Chapter 177: Old Ma: Liu Qiangdong Has Invited a Wolf Into His House! (Thank You, Warm

"Chairman, here are the social insurance payment records from Yunsu Express: 14, 35 employees on payroll, with commercial medical insurance in addition to the five insurances and one fund."

At the Postal Association headquarters, the secretary handed the documents to the chairman.

"Yunsu's monthly labor cost alone exceeds 100 million—how long do you think they can last?"

Zheng Shengyu looked at the secretary and asked with a smile.

"Yunsu is backed by Senlian Capital; they can easily last several years. Plus, their expansion is rapid—once they achieve scale advantages, even a 0. -yuan price reduction per package won't disrupt normal operations."

The secretary replied with a smile.

"Let them fight it out—it's better that way. The private express sector doesn't need too many players, especially not companies that refuse to pay social insurance for their couriers."

Zheng Shengyu smiled, squinting as he spoke.

In the past, when he negotiated with the managers of Sanyi Da, they always cited high costs and intense competition as excuses, claiming that paying social insurance would force their companies to collapse.

If their profit margins are this poor, let Yunsu eliminate them.

On the other side.

After receiving the news, Wang Wei of SF Express frowned.

Although both belong to the express industry, SF Express leads far ahead of Sanyi Da in service quality thanks to its high speed, wide coverage, and door-to-door delivery, forming its own competitive barrier.

But Yunsu has also launched door-to-door delivery, and some users who don't demand high speed have abandoned SF Express in favor of Yunsu.

Although this group of users is small in proportion, it has given Wang Wei a sense of crisis.

"Notify the marketing department to reduce the fee for SF Express's discounted single parcels by 10%, and complete the adjustment within this week."

Wang Wei instructed his assistant.

The competition between Yunsu and Sanyi Da has already affected SF Express—if they don't lower prices, Yunsu will surely bite off a piece of SF's market share.

Meanwhile.

At Ali's headquarters in Hangcheng.

Ma Liyun, Zhang Yong, Cai Xin, and several other founders were eating breakfast in a conference room while discussing the Double Twelve sales reports from various e-commerce platforms.

"Pinduoduo sold 190 million in sales on Jingdong? Liu Qiangdong has invited a wolf into his house."

Ma Liyun commented with a smile.

Logically, the alliance between Pinduoduo and Jingdong should have severely impacted Taobao.

But Pinduoduo has grown too fast—this impressive sales record will inevitably make Liu Qiangdong suspicious.

Moreover, Jingdong's self-operated suppliers, after witnessing Pinduoduo's strong sales performance among high-end customers, are likely to abandon Jingdong and directly join Pinduoduo.

After all, if the goods are in their own hands, why let Jingdong profit from the markup?

"Pinduoduo is growing too fast. Chen Yan is far more capable and ruthless than Zheng Chunbin of Paipai—we must be on guard."

At this moment, Zhang Yong put down his chopsticks and warned seriously.

Precisely because he respected Chen Yan, he understood the threat this man posed to Taobao.

Paipai, despite also being backed by Tencent, kept getting worse, while Pinduoduo, in less than a month, climbed into the top three e-commerce platforms during the critical Double Twelve event—Chen Yan's operational ability is evident.

"He wants to copy Taobao from three years ago—use low-priced goods to attract traffic, yet refuses to give up brand merchants. How can he have it both ways?"

Ma Liyun shook his head with a smile, instantly seeing through Pinduoduo's platform positioning, sneering in disdain.

Low prices usually mean low quality and counterfeits. Ali worked hard to build Taobao Mall precisely to shed small vendors and redirect traffic toward mid-tier and top-tier sellers.

First, it can enhance group profitability and cash flow through tools such as deposit fees, technical service charges, category commissions, Zhitongche, Diamond Display, and Super Recommendations;

Second, it can crack down on the rampant counterfeits and low-quality goods on the platform.

After all, if Ali wants to list on NASDAQ, it must first resolve the trust crisis caused by counterfeit goods.

Paipai never grew because its C2C business dominated too heavily, flooded with counterfeits and low-quality products that severely damaged user experience.

As major comprehensive and vertical e-commerce platforms rose, users gradually abandoned it.

"But so far, Pinduoduo has managed this reasonably well."

Zhang Yong replied.

"That's only because Pinduoduo's order volume was low before—the problems haven't surfaced yet. After Double Twelve, if Pinduoduo doesn't handle it properly, it will definitely be summoned by the Market Supervision Association."

Ma Liyun spoke with certainty—Ali had gone through these exact stages.

"Orange Tech's Taobao flagship store sold 230 million yesterday," Zhang Yong said slowly.

"Tell marketing to accelerate bringing in other smartphone brands—I don't believe they won't be tempted after seeing Orange Phone's sales figures."

Ma Liyun said coolly.

He wouldn't suppress Orange Tech because of Pinduoduo, but bringing in other brands to divert traffic from Orange Phone was a must.

As expected, Li Wanqiang from Xiaomi contacted Alibaba's marketing department that afternoon to discuss Xiaomi's flagship store joining Pinduoduo.

Huawei, HTC, and Coolpad, upon learning that Orange Phone sold 600 million in sales and nearly 300, 00 units across Pinduoduo, Taobao, and Jingdong in a single day, all held meetings to explore the feasibility of expanding third-party sales channels.

In Xucheng, Song Yuncheng received a call from Li Wanqiang.

