Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 710 Different offensive and defensive forces
It’s the last day of 15 years, evening.

As dusk falls on West Lake in Hangzhou, an antique cruise ship drifts quietly in the center of the lake.

Two people were drinking tea, fishing and talking about the world.

Lao Ma put down the thick stack of intelligence materials in his hand, looked at the calm lake, and after a long while, he slowly spoke,
“I originally thought that crippling JD.com would be like cutting off the limbs of the other side, but now it seems that I was wrong.”

Old Liu picked up the celadon teacup, took a sip, and said calmly,
"If the other shore is not eliminated, it will eventually become a centipede, dead but not yet stiff. In the final analysis, the core of the problem is still Chen Mo."

After a pause, he added, "Moreover, we underestimated Liu Qiangdong's resilience. JD.com is as solid as a rock, and its defenses on all fronts are tight, leaving us no chance to exploit."

Old Ma narrowed his eyes and tapped the tabletop lightly with his fingertips.
"As long as Bi'an is gone, JD.com won't be a concern, but the question is how to move?"

"I think we can think outside of normal business ways and change our perspective. Since the other party's company is not easy to deal with, we can deal with the person who has the problem."

"How to say?"

“It’s hard to do it in China, but abroad… there are always ways. Whether it’s an accident or a setup, it’s much easier to do than in China.

He gave Lao Ma a meaningful look.
"Besides, there are a lot of foreign investors who are coveting companies like JD.com and Bi'an, such as Zhengyi from your side."

Lao Ma was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed, "Fishing, fishing... If the fish doesn't bite, there's no point in being anxious."

Old Liu looked at the motionless fishing rod and murmured, "Yes, only by casting a long line can you catch a big fish. It all depends on who is willing to take the bait in the end."

"It's all about luck after all."

Old Liu chuckled, "It was just a casual remark. But, are Baidu and Tencent really not going to be able to win them over?"

Lao Ma snorted coldly, "One is a tech geek, the other is a product fanatic. They were scared out of their wits by Chen Mo a long time ago. Now they are shrinking their necks and living like a human being. We can't count on them anymore."

"Then we can only rely on ourselves. However, the alliance formed by the other side does give us an idea. They are in the open, and we can also make arrangements in the dark."

Old Ma's eyes gleamed, "Lakeside College?"

"That's right." Old Liu nodded with a smile.
The two of them immediately began a secret discussion, and the expansion plan of Lakeside College gradually took shape.

"The opening ceremony for the new semester in March this year must be held at a higher standard."

“Invite old friends like Yu Minhong, Feng Lun, and Shi Yuzhu to come and give lectures in person.”

“Course focus: strategic thinking, organizational change, classic business war cases…especially the dismantling and countermeasures of the ‘other shore style’.”

“We will also invite several political and economic scholars to provide in-depth interpretation of policy trends, such as supply-side reform.”

“In addition, I will contact Harvard and Stanford to introduce top international business courses.”

Old Ma pondered, "How do we determine the enrollment standards?"

Old Liu said calmly, "Quality is more important than quantity. You must have been in business for at least three years, have a team of more than a thousand people, and have an annual revenue of over 100 million. Those with special potential may be admitted as an exception."

"The industry is not limited to the Internet, but also covers manufacturing, entertainment, retail...all fields."

"We also need to penetrate the connections of Tencent and Baidu, as well as Yao Jinbo of 58.com, Wu Guoping of Waipojia, Zhang Lan of South Beauty, and Mao Wenchao of Xiaohongshu. They are all good candidates for wooing."

"Where's the tuition?"

"I only charged 99 yuan for the sake of good luck. The real value lies in resources and connections."

Lao Ma picked up the teacup with satisfaction and said, "Okay, it's settled. During the Wuzhen Summit, I met a top architectural designer, and it's a good opportunity for him to redesign the facade of the academy."

Old Liu raised his glass and said, "You are the principal, you have the final say, I am just giving you advice."

Lakeside Academy has been established for two years. With its elite screening and the support of resources from Alibaba and Lenovo, it has quietly woven a high-end network of contacts covering the Chinese business community.

The total valuation of the companies of the first two graduating classes exceeded one trillion yuan, accounting for half of the new economy.

And this is exactly the important foreshadowing that Ma has laid for Ant's listing.

"By the way, how do you plan to deal with JD.com's New Year's Day promotion?" Lao Liu suddenly asked.

Lao Ma smiled leisurely, "If I were to use real money to engage in a price war with him, then I would be really fooled.

I would rather use this money to pave the way for Ant Financial. After all, those people have big appetites.”

Old Liu, who has been in the business world for decades, nodded in agreement, "The hustle and bustle of the New Year's Day is just a temporary storm. When the tide recedes, the market will eventually return to rationality.

A true chess player never cares about the gains and losses of a city or a pond. Just like playing Go, instead of fighting on the corners, it is better to focus on the center and plan the overall situation. "

"That's what I mean. The current concession is for a more fierce attack in the future. What's wrong with letting JD.com be proud for a few days? When our financial layout is complete, there will be a time when they will be left far behind."

Old Ma looked deep in his eyes, "Besides, the more Liu Qiangdong looks like Chen Mo, the better it is for us."

"How to say?"

"I have received the number of applicants for Lakeside College this year, which is nearly double that of last year. I guess some people are scared. It's good to have this big tree to provide shade for them."

"After all, we have to thank them."

"Haha, who said it wasn't? Wow, finally a fish is caught, that's a good sign." The lake breeze was blowing gently, and two figures were chatting happily on the cruise ship.

In the darkness of the night, a bigger chess game is quietly unfolding.

On New Year's Day 2016, the auspicious time has arrived and JD.com's "Common Prosperity" campaign has made its stunning debut.

