2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 667 People feel refreshed during happy events
"What's wrong with the boss? He looks radiant, not only ordering us late-night snacks but also giving us red envelopes?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're making it up to us because they haven't been here much?"

"You're talking nonsense. The boss is generous, but he's not stupid. Why would he compensate you? Something good must be going to happen."

The whispers went unheard by Tan Jincheng, but even Zhang Xupeng and Li Jinglan noticed that his mood was completely different from that during the day; he seemed much happier.
However, they were too busy with work to think much about it, simply assuming that Yuechi was selling well and that he was happy about it.

People are happy when they are happy.

The 2009 Singles' Day was a completely new challenge for Taobao Mall, which only had 27 participating merchants, and for its manager Zhang Yong. For Jack Ma, it was also a gamble.

Even though only 27 companies participated, the internet is never short of netizens who are curious and eager to pursue new things.

In 2009, with over 300 million internet users, a large number of netizens flooded into major e-commerce websites after midnight on November 11th, using tactics similar to those employed by Orange Products in recent years.

Taobao Mall, which advertised discounts of up to 50% off, free shipping nationwide, and a one-day-only offer, saw a surge of users flock to its 27 stores.

GXG, which offered a free order in the first 10 minutes, was probably the most serious about the event among the 27 merchants. In fact, many of the other 27 merchants only agreed to participate because they felt obligated.

I didn't have many expectations for the event, nor did I prepare much. I was the most prepared for the event, and even after seeing GXG's announced promotional plan, it was too late to follow suit.

With only 27 stores participating, the number was small to begin with, and a quick browse made it clear that the GXG flagship store naturally became the store with the highest traffic.

"Mr. Li, the first order has been placed, and payment has been made directly."

Just 15 seconds after midnight, a buyer with fast hands successfully paid for two T-shirts, and the delivery address was in Shenzhen.

GXG's store doesn't actually have many product categories. Besides seasonal clearance sales, it mainly offers new autumn arrivals, such as T-shirts, hoodies, pants, and shirts. Like other merchants, its main promotional efforts are focused on clearing out inventory during the seasonal clearance season.

There's a reason why e-commerce promotions are scheduled for November. November is the season when the north and south are changing seasons. In the north, the weather is gradually entering late autumn, and in some colder areas, it's even early winter.

In some southern regions, it may still be summer. In other areas, like Ningbo, a T-shirt is still enough. If the heat is a bit weak, you can add a light jacket and the temperature will be about the same.

In this season of unpredictable clothing choices, you can prepare some winter clothes in advance and also take advantage of discounts to buy summer clothes; you can buy any kind of clothing.

Li Jinglan was also very happy: "Not bad, an order was placed in just over 10 seconds. That's fast. Customer service should make sure to coordinate well."

With self-service ordering, the store will send a message to the customer in the background to confirm the address and order accuracy, reducing the probability of returns. A few years later, we won't see this message anymore, but now it is definitely a relatively advanced case.

When it comes to running an online store, Jinpeng and even Orange Technology have very advanced concepts.

"Boss, would you like to place an order and support us?"

Suddenly, Li Jinglan smiled at Tan Jincheng, startling the employees in the office. They all knew that President Li had powerful backing, but they didn't expect it to be this powerful, daring to joke around with the big boss so casually.

"Nonsense, I still have one order to make. Your place looks pretty good, so I'm leaving. I still have to go to Orange Products Club."

Tan Jincheng laughed and scolded that after becoming a big boss, he didn't have much freedom to dress. In public, Tan Jincheng's clothes were always carefully chosen, as they had to be appropriate for the occasion and his public persona.

Zhang Xupeng joked, "Why don't you place a few orders to support the company and buy something for so-and-so?"

The employees here were not familiar with Tan Jincheng, and since it wasn't an internet company, they weren't as relaxed as the programmers. With one leader and two bosses appearing in the office at the same time, Tan Jincheng could sense their nervousness.

