Meituan robbed merchants on its platform" swept the entire Internet. A local grassroots salesperson's threats and curses at a merchant boss over the phone caused public outrage and even panic.

If you don’t cooperate with the low-price promotion, the platform will deduct your deposit and fine you to death; the backend locks the distance range for takeout orders, and users cannot place orders at the store entrance because they are out of distance; they will check past takeout sales and report you for tax evasion...

And so on. A grassroots salesperson who only earns 5,000 yuan a month can use countless means to bring down a family-run store that has invested hundreds of thousands of yuan.

In China, there are millions of couples who make a living by running a small restaurant like this, supporting their elderly parents and raising their children. Their fate is held in the hands of Meituan like a thin silk thread that can be easily torn apart at any time.

If someone says that the mobile Internet wave is the golden age of entrepreneurship, then I want to tell him that no, the mobile Internet wave is the golden age of reincarnation by unscrupulous businessmen under the name of technological innovation.

——The Southern Media report ended with this.

"Boss, why are you here just now? Hurry up and change into your work clothes. We've been flooded with orders!"

In Wuxi, at ten o'clock in the morning, a 'Yinshan Chayu' milk tea shop was surrounded by blue and yellow delivery riders, and the young female clerk was urging them anxiously.

The boss, who was fat and had a shrewd look in his eyes, hadn't come to his senses yet. He put down his phone in a daze and walked into the kitchen to change into work clothes, put on a hat, and wash his hands. After going through a set of procedures, he started to work busily.

He is the first franchisee of 'Yinshan Tea Language' in Wuxi. He made a lot of money by taking advantage of the popularity of the Answer milk tea at the end of last year. This year, he went to the headquarters in Yunnan and bought three sets of equipment at once to open three stores at the same time.

This brand is very popular now. The headquarters operates in an orderly manner, and regional supervisors monitor and manage hygiene issues in the store every day.

Even whether the franchise store owner has a good management relationship with employees will be included in the franchise store rating, which is related to a series of resources such as subsequent raw material supply prices and publicity.

So even though the fat boss has four stores and is worth millions, he still has to work like a brick every day, moving to whichever store is busy, for fear that his employees will get too tired and run to the supervisor to complain.

"Boss, your phone keeps ringing, answer it!"

Amid the commotion, the sweat from under the shop girl's hat wet a few strands of her hair. She shouted angrily, and then shouted even louder to the delivery man who was in a hurry to collect the order, "wait a moment."

The fat boss hurriedly washed his hands and slipped to a blind spot in the surveillance camera. As soon as he picked up the phone, he heard a call from another store manager reporting that orders had exploded and they couldn't make enough milk tea and needed support. There was also a faint sound of a clerk crying anxiously.

"Damn it, you only know how to play mahjong! If you don't go to the store to help now, I'll divorce you."

The fat boss turned around and called his wife: "I'm going around asking for support every day to save money and hire three fewer employees, but you've spent all that money playing mahjong and getting your nails done."

"Go get your parents to come to the store to help me right now, or I'll break off your broken nails one by one!"

The fat boss hung up the phone with an anxious roar, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and his eyes went dark. He felt like he was having hypoglycemia, so he quickly grabbed a bunch of grapes from the kitchen counter and stuffed them into his mouth.

How much subsidies have Meituan and Ele.me given? The printing paper has been spitting out orders non-stop, and there are more than a dozen delivery riders squeezing in front of the store, creating a chaotic situation.

The fat boss wanted to pick up his phone to see if these two unscrupulous platforms would secretly change the prices on his store's menu, but he was too busy to do so as there were surveillance cameras watching him overhead.

Every sale is a loss, every sale is a loss…The news I read on the way to the store this morning kept lingering in my mind. I’ll just have to make a loss today and consider it an advertisement.

I have to settle the accounts carefully tonight, but if the event is cancelled at the last minute, will Meituan do something to him as written in the news?

The fat boss was sweating profusely as he moved with increasingly clumsy steps. He swallowed hard to relieve his thirst and looked up at the monitor.

Ele.me might not have done the same to him, with New Da E and Yinshan Chayu. Before he knew it, in just a few years, his career and family life were all controlled by the capitalist named Xie.

Fools, there are too many fools these days. Just let Xie play with celebrities. Why do you have to scold him so that he stops playing with celebrities and becomes a capitalist to mess with ordinary people like us? That would be comfortable!

The fat boss was so depressed that he scolded his wife, the platform, and finally the society. He was busy from morning to night without stopping.

…………

【Ele.me 124 billion subsidy: up to 6 yuan off per order, covering cities across the country, covering all categories from catering to life services, and can be superimposed on all regular red envelopes, full discounts, and free delivery activities. In addition, new users can enjoy an additional yuan subsidy.

