Chapter 327: Presale Breaks 2 Billion, Three Kingdoms Kill Returns! Cheng Wei: Why Won

On October 15, the second day of JD's presale event, three coupon entry points appeared on the main page: "2000-300," "5000-800," and "10000-1200" digital appliance discount vouchers.

At the coupon center, 10,000 20-yuan JD vouchers with no minimum spend were released every hour, from 8 a. m. to midnight, tightly controlling users for sixteen hours.

The JD event planning team's idea was simple: whether you bought anything or not, you had to open JD's website or app at the exact time.

In one day, various promotional subsidies reached 20 million Huayuan, with effects naturally extremely significant.

On October 14, JD's presale transaction volume was 810 million Huayuan.

On October 15, JD's presale transaction volume was 1.07 billion Huayuan.

Easily crossed the one-billion mark!

"Ghostwriting!" Zhang Jindong burst into curses upon hearing the news.

JD and Suning's products and users had considerable overlap, and digital appliance repurchase rates were low—once a user ordered from JD, they would not return to Suning.

"Bring forward the 0-yuan purchase event."

With a grim face, Zhang Jindong summoned Suning's e-commerce head and ordered him—he couldn't stand Liu Qiangdong's arrogance.

According to the original plan, this event was scheduled to be preheated on October 18 and launched on October 25.

The rules were blunt: for every 1,000 yuan spent, users received a 120-yuan voucher; vouchers could be stacked cumulatively with no upper limit.

Focused on mobile phones, digital devices, computers, and home appliances, covering brands like Haier, Hisense, Shanxing, Lenovo, and Apple.

In other words, purchasing Surface tablets, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, Sister Chengzi C3, Haier refrigerators, or Lenovo laptops all qualified for an 88% discount.

In reality, Suning's vouchers, though advertised as no-minimum-spend, had category restrictions—only applicable to small appliances and high-margin products like snacks, alcohol, and cosmetics.

In short, there was some trickery involved.

But Suning was also launching for the first time a promotion with identical online and offline pricing across all categories; though cunning, it showed considerable sincerity.

Small appliance items included rice cookers, Sina Weibo, electric fans, air fryers—hard currency goods—but inventory was limited.

Users who hesitated ended up buying overpriced snacks and alcohol.

Buyers in 2012 had no idea how treacherous human nature could be; seeing 88% discounts on Apple and Sister Chengzi phones, they immediately placed orders and paid.

The first batch of users all got their desired small appliances and posted guides on Weibo, BBS, Campus Network, and Tieba.

One reason was to show off; another was because Suning had established Suning Tuike on October 9—a CPS advertising alliance similar to Mama Ali and Pinbei—where users could share referral links on social platforms; when others clicked and ordered on Suning, the sharer earned commission.

How many good-hearted people are there in this world?

Either they want your money, or they want you to make money for them!

Zhang Jindong's "0-yuan purchase" event caught Liu Qiangdong off guard, severely impacting JD's performance in major appliances and digital goods.

Facing his old rival's offensive, Liu Qiangdong immediately counterattacked with the "Desert Storm" event, using small appliance discounts of 50% off, "spend 200, save 100," and a bundle of 99-yuan vouchers worth 1,010 yuan to trigger users' demand for small appliances first.

After all, the most valuable items in Suning's voucher pool were small appliances—if users' demand was satisfied, who would buy big appliances or digital products from Suning just for low-value snacks and alcohol?

To be fair, Liu Qiangdong was indeed a seasoned battle veteran—he immediately copied Zhang Jindong's backend.

The day after JD's "Desert Storm" launched, Suning's "0-yuan purchase" sales plummeted, dropping 53.7% compared to the previous day; the campaign's effectiveness was drastically reduced, nearly halved.

Before Zhang Jindong could react, Liu Qiangdong rolled out free appliance cleaning services and female delivery personnel—easy to understand, the latter involved JD selecting a group of attractive, well-built delivery staff who drove Smart cars to deliver packages door-to-door.

Though vulgar, users in 2012 loved this—especially since JD's user base was predominantly male.

Before Double Eleven even officially began, Suning and JD were already fighting—those unaware might think they were the main protagonists of the big sale.

Zhang Yong, however, was patient—he waited until October 18 to launch the "Wealth Treasure Recharge Gift" event.

Each successful recharge of 300 yuan gave a chance to grab a 150-yuan red packet; each successful recharge of 150 yuan gave a chance to grab a 50-yuan red packet; each tier allowed participation only once, with a maximum of 200 yuan in no-minimum-spend red packets.

From 10 a. m. to 9 p. m., twelve fixed hourly slots released limited red packets—200,000 total, with a daily subsidy of 40 million Huayuan.

The campaign ran from October 18 to October 24, totaling seven days, with a total investment of 280 million Huayuan.

Although users had to wait and compete for them, one ID could register six Wealth Treasure accounts—equating to a 1,200-yuan direct discount, and the red packets were no-minimum-spend and applicable to all categories.

In 2012, Ali Baba poured far more into big-sale promotions than it would in the coming decades, and with far fewer tricks.

This was far more sincere than JD or Suning! Combined with "50% off storewide," 1-yuan flash sales, and half-price iPhones, it instantly drew all online attention to Taobao Mall and Taobao.

JD's daily sales, which had barely held at 1 billion for two days, immediately dropped back to 500–600 million.

Taobao Shangcheng's daily active users rose steadily, effortlessly siphoning off 70% of traffic.