Even Zhang Xupeng was a little nervous. Tan Jincheng had specifically instructed GXG to participate in Taobao Mall's Double Eleven event, saying that this was GXG's future direction.

Starting with this year's Double Eleven shopping festival, GXG, which currently has 249 offline stores, will maintain slow growth in terms of physical stores and shift its core business to online channels.

In 2010, the official gxg1978 flagship store will be launched, implementing the Big G and Small G plans. Later, there will also be the gxg.kids children's clothing brand plan. Everything revolves around online, while offline cooperation will mainly focus on department stores.

This year's Double Eleven was a trial run, but also a new beginning.

Tan Jincheng usually doesn't care how Jinpeng's business is conducted, and even his financial matters are only checked casually, leaving Zhang Xupeng to do as he pleases. However, he will still interfere with the company's specific major strategies.

Faced with the grand strategy, Zhang Xupeng also trusted Tan Jincheng very much. When planning to open offline stores, Zhang Xupeng traveled all over the country, personally selecting stores and expanding from city to city.

Now that he's moved online, although he doesn't know much about the internet, he understands that Xiao Tan's idea is correct. She says that the future direction of fast fashion clothing is the internet, so it must be the internet.

Li Jinglan actually understood this better than him. Although Li Jinglan couldn't see the specific sales data when she was at Orange Technology, she could still calculate it to some extent. Orange Products Club's clothing special sale category sold very well every day, and the GMV maintained a high growth trend.

"Don't worry, if you take a look at Orange Technology's financial report, you'll see the trend of online shopping. Don't be fooled by Malaysia's poor performance this year; there are objective factors at play. In a few years, it won't be the same Malaysia it is this year."

Tan Jincheng patted Zhang Xupeng on the shoulder as he saw him off.

With GXG so well prepared and only 26 competitors, today's orders are unlikely to be bad.

"I'm not worried, but I've also looked at the promotional methods of other stores. They're all following the website's approach, nothing special. If we don't get into the top three in sales, it would be a bit embarrassing."

"Rankings don't matter, as long as you make money. Just have Jinglan prepare another Double Twelve promotion with Orange Products Club, with a smaller discount than this one. I don't believe sales won't pick up."

Double Twelve is a perfect time to sell off autumn clearance items plus winter clothing promotions.

After leaving Jinpeng's side, Tan Jincheng arrived at the headquarters building of Flashspeed. From afar, he could see that the area on the middle floors with the Orange Technology logo was brightly lit.

The lights are always on, which has become a distinctive feature of the surrounding area. "Hello, Mr. Tan, it's so kind of you to come over so late at night; by the way, where's Mr. Gu?"

Sun Tongyu looked at Tan Jincheng, who was beaming with joy, and wondered what his boss was so happy about. Could it be that Jinpeng's sales were very good?

They were also a little curious why Gu Qingqing hadn't arrived yet after the event had started, even though they had agreed to meet during the day.

"She has something to do at home, so I came to check on her and will be back in a bit."

Those who have been through similar experiences immediately noticed the unusual behavior at dinner. They had a pregnancy test at home, and it turned out that Gu Qingqing was pregnant.

We've been married for over a year, and together for six years, and she's finally pregnant.

This made the whole family extremely happy. Little Tan Jinyue, who couldn't figure out her generation, stopped eating and clapped her hands, saying that she was going to have a younger brother, which made everyone burst into laughter.

Tan Lihua's father immediately called another elderly father to share the good news.

The father-in-law and mother-in-law, who were in Yiwu, were overjoyed and said they would rush over overnight before they could even finish speaking.

As soon as Gu Hongshun and his wife put down their bowls and chopsticks, they began to prepare. The journey of more than 200 kilometers was not far. When Tan Jincheng arrived at the company for inspection, his father-in-law and mother-in-law had already arrived with their suitcases.

