Chapter 305: Each Order Earns 0.01 Yuan, a Vast Market of 200 Billion Orders

The next morning, JD's official Weibo announced it had completed a $400 million Series D funding round, with a valuation exceeding $8 billion.

This move aimed to counter Li Guoqing's claim that "JD's cash flow was about to break and it wouldn't last until October," to refute the $6 billion valuation offered by Hong Kong and U. . investment banks, and to restore market confidence in JD.

Liu Qiangdong followed suit, declaring on his personal Weibo account that JD would invest billions in promotional subsidies, ramp up Double Eleven efforts, and provide users with high-quality, affordable digital appliances.

Zhang Jindong in Jin Ling immediately picked up the hint and responded aggressively, accusing JD of always making big noise but delivering little—its so-called subsidies were just a trick of raising prices first, then lowering them.

Although both Suning and JD had been fined hundreds of thousands in cash by the Market Supervision Association over the "815 Price War," the amount meant nothing to either man.

After experiencing the benefits of traffic dividends, Zhang Jindong didn't need Liu Qiangdong to prompt him—he naturally coordinated with the other's hype campaigns.

Suddenly, Suning and JD reignited their verbal battle.

Double Eleven was supposed to be Alibaba's solo performance, but Zhang Yong repeatedly set up challenges on Liu Qiangdong's June 18 anniversary day, forcibly seizing JD's traffic and order resources.

Liu Qiangdong refused to back down, elevating Double Eleven's promotional status to match that of June 18.

Half an hour later, Yun Su's CEO Liao Wei announced that Yun Su Express would launch time-sensitive express delivery (Yun Su Air Express) by year-end and establish Yun Su service points in rural markets, extending e-commerce and logistics deep into lower-tier markets.

Ma Liyun, upon hearing this, cursed Chen Yan's ancestors eighteen generations over: "Little Xisi, copying my plan! How shameless!"

It's said that proximity to vermilion stains you red, proximity to ink stains you black; in Ma Liyun's view, Chen Yan, who was close to Ma Wenteng, had clearly picked up bad habits.

Meanwhile.

Liao Wei submitted an electronic waybill technical proposal to Zheng Shengyu of the Postal Association, converting sender and recipient information and logistics order data into digital format, generating standardized waybill templates via system, and finally printing them as paper labels.

Compared to traditional paper waybills, electronic waybills automatically extract order data, achieving zero-error data entry, real-time synchronization of logistics status, and allowing users to track parcel movement in full, reducing disputes over lost or misdelivered packages.

"This technology is excellent—it lowers costs and improves work efficiency."

Zheng Shengyu pulled Liao Wei to sit down and praised him with a smile.

Remember, processing a traditional waybill took three to five minutes per order; electronic waybills cut it to under ten seconds, increasing daily processing capacity by dozens of times.

Additionally, sorting centers use barcode data from electronic waybills to automatically sort packages, advancing the industry's intelligent transformation.

"Director Zheng, your help in reviewing the waybill format is still needed. By the way, does the Postal Service need the electronic waybill technology?"

Liao Wei looked up, smiling at Zheng Shengyu.

"Want to make money off me?"

Zheng Shengyu stared at Liao Wei with a half-smile, countering.

For a private express company to charge the Postal Service patent fees was unprecedented.

"Director Zheng, improving intelligent printing, image recognition, and data collection cost Yun Su a lot of R&D funds—I've got to make something back."

Liao Wei replied with a smile.

"It's definitely Chen Yan who sent you. Fine—what's your fee structure?"

Zheng Shengyu waved his hand, cutting straight to the point.

"One cent per order for technical service fees." Liao Wei immediately answered, his smile fading.

Don't underestimate one cent: in 2012, estimated express volume was over 8 billion orders—that's over 80 million yuan.

In ten years, that number will reach 200 billion orders, yielding a net profit of 2 billion yuan annually.

The technology is small, but scaled to a market of 1. billion people, it still brings substantial returns.

One cent?

Zheng Shengyu paused, then realized—Yun Su intended to roll out electronic waybills nationwide across the express industry.

"Agreed."

After a moment's thought, Zheng Shengyu nodded and readily accepted Liao Wei's cooperation proposal.

Could the Postal Service still use paper waybills while private express companies all switched to electronic ones?

