Chapter 165: Build a Benchmark, and Merchants Flock In! Chaos Erupts

November 20, the third day after Pinaibei launched.

Excluding the Orange Phone, the single-item sales of Joyoung rice cookers, Midea electric kettles, Mercury Home Textile four-piece sets, and Xiyue navel oranges all exceeded five million yuan.

Joyoung's flagship store sold over 100, 00 units each of its electric fans, air fryers, electric heaters, and electric hot pots, reaching 50 million yuan in single-store sales.

Remember, only two days had passed.

In the small appliance sector, Joyoung was only a mid-tier brand, with Philips, Panasonic, and Tiger above it, and competitors like Supor, Galanz, and Pentium at the same level.

Seeing Joyoung sell tens of millions worth of goods on Pinaibei, Supor's e-commerce general manager Li Mingzhe flew into a rage and shouted at his subordinates: "Why didn't we join Pinaibei? Get Zhao Bo, the guy in charge of channels, in here!"

At the beginning of the year, Supor's founder transferred 20% of his shares to the French SEB Group via agreement.

Now, Supor's department managers were all career executives selected by SEB, for whom performance was their sole capital for promotion.

Three minutes later, a middle-aged man in a suit with a three-seven hairstyle rushed into the office, panting, and bowed his head: "Manager, you called for me?"

"Pinaibei invited Midea and Joyoung—why did they skip Supor entirely?"

Li Mingzhe stared coldly at Zhao Bo, his tone hostile.

Usually, platforms begged brands to join, but Supor was a top-tier domestic small appliance brand.

Some small platforms even paid off channel managers just to get Supor to open a store.

Li Mingzhe knew Zhao Bo—he was smooth-talking, had a few corrupt habits, but was highly capable, which was why he trusted him.

In short, Zhao Bo was his confidant.

He yelled loudly to hint Zhao Bo should craft an excuse to shift blame—otherwise he couldn't answer the board.

"Manager, I didn't refuse to join—Taobao's small appliance head, Manager Meng, warned that if Supor joins Pinaibei, they'll block our traffic on Double Twelve."

Zhao Bo quickly seized on today's recent event as an excuse.

Pinaibei's recruitment team had contacted Zhao Bo; he hinted they should bribe him, they refused, so he decided to make them wait.

He never expected Pinaibei's sales to explode so fast, drawing senior management's attention—and that's why Li Mingzhe was now questioning him.

"Which Meng? Next week at Taobao's merchant conference, I'll speak to him myself. Forget him—just finish joining Pinaibei."

Li Mingzhe waved his hand dismissively, treating a category manager at Taobao as irrelevant.

He was a businessman; channels mattered most. If platforms forced exclusivity, how could brands operate?

Small brands might fear it—he wasn't intimidated.

At the same time, he was pleased with Zhao Bo's cleverness.

In reality, in 2011, Taobao wasn't yet so tyrannical—it was just the category clerk, fearing Pinaibei would hurt his own performance, who privately warned Zhao Bo.

Meanwhile.

Starting in the afternoon, Pinaibei's recruitment department phone rang nonstop.

Brands that had ignored recruitment efforts earlier now reversed their attitude 180 degrees, eagerly paying deposits and signing agreements.

This was precisely why Chen Yan had focused only on Midea, Joyoung, Xiyue navel oranges, and Mercury Home Textile in the early phase.

Concentrating traffic to create a few flagship cases was an unspoken declaration.

Join Pinaibei—you'll make money!

In the Chinese mindset, profitable opportunities were never freely shared.

So when recruitment contacted these brands, most refused.

After all, Pinaibei didn't even have a product prototype then—what guarantee could it offer for sales?

Yet the first merchants to join all made fortunes!

For example, rice: only two SKUs on Pinaibei, 5kg and 10kg, both from the same northeastern rice processor.

In two and a half days, rice sold 130, 00 orders!

Though gross margins were low, the gross profit was substantial—netting 200, 00 yuan per day.

Food, apparel, small appliances, cosmetics, home goods—only 500 merchants, yet five million daily visitors flooded in.

Pinaibei's top merchants reaped huge profits; even the tail-end merchants earned tens of thousands daily.

Suddenly, merchants flocked in—recruitment staff were severely understaffed.

Chen Yan sat in his office, reviewing the hiring budgets sent by Xiong Li, and approved them without hesitation.

Pinaibei had just launched; the company now had only 300 people.

At current workload, they needed at least 1, 00 staff to escape overtime and manpower shortages.

"Ding ling ling!"

The desk phone suddenly rang.

Chen Yan picked it up, placed it to his ear, and asked casually: "What is it?"

"Boss, our warehouse in Yiwu was smashed—computers, delivery trucks, shelves, printers, copiers—all destroyed. Fuck! Should we hit back?"

Liao Wei quickly explained and asked Chen Yan's opinion.

He gave no further details; Chen Yan asked no follow-ups.

Neither was foolish—they both knew the likely culprit was a competitor.

