Reborn in 08, a heretical cultivator starting a business

Chapter 238 Reject Peace Talks, Destroy Taobao!
Ning Fengze was extremely anxious: "Wang Junshan not only didn't stop, but he also made our counterfeit goods the number one trending topic!"

"They really don't intend to let Taobao off the hook; they want Taobao dead!"

"Oh no, what will happen to Taobao?"

This incident will inevitably lead to a severe loss of users and significant financial damage for Taobao.

As the head of Taobao, Ning Fengze felt that his good days were over!

Even Taobao's good days are over!

Taobao Mall President Zhao Deyu had a complicated expression:
"There's nothing we can do. We've accused Vipshop of fraudulently obtaining subsidies of up to 10%, and we don't intend to let Vipshop off the hook either."

"Now that Wang Junshan is running Taobao, he certainly won't let us off the hook."

"This is all just a matter of course."

But seeing his biggest competitor, Ning Fengze, about to go under, Zhao Deyu couldn't be happy.

This incident has ruined more than just Taobao.

His Taobao store's future is also uncertain!

Unless Alibaba changes its strategy and abandons Taobao, it will not be able to fully support Tmall!
Like Vipshop, we're going all out on B2C!

Their only way out is through Taobao Mall!

Jack Ma nodded: "Yes, now that Wang Junshan has made his move, he won't back down easily."

"We want to fight back, but we can't."

"The only thing we can do is to bow our heads and seek peace."

Ning Fengze strongly agreed:
"In order to save Taobao, we have no choice but to compromise."

"If necessary, we can concede some profits and offer a price that Wang Junshan cannot refuse."

Zhao Deyu's lips twitched; he felt utterly aggrieved.
"We've been beaten so badly, and we're expected to bow down and beg for peace, even paying money to avoid further trouble?"

"That makes no sense!"

"Don't we have any pride?"

"We can't do that. If we do, how can Alibaba ever hold its head high again?"

Ning Fengze laughed: "What else?"

"Why is the topic of '70% counterfeit goods on Taobao' consistently trending at number one on Weibo's hot search list?"

"Should it be hung for one day? Or a week?"

"If that happens, Taobao will lose half of its users!"

"If Taobao's user base is halved, your Taobao Mall won't have an easy time either. Those lost users will all go to Vipshop!"

"And your Taobao Mall, just like our Taobao, can only be completely crushed by Vipshop!"

“This…” Zhao Deyu fell silent.

It was quite clear that Ning Fengze was not exaggerating.

On the contrary, they are all facts.

With Taobao's 1.3 million monthly active users, even if only one-tenth of Taobao Mall's users are converted, it would still have tens of millions of monthly active users.

However, if Taobao's user base were to halve to 60 million monthly active users, the number of users who would switch to Taobao Mall would also be halved, making it even less of a match for Vipshop!
Jack Ma sighed: "Taobao can't afford to have any problems; the trending topic must be removed as soon as possible!"

"Is there still no result from communicating with Weibo?"

Ning Fengze shook his head: "We have tried to contact Weibo through various means, but they just keep passing the buck."

"They all give official, clichéd answers, recording opinions at each level and passing them on to the next, but they never actually resolve the issue."

"The typical attitude is very amiable, but they do nothing right!"

"Try contacting them again, be firm, and send someone of a higher rank!" Jack Ma said in a deep voice, there was no time to waste.

For every five minutes that counterfeit goods trend on social media stays on the hot search list, Taobao can lose a significant number of users!
Ning Fengze looked at his secretary: "Give me the phone number of Weibo's senior management, I'll negotiate personally!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ning, no one is answering the calls from Weibo's senior management. They probably just rejected the calls as soon as they saw the location and the number was unfamiliar."

"!!!" Ning Fengze was furious: "They're hiding from us. Where is the phone number of Future Technology's top management?"

"No one answered."

"Very well, very well. You really don't want to talk about future technologies at all!"

Ning Fengze was helpless, but he couldn't not contact them: "It's okay, don't they have a customer service hotline on Weibo? Surely they can't not answer customer service, right?"

Ning Fengze promptly asked for the number, dialed Weibo's customer service hotline, and put it on speakerphone:

"I am Ning Fengze, president of Taobao. Your trending topics on Weibo are seriously affecting the normal operation of Taobao. This is a serious matter. Please forward this to your senior management!"

"Sure, but our senior management is quite busy and we'll need to wait a while. Would you like to communicate with me directly, or would you like to continue the transfer to senior management?"

"I can wait to be promoted to a higher management position!"

Ning Fengze said coldly, "The only effective way to resolve this is to communicate directly with Weibo's top management."

Dealing with customer service representatives below is pointless.

Please wait patiently.

Then came the long wait.

To put Ning Fengze and the others at ease, they thoughtfully played a piece of music.

However, after the song ended, an advertising slogan appeared: "Choose Tiantian Dongting for your music listening needs! A massive library of genuine songs awaits you on Tiantian Dongting!"

Ning Fengze's lips twitched: "..."