To save one cent, ten thousand postal couriers would surely drive him mad!

"Director Zheng, actually, my trip to Yanjing has another purpose…" Liao Wei continued after Zheng Shengyu agreed.

Meanwhile.

At Yun Su's Yiwu Business City delivery station, electronic waybills were already in use, instantly boosting efficiency dozens of times.

Liao Wei's explanation to Zheng Shengyu was merely formalities—private express companies didn't need the Postal Association's approval to choose their waybills.

Packages piled up like mountains at the station; Yiwu had high pickup volume and equally high delivery volume.

Lu Hua rode an electric scooter, carrying a full load of parcels, speeding down Futian Road.

Six months ago, he was a temporary worker at Yuantong Express; six months later, he became a full-time employee at Yun Su Express.

Base salary: 3, 00 yuan. Plus pickup and delivery commissions, overtime pay, housing subsidies, five insurances and one fund, and quarterly bonuses—he easily earned over ten thousand yuan monthly.

In Yiwu, there were over four thousand Yun Su couriers like him, showing just how massive the region's business volume was.

How could so many couriers be supported without orders?

Today, Yun Su held over half the express market share in Yiwu; only the combined pickup volumes of SF Express, Best Express, STO, GTO, and dozens of other companies could match it.

Five minutes later, Lu Hua arrived at Business City Zone Three, dropped off some parcels in lockers, and delivered the rest to customers who requested door-to-door service.

He worked nonstop until noon, then stopped to ride over to a Shaxian snack shop nearby.

Though he earned well, Lu Hua refused to spend lavishly—he had two little golden devourers at home; he had to be frugal.

Many Yun Su couriers thought the same way!

As soon as Lu Hua entered, he shouted to the owner: "One duck leg rice, extra sauce."

"Oh! Brother Hua's here!"

"How was your morning pickup volume?"

"Brother Hua, there's a free seat over here!"

Inside, over a dozen Yun Su couriers greeted him warmly upon seeing him.

As a veteran of Yiwu Business City, Lu Hua had worked as a courier here for seven or eight years—from Yuantong to Yun Su—he knew everyone.

"Xiao Wei!"

"Brother Dong!"

"Big Mouth!"

"..."

Lu Hua replied to each, then sat beside Big Mouth; they ate and chatted.

"Electronic waybills are seriously awesome!"

"Feels like orders have been light lately!" "August and September are off-season for e-commerce—hang in there, Double Eleven's coming, you'll be exhausted!"

"It's tiring, but we make money!"

They chatted back and forth.

Lu Hua scanned left to right, feeling surreal—among them were former employees from SF, STO, and GTO, as well as veterans from the "Three Passes and One Reach."

Once they belonged to different companies; now they all worked for the same boss.

"Brother Hua, have you heard? The company's giving us stock options," Xiao Wei whispered mysteriously.

"Stock options?" Lu Hua had only completed junior high—he didn't understand the concept, only that it was like stocks and could be turned into cash someday.

"Fake, right? Xiao Wei, I haven't seen anyone discussing this on the company intranet," Brother Dong shook his head, skeptical.

"Believe it or not!" Xiao Wei scoffed, firing back immediately.

"Damn! It's real—look!" Big Mouth suddenly yelled, holding up his phone to show the screen.

"Huh? It's real! Brother Wei, are these options the same as what Kuai Pao's riders got?" Brother Dong glanced, smirked, and eagerly leaned toward Xiao Wei.

His address had changed from "Xiao Wei" to "Brother Wei!"

Xiao Wei smiled smugly, ignoring the earlier doubt, and explained slowly: "Our company's valuation is $15 billion, total shares are 3 billion, so each option is worth $5. At an exercise price of 0. 1 yuan, if you get ten thousand shares, that's roughly 300, 00 yuan."

"How much?"

"Three hundred thousand?"

"Xiao Wei, don't get your hopes up—I have a cousin who's a Kuai Pao delivery guy; he worked three months and got only one thousand shares."

They all laughed.

"What?! Only one thousand shares? I thought I'd get a few thousand!" Xiao Wei opened his mouth, crestfallen.

"Be glad you got a thousand! Most get one or two thousand; some get four or five thousand—but those are veterans. Supposedly, extra options are issued annually based on quarterly performance."

Brother Dong added.

