Chapter 250: 418: Six Nations Kill, Loss Exceeds 1 Billion! This Guy Is Too Sneaky

The next morning, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

Outside a Suning Electronics store in Jin Ling, two men were already lying in wait, holding a product list filled with dense model numbers like "Sharp LCD-60LX540," "Chigo FR-25GW," and "Shanxing UA60EH6000R."

All of them were products overlapping between Jingdong and Suning!

"Boss Liu from Yanjing has ordered: if Suning's offline price for any identical product is lower than Jingdong's, register it on-site, and Jingdong will issue a 10% discount voucher to the buyer."

A middle-aged man with greased hair and a black leather briefcase repeated the instructions over and over.

"These idiots are crazy with money—I'd rather buy a few apartments and collect rent than waste it like this."

A young man with a buzz cut and round face sneered dismissively.

"You idiot, if they didn't compete, how would we land such a sweet job?" The middle-aged man rolled his eyes, irritated.

Three hundred yuan a day, with two meals included—seems little, but this was 2012, and Jin Ling's monthly minimum wage was under 1, 00 yuan; thus, these two Jingdong price scouts were actually quite satisfied with their pay.

At nine a. ., Suning opened for business.

Though it was a weekday, the 418 Home Appliance Festival drew crowds nonstop.

Back then, incomes were low; if you could snag major appliances at 10% or 20% off, you'd easily save a couple thousand yuan—far better than working.

It was just like how, over a decade later, white-collar workers would take time off specifically to join the Double Eleven sales.

"Do you have the Nikon D800?"

A young man with a laptop bag asked the sales clerk.

"We have only 16 in stock, priced at 21, 99 yuan—the lowest nationwide. Hurry, or you'll miss out." The clerk smiled sweetly.

"Give me one!" the young man cried urgently.

The Nikon D800 had only been on the market for two months, and most retailers were selling it at a premium; Suning's price would let him make a fortune reselling to gear dealers.

"Bro, you could get it 2, 00 yuan cheaper on Jingdong."

At that moment, the greasy-haired middle-aged man sidled up with a smug grin.

"Really? I checked Jingdong last night—it was 27, 99 yuan." The backpacker frowned, skeptical.

"Jingdong has discount vouchers—I'll show you how to claim them."

The middle-aged man pulled the backpacker aside, making the clerk furious enough to curse aloud.

Some buyers familiar with Jingdong's subsidy policy had already targeted desired items, sending Suning's offline prices to Jingdong customer service to claim 10% vouchers.

Meanwhile, the other price scout verified the accuracy of the information; if correct, he issued a targeted shopping voucher to the user's Jingdong account.

Liu Qiangdong's tactic was ruthless—he had no intention of letting Suning achieve any sales success on 418.

"Manager, let's kick these bastards out," suggested a Suning employee.

"Ignore them. Jingdong's being so brazen to provoke us—if we react, the scandal grows, and that's exactly what they want." The Suning store manager narrowed his eyes, seething with rage.

If it weren't for the boss's orders, these two wouldn't have walked out with their limbs intact.

Even during his bloody battle with Gome, he'd never felt this humiliated.

At 9: 0 a. ., the stock market opened, and Suning's shares dropped 1. % immediately.

Half an hour earlier, a third-party data platform had released a comparison of Jingdong and Suning's sales figures for April 17.

Jingdong: 170 million yuan in sales. Suning: 150 million yuan.

Could the longtime home appliance giant really be crushed by a newcomer?

Retail investors, seeing this, rushed to place sell orders, terrified of being left holding the bag.

"Disgusting!"

After hearing the news, Zhang Jindong slammed his desk so hard it rattled. As a seasoned veteran, he knew instantly: someone was maliciously dumping shares to trigger volatility in Suning's stock.

Damn it!

This guy was too cunning—he wasn't just playing a price war; he had dirty tricks up his sleeve too.

Zhang Jindong knew well: if Suning's stock hit the daily limit down, even if he won on sales, the opponent would exploit it mercilessly.