Pinbei was also affected.

On the first day of presale, Pinbei's total sales were 1.63 billion Huayuan;

On the second day, 1.27 billion Huayuan;

On the third day, 1.04 billion Huayuan;

On the fourth day, 980 million Huayuan;

On the fifth day, October 18, sales dropped to just 730 million Huayuan.

Remember, Pinbei's usual daily sales before major sales events were typically above 800 million Huayuan.

After brief consideration, Huang Zheng ordered the operations department to activate the big-sale campaign plan.

First, users who ordered on Pinbei received Yu'e Bao interest-boosting red packets—for example, "spend 100, save 8.8," "spend 1,000, save 28.8," and "spend 10,000, save 88"—seemingly weak, but the Sister Chengzi Pay mechanism was: users who deposited 10,000 yuan into Yu'e Bao and withdrew it a month later activated an 88-yuan red packet.

Directly targeting users' wallets to lock funds—this money would only preserve its interest-boosting activation rules if spent on Pinbei.

Simultaneously, increased the strength of Yu'e Bao experience bonus giveaways—from 5,000 yuan per 99 yuan spent to 6,000 yuan, a 20% increase.

Then, on Pinbei's 10-billion-subsidy channel, from 10 a. m. to midnight, 10,000 50% discount vouchers were released every hour, with a maximum deduction of 20 yuan.

Finally, a new channel was launched: "Every Night at Eight, Dark Moon, High Wind," featuring curated products priced no lower than 300 yuan, with an additional 80–90% discount on top of the 10-billion subsidy.

In a sense, the "Dark Moon, High Wind" channel was like the old Fox Taobao Flash Sales, driving prices to rock bottom.

Shuobei rice, five-kilogram pack: 9.9 yuan, free shipping!

Libai laundry liquid, twelve-kilogram pack: 26.9 yuan, free shipping!

Sister Chengzi power bank: 89 yuan, free shipping!

Midea blender: 179 yuan, free shipping!

Aux 1.5-pong air conditioner, 1399 yuan with free shipping!

After this combination punch landed, Pinbei's single-day sales shot straight up, immediately pulled back to 1.5 billion.

On October 20, the Pinbei Alliance reached a strategic cooperation with Mogujie, Meilishuo, Smzdm, and other shopping guide websites, beginning to tilt the platform's traffic resources toward Pinbei.

No choice—Pinbei gives too much!

Besides, Handsome Dong often mocked on Weibo that "shopping guide e-commerce has no value; it is pure banditry," so after acquiring Fox Tao, Ma Liyun of course went all out to nurture his own precious son.

In Old Ma's eyes, Mogujie, Meilishuo, and Smzdm were all leeches sucking blood from Mama Ali—he had long wanted to kick these shopping guide websites away.

It's just that Mama Ali was in the critical stage of preparing for its IPO, and the output from third-party channels was equally indispensable.

Otherwise, the moment he issued a new rule—that sales generated through shopping guide site redirects would not count toward search weight, nor toward the baseline sales metrics for Ju Hua Suan and major promotions—every shopping guide e-commerce site would be dead.

In Ma Liyun's view, this commission should be the one Fox Tao earns!

What do Mogujie, Meilishuo, and Smzdm even count for?

They want to control Mama Ali's external traffic channels too?

Absolutely wishful thinking!

At this moment, Ma Liyun began to harbor the thought of making a move against the shopping guide websites.

This was also why Chen Yansen had insisted last year on packaging Fox Tao up for sale.

Mama Ali's shopping guide business accounted for too high a proportion, and competitors like Jingdong, Yixun, and Amazon were useless; once Ma Liyun played dirty, Fox Tao's valuation would at the very least be cut in half.

Even if it got through 2013 and 2014 smoothly, once Mama Ali went public, Old Ma would absolutely turn around and stab him in the back.

Fortunately, he acted in time. With Lotte and Augusta Capital cooperating, he offloaded Fox Tao onto Mama Ali, and used that money to found Sister Chengzi Tech and Pinbei Shangcheng.

Therefore, no matter how unhappy Ma Liyun was, in 2012 shopping guide e-commerce was still the e-commerce platforms' best partner.

When Pinbei actively extended an olive branch, the two sides hit it off immediately. Mogujie, Meilishuo, and Smzdm all joined the Pinbei Alliance one after another, adjusting the display share of Pinbei goods on their own platforms from the initial 15% to around 45%—almost on par with the Peach faction.

In addition, dozens of mid-tier shopping guide websites also successively plugged into the Pinbei Alliance, treating it as their core business.

On October 20, with the boost of third-party traffic, Pinbei's single-day sales broke through the 2 billion mark for the first time, reaching 2.06 billion Hua yuan.

At the same time.

Hu Weiyi, having secured 50 million in funding from Senlian Capital, established the ofo shared-bike project in Hangcheng and began her entrepreneurial (working) journey.

Cheng Wei, far away in Yanjing, soon received the news. Upon learning that the investor behind ofo shared bikes was Chen Yansen, he immediately lost his composure: "Damn it, I never even offended you! Why do you keep chasing me down?!"

But he understood in his heart that, backed by Senlian Capital's funding and resources, the pace at which ofo shared bikes would advance would absolutely far exceed his imagination.

"Didi Bikes must kick off Series A funding right now!"

Cheng Wei couldn't wait any longer. He didn't dare keep steadily and surely grabbing market share—he made up his mind on the spot.

(End of this chapter)