"Different! Yun Su options are worth $5 per share; Kuai Pao's are $1. . Our numbers won't be high."

Lu Hua spoke up.

"Who cares if it's a thousand or two thousand—it's free money," Big Mouth shrugged, grinning.

"Don't underestimate these options—if the company grows and its valuation hits hundreds of billions, even two thousand shares could be worth hundreds of thousands—enough to buy a house back home," Brother Dong squinted, looking like an expert.

In fact, neither he nor Lu Hua was wrong—Liao Wei's first draft of the option incentive plan gave each person only 300 to 1, 00 shares.

Chen Yan revised it during approval to 500 to 1, 00 shares—small numbers, low value, but still a gesture.

If held long-term and the valuation doubled or tripled, it might even buy a house in the county.

…

…

Beijing, Baidu headquarters.

Li Yanhong logged into the backend and opened Baidu Waimai's first-day data summary.

Registered users: 37, 00; ordering users: 31, 00; first-order conversion rate: 83. %.

Of course, the high conversion rate was due to the "new users get 15 yuan off" promotion.

Late delivery rate: 27. %; on-time delivery rate under 80%.

There were 830 riders online—100 full-time, the rest part-time.

Put more bluntly, all these part-time riders are Meituan delivery personnel.

Wang Xin heavily relied on crowd-sourcing for capacity, treating riders as outsiders, and the riders treated him the same.

Since Baidu Waimai had just launched, its per-order rate was higher; yesterday, seven or eight hundred riders in Meituan uniforms delivered for Baidu Waimai.

For outsourced riders, they deliver for whoever pays more.

This caused Meituan Waimai's on-time delivery rate in Yancheng to drop another four percentage points.

"Knock knock knock—!" A knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Come in!" Li Yanhong looked up, snapped back to attention, and replied coolly.

Wang Jin and Xiang Hailong entered one after the other, pushing the door open.

Seeing this, Li Yanhong instinctively rubbed his temples and cursed Cheng Wei again.

This useless waste!

He only knows how to do marketing and promotion; his software is a mess, riddled with system vulnerabilities like a sieve. Just in July and August, over 80 million yuan was siphoned off by gray-market operations.

Didi Chuxing's Series D funding only brought in 600 million yuan!

"Boss, we just received a report from the Police Inspector's office: yesterday, we shut down 19 gray-market studios, with Shean funds totaling 40 million yuan. The system bugs have been patched. With the risk control department and anti-cheating team in place, there will be no more large-scale losses of subsidy funds."

Xiang Hailong proactively reported the results of last night's raids.

"So, half of the gray-market studios fled ahead of time?" Li Yanhong frowned deeply and asked sharply.

"Uh, yes." Xiang Hailong quickly replied.

Whether it was the "Little Calf" empty-order software or the missed gray-market studios, they had little to do with him.

He had just taken over the Didi Chuxing project and hadn't failed—he'd actually succeeded.

If not for him and Wang Jin, who completely restructured Didi Chuxing's underlying architecture, they never would have discovered "Little Calf."

"Did you catch the software developers?" Li Yanhong asked again.

"Their IP is overseas; the Police Inspector's office is still tracking it," Xiang Hailong replied honestly.

Li Yanhong nodded, looking helpless—he finally understood: they'd only caught a few minor players; the big fish had all escaped.

"I see. Are preparations ready for launching in East China and Central China?" Li Yanhong forced himself to suppress his urge to curse and asked patiently.

"East China region is ready. I've coordinated with the marketing department; the first cities are Shanghai, Jin Ling, Suzhou, Liangxi, and Luzhou. For Central China, we still need half a month for recruitment and training." Xiang Hailong replied quickly.

"These are all markets where Kuai Di Chuxing has operated for half a year. On the marketing side, do you have any better plans?" Li Yanhong nodded slightly and asked casually.

"First, eliminate direct discounts on the passenger app and switch to cashback upon order completion to boost revenue. Second, increase driver subsidies. Since these six cities are mature ride-hailing markets, if we offer higher incentives, we can poach Kuai Di Chuxing's drivers—even skip the promotional steps…" Xiang Hailong spoke confidently.

The more Li Yanhong listened, the more uneasy he felt—he began to see the shadow of Cheng Wei in this man.

(End of Chapter)