——It’s said to be hundreds of billions, but it’s more than hundreds of billions. Let’s make hundreds of billions the norm. 】

In Beijing, at the Meituan headquarters, Wang Xing looked at the Ele.me poster that was released just half an hour ago with an indifferent expression and did not speak for a long time.

"They organized many big brands to carry out superimposed discount activities, and the merchants and platforms that joined the 10 billion subsidy plan provided subsidies in the same proportion." Wang Huiwen quietly introduced the specific situation.

Wang Xing finally retracted his gaze, took off his glasses, blew a breath, and slowly wiped the lenses: "Are they more prepared than us?"

"Didi first used the '10 billion subsidy' when it was competing with Kuaidi last year. People in and outside the industry said it was a price cut, but in fact, except for Cheng Wei and Xie Jingxing, no one outside the industry knew how effective it was."

Wang Huiwen paused for a moment and then said quietly, "Our subsidy logic is different."

"If they take the '10 billion' subsidy as the norm as stated on their posters, then if businesses continue to invest and fight price wars, when will they be able to make money in the future?"

He made a fairly objective analysis: "Or the merchants may simply change their approach, cut costs, and use lower product quality to make up for the loss of low prices. In the long run, Ele.me will deviate from Zhang Xuhao's 'petty white-collar' route and move towards the low-end market, with barbecue rice sold for 9 yuan per portion across the entire platform."

Wang Xing did not comment, lowered his head and his expression could not be seen clearly. He changed the subject and asked, "What about the public opinion online?"

"The leader of the relevant city department asked me to meet with him and he should issue a ticket."

Wang Huiwen was prepared to continue: "We have set up a special investigation team and are going to the place where the incident occurred. We will not tolerate the employees involved and will make reasonable compensation to the businesses involved."

In short, don't be stubborn, stand at attention when you make a mistake and stand firm when you are beaten.

Ele.me's public relations in Beijing can destroy its own performance, so it is common sense that the same situation will occur in Meituan. There is nothing to be angry about.

In fact, if we look into it more deeply, whether it is the self-contradictory branch going its own way to confront CCTV, or the brutal behavior of exploiting platform merchants, they still dare to make threats openly.

It may seem extremely abstract and naive to the public, but from their own perspective, it has its merits. After all, a company cannot have only one rational and perfectly unified will.

"Are there many people doing business this way? I didn't expect them to do this, really. I didn't expect them to do this at all." Wang Xing put his glasses back on. Wang Huiwen held his breath and said, "I have formed an inspection team and will immediately conduct an internal investigation. We will deal with each case we find."

"Carrying out internal investigations during a war can easily shake the morale of the army, but if we don't do it, there will be no morale at all!" Wang Xing's tone was firm and iron-blooded.

Wang Huiwen couldn't help but wrinkle his nose, he seemed to be able to smell blood.

Brother Xing didn’t know how his subordinates did their business specifically, and he didn’t know either, but they all came from the Thousand Regiments War, so how could they not know that it was a pipe dream to demand both military discipline and victory.

Therefore, what Brother Xing wants to investigate is not how his employees violated the rules, but the behavior itself of being disobedient and violating the rules and being caught by competitors.

So why do we do this? Defense, and defense is for better offense.

"Huiwen, Ele.me is indeed more prepared than us."

As expected, Wang Xing began to reflect on himself: "In the past few years, all the money-burning competition in the mobile Internet industry has been increasing. You offer three yuan, I offer five yuan. Everyone thought that adding one more yuan would kill the other party, but in the end, everyone was forced to do it and couldn't stop, which turned into a head-on competition."

"Xie Jingxing doesn't think so. Maybe he is really young and has broken away from the industry's inertia and is full of vigor and vitality."

Wang Xing commented impartially: "He treated Wuxi as a decisive battle from the beginning. If we were still thinking about the development in the next three, five or even ten years, and wavering in the strategy of adding fuel, we would be defeated now."

Wang Huiwen was speechless. The reason why everyone used the tactic of adding fuel to the fire was because they were cowardly and afraid. They didn't know what the future prospects of the industry would be.

Based on this, it is natural to save as much money as possible. Who would gamble like Xie Jingxing and devote all his efforts every time? One has to admit that this person does have a unique temperament and always brings his competitors into his rhythm.

"How big are the discounts offered by Ele.me now?" Wang Xing asked in a deep voice.

Wang Huiwen hesitated several times to speak: "1 cent. Now in Wuxi, you can order a fast food meal that originally costs 1 yuan on the Ele.me platform for cent."

"That's 1 cent. He said it's more than billion, and I think I can make him spend a few more billion."

Wang Xing smiled, then remembered something and reminded him, "Pay more attention to the media. I heard that Xie Jingxing found a very powerful PR person for Didi who has a lot of influence on the Southern media."

…………

Wuxi, late night.