"Yes, that's right! Xiaomi wants to join Pinduoduo—the price can drop to 1, 19 yuan, and we'll need your help securing promotional resources for the opening day."

Li Wanqiang said with a smile.

Due to poor sales, Xiaomi's official price had already dropped from its initial 1, 99 yuan to 1, 69 yuan, and during promotions, it was as low as 1, 49 yuan.

But a price of 1, 19 yuan was unprecedented.

Previously on FoxTao, Xiaomi had sold at 1, 99 yuan, but with conditions: first, only FoxTao F5 Diamond-level users could buy, and second, FoxTao subsidized each unit with 10 yuan in advertising fees.

Now offering 1, 19 yuan openly shows how much pressure Leiyi Army is under.

"Mr. Li, rest assured—I'll secure the maximum in-platform resources within my authority."

Song Yuncheng agreed readily.

But to Li Wanqiang, this reply was vague—he wanted specific data on resource positions: pop-ups, featured banners, floating windows, etc. but Song Yuncheng deliberately avoided the details.

After a moment's thought, Li Wanqiang realized and tentatively offered 10 million yuan in marketing fees.

Song Yuncheng immediately dropped the pretense; they briefly discussed over the phone and confirmed the store opening date and resource package configuration.

Li Wanqiang couldn't help but smirk: Song Yuncheng was truly Chen Yan's protégé—never act until the rabbit appears.

After the call, Song Yuncheng hung up and sent the legal team's template contract to Li Wanqiang.

Both legal teams confirmed the terms and signed the joining agreement.

Then, Song Yuncheng left his desk, stepped into the elevator, and headed to the 11th floor.

"Boss, Xiaomi wants to join Pinduoduo and is adding 10 million yuan in advertising fees on top of the deposit, to be used for marketing resources on New Year's Day opening."

Song Yuncheng stood at the open office door, knocked lightly, waited for Chen Yan to nod, then entered to report.

"It seems Chairman Lei is under heavy pressure—Xiaomi's been online for nearly four months and has only sold 1. million units; they must expand new channels."

Chen Yan leaned back, gesturing for Song Yuncheng to close the door.

"More than that! Li Wanqiang said Xiaomi will sell at 1, 19 yuan on opening day—should we adjust Orange Phone's price?"

Song Yuncheng pulled over a chair and sat down to ask.

"No. Xiaomi's price cut won't affect Orange Phone's sales."

Chen Yan spoke with confidence.

The engineering test versions of Orange C2 and Orange D1 have been sent to the tech park; the testing team's engineers are conducting hardware tests, and once confirmed, they'll be sold in limited quantities on Orange Mall.

Based on feedback from the first batch of seed users, we'll formulate the first production plan.

The official launch date will likely coincide with the Apple 4S mainland China release.

It's Orange Tech's first direct clash with Apple—after all, when Orange C1 launched, the iPhone 4 had already been on the market for nearly a year.

"Then I'll get back to work," Song Yuncheng said, seeing Chen Yan showed no concern, and prepared to leave.

"Come with me out," Chen Yan said.

"Is it work-related?" Song Yuncheng asked.

"Not work—do you dare not come?" Chen Yan frowned slightly, smiling at Song Yuncheng.

"..." Facing the blatant threat, Song Yuncheng forced a smile, silently cursing Chen Yan in her mind.

"Zhao Maolin from Telecom is about to be promoted and leave Xucheng. Meanwhile, Orange C2 and Orange D1 are nearing launch—do you understand?"

Chen Yan, seeing her expression of suppressed anger, explained with a smile.

In short, he wanted to leverage Zhao Maolin and his boss's influence to expand Orange Tech's sales channels.

Take Lenovo—despite having few popular models, it ranks among the top smartphone shippers, thanks entirely to its strong relationships with the three major carriers.

Just selling contract phones alone can turn a huge profit!

Moreover, the three carriers have over 100, 00 owned and partnered service centers nationwide—these are the best possible retail outlets.

Chen Yan naturally wouldn't let this go.

Who doesn't want to make money comfortably?

"Alright, what time shall we leave?" Song Yuncheng, hearing it was serious business, immediately agreed.

"Half an hour from now—at the Sky Garden. Here's the key."

Chen Yan tossed the Bentley key to Song Yuncheng, clearly treating her as both driver and secretary.

Song Yuncheng caught the key, stood up, and walked out.

…

…

In Jingdong's supplier group chat, the staff member posted the Double Twelve ranking list made by the data team.

"Gree: 37 million!"

"HP: 21 million!"

"Lenovo: 43 million!"

"Dell, 19 million!"

These sales figures of tens of millions stimulated the smaller sellers in the group; just as they were debating fiercely, a small home appliance brand from Foshan suddenly chimed in: "Gree and AUX have similar sales."

The clerk frowned at this remark—AUX had sold only 8. million on JD, far behind Gree.

Yet AUX's air conditioners had racked up a staggering 23. million in sales on Pinduoduo's group-buying event!

The clerk understood, and so did the brand representatives lurking on the sidelines.

After a few seconds, the brand's operations staff quickly retracted the message and added: "Sorry, sent by mistake—ignore it!"

Clearly, these suppliers were privately discussing Pinduoduo's Double Twelve results.

"What is AUX in the air conditioning industry?"

Zheng Zhou, Gree's e-commerce manager, snorted coldly, muttered under his breath, then immediately began leveraging connections to contact Pinduoduo's large-client acquisition department, considering joining.

(End of chapter)