Chapter 312: The Market Landscape of 28: DiDi Bike Launches, Joining the Fray—Not Unthinkable!

Three days later.

Liao Wei had just called Cao Dahua to urge him to ship faster when he went to report to Chen Yansen.

“Boss, it’s sold out!” Liao Wei blurted out.

“Mm, I already heard from Cao Dahua—217 service stations sold 20,183 Orange Phones in three days. The courier station didn’t take off, but the phone agency service blew up.”

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and nodded in satisfaction.

For Yunsu Courier Service Stations, his original concept was parcel pickup and drop-off; later he added phone agency sales and app promotion services, mainly to address profitability challenges.

The boss already knows?

Liao Wei paused, then cursed inwardly: Did Cao Dahua’s mouth grow wings? No wonder he’s surnamed Cao!

“Boss, I think Yunsu Courier Service Stations can shoulder part of the responsibility of Orange Tech exclusive stores—saving on rental costs and enabling unified management.”

Liao Wei said seriously.

“Phone repurchase frequency is very low. The core value of Yunsu Courier Service Stations remains parcel pickup and drop-off.”

Chen Yansen emphasized again.

“Boss, I understand.” Liao Wei quickly replied, grasping the subtext; he paused and added: “First increase smart phone penetration in rural markets, then grow Pinnbei’s user base—only then will Yunsu gain volume. Only by combining all three can we form a business cycle.”

“Your MBA didn’t go to waste—you’ve improved a lot,” Chen Yansen teased with a smile.

As Liao Wei said, only after completing hardware and system deployment in the lower-tier markets could Yunsu Courier increase its pickup volume.

The prices of the Orange D1 and Qingcheng D1S were not expensive in township markets.

After all, some digital store owners dared sell knockoff phones with flashing lights for 1,000 yuan—799 yuan for the Orange D1 was downright Liangxin .

“Thank you for the praise, Boss. Since the service station model has proven viable, I’d like to wait for September’s business data, and if everything looks good, roll out the remaining 400+ candidate townships in two phases.”

Liao Wei continued.

“Fine. I suggest you revisit the details with Zhou Zong and Cao Zong to ensure full utilization of Yunsu and Orange Tech’s resources.”

Chen Yansen instructed.

“Understood, Boss.” Liao Wei nodded.

Then Chen Yansen hung up and tossed his phone aside.

At that moment, the computer screen displayed Sohu’s PC homepage: the headline read: Baidu Invests 800 Million Huayuan in DiDi, Post-Investment Valuation Reaches 8 Billion Huayuan!

With no funding institutions willing to step in, Li Yanhong had no choice but to double down and invest another 800 million Huayuan in DiDi.

The subsidy war between KuaiDi and DiDi had raged for five months; initially, their service areas overlapped minimally, with each losing only 20–30 million per month.

But as their business expanded, competition in North China and East China intensified—each month, new user acquisition, hard ads, returning user subsidies, and driver subsidies consumed 300–400 million.

Thus, Baidu’s 800 million looked large, but it would barely last three months.

KuaiDi, by contrast, with nearly 80% market share, secured 500 million USD ahead of time and still had ample cash on hand.

DiDi had just exited North China, but KuaiDi’s service area already covered most of North China, East China, Central China, Northeast China, and South China—their city expansion speeds were on entirely different levels.

Xiang Hailong, now managing DiDi, was performing even worse than the original Cheng Wei.

Chen Yansen glanced at the news and paid no mind to Baidu’s investment in DiDi.

He didn’t believe Li Yanhong, given his personality, would dare keep fighting him indefinitely; once losses hit his psychological threshold, Li Yanhong might just quit on his own.

In fact, Li Yanhong’s mood was conflicted—he wanted to expand further but feared rising subsidy costs; yet standing still meant no growth in DiDi’s market share.

After submitting his report, Xiang Hailong secretly observed Li Yanhong’s expression, nervous and anxious, afraid the boss would vent his anger on him.

Li Yanhong fell silent for a moment, then picked up the documents on his desk and stared intently.

“North China daily ride orders: 763,000; active drivers: 66,000; order completion rate: 73%; average response time: 42 seconds;”

“East China daily ride orders: 287,000; active drivers: 38,000; order completion rate: 76%; average response time: 38 seconds…”

Clearly, DiDi’s order completion rate was low, indicating inefficiencies in fleet dispatch—chaotic order allocation led to drivers rejecting rides or taking detours, lowering efficiency.

Thinking this, Li Yanhong looked up and said: “Hold off on expanding East China for now. First fix DiDi’s dispatch system, driver and passenger cancellation penalties, location errors, and navigation glitches.”

This revealed his true intent: retreat, consolidate North China and East China first.

“Understood,” Xiang Hailong replied.

Meanwhile.