The manager of the Meituan takeaway station was giving a summary speech to the employees. A few old hands were crowded in a corner, eating and drinking takeaways, and whispering about what happened today.

In the morning, Southern Media exposed Meituan, and in the afternoon, relevant departments in Beijing imposed a penalty, fining it 15 yuan in the name of commercial monopoly. Immediately afterwards, the local authorities also issued a fine of 15 yuan and further reviewed Meituan’s operating qualifications.

Although the old foxes do not understand that commercial monopoly is a toilet that can hold anything, their simple experience in life tells them that it is easy to find out the truth so quickly and the fine is only so small.

People can continue singing and dancing as usual, there’s nothing wrong with it, it definitely won’t affect anyone’s ability to make money.

"It's not certain. Haven't you seen how popular this matter is on the Internet? Almost everyone is calling for a boycott. Who knows, there may be follow-ups. Such things have happened before. The stronger the public opinion, the stronger the handling." said Lao Youtiao, who was eating braised chicken with rice.

The old fried chicken eater said, "Come on, they were calling for a fight against Ele.me yesterday, and it seems like it's going to be a failure. How is it today? Besides, look at what happened to Alibaba at the end of January. I tell you, online public opinion is useless."

"How can they be the same? Alibaba is upright and Mr. Ma speaks for ordinary people. What about Xie Jingxing and Wang Xing? They are both capitalists. Changing prices secretly is so unscrupulous. Which store can tolerate it?" Braised Chicken retorted unhappily.

The barbecued meat and rice on the side laughed: "Teacher Ma is speaking for the common people? Don't just believe everything you hear. Calling anyone a capitalist is a waste of the word capitalist. If you ask me, all the big bosses in the country are slave owners. Only Xie Jingxing can be considered half a capitalist."

"How can you talk like that? How about we make a bet? Go ask ten stores right now. If there's one store that doesn't say that Meituan secretly changed the prices and lost its conscience, I'll give you today's salary!"

When his spiritual idol was questioned, Huang Braised Chicken jumped three meters high.

Seeing this, the fried chicken quickly patted his butt, stood up, threw the fried chicken he had only eaten a few bites of into the trash can, rode away on his electric scooter. He heard that the milk tea at Yinshan Tea Language on the street next to the station was delicious.

I couldn't afford to drink it before, but today I went to try it. There's a crayfish shop two streets away, and a three-pound bag only costs a dozen yuan.

The BBQ rice guys really wanted to take a gamble. We guys each lost at least five or six hundred dollars today, which is not a small amount.

However, it is difficult to gamble on braised chicken. Now, let alone asking ten or a hundred companies, there may not be one that says good things about Meituan.

Some businesses have even considered shutting down Meituan and accepting Ele.me's "one-or-the-other" condition in order to get more support from the 10 billion yuan subsidy plan.

"Stir it up, stir it up. You guys have caused trouble even though it was originally fine. Sooner or later, everyone will change their allegiance and wear Ele.me's blue vests."

The barbecue rice threw the whole uneaten sausage into the trash can in disappointment, packed up his equipment, rode away on his electric bike, and the braised chicken followed suit in disinterest.

After a while, the manager finished his scolding and the riders dispersed. The station was empty, leaving only a pile of takeout that was bought for 1 cent and eaten a few bites or not eaten at all, lying quietly in the trash can.

"Brother, how about wearing our yellow vests? Your blue vests are too ugly and you can't get a single order in a day."

The BBQ Bibimbap rode his electric donkey to another blue vest - Baidu Takeout site.

"Uh, how much are you giving as a signing bonus?"

This brother in the blue vest was squatting on the ground, holding a 1-cent sushi in his hand and a 1-cent Holiland cake at his feet. He was burping from being too full and picked up the 1-cent milk tea to smooth his throat with his mouth wide open.

The barbecue rice frowned, thinking, damn, Meituan and Ele.me are giving out subsidies like crazy today, and the riders from both companies are making a lot of money, and you have nothing better to do than to eat such a good meal.

"To be honest, you will get 500 yuan for joining us and I will refer 500 people to us." He simply laid it bare. It was impossible to hide it, as everyone was recruiting people everywhere.

The man in the blue vest wiped his mouth and said, "Then I'll take another look."

"What are you looking at? Ele.me has transferred people from Shanghai to come here by high-speed train. Even the eDonkeys are sent here by big trucks. They don't need you at all."

BBQ Bibimbap sneered: "Tomorrow our subsidy will also be raised to 1 cent. Which other platform can keep up with this subsidy intensity? If they can't keep up with the subsidy intensity, they can still receive orders. If they can't receive orders, they still need riders?"

"...You don't think that Baidu will be able to react tomorrow and start providing subsidies? " He said with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

The man in blue vest murmured nothing, just laughed.

(End of this chapter)