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

Chapter 931 Adding Fuel to the Fire: The Truth Behind the 'Slash'
Old Ma had been leaning back in his chair since the start of the meeting, rubbing his temples with his fingers and listening with his eyes closed.

Although he anticipated that Chen Mo would make a move, the power and angle of the opponent's combination punches still exceeded his expectations.

Just as he had managed to quell the public outcry, the other party quickly assembled a new battle formation combining "JD.com's traffic, Ele.me's fulfillment, and Pang Donglai's supply chain." The ruthlessness and precision of this cross-industry attack startled him.

Upon hearing Tsai Chung-hsin's question, he slowly opened his eyes, his tone calm yet undeniably authoritative:
"Whatever amount they provide, we'll double it back. Don't worry about short-term gains or losses; once Ant Group goes public, we'll make a profit no matter what."

"You mean to buy time with money?" Tsai Chung-hsin realized and corrected himself.
A cold smile appeared on Old Ma's lips: "The temporary passivity is just to prevent the front line from collapsing."

Chen Mo is still playing a business-level offensive this time. I'll make him understand that times have changed, and what true strategic superiority looks like.

Just then, his phone, which was on the table, suddenly vibrated.

The name on the caller ID gave Lao Ma a bad feeling—Bing Xixi, Huang Zheng.

He pressed the answer button, but before he could even speak, he heard Huang Zheng's anxious voice coming through the receiver:

"Mr. Ma, something terrible has happened! Bingxixi is in trouble! Quick, check Douyin!"

After hearing the other party's feedback, Lao Ma's eyes darkened.

"I understand," he said coldly, then hung up the phone.

He scanned the people in the conference room and said in a low voice, "Does anyone have Douyin on their phone? Search for Pinduoduo and project it onto the big screen."

Jiang Fan immediately responded, "I'll do it!"

He took out his phone and quickly started operating it. Soon, a Douyin live stream appeared on the big screen.

They discovered that the matter was nearing its end.

In the live stream room, a host who focuses on digital product reviews is explaining to the camera.

The number of online viewers has approached 30,000. He holds a small whiteboard in his hand and writes and draws as if he were giving a lecture.

"Thank you all for your support. Tens of thousands of people participated in my campaign just now, as you all saw. I just wanted to use everyone's help to 'slash' an iPhone for free."

"But what was the result?" He held up his notebook. "I took notes the whole time."

"This so-called 'free cut' event was not completed at a constant rate from 0% to 100%, but was deliberately designed into two completely different stages."

"Phase One: Rapid Progress Period"

"At this stage, the amount of user assistance will be very high, sometimes even half of it, giving people a psychological suggestion of 'success is just around the corner', which motivates you to keep sharing."

"From 0% to 99%, the progress bar moves incredibly fast, creating a visually striking effect that gives you the illusion that success is just around the corner."

"But then, did everyone notice the pattern?"

The streamer paused, looking at the comments section, "You're right, everyone in the live stream! It's the last 1%, even 0.1%, 0.01%!"

"This is the true 'infinitely close' zone, and it is also the most 'essential' design of this mechanism."

"It constantly tempts you to recruit others and share. I mobilized tens of thousands of people to cut this knife, and you all see the result—"

"Once we get to the last 0.01%, the way we help people changes completely."

"The money disappeared, replaced by various 'props': first gold coins, then gems, and then points, which always remind you that you are 'luckier than 99% of users'."

"Wow, there are already 50,000 people in the live stream!"

"Let me explain to the new friends: Tens of thousands of people just helped me try to get an iPhone, but we failed. Can you believe it?"

"The conclusion is that Pinduoduo's 'cut a cut' mechanism is fundamentally aimed at maximizing users' sharing behavior and attracting new users and increasing user activity on the platform at the lowest cost."

"It perfectly exploits behavioral psychology—loss aversion, goal approach effect, and sunk cost. To put it bluntly, it treats users like monkeys."

“In the past, netizens always said that Lei Jun of Xiaomi was playing tricks, but that was because the production capacity really couldn’t keep up and the market expectations were underestimated.”

"But Pinduoduo is different. It clearly has the goods, yet it designed this disgusting mechanism to deceive people. Doesn't it just think we're easy to bully?"

"The reason I did this live stream is because a couple of days ago I mobilized dozens of my family members to try and get a 200 yuan red envelope, but we still failed."

"So this time I want to use everyone's help. If I really manage to win a phone, I will give it away as a lucky bag to my fans."

"Unfortunately, as everyone can see, we, tens of thousands of people, made one failed attempt!"

"Let's take a look at Jingxi—JD.com's shopping platform. They also have similar promotions. Let's see if it's reliable."

"Hey everyone, look, they've actually published the odds here! That's commendable; at least you know your chances of winning. What does this remind you of?"

"That's right! Just like the gacha probability display in the mobile game 'Other Shore'!"

After all, Jingxi is a subsidiary of JD.com, and JD.com is a strategic partner of the other party. So let's see how many cuts we need to make to get this Xiaomi MIX worth 4000 yuan.

The comments in the live stream were overwhelmingly negative.
"What 'Pingxixi'? Just call him 'Kengduoduo'!"

"Even a top livestreamer with tens of thousands of followers couldn't manage to cut the price when he rallied so many people to help. Ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of it."

