Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3103: Banning Wechat Business

WeChat has officially issued an announcement to restrict micro-businesses.

This can be said to have shocked the entire market.

  You know, WeChat business can be said to be the hottest and most talked-about e-commerce business in the current market, which is equivalent to the e-commerce outlet of an era. As a result, Boss Zhou returned to China and held a meeting, and banned it!

Many people had no idea what was going on.

  I thought it was an internal conflict among Ziweixing!

In fact, there was almost an internal conflict. If it weren't for Boss Zhou's legendary and brilliant resume and his unparalleled leadership in the company, this matter would not have been so easy to settle. It can be said that most of the decision-making executives are very supportive of WeChat business.

  Even if you don't support the development of Wechat business, you can just let the market develop freely. There's no need to ban it outright, right?

Fortunately, Zhou Buqi kept his word, and the senior executives of the team who started the business and grew up with him also believed in him.

If he says micro-business doesn’t work, then it really doesn’t work.

Only some parachuted executives who have not been influenced by Ziweixing’s long-term values ​​may find it unbearable, such as Zhang Xiaolong, vice president of the WeChat business group.

Zhang Yiming, He Yang, Meng Houkun, Han Leshui and others have talked to him one after another.

This time it’s Boss Zhou’s turn to step forward.

Zhou Buqi got straight to the point and said unequivocally: "WeChat businesses must be banned. The product form of WeChat means that it is difficult to effectively regulate WeChat businesses, which means that there are gray industries and even black industries everywhere!"

Zhang Xiaolong said with embarrassment: "Even if it is banned, it is difficult for us to restrict their private transactions."

Zhou Buqi said: "Nowadays, some people can't stand the sale of facial masks and maternal and child products. This is just the beginning. It will only get worse in the future. Guns, ammunition, pornography, gambling, drugs and so on can all be sold! The biggest feature of acquaintance e-commerce is the trust relationship. Many criminals are afraid of being exposed and dare not trade in stranger e-commerce, so they will definitely trade in acquaintance e-commerce. I don't know if you have seen this form before."

Zhang Xiaolong's expression changed slightly, "I heard a little bit."

Zhou Buqi snorted, "Previously, all PC-based communication products had this!"

How do those bad guys communicate? How do they trade?

In fact, all transactions are made through acquaintances.

The nature of social products makes it difficult to restrict them. Social products cannot monitor the chats between users, which is user privacy. This kind of private user communication leaves room for users to conduct private transactions through social platforms.

Nowadays, selling facial masks, milk powder and so on is nothing.

If we allow it to grow, the future will only see a downward spiral, with the situation turning from gray to black.

Although there are many paid transactions between men and women on Momo, it is really nothing.

Because Momo is a stranger social product, all users are strangers to each other.

Strangers will be wary of each other, so even in transactions, they cannot be too relaxed. They are afraid of being cheated by the other party, and they will be on guard and restrained. At most, they will do some things that are on the edge and dare not go too far.

WeChat is a social network among acquaintances, which is different. Transactions between acquaintances with a trusting relationship can break the bottom line and lead to many sensational transactions.

  In this regard, strict control must be exercised!

Zhou Buqi said, "I'm not exaggerating. I've personally experienced this. In the United States, there are Mexican criminal groups that use Helo to communicate with customers, to trade with drug addicts in the United States, and even to smuggle illegal workers and guns across the border. This kind of thing is very common in the United States, and every social software will encounter it. But it's not allowed in China. If you are involved, you will be in trouble! At least we must take strong measures in this regard!"

Zhang Xiaolong took a deep breath and said, "But we can't control the private interactions between users."

Zhou Buqi said: "Then do what you can control well, at least on the public platform level, and set an example."

Zhang Xiaolong said: "When we ban WeChat merchants, the most we can do is to prohibit them from posting any product information in WeChat Moments. If it is a point-to-point private chat between users, it is difficult to restrict it."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "It is enough to take the responsibility of the platform, just like the search engine. The hospitals behind those medical advertisements have all been approved by relevant national agencies and have formal and legal licenses. Theoretically, Weidian can promote these medical advertisements on search engines. But we can't do this, we must be one-size-fits-all! Others can collude and get paid to do things, and money makes the world go round, but we can't! A great company must bear the greatest social responsibility!"

Zhang Xiaolong said “hmm”.

With this said, he could understand.