I had originally planned to go to the hospital for a check-up after dinner tonight, but my father-in-law is coming over, so I've postponed it to tomorrow and will have them come with me.

"How are sales at GXG?"

Sun Tongyu didn't ask many questions, but instead inquired about the situation of Taobao Mall. There are many independent e-commerce platforms, and they are all holding promotions for Double Eleven, influenced by Orange Products Club, but they are not in the same field and there is no basis for comparison.

The number of books sold by Dangdang.com on Singles' Day has little to do with Orange Products Club; rather, the footwear and apparel categories on Taobao Mall are the standard Orange Products Club uses as a benchmark.

"The traffic is pretty good. You should have website traffic monitoring. GXG only took about 10 seconds to generate its first order. How about yours?"

"Our situation is similar, but GXG's speed is a very good start."

Orange Products has been running Double Eleven for several years now, and our long-time customers are familiar with the process, giving us a significant advantage over single-store operations.

"Yes, we should have good sales. If the overall sales are good this time, then Mr. Ma will win."

"Boss, by having GXG participate in this event and putting so much effort into the planning, you've indirectly helped Mr. Ma."

"Ha, not at all, it's just a matter of each getting what they need."

Although Tan Jincheng didn't particularly like Jack Ma, he didn't want Yahoo to take control. Yahoo was poised to become the dominant force in the domestic e-commerce market for the next decade or so, and its controlling shareholder was an American company. How ironic would that be?
Or, if Yahoo really gains control, Ali might not become the leading e-commerce company; in terms of specific business operations, it will definitely lean towards Yahoo.

"What does the boss think of the Taobao Mall project?"

Sun Tongyu opposed the project. The main reason for his departure was that he had major disagreements with the project and was kicked out by Lao Ma.

A year later, Taobao Mall reopened and launched a large-scale promotional event in conjunction with Orange Products Club. Sun Tongyu's feelings were still complicated.

Tan Jincheng gestured to him and walked to a secluded corner.

Sun Tongyu followed closely behind, and the two silently watched the street scene under the night sky for a while. Sun Tongyu lit a cigarette, which was rare for him, and handed one to Tan Jincheng as well.

"I don't smoke, you can smoke it yourself."

Tan Jincheng waved his hand and then said, "From a company strategy perspective, Mr. Ma is right. There are so many small and medium-sized merchants on Taobao, and their GMV is increasing year by year, but they still can't solve the problem of profitability."

"Furthermore, it's not good to always be labeled as a hub for counterfeit goods, and Taobao Mall can solve this problem very well."

Sun Tongyu nodded somewhat reluctantly.

"Mr. Sun, there's no need to worry about this. Your idea is actually correct, but it's just not suitable for the current Taobao or the current environment."

E-commerce, to put it bluntly, follows the economic trend. It's essentially a gamble. The success of the two leading e-commerce websites is due to their bet on economic growth and the nationwide promotion of so-called consumption upgrades.

Huang Zheng's Pinduoduo, which is still running his shabby 3C e-commerce website, will only succeed if it bets correctly on the trend of consumption downgrading.

The same applies to other industries. In a few years, when electric vehicles and cars are in high demand, car brands can take advantage of the consumption upgrade period to launch some relatively high-priced products to adapt to the market.

Ultimately, when consumption declines, low cost-performance ratio and low price become the foundation for businesses to survive.

The most important experience in his life, and the beginning of his own change, made Sun Tongyu feel resentful for a short time after being kicked out. He could accept what the boss said, but it was still hard to accept.

"Don't dwell on the past so much, let's look forward."

"How about this, I have an overseas investment company that's doing quite well. If Mr. Sun has a project he's interested in but is short of funds, I can invest a little."

You only know if something is suitable or not after you've done it. Anyway, this old guy still has this idea, and who knows when he'll leave Orange Technology and do it on his own.

Why not take this opportunity to partner with him to start a new investment company, and maybe we can ride on his coattails in the future?

(End of this chapter)