Chapter 181: If I Can

"What's Liu Zong doing here? Afraid the suppliers will get poached by Pinbei?"

Zhang Jindong shot back without mercy, a cold sneer on his lips.

With no journalists present, he stopped pretending entirely—months of silent sparring had left him seething.

"What's mine can't be taken."

Liu Qiangdong crossed his legs, outwardly calm, but those words from Zhang Jindong pierced straight to his core.

He'd arrived early and scanned the room—many familiar faces sat around him; over a hundred digital appliance brands were represented, nearly half of them JD's KA suppliers.

Only then did Liu Qiangdong understand why Chen Yansen had merely added a single clause about Orange Pay to the contract and still secured JD's self-operated products on Pinbei.

Though they were still in a cooperative relationship, the ever-alert Liu Qiangdong had sensed Chen Yansen's threat.

"Not necessarily," Zhang Jindong replied with a smile.

He said it deliberately—to sow discord between Liu Qiangdong and Chen Yansen, so Suning could profit.

His experiences over the past year had taught him one truth: online and offline are two entirely different strategies.

Even if he defeated Gome, Suning remained a minor player online, needing third-party traffic to grow.

And Zhang Jindong was confident: with over 1, 00 offline chain stores, Suning's control over suppliers would surpass JD's.

Even if brands bypassed Suning and joined Pinbei directly, Chen Yansen couldn't get the same supply prices Suning enjoyed.

"Mr. Zhang, I think your current thinking is excellent—abandon online strategy, hand over home appliance operations to JD and Pinbei, and cooperate for mutual gain."

Liu Qiangdong smiled in retort.

His implication: Suning had no destiny for e-commerce; better to act as a physical store and outsource operations to JD and Pinbei.

"You got 1. billion in funding and think you're on top of the world? Can you even handle heavy assets? If Suning's e-commerce business fails, I'll give Suning to you."

Zhang Jindong was sharp—he understood Liu Qiangdong's meaning instantly and replied without restraint.

Hah, he's panicked!

Liu Qiangdong felt a surge of satisfaction, smiling warmly, and ignored Zhang Jindong entirely.

JD was already under heavy pressure fighting Taobao on prices, yet Zhang Jindong kept pressing.

For the same product, JD sold it for 100 yuan; Suning sold it for 90—5% to 10% cheaper on average.

To hold market share, Liu Qiangdong had no choice but to slash prices again.

His earlier small talk had been meant to provoke Zhang Jindong; now that he'd succeeded, he left Zhang behind and turned to Li Mingzhe, Suning's e-commerce head at Supor.

Zhang Jindong's chest heaved with rage until Chen Yansen arrived with Xu Peixin, CEO of Red Child.

"Mr. Zhang, didn't expect to see you here," Xu Peixin said, stepping forward quickly to greet him.

Suning's investment team had recently been in talks with Red Child, planning a full acquisition.

Xu Peixin came from investment banking and cared deeply about returns.

His mindset mirrored Lei Yi Army's seven years ago—he saw e-commerce as a money-burning game, and after watching Chen Yansen cash out 10 billion from FoxTao, he now wanted to sell Red Child for an early payout.

As soon as Suning reached out, he eagerly attached himself.

"Mr. Xu, does Red Child plan to join Pinbei too?"

Zhang Jindong gestured for Xu Peixin to sit beside him and asked with a smile.

He was genuinely interested in Red Child—wanted to absorb it into Suning's e-commerce to fill the maternal and infant product category.

But if Xu Peixin joined Pinbei and saw sales rise, would he still be willing to sell? That was uncertain.

"Mr. Zhang understands how hard vertical e-commerce sites are—JD self-operated got in, so Red Child has no problem either."

After sitting down, Xu Peixin sighed, then explained.

"What about the acquisition?" Zhang Jindong probed.

"Let's talk after the New Year—then it'll align with a full fiscal year, making asset accounting easier for Suning."

Xu Peixin hesitated, then decided to delay the deal—first see how Red Child performed on Pinbei.

Everyone was in business—who didn't want to sell for a higher price?

As ten o'clock neared, representatives from Haier, Little Swan, Vanward, Gree, and Midea arrived one by one.

Apparel brands included Metersbonwe, Han Du Yi She, Tang Shi, Yalu, and Xue Zhong Fei.

Sports brands included Anta, 361 Degrees, Hongxing Erke, Adidas, and Nike—but the first three sent brand reps, while the latter two sent distributors.

Given Pinbei's current scale and industry influence, the brands attending were mostly A- and B-tier.

Take cosmetics: the ones showing up were Meifubao, Meijiajing, Mofa Shijia—slightly better ones were Yuni Fang, Kazi Lan, Baique Ling, and Pechoin—no S-tier brands at all.

