legendary trader

Chapter 809 Chapter 810 E-Commerce
In recent years, Blue Star has developed rapidly on the Internet, which has brought great and small impacts on many traditional industries, and the newspaper industry is one of the most affected industries.

Physical newspapers have disadvantages such as low searchability, timeliness check, inconvenient storage and carrying, insufficient content display, and inability to extend and share. Consumer groups are also concentrated in middle-aged and elderly people. For young people, they can know which newspapers are published online. Who would continue to hold a newspaper and read slowly.

Now the daily sales of newspapers in various countries in the world continue to decline, not to mention growth, Amitabha is the only one who can maintain the current sales.

Chen Fan didn't have any objection to Liu Ying's going abroad to handle official business, but he felt it was inappropriate to take her family and children with her. After all, the child was too young and hadn't turned one year old yet.

Liu Ying went alone. In the past, she could come back in half a month or a month to deal with business. Now there are business jets, so it is very convenient to go back and forth.

After breakfast the next day, Chen Fan told his thoughts, hoping to prevent parents and children from following along.

But no matter what he said, the attitudes of his parents and father-in-law and mother-in-law are the same. Liu Ying wants to breastfeed, so they can take care of her conveniently. Moreover, there is no heavy industry in Oulu, and the environment is not bad. It seems that they are very fond of Oulu's exotic rural scenery. fascinated.

Unable to stop it, Chen Fan could only choose to delay as much as possible.

Liu Ying didn't think about going abroad right away, but she wanted to straighten out the domestic affairs first, and then leave after dealing with it.

This afternoon, Chen Fan was called into the study by Liu Ying, took out a document of investment project and handed it to Chen Fan and asked, "What do you think about investing in online shopping?"

Hearing Liu Ying's question about online shopping, Chen Fan guessed that it might have something to do with the document he had just started. He didn't answer right away, but looked down.

Liu Ying is not surprised by Chen Fan's actions. When they went to Shanghai last year, Li Yihong wanted to build an e-commerce website that imitated Amazon, and the project information handed over by Xie Kai in his hand said that the project investment was The online shopping project is actually similar to the e-commerce that Li Yihong wants to do.

Liu Ying still remembers that Chen Fan rejected the project directly at that time, and he doesn't know if he has changed his original mind half a year later.

Chen Fan looked at the information more carefully this time. Li Yihong had a preliminary idea and arranged people to start the initial preparations, but the project has not yet taken shape, and there is not even a decent plan.

But this time is different. This is a project plan made by a company called Alima. The book contains detailed instructions from the preparation to the implementation of the project. It can be said that the plan is very complete, and all possible problems have been taken into consideration. , just follow the steps in the project book step by step.

It took Chen Fan a lot of time to read through the project proposal. In fact, he skipped over many unimportant parts. It may take one to two hours to complete the complete reading.

"His project is more like building a hypermarket online and renting the store to offline stores. While the store is doing physical business, it sells the goods in the store online by the way, and sends the goods to customers through the post. It looks like It's all possible.

However, the second step of the transaction in the project book is the subscription payment. I still don’t understand it. If they didn’t get the item, why should they pay you? Even if you say that you are a website, you are acting as a middleman.

The seller sent the item without seeing the money. Who guarantees that the money will be in his hands in the end?
There is also the last step, that is, the customer signs for the product, and the customer is not satisfied. For example, if the product is not accepted after the product arrives, the return shipping fee must be borne by the seller. After the customer rejects the product, the website will refund the buyer’s money based on the postal information. Will the seller accept it? "

Chen Fan put down the project book in his hand, and casually said to Liu Ying: "If he does it like this, there may not be anyone who will come to this website to open a store.

This project is different from Amazon. Amazon is like a supermarket. It buys goods from the manufacturer and sells them on the website. In this way, he only needs to pay a small deposit, and he pays the manufacturer after selling the goods, and his side is mainly for books. In sales, it is rare to say that you are not satisfied and reject it.

But this project is not. It includes all kinds of goods, as long as they are not illegal, they can be sold, and there are risks in transportation. "

Speaking of which, Chen Fan still smacked his lips, and then shook his head, "I don't like this thing, I take it for granted, unless everyone is a saint and a person of integrity, otherwise this store can't be opened."

Speaking of this, Chen Fan remembered that this was the project that Liu Ying handed over. The underlying meaning was actually that Liu Ying felt that this project could be invested, at least worth a try, and he rejected it directly. Asked: "What do you think?"

"I asked about the project. This Alima company has built a website before, mainly for corporate customers, that is, their materials and parts, and engaged in wholesale trade. It is similar to the idea of ​​​​the machine company in the United States that Li Yihong said before."

Liu Ying didn't directly answer Chen Fan's question and express her views on this project, but started to talk about the situation of the company Alima.

"Before, they got more than 2 million yuan of investment from some domestic and foreign venture capital companies. The main investors were Goldman Sachs and Softbank. This is not because the technology stock bubble in the United States has burst. Now these technology companies have difficulty in financing. Goldman Sachs They also want to exit, so they want to take advantage of the company’s funds and be able to maintain it for a period of time, looking for new financing to supplement the company’s cash reserves.”