"Tell the investment department: buy every single sell order. Take in as much as you can."

After a long pause, Zhang Jindong ordered his secretary.

"Yes, boss," she nodded slightly, then left the office, her slender high heels clicking as she swayed away.

Liu Qiangdong wouldn't miss this chance—he posted a screenshot of Suning's falling stock price on Weibo. No words, but the message was crystal clear.

Suning's online business head, Han Pengde, responded immediately: the group's management would increase its shareholding.

The moment the news broke, Suning's stock rebounded instantly!

Meanwhile,

Gome slashed prices on all overlapping products with Jingdong, declaring to Liu Qiangdong: "Gome's prices will always be 5% lower than Jingdong's."

Dangdang, leveraging its partnership with Gome's appliance stores, stood shoulder to shoulder with Gome, turning its fire squarely on Jingdong.

Liu Qiangdong mocked Li Guoqing: "Dangdang has no suppliers or logistics system—it has no right to join the 418 home appliance war. You're just a shoe-shiner."

At 9: 5 a. ., Li Guoqing replied on Weibo: "Liu says Dangdang is a shoe-shiner. I don't think shoe-shining is beneath anyone. Dangdang and Gome's collaboration perfectly combines both platforms' strengths to offer users competitively priced major appliances. If users are satisfied, that's all that matters. I, Li Guoqing, am happy to shine shoes for users."

This statement deeply moved Dangdang's users!

After all, Li Guoqing was a billionaire claiming he'd "shine shoes" for users—it naturally won him some public support.

Within minutes, "Li Guoqing shines shoes" surged to the top of the trending list.

"Is this even possible?" Liu Qiangdong was stunned.

He hadn't even considered Dangdang a threat, yet right at the start of the promotion, Li Guoqing had already turned himself into a trending topic.

On the other side,

In Dougezhuang, Yanjing, a bald middle-aged man in a striped shirt, holding a watering can, was tending to the flowers around him.

"Damn it all! Zhang Jindong riding roughshod over Gome was bad enough, but now Liu Qiangdong wants to bite me too? He's gonna break his teeth."

The bald man's pupils narrowed, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

He'd been away from the game too long—these youngsters no longer respected Gome.

He'd already declared: even if it cost Gome three months' profits, he'd make Jingdong pay.

Far away in Hangcheng, at Ali's headquarters, members of FoxTao rubbed their sleepy eyes and returned to work.

"Sen, you've really screwed us over," Xu Kun sighed, silently grumbling in his mind.

Pinbei's early launch forced FoxTao into overtime—he'd worked until 2 a. . last night.

"Kun, do you regret it?" Du Yaoyao from the editorial team leaned over, whispering.

She, Xu Kun, along with Tang Qin from design and Xu Dan from HR, had once abandoned Chen Yan to join Ali Baba. Their pay was decent, but their working hours had ballooned.

Overtime pay? Not a single cent!

"Don't overthink it. With our education and project experience, landing at Ali is already a win."

Xu Kun forced a weak smile to reassure her.

He too missed the days when Chen Yan was boss—six-hour workdays, full overtime pay—who wouldn't prefer that?

"Stay sharp! As the leader in guide e-commerce, FoxTao must seize this moment—use content recommendations and brand group formats to aim for new sales records."

Wu Ming, FoxTao's business head, strode through the office with his assistant, announcing loudly.

The price war among the six e-commerce platforms continued!

By ten a. ., Jingdong's losses had already hit 20 million yuan!

Suning and Gome weren't faring any better—they winced in pain; if this kept up until midnight, they'd lose 300 million yuan!

At that moment, Pinbei's billion-dollar subsidy channel began offering users limited-time cash red packets: 2, 00 off 300, 5, 00 off 500, and 10, 00 off 800—immediately capturing the entire internet's attention.

Pinbei's home appliances, already highly cost-effective, became roughly 10% cheaper than Jingdong, Gome, and Suning after stacking the discount vouchers.

Pinbei's surprise strike threw all three into chaos.