  Weidian's overall market share is now comparable to Baidu's. On the PC side, Baidu's market share is 15 points higher than Weidian's; on the mobile side, Weidian's market share is 30 points higher than Baidu's. However, in terms of the revenue of the two search platforms, Weidian is only half of Baidu's!

A very important reason is that Weidian has given up many legal and compliant advertising businesses, such as a one-size-fits-all approach to medical advertising. These are all approved by relevant state departments and reported to relevant institutions. They are completely legal advertising promotions, and there is huge room for profit here.

Normally, as long as companies abide by the law, all companies that operate in accordance with the law can be considered good companies.

There is no need to have excessive moral demands.

However, Ziweixing has imposed a higher moral constraint on itself, and its subsidiary Weidian has rejected all medical advertisements.

Weidian has taken on responsibilities that the platform does not need to bear.

The circle of friends is also a platform.

There is also such responsibility.

Even without mentioning the more serious products that may appear in the future, even the current counterfeit and shoddy facial masks, maternal and child products, health products and infant milk are enough to harm the world and are no worse than medical advertisements in the search business.

Even facial masks, maternal and child products, health care products, etc. are legal products that have passed safety and quality inspections by relevant national agencies.

Such responsibility must be borne by the enterprises.

It’s just like the live streaming sales later.

Many livestreaming sales are actually advertised by the platform. If fake goods are sold during livestreaming sales, if you want to get a refund and three times the compensation, you only need to ask the manufacturer to compensate you. The livestreaming anchors do not need to pay compensation, they are advertising, not counterfeiting.

This is what the law and morality require.

According to legal requirements, anchors who sell goods through live streaming do not need to pay compensation.

But there are moral requirements behind this.

If you don't promote the products, don't promote them, don't advertise them, can consumers buy those fake and shoddy products? You should also bear moral responsibility. You didn't kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of you. Anyone with a little moral conscience would easily feel uneasy.

Zhou Buqi said: "WeChat is now a monopoly platform. There are no competitors in the market. Momo can survive because it has found its differentiation. They provide instant messaging for strangers to socialize. There is not much room for development in that direction. It is just a small-scale business. In the market of acquaintances socializing, WeChat is the only one. It is a monopoly product! With a monopoly position, what can you do that will not make money? Is it necessary to do something that goes against your conscience?"

Zhang Xiaolong sighed, "I also know that e-commerce is a major strategic shortcoming of our company."

Zhou Buqi was very confident, "No! Ziweixing's e-commerce business will definitely develop."

"Oh?" Zhang Xiaolong's eyes lit up. "What aspect? Is the school group purchase going beyond the campus?"

Zhou Buqi said, "Group buying on campus is a benefit for college students. This positioning cannot be changed." "What is that?" Zhang Xiaolong was a little confused about the boss's thinking. "I have read some of your speeches and product ideas before. You said that 'social + e-commerce' has a good future."

Zhou Buqi said: "That's not the form of WeChat either."

"WeChat doesn't work, and neither does Weibo, Toutiao, or Pengyou.com. Our current e-commerce model is actually only school group buying backed by Xiaonei.com."

Zhang Xiaolong was actually a little anxious.

He holds a high position of power, but he was parachuted in, which makes him a little unconvincing. He needs to come up with some eye-catching and successful new businesses to prove himself and live up to his reputation.

Zhou Buqi was not in a hurry. "The era of social e-commerce is still advancing. Don't rush. WeChat still needs to develop its existing business first. The public account you lead is good enough. Helo will launch a paid enterprise version of Helo. WeChat can also launch a paid enterprise WeChat, allowing businesses to use enterprise WeChat to manage WeChat public accounts or customer resources."

"Yes, this is already being done." Zhang Xiaolong nodded, then remembered something, "Just now, someone from Alibaba contacted me."

"Ok?"

Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows.

Zhang Xiaolong said: "WeChat wants to ban WeChat merchants, mainly to ban the promotion of WeChat merchants' products in Moments. This is equivalent to leaving a blank for product recommendations. People from Taobao contacted me, hoping to allow Taobao to access the WeChat Moments API."

"What?" Zhou Buqi opened his eyes wide. "This old Ma? What does he want to do? We have cleared out the product advertisements of WeChat merchants, and he wants to take advantage of the situation and replace them with Taobao product advertisements? Moments is a platform for sharing friends' updates, not a product advertising platform!"