"Don't even mention it! I asked relatives and friends I haven't contacted in years for help, I used up all my favors, and it still didn't work!" "It's all a scam. There are even fake order boosting services on Taobao; you can pay people to help you cut the price."

"Is the person upstairs stupid? The major shareholder behind Pinduoduo is Alibaba."

"The government should shut down and ban these kinds of fraudulent platforms. They're blatant scammers; there are just as many counterfeit goods on them as on Taobao. You get what you pay for!"

"What are you thinking? This platform is a major taxpayer in Shanghai, paying billions in protection fees every year. Who would dare to touch it?"

"The moment you open the app, you're bombarded with all sorts of scams: free coupons, three orders for free, and so on. The quality is so obviously fake it's unbelievable. Street vendors are busy making a living and there's always someone regulating them, but these blatant scams go unnoticed."

"But the things there are so cheap~~~"

"Jingxi is cheap and you can go for a surprise!"

The projected image disappeared—Old Ma, unable to bear it any longer, turned it off.

Pinduoduo, as an important piece of Alibaba's e-commerce strategy, focuses on the lower-tier market, filling the gap in Taobao and Tmall's presence outside of the mid-to-high-end consumer group, which is precisely Alibaba's core intention in investing in it.

With its unique "cut a knife" mechanism, Xixi has firmly grasped the weaknesses of human nature.

Even amidst the external environment of WeChat's ban, it still managed to carve out a path in the lower-tier market, and with Alibaba's investment alone, it was able to compete head-on with Jingxi without falling behind.

Huang Zheng is a talented young man who gave a presentation at Lakeside University last year. The person who admires him the most is not Jack Ma, but Shi Yuzhu—who has publicly praised him more than once, saying, "This young man is like him back then."

But there are some things that can be done, but cannot be said, much less scrutinized.

And what happened right now, Lao Ma knew without even guessing—it must have been Chen Mo behind it all.

"Everyone saw the live stream just now," Old Ma said slowly. "What are your thoughts?"

Jiang Fan spoke first again: "First, there was the media hype, then Meituan's group-buying business was impacted, and now Pinduoduo's problems have been exposed. The other party was obviously prepared in advance and had been holding back all along."

They deliberately mixed everything together, creating a chain of attacks. This was by no means accidental, but a premeditated joint strangulation from the other side, intended to make us lose focus and become disorganized.

Once we reveal a weakness, they will have an opportunity to exploit it.

Ant Financial Chairman Eric Jing replied in a deep voice: "You mean, if we want to both push forward with Ant's IPO and safeguard our commercial moat, we must divide our forces. But if resources are dispersed, then..."

An executive nearby couldn't help but curse, "Damn, how can Chen Mo be so wicked? He can't stand seeing others do well?"

"Heh~ Don't be fooled by how well this guy acts in public; he's never had an easy time!"

After uttering a thought from the heart, Lao Ma had already made his decision.

"Jiang Fan!" he called out.

"exist!"

"You will represent Alibaba to connect with Huang Zheng of Pinduoduo and Mr. Wang of Meituan to resolve the current issues."

"Me?" Jiang Fan was taken aback. This tone was not the astonishment of Benboerba in Journey to the West, but rather the ecstatic joy that came with the arrival of an opportunity.

Among the dozens of executives present, the boss singled him out—and specifically "represented Alibaba"—the implications of which are self-evident.

"Yes!" he replied, standing up straight and speaking firmly.

Old Ma stared at him, his tone serious: "Remember, don't strive for merit, just avoid mistakes. Play good defense and buy me time."

"Understood! Promise to complete the task!"

"The rest of you continue the discussion and draft a plan for me as soon as possible."

"Yes!"

Just as Old Ma was about to leave, a cautious voice came from beside him: "Mr. Ma."

He stopped and turned around; it was Yang Lei, CEO of Hello Bike.

Last year, the shared bicycle industry underwent a reshuffle. Due to the different colors of the bicycles from various brands, the media dubbed it the "Rainbow War." After a year of fierce competition, only Mobike, ofo, Tiantian Bike (Bi'an), and Hello Bike (Alibaba) remained in the market.

At the beginning of this year, the situation gradually became clear: Dai Wei's ofo shared bikes had originally raised a lot of funds with the help of his father's resources, but at the end of last year, ofo suddenly broke its capital chain. The inside news was that Dai's father had gone bankrupt, and ofo was beaten by users and hospitalized for defaulting on user deposits. In the end, ofo went bankrupt and became a defaulter.

After Didi's failed IPO and bankruptcy, it was taken over by Jack Ma.

Earlier this year, Alibaba acquired Mobike for 98 billion yuan, and founder Hu Weiwei cashed out 7 million yuan and left the company.

Subsequently, Mobike, Hello, and the original Didi business were integrated and renamed "Hello Mobility," becoming the travel section within the Alipay ecosystem.

Old Ma frowned, but still took two steps over and asked, "What is it?"

Yang Lei reported on the problems Hello Bike's business was encountering in Northeast China: it was doing okay in provincial capitals, but in the cities and counties below, it was almost a case of "one bike being thrown in and then lost." Those places were "like a glutton," with many elderly people even taking the bikes directly to scrap yards to sell for money, and they had no way to deal with them.

"Doesn't Tiantian Bike have this problem?" Old Ma asked, frowning.

Yang Lei was extremely embarrassed: "Uh, they didn't even deploy it."

(End of this chapter)