Chapter 237: Only the Ruthless Win in the End! Ele.me's Demise

In March, the city of Xu was battered by fierce wind and rain, the heavens and earth shrouded in ink-black darkness.

The rapeflowers along the roadside, fueled by the rain, struggled upward, presenting a lush, verdant scene from afar.

Chen Yansen leaned against the car window, recalling Xu Zhenhui's words: "Mr. Chen, I cannot speak for other cities, but in Xu City, the moment you ask, the authorization documents for Kuaide Dache will be on your desk that same day."

They were truly afraid that Chengzi Technology and Pinba Shangcheng would flee!

In reality, Chen Yansen had no immediate plans to relocate the company, but he could prepare in advance.

After all, Xu City's supporting facilities were somewhat lacking.

Had he not still been attending university at Xu Academy, he likely would have moved away long ago.

Although over two years had passed and Chen Yansen hadn't even recognized all his instructors, it didn't stop him from becoming Xu Academy's Three-Good Student, Outstanding Scholar, Distinguished Alumnus, President of the Anhui Province College Student Entrepreneurship Alliance, and recipient of the National Scholarship.

These messy titles were all forcibly shoved upon him by Tang Qingshan.

"No," and yet, he still couldn't refuse!

"Boss, regarding Kuaipao's Series B financing, roughly when will the launch occur? Mama Ali, Penguin, DST, and Jin Sha Ventures all express strong investment intent."

Gao Weilin, seated nearby, asked softly.

"Wait until Pei Yi captures the Shanghai City food delivery market," Chen Yansen came to his senses and said calmly.

At this moment, Kuaipao hadn't even fully digested Luzhou, let alone Shanghai City.

He knew clearly that a provincial capital with a permanent population of seven to eight million would see at least 800,000 food delivery orders daily.

Although Kuaipao's product categories were still incomplete, lacking supermarket, fruit and vegetable, and pharmaceutical services, Luzhou's current daily average order volume was only 170,000, clearly not yet reaching its ceiling.

Meanwhile, hundreds of li away in Shanghai City, heavy rain poured just as fiercely.

Under such severe weather conditions, food delivery order volumes surged, but delivery speeds slowed significantly.

The roads were flooded; an electric scooter accelerating even slightly risked slipping.

Throughout the streets and alleys, Kuaipao riders in orange uniforms constantly passed by, and everyone unconsciously slowed their vehicles.

To ensure delivery timeliness and rider safety, Pei Yi immediately ordered the technical department to reduce the number of pending orders in the backend system.

Riders' hourly income on paper dropped by thirty percent, but after adding various subsidies, the per-order delivery fee actually rose significantly compared to normal times.

First, Kuaipao offered bad weather subsidies; second, Chen Yansen had specifically instructed that during high heat, cold, strong winds, or heavy rain, the full delivery fee for every order must be paid directly to the delivery personnel.

Consequently, the number of online riders on the Ele. me platform plummeted, while Kuaipao remained unaffected, keeping delivery times within 29 minutes.

Users ordering through the Ele. me platform suffered; estimated arrival times kept getting pushed back, and some waited over two hours before calling the merchant, only to learn that no riders were accepting orders.

The merchants were helpless too!

After these users applied for refunds, they turned around and placed new orders on Kuaipao; yet once the merchants finished preparing the food, it was delivered in under twenty minutes.

Under severe weather conditions, using high per-order fees to "force" riders to accept orders might seem unethical, but from a business perspective, it was the wisest course of action.

Typically, a user's tolerance for delivery delays on a food delivery platform tops out at two or three times; once they discover Ele. me's delivery speed is far inferior to Kuaipao's, they will immediately switch to a different ordering tool.

If such situations occur just a few more times, even the most loyal customers will uninstall the Ele. me app without hesitation.

No one wants to eat cold rice!

In March, when the weather was warming yet still chilly, no one wanted to drink a cup of cold milk tea either!

Longcao Road, Lane 200, Kuaipao Headquarters.

"Mr. Pei, as of 4 PM, seven riders were injured in falls; fortunately, all injuries were superficial," the Delivery Department supervisor reported, walking up to Pei Yi's position.

"I understand. Tell the brothers in the Delivery Department that the company will cover all medical expenses and lost wages."

Pei Yi took a deep breath and replied in a calm tone.

Far away in Luzhou, Kang Guodong, upon learning of today's weather conditions, suggested to him: force riders offline, or temporarily suspend service areas with inconvenient traffic and heavy rainfall.

Pei Yi decisively refused, dismissing the idea with contempt!

He was not cold-blooded or heartless; he simply understood human nature deeply.

If he acted according to Kang Guodong's plan, those Kuaipao riders taken offline might register as Ele. me riders and start accepting orders to earn money.

Handing the market over to competitors like this was simply too stupid!

