Chapter 119: The Great War Begins, Profiting from the Chaos (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

In the following days, Chen Yansen flipped through books in the startup park during the day and flipped through books in his bedroom at night.

Meng Jie felt that over these two days, her relationship with Chen Yansen had advanced by leaps and bounds, heating up extremely fast, and the slight unease in her heart had completely vanished.

Both were young, at the age when they were most capable.

Often they would stay up all night, sleeping until eleven or twelve o'clock the next day; after Meng Jie adapted for two days, she shifted from passive to active, and her driving skills became increasingly proficient.

Until the sixth, when school started, the teachers upstairs and downstairs finally discovered that this spring cat had quieted down, and they could also sleep soundly.

Chen Yansen was not idle; in these few days, he not only finished reading "The Android Heroes," "Deep Dive into Linux Kernel Architecture," "Android Design Patterns Source Code Analysis," "Clean Code," and "Android System Source Code Scenario Analysis," but he also thoroughly understood the new book recommended by Wang Teng.

These textbooks basically came with source code files, facilitating his hands-on practice.

A spiritual power of 8.43 made his learning process like having a cheat code.

Chen Yansen discovered that relying on his super-strong spiritual power, he was even more adept at learning languages, history, literature, and social science knowledge.

But he did not do so; instead, he devoted a large amount of energy to operating system principles, programming languages, data structures, and algorithms, making rapid progress.

The code produced by the Aurora R&D team became his best learning material; whenever he encountered doubts, he could simply ask the relevant engineers.

Through repeated tempering between theory and practice, Chen Yansen's experience and skills improved rapidly; in the past, he could only understand R&D progress through product documentation, but now, by checking the code, he could grasp project progress.

In the second week after the holiday, Chen Yansen had just walked into Room 206.

Song Yuncheng came forward with a face full of smiles: "Lashou. com has offered 20 million yuan in marketing expenses and wants to sign an exclusive cooperation agreement with Fox Tao."

20 million?

Although Lashou had been generous before, they had never been this lavish.

Chen Yansen narrowed his eyes, his mind turned, and he immediately reacted, asking Song Yuncheng for confirmation: "Has Lashou completed its Series C financing?"

Only this reason would make Lashou. com spend 20 million to buy out the cooperation with Fox Tao.

"Yes! The news was announced last night; Matton, Richemont, Jinshajiang Ventures, and six other institutions invested together, exchanging 110 million US dollars for 10% of Lashou's equity."

Song Yuncheng nodded slightly, looking at Chen Yansen with full expectation.

If this cooperation deal is closed, after deducting half the expenses as commission, the remaining half is still 10 million in performance; just the commission alone, she could earn 500,000.

However, the premise is that Chen Yansen agrees to the cooperation.

"In March, how much gross profit did Lashou, Gao Peng, Meituan, and Wowo. com make in total?"

Chen Yansen asked.

"It was about 13.7 million; new customer rewards were around 7.2 million, totaling just over 20 million." Song Yuncheng had prepared this beforehand, which is why she came to talk to Chen Yansen about this matter.

"Agree to them; sign the contract on a monthly basis." Chen Yansen pondered for a moment, nodded, and instructed.

"Alright, I understand."

Song Yuncheng breathed a sigh of relief; actually, Lashou. com also required signing one month at a time; signing a long-term contract would put too much financial pressure on them.

The other party was willing to spend 20 million to fight for market share; once Lashou squeezed out other competitors, they would definitely not be willing to throw money at shopping guide websites anymore.

Therefore, they specifically emphasized to Song Yuncheng that the contract be signed one month at a time.

"If I do this, will I change history? Maybe by the end of the year, during the Great War of a Thousand Groups, Lashou will win, not Meituan?"

Chen Yansen walked towards Room 206 while indulging in wild thoughts.

Although Meituan's ground promotion team was formidable, under the impact of capital and traffic, they might not be the ones laughing last; moreover, at this time, Wang Xin lacked funds and had not yet received Mama Ali's support.