Though it was 2011, courier company bosses were mostly rough-and-tumble types, ex-truckers turned river dragons.

It wasn't rare for them to resort to knives—or even kill—in a fit of rage.

"Hit back? We pay taxes legally—we're legitimate merchants. Call the police first. Any employees hurt?"

Chen Yan immediately rejected Liao Wei's suggestion.

"No one hurt—I've already redirected equipment and staff from nearby stations to clean up the mess in Yiwu."

Liao Wei was surprised—he'd expected Chen Yan, young and hot-headed, to lash out, but he was surprisingly calm.

"Since they're panicking, drop prices another 0. yuan and see how they react."

Chen Yan snorted and ordered Liao Wei.

Courier wasn't his main business—he could afford to operate at cost and outlast S. ., STO, ZTO, and YTO.

"Got it." Liao Wei hung up.

His suggestion to retaliate was just a show of loyalty.

Since the boss wanted legal action, he'd abandon black tactics—he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

That day, Yunsu Express filed a police report.

In 2011, surveillance elsewhere might've been sparse, but courier stations were everywhere.

Liao Wei had learned from last year's fake wine scandal—he'd installed numerous cameras, visible and hidden, at every station.

The obvious camera wires had been cut, but micro-cameras remained—though footage was blurry, it clearly showed the attackers' builds and general appearances.

With losses of hundreds of thousands and Yunsu's legal team filing the report directly, local police took it seriously.

Before midnight, all five vandals were arrested.

After a quick interrogation, they all confessed.

They were employees of Sufeng Express, incited by their station boss, who promised each 10, 00 yuan.

They hadn't expected Yunsu to have so many cameras—even after destroying some, they were still caught on film.

Liao Wei received the report and immediately briefed Chen Yan.

Chen Yan knew Sufeng's scale meant its station boss wouldn't pay out of pocket to smash Yunsu's stations and warehouses.

The likely mastermind was Sufeng's headquarters.

He thought for a moment and told Liao Wei: no settlement. If Sufeng wanted to play, send all the perpetrators to jail—see who cracks first.

"Understood, boss." Liao Wei replied.

News of Yunsu's Yiwu warehouse being smashed spread—S. ., STO, ZTO, and YTO station bosses cheered.

But soon after, the police arrested the culprits.

They cursed Liao Wei for being sneaky—how many cameras had he installed?

Yunsu's relentless stance made them realize Liao Wei was no longer the same man.

Of course, given Chen Yan's nature, he wouldn't let Sufeng off easily.

He directly hired lawyers to sue Sufeng's headquarters along with the station.

Winning or losing the lawsuit didn't matter—his goal was to ruin their reputation.

Meanwhile, Chen Yan sent the surveillance footage to Wang Zihao, instructing him to contact Youku, Tudou, and the three major portals to push the video to trending.

"Five Sufeng couriers smash Yunsu Express station!"

"Would you use a courier like this? Assaulting recipients!"

"Sufeng courier attacks customer after complaint!"

Beyond the vandalism, Wang Zihao dug up Sufeng's past scandals.

Even two-year-old news stories, fueled by funding and traffic manipulation, were pushed to trending.

Sufeng Express's reputation, in a short time, surpassed S. ., STO, ZTO, YTO, and JD. om—entirely through negative publicity.

"Manager Liao, it's just the franchisees acting up—you don't need to crush them completely, do you?"

Sufeng's boss, Chen Feilei, called Liao Wei.

"You're kidding me? I don't believe those couriers would still hold out after learning they're facing three years in jail."

Liao Wei had wanted to ignore the call, but couldn't help retorting angrily.

"Fine, let's see then." Chen Feilei wasn't worried—he hadn't shown his face and could easily distance himself. What was there to fear?

As for those fools, if they failed at their job, getting sent to prison was their due.

"Fine, then let's wait and see." Chen Feilei wasn't the least worried—he hadn't shown his face in this matter and could easily distance himself; what was there to fear?

As for those fools, since they messed up, getting sent to operate a sewing machine was only what they deserved.

Chen Feilei had done this many times before and wasn't afraid of Liao Wei's threats.

But he didn't yet know that Chen Yansen had exposed videos of Su Feng Express smashing delivery stations and the battered state of recipients beaten by Su Feng couriers.

This instantly sparked an outcry among netizens.

Many online shoppers directly told merchants they would refuse packages sent via Su Feng Express.

Chen Yansen wasn't just pursuing a few couriers—he intended to completely destroy Su Feng Express as a company.

If you don't strike hard enough, these annoying problems will never end!

The next morning, Yun Su Express's support equipment arrived; Liao Wei reacted swiftly, and that day's package pickups remained unaffected.

But Yun Su then announced further price cuts for medium and large clients in December, sending other courier company bosses into a frenzy—they wanted to smash Yun Su's warehouses and stations all over again.

Yun Su's nationwide price cuts rapidly captured massive market share, followed by rapid staff expansion.

In just one month, Yun Su's delivery stations surged in number, and its couriers swelled to over seven thousand.

(End of Chapter)