"Understood, Mr. Pei," the Delivery Department supervisor sighed, turned, and went back to convey the order.

Had Chen Yansen been present, he would have supported Pei Yi's decision.

He chose Pei Yi over Kang Guodong not only because their capabilities differed in direction, but also for one crucial point: Pe Yi was sufficiently rational and calm, placing greater emphasis on profit.

Kang Guodong's line of thinking was actually not wrong; it just shouldn't have been chosen at the peak of market competition.

Once Kuaipao established a monopoly advantage in the food delivery industry and possessed ample delivery resources, Kang Guodong's strategy would hold more advantage than Pei Yi's.

But right now, Kang Guodong's plan was no different from seeking death!

The person sharing the same train of thought was the CEO of Qian Du Food Delivery four years later, who announced before the Spring Festival: all riders would be given leave, along with travel subsidies.

As a result, after the New Year, not only did all the riders flee to Meituan and Ele. me, but one-fifth of the user base was also lost.

Because during the Spring Festival, if one wanted to order food delivery, the only options were Meituan or Ele. me.

However, the true intention of the Qian Du Food Delivery CEO was that the population in first- and second-tier cities is highly mobile; order volumes during the Spring Festival period would drop to their yearly lowest point, causing rider income to shrink drastically, and retaining riders would require offering three or four times the overtime pay.

After weighing pros and cons, he made a decision that seemed reasonable but was extremely foolish.

Intending to cut labor costs, the result was not only losing market share but also plunging Qian Du Food Delivery into a long-term crisis of insufficient delivery capacity.

On the other side.

Zhang Xuhao stood in the office at 335 Guoding Road, gazing at the heavy rain outside; the road conditions ten meters away were completely invisible.

He looked at Kang Jia and asked, "What is the current order delay rate?"

"31%," Kang Jia struggled to report the number.

There was no choice; too few riders were online, orders piled up, and delivery was completely impossible to keep up.

"I don't understand."

Zhang Xuhao murmured to himself.

To compete with KuaiPao, he paid social insurance and accident insurance for EleMe riders, and gave them a monthly base salary of 1600 yuan, yet during EleMe's toughest period, one-third of them went offline.

This caused complaints from users and merchants to surge more than tenfold!

"Some riders feel EleMe offers no quarterly bonuses, nor subsidies for extreme heat or cold weather."

Kang Jia chuckled bitterly.

Before KuaiPao entered Hu Cheng, these riders had neither the five insurances and one fund nor a base salary, yet they still worked hard.

But after comparison, EleMe riders' attitudes changed.

"Some? Probably most." Zhang Xuhao sneered; he admitted he had underestimated human nature.

Kang Jia remained silent.

He knew, and Zhang Xuhao knew too, that EleMe still lagged far behind KuaiPao in route planning and order dispatching.

Within the same time, KuaiPao riders could complete more orders, faster and better; EleMe riders could not.

"Issue an announcement: riders who log in today and stay online for six hours get 100 yuan; for ten hours, 200 yuan."

Zhang Xuhao thought for a moment, then instructed Kang Jia.

The fundamental logic of successful business must be free of emotion; monetary incentives are the most concrete.

Kang Jia grunted and went to do it.

As KuaiPao expanded its operations across the entire Hongkou district, EleMe's office atmosphere grew increasingly gloomy.

Sometimes, Kang Jia even spotted KuaiPao delivery riders near the company.

This meant KuaiPao had already established stations in YP district.

When ground-promotion BDs occasionally met KuaiPao salespeople offline, they merely glared at each other, all maintaining restraint.

After all, no one dared ignore the inspection office's summons!

At 9:30 p. m., the heavy rain in Hu Cheng gradually subsided; alleyways still held pools of water of varying depths.

After working straight for over ten hours, order volume slowly dwindled, and KuaiPao riders finally got a break.

They gathered in small groups on open ground in the commercial zone, eating dinner while loudly discussing their daily earnings.

"Dragon-scale Horse! Today I was nearly worn out! The company's a piece of shit—rain poured so hard we couldn't open our eyes, and still they wouldn't let us go offline!"

"Brother Li, stop complaining! When you checked your estimated income earlier, your grin stretched from ear to ear—how much did you make? Why are you so happy?"

"Shut up! Don't pry." Li Zhou twisted open a bottle of iced red tea and gulped it down in one go.

"I bet it's 1500! I only did 70 orders, and with subsidies I'm already close to 1000—Brother Li must've made more than me. It's tiring, but the money's damn comfortable!" said a short-haired, round-faced chubby guy, grinning.

"Who the hell cares how much I made? I'm risking my life for it!"

Li Zhou rolled his eyes and snapped back.

At this, many riders fell silent.

Yeah, today had been terrifying.

They earned what normally took four or five days, yet their hands and feet still trembled.