"Who cares! Whoever gives more money, Super Return goes to them."

Chen Yansen smiled slightly, cast aside his distracting thoughts, and returned to his seat to read.

On the other side, Gao Peng, Meituan, and Wowo. com, which had originally planned to sign up for Super Return in April, suddenly received news that the April schedule was full; if they wanted to join the event, they would have to wait until May.

But the changes in the group buying market were treacherous and unpredictable; next month, it was hard to say whether the projects would even survive.

Everyone now relied entirely on venture capital funds to stay alive; Fox Tao, this flash sale platform with over 2 million daily active users, had become the key to the game played by all parties.

Zheng Yun, the Marketing Director of Gao Peng. com, reacted the fastest and directly called Chen Yansen to inquire.

Chen Yansen stated plainly that Lashou. com had spent 20 million to book the entire April schedule.

To account to the investors, he could only agree.

Zheng Yun, of course, did not believe this, cursing inwardly: Damn, they just want money!

You, Chen Yansen, at least received over 100 million in investment from Penguin; you are half one of us with Gao Peng; for money, you really turn your back on people.

Zheng Yun was helpless, holding a belly full of anger, hung up the phone, and went to find his boss to ask for money.

Meituan and Wowo. com subsequently also called to inquire; upon learning of Lashou. com's move, they couldn't help but curse "rich dog."

In terms of financial strength, at this time, no one could compare to Lashou.

Wang Xin of Meituan was also actively seeking financing; on one hand, he approached the Fujian Merchant Association, and on the other, he approached Mama Ali, which was currently strong in venture capital.

After some deliberation, Wang Xin proactively contacted Ji Gang of the Mama Ali Investment Department; he thought obtaining financing would require some persuasion, but unexpectedly, Ma Liyun personally met with him and generously invested 50 million US dollars.

This moved Wang Xin greatly!

Of course, this did not affect his future betrayal of Mama Ali, turning instead to embrace Penguin.

Chen Yansen also did not expect that with his interference in this life, Meituan's Series B financing had actually been brought forward by two months.

After getting the money, Wang Xin immediately spent 24 million to book the entire May group buying flash sale schedule of Fox Tao, catching Lashou. com off guard.

Wang Xin did not dare to invest the remaining money in advertising; instead, he used it to expand the offline ground promotion staff.

His thinking was very simple: the platform connects users and merchants, and ground promotion is the hemp rope connecting the merchants, so it should be the focus of investment.

Thus, Wang Xin recruited people everywhere, while other platforms focused their energy on traffic, hiring celebrities for endorsements and heavily investing in advertisements on subways, buses, television, office buildings, and outdoors.

Several group buying platforms competed by bidding, spending investors' money on massive investments; Chen Yansen also benefited, selling the June schedule for a sky-high price of 30 million.

And Fox Tao only needed to plan two brand group buying events, paired with some resource slots; earning this money was quite easy.

On April 10, Fox Tao announced to the outside world that the website's registered user count had reached 120 million (actually less than 110 million); for this, they prepared to launch a Super Flash Sale Day event on April 22.

Users of level F3 and above could enjoy additional cashback.

For example, for a pair of Nike sports shoes originally priced at 399 yuan, the normal cashback was 79.8 yuan; F3 users could get an extra 5 yuan, F4 users an extra 15 yuan, and F5 users an extra 40 yuan.

This basically returned the entire commission difference to f5 users after deducting Mama Ali's technical service fee and taxes.

Once the news broke, order volume surged, all from existing users upgrading.

Because Chen Yansen had the activity team reserve a portion of the activity products for a warm-up on the second-level pages.

These were all brands collected during Q1 investment promotion that had clearance needs.

Pond's face masks at 10% off, Meters/bonwe clothing at 20% off, Shanzhai mobile phones at 30% off, Kansui skincare sets at 40% off, induction cookers, rice cookers, and electric kettles at 50% off, sportswear, suitcases, and snacks at 60% off, lighting and furniture at 70% off, air conditioners, televisions, computers, and the like at 80% off.