Jack Ma, standing nearby, was ashen-faced: "!!!"

The people in the room all had complicated expressions.

So many high-ranking Alibaba executives were waiting here, but Weibo customer service started playing ads for Tiantian Dongting!
Absolutely!

But the situation is stronger than people.

Jack and the others had no choice but to listen!
Five songs and five commercials played in total. Ning Fengze was so angry that he almost hung up the phone several times before a response came from Weibo:
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I'm Fu Liang, the head of Weibo's customer service department..."

"???"

Ning Fengze was completely dumbfounded: "Who do you think you are?"

"I am the head of Weibo's customer service department!"

"Damn it!" Ning Fengze couldn't help but swear. "I listened to six songs, watched six commercials, and waited for over half an hour, all for your Weibo business unit's senior management, president, and vice president! And all I got was a customer service manager?!"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Haha. No, our customer service department always respects all users. Whether it's a complaint or a suggestion, we will listen to it."

Fu Liangkai spoke sincerely, but his laughter was even more unrestrained.

“You…” Ning Fengze trembled with anger; this guy did it on purpose.

I really wanted to hang up the phone right away.

But I was afraid that if I hung up, I would have to wait another half hour to get back on the phone.

He had no choice but to say, "Fine, I won't waste my breath on you. I am Ning Fengze, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Taobao. I need to speak with the President of your Weibo Business Unit."

"I'm sorry, our Weibo business unit president is our chairman, and he's off today and didn't come to the company."

"..." Ning Fengze was speechless: "Where's the vice president? Surely there's a vice president?"

"Our Weibo business unit was only established a few months ago, and we don't have a vice president yet."

"Where's the operations manager? Where's the COO?"

"Yes, we do, but our operations manager is away on a business trip and not in the company."

"Call him, can't you at least call him?" Ning Fengze was utterly speechless.

"Sorry, the supervisor is in a remote location discussing a collaboration with a film crew. It's so remote there's often no cell phone signal."

"Damn it! Are you kidding me?" Ning Fengze cursed angrily.

"Hahaha. No." Fu Liang said no, but he laughed without any attempt to hide it.

"Fine, fine, I won't argue with you."

Considering the bigger picture, Ning Fengze had no choice but to suppress his anger again: "Is President Wang Yufei here?"

"Shouldn't it be alright to ask him to answer the phone?"

"Mr. Wang is here, but he's busy and doesn't have time."

"You..." Ning Fengze wanted to say something more.

Fu Liang suddenly spoke up: "Sorry, I have a meeting to attend and I don't have time. Excuse me."

After saying this, Fu Liang tossed the phone to his subordinate and laughed:
"He even calls himself Alibaba's vice president. Why doesn't he just call himself Jack Ma?"

The subordinate laughed and said, "Exactly! Someone even called before, saying he was Obama! Don't you think he's crazy?"

"Haha, from now on, treat all these harassing calls as if they're from a lunatic, just hang up." "Yes, supervisor."

Snapped!
The phone hangs up.

Everyone at Alibaba's headquarters looked grim.

Ning Fengze was so angry he flew into a rage: "Damn it!"

"Weibo's customer service department is doing this on purpose, putting on a show for me!"

"Not only did they play me for a fool, but they also made veiled insults, calling me a lunatic!"

"Damn it!"

"It's damned!"

The other senior executives also had complicated expressions.

Some felt sympathy and anger, while others gloated.

Ning Fengze, president of Taobao, is the most likely successor to Jack Ma.

People are naturally gloating over being played like this by Weibo's customer service department.

Ning Fengze grew angrier the more he thought about it: "How dare a mere Weibo customer service manager play games with me like this!"

"Damn it!"

"It's damned!"

"I must make them pay the price!"

"must!"

"Shut up!" Jack Ma snorted coldly, unable to stand it any longer: "Isn't this embarrassing enough?"

“Chairman, I…” Ning Fengze calmed down.

"Old Ning, why don't you go and rest for a bit?" Jack Ma sighed and spoke again:
"As for Weibo, it seems that contacting them directly won't work. A mere customer service manager wouldn't dare to mess with our Alibaba vice president like that. Unless they have prior authorization from higher-ups!"

Zhao Deyu wholeheartedly agreed: "Yes, it seems Wang Junshan had already given instructions not to talk to us at all. That's why the customer service manager and employees dared to play tricks on Lao Ning like this. It's clearly a fight to the death!"

"Who says otherwise? But this isn't the time for a fight to the death; right now, Alibaba is in a very passive position!"

Jack Ma was very rational: "We are not afraid of Vipshop, we are not afraid of Weibo."

"If counterfeit goods on Taobao don't trend on social media, and if we go to war with future technologies, we at Alibaba are not afraid."

"But now, counterfeit goods account for 70% of the top trending searches on Taobao, which is a disaster."

"Taobao can't hold on, Alibaba can't hold on either."

Everyone nodded in agreement: "Yes, we still need to negotiate first and stabilize Future Technology."

"That's right, we must remove the trending topic about counterfeit goods first, no matter what!"

