Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3084 Embracing the Market

Zhou Buqi didn't quite understand Boss Ma's real intentions.

It is possible that he really does not care about the competition between WeChat business and Taobao, and this time he went through such a big circle to talk about e-commerce as a well-intentioned reminder.

There is also a possibility that they want to use Boss Zhou to eliminate a potential competitor like WeChat business.

After all, judging from Mr. Zhou's personality and business philosophy, he would not allow a large number of counterfeit and substandard products to appear in a core product like WeChat. Masks are used on the face. If they have no effect, it's fine. But if they do work, they will cause allergies on the face.

In this case, it is impossible to seek redress from the merchant.

Because WeChat is not an e-commerce platform at all.

This is a private transaction between the buyer and the seller.

There is no platform organization or middleman to supervise. Once the goods purchased through WeChat business have serious quality problems, consumers have no way to complain. If something really goes wrong and they cannot find the seller, they can only contact WeChat.

  What can WeChat do?

WeChat has no e-commerce business at all.

This will easily affect WeChat’s brand value and social image.

In fact it is.

Boss Ma guessed right.

Zhou Buqi really doesn't like micro-business.

Boss Ma went on to say: "It's not just counterfeit and shoddy products, there are also a lot of overseas purchasing agents, which are actually illegal. Normally, many overseas goods coming to China need to pay tariffs when they pass through customs. However, there are loopholes here, and many private purchasing agents are evading tariffs."

Generally speaking, if the items you buy abroad are less than 5000 yuan, you don't have to pay customs duties. If you buy too much and too expensive items, like if you go abroad to purchase large quantities of goods, you will need to pay taxes.

At this time, there is a way to deal with it.

For example, you can put your own things in the bags of your relatives and friends, use their quotas, and then average them out to meet the target.

Or even just don't declare it.

In many cases, customs officials are unable to make an accurate assessment. If you do not declare, they will not know. For example, if you buy a famous watch abroad and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, and wear the watch on your wrist, it will basically pass. Because the value of a famous watch is difficult to measure, even if you say you bought it for 200 US dollars, it is difficult for them to verify it.

Therefore, overseas purchasing initiated by the form of micro-business is often a gray industrial chain.

Zhou Buqi nodded and said, "Well, this is different from regular cross-border e-commerce. There are a lot of cases where people don't declare taxes when they go through customs. Even many flight attendants take advantage of their positions to bring things from overseas to China on a large scale and evade customs."

Boss Ma said worriedly: "So you have to be careful! WeChat is indeed not involved in these things. But as a platform, it did play a role in fueling the flames. Is this what you want to see?"

Zhou Buqi told the truth, "I don't want to."

Boss Ma smiled and said, "This is a gray area. You have to clean it up."

Zhou Buqi said: "Purchasing agents are only a tiny part of WeChat business, right? If sellers want to make money in WeChat business, with this unsecured and immature model, do they really have to go overseas to purchase goods? It may be a more common phenomenon to find a batch of counterfeit and shoddy goods in China in the name of overseas purchases."

"No matter what, it's not good!"

Boss Ma gave us a sincere and earnest advice as a person who has experienced it. Taobao actually went through the same experience.

But it’s gotten much better in recent years.

Especially now that Alibaba is going to go public in the United States, the management regulations are even stricter. If Taobao is still full of counterfeit and shoddy goods, it will be difficult for American investors to explain. They don't want the company they invest in to make money by selling counterfeit and shoddy products.

Zhou Buqi said: "Micro-business was not promoted by me, nor was it done by the WeChat team. It should be created spontaneously by users. I think the reason for this is Taobao."

Boss Ma agreed, "Well, Taobao has cracked down on a large number of counterfeit and shoddy stores. They can no longer survive on Taobao, so they will look for new platforms to survive. The emergence of WeChat merchants has given them this opportunity."

Zhou Buqi said: "So, as I said before, there is demand in the market!"

"Will you do something like this?" Boss Ma has revealed his true intentions, hoping to kill WeChat merchants through Boss Zhou. "You picked up things that Taobao discarded. Isn't that your principle? What's more, Ziweixing is also a company listed in the United States. If investors knew about the WeChat merchant model, what would they think?"

Micro-business is an emerging product.

Moreover, it is not promoted by the platform, but a new business generated spontaneously by users.

Under this situation, WeChat businesses have generated nearly 500 billion yuan in sales in the first six months of this year, which is close to the scale of campus group buying... It is particularly evident that the products promoted in WeChat businesses have very strong and vigorous market demand.

By next year, the sales volume may reach hundreds of billions.

Zhou Buqi asked: "If WeChat doesn't do this and I ban the phenomenon of micro-business, then for many consumers who have this demand, where can they go to meet their needs?"

Boss Ma said curiously, "Are you considering this?"

Zhou Buqi said, "It's not me who is considering it, but someone else must be. You are such a big boss, and you have paid attention to the phenomenon of WeChat business. Will others pay attention to it? You just said that there is a craze for mobile Internet entrepreneurship now. Capital from home and abroad is full of enthusiasm, and batches of entrepreneurs are constantly emerging."

"Ah."

Boss Ma nodded heavily.

When there is demand, there is market.

After Taobao cracked down on the fake and shoddy stores, they came to WeChat merchants. If Ziweixing restricts WeChat merchants, then such a large supply-side group will definitely have new platforms. Once this happens, buyers and sellers will flood in like a tide, and the new platform will grow rapidly like an explosion.

Zhou Buqi said: "If you don't do it and I don't do it, someone else will. With the current domestic consumption capacity, the vast majority of people are fans of counterfeit and shoddy products. This group is much larger than that of Taobao and Tmall."

Boss Ma asked, “What should we do then?”

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "What do you mean? Just go with the flow. What? Do you still want to go against the flow? Do you want to go against the national trend?"

Boss Ma suddenly felt a sense of crisis.

Zhou Buqi said: "WeChat business must be restricted. Just like you said, I can't do this kind of fraudulent business. It's not a requirement from the outside world or investors, but a requirement from myself. I would rather not make money than do it. However, there is such a huge market demand, you can't ignore its existence."

"what would you do?"

“Embrace the market.”