"Brother Li, I heard the company's planning to install delivery lockers at Ri Yue Guang—does that mean we won't have to climb stairs anymore?"

"Dream on! The locker plan hasn't even been finalized yet—it's way off! But the brothers near Ri Yue Guang are lucky—they're the pilot zone; soon you just shove your order in the locker and it's done!"

Li Zhou smiled, a flicker of envy in his eyes.

Of course, the strong demand for delivery lockers was limited to commercial office districts, where numerous companies and complex personnel often had access controls, forcing deliveries to be left on the first floor.

For users, delivery lockers eliminated risks of lost or wrong orders and increased flexibility in pickup times.

But for residential areas, delivery lockers were a pseudo-need—this was why Pei Yi promoted them only in commercial zones.

One week later.

KuaiPao established seventeen stations in YP district; Kou Zhen led his ground-promotion team, street by street, to migrate EleMe's merchant base onto KuaiPao.

The order share ratio quickly shifted from 1:9 to 8:2.

From then on, KuaiPao and EleMe's service areas overlapped heavily, and they fiercely competed daily across the four major districts: Xuhui, Hongkou, Yang Pu, and Jing'an.

EleMe even raised its new-user subsidies to 20 yuan instant discount, and offered returning users daily red packets of 5 to 12 yuan off.

At this point, all marketing tactics had lost effect—it came down to who was cheaper and who delivered faster.

But as KuaiPao deployed more and more delivery lockers in Ri Yue Guang, Zhong Yin, and Tai Fu Plaza, EleMe's pressure mounted.

Seeing its funds about to run out, Zhang Xuhao had to face reality: after three years in the delivery business, he had lost to a latecomer imitator.

After reaching consensus with Wang Yuan, Kang Jia, and Deng Ye, he dialed Gao Weilin's number.

"You want to sell your company to KuaiPao?" Gao Weilin felt stunned upon understanding the caller's intent.

"Boss Zhang, didn't I hear Mama Ali plans to fully acquire EleMe?" Gao Weilin recovered and asked with a smile.

His implication: go see Mama Ali.

EleMe had little residual value; buying it now would be pure waste.

After being rejected, Zhang Xuhao hung up, dazed and hollow-eyed, then sought out Mama Ali's Ji Gang.

But Ji Gang didn't wait for him to speak—he said bluntly: "Boss Zhang, you missed the best opportunity, do you understand?"

Zhang Xuhao opened his mouth, sighed deeply, then finally muttered, "Thank you," and put down his phone.

"Deng Ye, how much money is left in the account?" After locking himself in his office and sitting alone in silence for hours, Zhang Xuhao walked over to Deng Ye's desk and asked.

"Just over two million." Deng Ye bit his lip, sensing Zhang Xuhao's intention.

"Tell everyone I'm sorry—and distribute this money." Zhang Xuhao gave a bitter smile; he had planned to give departing employees N+1 severance to preserve a final shred of dignity, but reality slapped him hard.

On March 16, EleMe announced a temporary suspension of service.

EleMe riders quit en masse and joined KuaiPao's delivery team.

KuaiPao's HR even grew brazen, setting up temporary interview booths right outside Gate 335 Guoding Road, taking on EleMe's software engineers, database administrators, operations staff, ground-promotion BDs—even customer service agents.

In Pei Yi's own words: many of them were graduates from Jiaotong and Tongji Universities; they just picked the wrong company—they weren't incapable.

The first major food-delivery war of 2012 lasted less than two months, and Ele. me stepped down early.

With the Shanghai food-delivery market fully opening its arms to Kuai Pao, and no competitor holding it back, Kuai Pao began expanding wildly, preparing to rapidly extend its operations across the entire Shanghai region.

The next day, Wang Yuan, Kang Jia, and Deng Ye, who were still wrapping up loose ends, each received a call from Kuai Pao's HR one after another, leaving all three utterly bewildered.

Upon learning this, Did Zhang Xuhao flew into a rage and cursed: "Little punk, taking the meal and grabbing the bag too!"

What stung him most was that all three of his brothers had received calls, yet no one had called him.

Isn't this looking down on people?

"President Zhang, I'm sorry, you should understand how difficult it is to switch industries." Kang Jia, who was in charge of Ele. me's ground promotion and delivery teams, said to Did Zhang Xuhao with an apologetic expression after some thought.

"No hard feelings. Wishing you a bright future, soaring high for ten thousand miles."

Did Zhang Xuhao forced a faint smile and said, patting Kang Jia on the shoulder.

He had driven the project to bankruptcy, so honestly, he had no face to sway anyone else's decision, even if they were going to Kuai Pao.

Wang Yuan and Deng Ye exchanged glances, a flicker of interest flashing in their eyes.

……

……

On March 18th, Kuaidi Dache entered Jin Ling!

(End of chapter)