"Chairman, since direct communication is ineffective, we can only find a mediator to mediate. At worst, we can apologize to Wang Junshan and Alibaba can admit its mistake."

"Admitting mistakes isn't enough; we'll probably have to concede some of our profits!"

"Sigh! For Taobao, it's worth sacrificing some profits just to get the trending topic removed."

Jack Ma nodded: "Okay, there's no other choice."

"I think you should all try to find someone who can speak to Wang Junshan."

"Yes!"

Jack Ma returned to his office, turned on his phone, and swiped through his contacts.

The first thing that comes to mind is the Jiangnan Association!
Chairman Liu and others have the Taishan Club, while Jack Ma took the lead in establishing the Jiangnan Club!
As the name suggests, the Jiangnan Association consists mostly of leaders of Zhejiang merchants.

Established in 2006, the conference center is a high-end private club located on Santai Mountain next to West Lake!

The Jiangnan Society usually holds its gatherings here.

Besides Jack Ma, the main members also include Guo Dong of Fosun Group, a bigwig in the real estate, pharmaceutical, and financial sectors.

Ding, the founder of NetEase.

Chairman Chen, founder of Shanda Interactive Entertainment.

Song, the founder of Greentown.

Chairman Shen of Yintai Group.

Chairman Lu, President of Wanxiang Group.

Chairman Feng of Qingchunbao Group.

Jack Ma shook his head: "Old Song is in real estate, he probably can't talk to Wang Junshan."

“Wang Junshan didn’t buy his house either.”

"Wanxiang's Lao Lu is in the auto parts industry and has absolutely nothing to do with future technology."

"Old Feng works in the pharmaceutical industry, so he probably doesn't have much influence."

"The remaining two, Ding from NetEase and Guo from Fosun, should be able to speak up."

"And there's also Chen from Shanda, who also works in the game industry, so it's possible."

Jack Ma had a plan and decisively contacted the three.

That is the significance of the Jiangnan Gathering.

Members benefit from each other and develop collaboratively.

When we encounter trouble, we share our resources and help each other.

Dongzhimen, a courtyard house.

Wang Junshan was practicing his combat skills in the courtyard, facing the punching bag.

Health is the foundation of everything, and Wang Junshan has not neglected his exercise.

Shen Huaijin was incredulous: "Boss, with something this big happening, you really don't need to go to the office?"

Wang Junshan smiled faintly: "No need to go. Our situation is great now. What's the point of going to the office? Wang Yufei and the others can handle it. They'll contact me if anything comes up."

"Oh, that's perfect! Let's have a barbecue for lunch! Our first barbecue of spring in the courtyard!"

“Sure, the outdoor temperature is just right, perfect for a barbecue in the yard,” Wang Junshan said with a smile.

"Then I'll go prepare."

But before Shen Huaijin could make a move, her phone rang:

"It's President Tang."

"Take it."

"Okay." Shen Huaijin pressed the answer button, and Tang Jinghe's voice came through:
"Huaijin, is the boss in?"

"Mr. Guo of Fosun Group contacted me through a friend, saying he wanted to talk to the boss. Fosun Group hopes to reach a cooperation agreement with Future Technology."

"Fosun Group?" Wang Junshan chuckled. "They're here to act as Alibaba's lobbyists."

"Probably." Tang Jinghe said on the phone, "If the chairman doesn't want to see me, I'll cancel."

Wang Junshan nodded: "Let's cancel it. Just say I'm on a business trip. We're riding high right now. We finally have a chance to take down Taobao, how can we let them get away with it so easily?"

Wang Junshan understood clearly that it was unrealistic to expect this incident to completely destroy Taobao.

But it's a terrible job, a complete disaster!

There's still hope that Vipshop can reduce Taobao's monthly active users by half, causing Taobao to lose tens of millions of users, while gaining tens of millions more users!

If this goal is achieved, then it will be a great victory!

And the chances of winning are very high!

Even if Taobao is cheaper than Vipshop, it doesn't make much difference.

The reason is simple: the times are different, and the online shopping groups are of different levels.

If it were 2019, with enough users in lower-tier markets, even if Taobao had a lot of counterfeit goods, as long as the prices were cheap enough, people wouldn't care, and Taobao could still develop very well.

Just like PDD in his past life, Jingxi...

But the online shopping situation in 2009 was completely different!
These days, computers are expensive, and broadband fees are expensive too!
The annual broadband fee is 1200-2000 yuan, which is roughly equivalent to a month's average salary.

A computer costs between three months and a year's average salary.

It can be said that in 2009, most online shoppers who had a computer at home and could afford broadband were high-income earners!
Not users from lower-tier markets in 2019!

These high-income groups have high incomes and strong spending power, and unlike the users in the lower-tier markets in 2019, they are not only looking for cheap prices.

On the contrary, they have very high quality requirements!
We have zero tolerance for counterfeit goods!

In this situation, if 70% of the trending topics about counterfeit goods on Taobao are kept up for a longer period of time, it could really ruin Taobao!

(End of this chapter)