Over seven hundred brand reps and factory owners filled the hall; from the stage, they looked like a sea of black heads.

"Hello everyone, I'm Chen Yansen, founder of Pinbei. I'm honored to gather with you all today. In the past forty days, Pinbei's cumulative sales have surpassed 6 billion yuan—thanks to your support and trust."

Chen Yansen spoke slowly.

For an e-commerce platform less than two months old, these numbers were dazzling.

Below, Zhang Jindong felt awkward—Suning's e-commerce had been live for two years and still hadn't hit 6 billion in annual sales.

Thank goodness Chen Nian from Fanke hadn't shown up—Chen Yansen's words would've been a brutal opening blow to him.

"For Pinbei, 2011 was just the beginning. 2012 is when we'll ride the wind and break waves. Next, I'll cover two topics: the New Merchant Three-Step Method and Yunsu Intelligent Logistics. First, please welcome Pinbei's Head of Key Accounts, Ms. Song Yuncheng."

Chen Yansen finished briefly and stepped down, handing the stage to Song Yuncheng.

The New Merchant Three-Step Method was simply a support policy for SMEs: zero-cost bargaining and group-buying, a 10-billion-yuan subsidy, and search algorithm optimization.

As long as your product was good, quality was high, and price was right—even if you missed the 10-billion subsidy—you'd still get massive traffic on the main search page.

In 2011, "thousand-person-thousand-faces" algorithms weren't widespread; Pinbei's marketing move opened a whole new door for competitors.

"This is great—I'll copy it when I get back!"

Liu Qiangdong thought excitedly, silently noting it down.

As PC shifted to mobile, a single phone screen could show only six to eight products—how to effectively expose items became an e-commerce dilemma.

Song Yuncheng stood on stage, smiling faintly, calmly introducing Pinbei's core channels and their sales output, citing real cases of brands hitting daily sales of tens of millions.

In industry jargon, she was empowering merchants, boosting their platform survival skills.

Chen Yansen sat below, watching Song Yuncheng quietly.

"There are countless capable people in this world—but very few get the chance to be unlocked."

Chen Yansen smiled slightly, mentally commenting.

Song Yuncheng's speech was compelling—not because of her looks, but because her success stories were mostly B- and C-tier brands, making many think, "If they can do it, so can I."

Especially that factory in Cixi making air fryers—once just a small brand supplying Taobao SMEs, now sold nearly a million units on Pinbei.

The factory owner sat below; when Song Yuncheng mentioned "Zhi Xuan," he excitedly waved his hand.

All the brand reps turned to look at him.

Clearly, he was the boss of "Zhi Xuan."

If Pinbei could make an unknown factory sell hundreds of millions, what could top-tier small appliance brands achieve once they joined? Sales would only be higher.

Half an hour later, Song Yuncheng finished.

Next, Shi Quan, Director of Yunsu Express's Marketing Department, took the stage to present "Yunsu Intelligent Logistics."

He first outlined Yunsu's current status—number of stations, couriers, sorting centers, and regional transit warehouses, plus growth rates—then addressed the merchants' biggest concern: pricing.

Due to competition from SF Express, STO, YTO, and ZTO, the base fee for packages under 1 kg had been driven down to 2 yuan.

But Shi Quan smiled and said: "Starting January 2012, Yunsu Express's warehouse clients will enjoy a special rate of 1. yuan per order."

At this, the merchants below could no longer sit still.

Instantly, the room erupted in chatter!

This new policy was an unprecedented boon for merchants with small, lightweight goods—just on shipping alone, they'd save millions annually.

Liu Qiangdong frowned, glancing sideways at Chen Yansen—though Yunsu was only a third-party courier partner, they shared the same boss; with Pinbei's heavy push, Yunsu would inevitably claim a major position in the industry.

In fact, Yunsu had already forced STO, YTO, ZTO, and SF into the 2-yuan era.

For a moment, Liu Qiangdong felt a flicker of fear—if JD Logistics ever opened to the public and clashed directly with Yunsu, could he win?

After Shi Quan stepped down, Chen Yansen returned to the stage, spoke briefly, and moved the event into the signing phase.

Most here were after resources, connections, and partnerships—they weren't truly interested in his speech.

After signing the onboarding contract, merchants paid their store deposit.

At lunch, Chen Yansen greeted several top home appliance brand reps; Gree's Zheng Zhou and Supor's Li Mingzhe approached him, hinting they wanted extra resource support.

Chen Yansen smiled, silently scoffed, and handed them off to Song Yuncheng.

Want traffic? Pay up!

(End of Chapter)