With JD.com upgrading its WeChat Discovery page to a first-level entrance and injecting traffic into Douyin, the Bi'an media platform suddenly gained momentum.

On this day, all netizens who go online will see a very magical slogan in games, news, short videos, and WeChat: "Brothers, come to JD.com and kill me!"

This magical slogan even surpassed that of a certain ancient game and instantly swept the country.

Consumers were pleasantly surprised to find that every item on JD.com has a "bargain discount" function, with the discount ranging from 8% to 6%, and some lucky users even have the chance to get a free item.

This innovative interactive marketing method with a slight gambling nature has aroused the consumption enthusiasm of countless consumers, and the number of daily active users of JD APP exceeded 1.2 million on the first day of the event.

In sharp contrast, Taobao not only quietly withdrew its previous promotion of "add one yuan to JD.com and get something free", but even its regular New Year's Day promotions seemed lackluster and deserted.

With core indicators such as product quality, after-sales service, and logistics speed lagging behind, Taobao's price advantage has disappeared.

The market reaction was immediate. The GMV (gross merchandise volume) listed on the homepage of JD.com exceeded 500 billion on the first day of the event, giving the public a sense of participation in the national crowdfunding.

However, Taobao's data during the same period showed a rare decline.

What is even more interesting is that Jack Ma and Alibaba’s top management have remained strangely silent on this.

All signs indicate that in this business war at the beginning of the year, Alibaba chose to retreat strategically.

"What? Haier and Xiaomi sold 300 billion in three days? We didn't even make 10 billion?"

"You can't suppress the negative public opinion? Why do I spend tens of millions every year to support the public relations department? I don't care what method you use, just find out who is behind this!"

In the office of the chairman of Gree Electric Appliances, Sister Dong angrily slammed the phone down. The queen of home appliances was filled with regret at the moment - Gree had missed the opportunity to cooperate deeply with JD.com because she had trusted Ma's lobbying. Now, not only has the sales volume plummeted, but a large amount of negative public opinion against Gree has also emerged on the Internet.

Keywords such as "quality gate", "poor after-sales service" and "inflated prices" continue to ferment on major social platforms, and Gree's brand image, which has been painstakingly built for many years, is rapidly collapsing.

The angry Dong immediately dialed Lao Ma's private number, but only heard a cold prompt tone, "Sorry, the user you dialed is turned off."

"Damn it, this turtle bastard! Pretending to be dead at the critical moment!" Sister Dong smashed her cell phone on the sofa.

On the desk, a latest market research report shows that during the New Year's Day promotion period, Gree Air Conditioner's market share fell from the top spot for the first time, while Xiaomi's air conditioner sales increased by 300% year-on-year.

Sister Dong had a terrible New Year's Day holiday, and those brand owners who followed Gree in switching to Taobao also regretted it.

They watched helplessly as merchants on JD.com, big and small brands, were busy making tons of money, while their own business was deserted, even worse than before. They felt even more frustrated than those shareholders who missed out on the opportunity.

Although Taobao gave them good commission discounts, JD.com directly invested tens of billions in subsidies, and both merchants and consumers benefited from it. Anyone who uses it knows how good it is!
But what about them? Not only can they not even get a chance to smell the food, let alone a share of it.

Now they understand that they should not have trusted Lao Liu’s lobbying, and should not have rashly signed the exclusive agreement with Taobao.

Now facing the sky-high penalty for breach of contract, it is difficult to turn back and we can only swallow our anger.

JD.com’s “Common Prosperity” campaign coincided with the peak purchasing period before the Spring Festival, and Taobao’s proactive concession allowed consumers to completely unleash their purchasing power.

Countless people waved their money and ran to JD.com with an aggressive attitude. They came not to "buy things" but to "grab things". Many goods were sold out directly, the inventory was in a state of emergency, and some categories were even out of stock.

Originally, the volume of New Year’s Day promotion was only 11% of Double 30, but when JD.com made the final settlement, it was discovered that it was broken and the record was broken!

The GMV for three days not only exceeded expectations, but even directly crushed the data on Double 11 last year.

When JD.com’s battle report was released three days later, the Chinese market was shocked and the stock market took off again.

In just three days, JD.com not only regained its lost ground in the market, but even surpassed Taobao in GMV, and its market share became a direct rival to Taobao.

The stock market also performed strongly. Under the influence of the performance impact in the three days of New Year's Day, not only did it make up for all the previous losses, but it also rose by another 10%.

If we extend the timeline, JD.com’s performance in the past half month can be described as an “ECG-like roller coaster”, soaring from the bottom to the peak.

Not only retail investors were confused, even the financial media were silent. What happened to JD.com? How did Taobao pretend to be dead?
Of course, there are still some media outlets that are trying to save their reputation:

"JD.com's New Year's Day event is just a flash in the pan"

Taobao's decision to fold demonstrates Ma's business wisdom

"Liu Qiangdong's 10 billion yuan subsidy is just to make up for the loneliness, and he may lose 10 billion yuan"

When Liu Qiangdong saw these reports, he responded directly on Weibo:
"Thank you brothers and sisters for supporting JD.com! Ordinary people can get benefits from JD.com, so the money is not wasted."

Later, people found that the slogan on JD.com's official website had changed, "Fast, easy, and economical, go to JD.com - our own e-commerce platform!"

Following JD.com’s official announcement, the company’s previous charity method was to donate supplies to aid disaster areas. Now it has announced an additional 10 billion in subsidies to pass on benefits to platform users. This is JD.com’s style of charity.

In stark contrast, the last post by @农村教师老马 on Sina Weibo was on November 2015, 11, and read:
"Laoma Charity Foundation pledges to donate $1000 million by the end of the year to protect African wildlife"

(End of this chapter)