Zhang Xiaolong said: "Yes, I have already rejected it. I think... I think they may have also felt the crisis of WeChat business and realized the terribleness of social e-commerce. They want to promote Taobao's social e-commerce through cooperation with WeChat."

"No! We can't open this door!"

Zhou Buqi knows the power of e-commerce based on acquaintances.

If this opens a loophole for Taobao, allowing Taobao stores to promote through WeChat friends, it will greatly occupy WeChat platform resources. Many Taobao stores have strong marketing ideas. For example, when you buy goods on Taobao, they will send you a coupon and ask you to add their WeChat and then collect the money. In fact, this is a process of converting stranger users into acquaintance users.

If Taobao and WeChat are not connected, such familiar users will actually be of little use.

If this is done, Taobao's products can be promoted without restriction on WeChat, and these familiar users will generate extremely high conversion rates, developing towards the trend of acquaintance e-commerce.

Pinduoduo’s price cuts are very magical, but the effect of acquaintance e-commerce is actually average.

Even more ruthless is live streaming sales.

Those big anchors who sell goods through live streaming all use the same trick of e-commerce with acquaintances. Each of them has more than a dozen super WeChat groups, which can mobilize tens of thousands of fans. Not only can they attract fans quickly after starting the live broadcast, but they can also rely on the joint promotion of fans to build brands and pull down competitors.

As the owner of WeChat, the largest social platform for acquaintances in China, Zhou Buqi has long been eyeing the direction of acquaintance e-commerce.

In the field of stranger e-commerce, it is impossible to compete with Taobao.

But with the support of WeChat, Ziweixing will have a huge advantage if it comes to e-commerce among acquaintances.

Boss Zhou was already prepared.

E-commerce is a huge piece of cake and also the business segment with the most stable revenue.

  For a product like Pinduoduo, Zhou Buqi is too embarrassed to directly participate in the battle, and he can't afford to lose face. He just needs to invest some money, give some WeChat resources, and be a big boss behind the scenes. But it's different for live streaming sales. Ziweixing will definitely participate in the battle personally. This should belong to Ziweixing!

Even Zhou Buqi had thought about it and decided that the time would be ripe once his study tour was over.

The era of short videos has arrived.

In order to ensure that he can take over the global short video market, Boss Zhou is ready to return to the front line and do this personally. Taking over the short video industry is equivalent to taking over the live streaming sales market. Only by connecting the live streaming sales of short videos with the acquaintance relationships on WeChat can the greatest advantage of acquaintance e-commerce be brought into play.

However, that was many years later.

It’s only 2014, it’s still early.

The domestic 4G network has just been rolled out, and the number of 4G mobile phones is only more than 2000 million. The tide of the times is still rolling forward, and the opportunity has not yet come.

Zhou Buqi said: "Social e-commerce should still be based on e-commerce among acquaintances. 'Social + content + e-commerce', this is the possible model of e-commerce among acquaintances in the future. If you have studied the starting model of campus group buying, you should be able to see some signs. However, that was the PC era. If Ziweixing does e-commerce next, it must be a new product for the mobile era. The time is not yet ripe. The top priority is to make WeChat bigger and stronger! Ensure WeChat's monopoly on the industry!"

……

WeChat has banned micro-business.

This caused a big stir in the market.

Hangcheng.

Alibaba is stepping up its layout on Momo. After failing to connect Taobao and WeChat, they want to ensure a seamless connection between Taobao and Momo. Meanwhile, NetEase, a local company, is also devoting all its resources to promote another stranger social product, Yixin.

It is almost impossible to compete with WeChat, so don’t even think about it.

YiXin, created by NetEase, competes with Momo.

The current situation is very critical.

Alibaba is going to support Momo with its group resources, and Momo is about to go public in the United States. What should we do? Yixin now has two things to do. One is to seize the market vacated by WeChat after banning WeChat merchants, and the second is to go to war with Momo! We can't let Momo take away the market!

Pengcheng.

Although QQ failed in its competition with WeChat, it is still a top-notch communication product. Mobile QQ has more than 3 million users, making it the second largest mobile communication product in China.

On this day, the president's office held a meeting.

E-commerce has always been a hurdle that Penguin cannot avoid or overcome.

I have been working on this for ten years.

But I still can't find a good track.

At this presidents' meeting, they decided on a new direction. WeChat banned Wechat business... This is an opportunity. If Wechat business is gone, the remaining market may be replaced by a Q business.