Cheng Weixing, sitting at KuaiDi’s Hangcheng headquarters, was reviewing KuaiDi’s Q1–Q3 business data.

“East China region daily orders: 1,703,000; active drivers: 127,000; order completion rate: 86.3%; average response time: 37 seconds;”

“North China region daily orders: 1,425,000; active drivers: 102,000; order completion rate: 84.7%; average response time: 39 seconds;”

“Central China region daily orders: 1,127,000; active drivers: 81,000; order completion rate: 89.2%; average response time: 41 seconds;”

“Northeast China region…”

East China, North China, and Central China had operated longest, with the highest order volume and user penetration; Northeast and South China had only launched a week ago, totaling just over 600,000 orders combined.

But limited by 2012’s smartphone penetration, even if KuaiDi captured the entire national ride-hailing market, daily order volume would cap at 8–10 million.

The ceiling was within reach!

A few minutes later, Cheng Weixing set down the mouse, stretched, and asked the marketing director: “By the way, what’s Cheng Wei up to since Li Yanhong kicked him out of DiDi?”

Compared to Cheng Wei, Xiang Hailong’s pressure on him had dropped sharply. Though Cheng Wei was terrible at technical control, he was a veteran of Huagong’s Iron Army, with rock-solid marketing skills.

In his view, if not for the boss securing Gaode’s map data, providing the smart dispatch system, and granting Tencent’s traffic entry, the winner between KuaiDi and DiDi would still be uncertain.

“I heard from my investment banker friends in Yanjing that Cheng Wei started a DiDi Bike—deployed 300 bikes at Wangfujing, Xizhimen, and Chaoyangmen subway stations.”

Chen Hao, KuaiDi’s marketing director, replied with a smile.

Bikes?

Cheng Weixing froze, thinking Cheng Wei’s new project sounded surreal.

But then he reconsidered: in a megacity like Yanjing, rent near subway stations was sky-high; many fresh graduates worked in CBDs by day and slept in urban villages by night.

Shared bikes could seamlessly bridge the last-mile gap between bus stops and subway stations.

A company’s value ultimately depends on how many people you serve and how much value you create for them.

Clearly, Cheng Wei’s DiDi Bike effectively solved the last-mile problem in public transit.

“Did he secure funding?” Cheng Weixing asked.

“I heard Li Fu from Innovation Works invested 50 million,” Chen Hao shrugged, looking baffled.

“This project might actually work,” Cheng Weixing said firmly.

On the other side.

Cheng Wei, accompanied by DiDi Bike’s management team, rode shared bikes through Yanjing’s streets, testing the product flow firsthand.

The first-generation DiDi Bikes were painted bright orange-red, standing out conspicuously at subway parking spots; the body bore the words “DiDi Bike,” and each bike’s number was labeled on the handlebar joint and rear mechanical lock.

Users opened the app, entered the number, and received the mechanical lock’s password.

Cheng Wei initially wanted smart locks activated via SMS, but that involved cost and power systems; after weighing options, he chose the economical mechanical lock.

After riding, users slid the lock to secure the bike—the password would reset automatically.

But the problem: each bike’s default password was fixed.

In other words, if a user memorized one bike’s password, they could ride it forever for free.

But Cheng Wei didn’t care—he learned from setbacks, launched first, captured the market.

Early losses would be covered by later funding rounds.

Right now, his goal was to hype the concept and inflate the valuation.

“Boss, Fushida’s supply quality is stable—these bikes ride just as smoothly as 400–500 yuan bikes.”

A product manager smiled.

Each DiDi Bike cost 190 yuan without the lock; because of the large order volume, they negotiated with Fushida for a 15% deposit upfront, then batch settlements.

“New bikes show no issues yet—run a trial period to test durability and corrosion resistance, and also assemble a maintenance team.”

Cheng Wei, riding his bike, instructed his assistant.

The assistant quickly took notes.

But when they turned into an alley, their smiles vanished.

An old man, over sixty, held hydraulic cutters, studying the DiDi Bike’s mechanical lock, searching for the best pressure point.

All DiDi Bike staff immediately surged forward in anger.

…

…

“DiDi Bike?”

After learning of Cheng Wei’s new venture, Chen Yansen frowned slightly—he saw zero potential in the 2012 shared bike project.

Like food delivery and ride-hailing, it demanded massive resources and capital to cultivate user habits.

He had no interest in the project, but if he could profit from it, he wouldn’t mind.

Li Fu invested 50 million, pushing DiDi Bike’s valuation to 500 million—now was not a good time to invest.

Chen Yansen thought for a moment, summoned Gao Weilin, and briefly explained DiDi Bike’s business model.

“Next time you see similar products, secure the angel investment first.”

Chen Yansen instructed Gao Weilin.

Ofo, Yong’anxing, and Mobike hadn’t launched yet—Senlian Capital still had plenty of chances to get involved.

(End of Chapter)