"Follow up! Ramp up the promotion—add prominent links for large-value Jingdong vouchers on the main page. Slash the prices!"

Liu Qiangdong, commanding from Jingdong's headquarters, declared boldly.

There was no room for retreat now!

……

……

In Xu City, Zhuxianzhuang Technology Park.

On the first floor of Building 8, an 80-inch screen displayed real-time sales data for Pinbei that day.

"Sen, as of 11 a. ., Pinbei's daily visits reached 63 million, with organic traffic accounting for 3. %, and major appliance sales hit 140 million yuan…"

Hu Yun sat before Chen Yan, holding a laptop, reporting nonstop.

The 3. % organic traffic meant nearly 2 million new customers were acquired for free—high-value users intensely interested in digital appliances.

Chen Yan finally understood why Liang Zaidong was so obsessed with price wars: on paper, it was a loss, but it brought in massive free new traffic—over the long term, it was more than worth it.

"Haier BCD-216SZ three-door refrigerator: sales of 17, 00 units; Daikin S-series wall-mounted air conditioner: sales of 7, 00 units; Shanxing WF0702WKR washing machine: sales of 4, 00 units…"

Hu Yun recited the top ten best-selling major appliances.

Chen Yan glanced at the screen: a gross loss of 43 million yuan—still within his tolerance.

But Jingdong couldn't hold out much longer!

Liu Qiangdong stared at the ever-rising gross loss, growing increasingly anxious; by noon, he couldn't take it anymore and shot a glance at the vice president of home appliance procurement.

The man understood instantly, walked over to operations, and ordered category managers to delist products with excessive subsidies, marking them as out of stock.

Soon after, Suning and Gome followed suit, also marking items as "out of stock."

Fewer identical products remained available for price comparison—clearly, everyone was bleeding too heavily and couldn't sustain it.

At 2: 5 p. ., the Business Association declared: this price war did not constitute malicious competition.

In other words: fight all you want!

Around 2: 0, Suning's stock hit the daily limit, and the company announced that during this 418 Home Appliance Festival, its business had grown 637% month-over-month!

At 3: 0, rumors spread that Suning couldn't afford it anymore, and screenshots surfaced showing Suning's product prices reverting to their original levels.

But ten minutes later, Han Pengde stepped forward to deny the rumors: we're going to fight JD to the end.

Liu Qiangdong immediately fired back: bring it on! JD has prepared 500 and 1000 yuan JD vouchers for users—free with every order!

"No wonder he's called Pretty Boy Dong—he's killing three birds with one stone, making Suning and Gome spin in circles."

Chen Yansen put down his phone and muttered under his breath.

Last year, JD raised 1. billion U. . dollars from DST Global, Tiger Global, and other institutions; with funds nearly depleted, Liu Qiangdong finally initiated this price war.

First, to produce a stellar performance report in preparation for its IPO; second, to block Suning and Gome's "going online" plans and solidify JD's industry position in online digital appliances; third, to attract investor attention and secure the next round of funding.

There was no choice—JD's asset-heavy operational model required massive upfront investment and made profitability extremely difficult.

After 3: 0 p. ., JD, Gome, Suning, Dangdang, and YiXun suffered widespread stockouts.

Forty minutes later, users complained on Weibo that e-commerce sites had failed to honor their promised coupons.

At 4: 5 p. ., Suning's servers crashed, and users could no longer access the homepage.

After the chaotic battle, everyone publicly fumed—but privately, they were all satisfied.

Today's visitor traffic had doubled even for Dangdang and YiXun.

At 11: 0 p. ., Pinduoduo's headquarters building remained brightly lit.

The question now facing the six e-commerce platforms was: should they continue tomorrow?

Chen Yansen glanced at the data: excluding the 17th, today alone they had lost 230 million yuan.

He estimated that JD, Suning, and Gome had each lost at least 200 million yuan.

Add Dangdang and YiXun, and together they had lost nearly a billion yuan in one day!

Suddenly, the phone on the desk rang.

Chen Yansen looked at the caller ID and smiled faintly.

(End of Chapter)