All categories, big brands, with extremely generous discounts!

Some of these products were flash-sale items secured through investment promotion, while others were advertising projects negotiated by the major client investment department.

For instance, Acer Computers; the other party provided 5 million in fees, requiring 15 million in sales revenue, so they were inserted into the Super Flash Sale Day event.

As Chen Yansen sat in his seat reading as usual, Liao Wei's phone call came through.

"President Chen, this business is viable. I've evaluated it; the warehouse costs in Lighthouse Country aren't high, only labor expenses are a bit elevated, but those can all be passed on to the users."

Liao Wei reported his inspection results to Chen Yansen immediately upon landing.

Over the course of ten-plus days, he visited the Amazon main warehouse and then visited several logistics companies and warehouse leasing firms in Lighthouse Country; after weighing the options, he found that the path Chen Yansen pointed out was indeed excellent.

Low competition, high profits.

Just the processes of consolidation, sorting, reinforced packaging, warehousing, and exchange rate differences, not even counting the shipping price gap, could yield massive profits.

Moreover, he wouldn't have to worry about orders, as Chen Yansen had promised to hand over all Mama Ali's cross-border shopping orders to him.

"I suggest you spin this business out from Yunsu Express. Additionally, is it unreasonable for Mama Ali to take a 40% equity stake through business contribution?"

Chen Yansen, with nothing but his word, asked for forty percent of the shares outright.

Liao Wei was stunned; he hadn't expected Chen Yansen to be so "ruthless," demanding such a high equity stake without investing a single cent.

But he dared not refuse; Chen Yansen could get anyone to do this project, and he was merely the errand boy.

"Not unreasonable. Leave this matter to me to handle," Liao Wei gritted his teeth and agreed.

"Register it under Senlian Capital," Chen Yansen added.

Liao Wei's heart jumped; he understood Chen Yansen's cunning maneuver and instantly realized why the other party, despite his young age, could run his business so successfully. In terms of intellect alone, he was far inferior.

"President Chen, rest assured, my lips are sealed," Liao Wei quickly declared.

"President Liao, work hard with me, and I won't treat you poorly. Once the cake is made bigger, your share will be worth even more."

Chen Yansen reminded him with a smile.

"I understand. I will arrange the new company registration immediately. Regarding Lighthouse Country, I have identified two warehouses. The preliminary preparations are expected to take two to three weeks. Once all details are finalized, I will report to you again."

Liao Wei was a smart man who knew how to assess the situation; he kept a very low profile and this time truly intended to follow Chen Yansen.

Chen Yansen smiled and hung up the phone.

In 2011, overseas forwarding companies were still a blue ocean market; in the future, they could support several logistics firms, some with annual revenues reaching tens of billions, possessing far more potential than the current Yunsu.

Under the siege of the "Three Tongs and One Da" and SF Express, if Yunsu did not adapt, it had only one path: death.

While Chen Yansen was busy delving into system development, the competition among external group-buying websites intensified, escalating to the point of True Person PKs in the struggle for merchants.

Wowo Group poached 200 people from Laoshou. com in one go, directly causing the paralysis of Laoshou's Huadong regional operations.

Even Mama Ali's users began to report that after purchasing group-buy vouchers, no one handled after-sales service.

Laoshou temporarily rushed a batch of personnel from other cities to the Huadong market.

The various parties attacked each other, with constant turmoil.

After Ma Liyun invested in Meituan, he also announced that Juhuasuan would officially enter the group-buying business, aiming to carve out a share in the O2O sector.

This immediately made both Laoshou and Meituan nervous.

Perhaps right at this moment, Wang Xin sensed uncertainty from Ma Liyun and simultaneously became wary of Shan Jiawei, the head of the Zhonggong Iron Army sent by Mama Ali.

He was also someone who wanted to be the big brother; naturally, he was unwilling to remain under someone else. In his view, Shan Jiawei had come to seize power, not to get things done.

Rifts gradually grew between Meituan and Mama Ali!

(End of this chapter)