"That is to say, the company is not short of money in the short term?"

Chen Fan keenly noticed the meaning of Liu Ying's words. Alima Company is not short of money, but just wants to replenish its cash reserves.

For a company, cash flow is very important. It is related to the survival of the company. Now the media has begun to report the cold winter of technology stocks. A large number of technology companies have closed down because they did not find financing.

Alima Company must have been frightened, so it hastily sent project proposals to various investment companies to seek financing. In any case, they should get the money first before talking.

"It's not that there is no shortage of money. Once the project starts, the little money they have left will definitely not be enough to spend."

Liu Ying said with a smile, "According to our people's judgment after contacting their boss, most of their initial [-] million yuan has been burned, and there is still some remaining, which can maintain the company's operation for one or two years.

Of course, this is in the absence of new projects, and the existing model will continue to operate, that is, the salary and management expenses can last for two years. "

"That is to say, the purpose of their financing is to maintain the wholesale and trade website, and to prepare funds for the project of converting to retail?"

As he spoke, Chen Fan pointed to the project book on the front desk and said.

"Yes, their current website is still in a state of loss. Their first step to get money must be to maintain the current website. As for this project, customers who rely on the existing website transfer to this project and become the initial sellers. need some time."

Liu Ying said.

Having said so much, it is actually an answer to Chen Fan's previous question. When this project is completed, will someone register and sell things on it?
The answer is yes, those customers who buy goods on the Alima website are the first batch of sellers on this retail website, at least they are potential and can be won.

It seems to be closely linked, and the key is that the seller's distrust of the website seems to be solved.

And as long as there is a leading effect, then someone will follow up later. It seems that there is no need to worry about the lack of sellers and products.

Then the rest is how to make the user feel at ease in the transaction, and pay the money to the middleman of the website with peace of mind.

As for the income, it is stated in the project book that in order to expand the market in the early stage, most of the fees will be waived. After the market is established, the channel fee will be gradually collected. The money is in your own hands, and the channel fee will be deducted when the final payment is made. , at least the website can guarantee its own cash flow.

As for reassuring users, it’s also simple. One is to talk about tiger skin and find some well-known big companies as shareholders. The other is that those users will definitely start with small-value products. Once the transaction is completed, the trust will naturally increase, and once the newspapers and magazines are used to publicize, the credibility will be established.

For the first time, Chen Fan felt that this project might be feasible. After all, there are stores. Trading online will not affect his business. Local people will definitely not sell online. , optimistic about this thing.

However, although he thinks it might be feasible, Chen Fan is still not very optimistic about this project. Now that the domestic commerce and trade are developed, what products cannot be found in the local market, is it necessary to buy them online?

There is also the postal system for delivery. In addition to state-owned companies, there are also some private express companies in China, but the scale is not large.

However, Chen Fan soon stopped thinking about this issue. This is not an issue he should be concerned about. Alima Company should find a solution. The postal service is not good, and there are logistics companies, although the cost is higher.

Chen Fan is not familiar with the current domestic logistics situation. He just knows that there are already express companies, but most of them cover some areas, and they have not yet reached the level of nationwide coverage like the postal service. So once this retail website comes out, it is estimated that the postal service will I like it, it's all money.

In order to earn this money, they naturally had to find a way to improve the system, so Chen Fan really didn't have to worry about product delivery.

Having figured this out, Chen Fan looked at Liu Ying, "I'm not opposed to investing in this, but he already has investors. Don't tell me Goldman Sachs and Softbank are not willing to continue investing?"

"They don't want the capital to continue to expand investment, and the founder team also wants to maintain the right to control the operation. If they continue to raise funds, the company will soon change."

Liu Ying was very happy when she heard that Chen Fan did not object to this project, and hurriedly answered Chen Fan.

"They want to introduce more shareholders and spread out the equity?"

Chen Fan understood what Liu Ying meant, and was worried that the shareholders would invest too much, and there would be major shareholders, who would kick them, the founders, out of the company.

Thinking about it is right, making a website burns a lot of money. If the family has no money, once the financing is started, in order for the company to survive, if there is no net cash flow inflow, the company will continue to be short of money, and the equity will soon be lost , losing control of the company.

"According to what they said, this is already the third round of financing. The first round received 5 million yuan, and the second round received 2 million yuan, which is more than 2 million yuan. To get 10 million yuan, the price is [-]% of the shares.”

Liu Ying said: "When the company was first established, it was 50 yuan. When it raised 500 million yuan for the first time, it gave 30% of the shares. When it raised 2 million yuan for the second time, it was 25%. This time it was still 2 million yuan. Give 10%, I have calculated, if the financing is completed this time, their founder team and the company’s shares will be 47.25%, as for how much shares we want, we will see how much it is.”

"Are you talking about shares?"

Chen Fan asked suddenly.

Liu Ying shook her head, "It's nothing to talk about, one is that they are not at the end of their rope, so I say they are still very smart and make preparations in advance, even if this financing fails, they still have time to continue looking for new financing parties , at least a year or more for them to continue looking for partners.

The second is the equity. Now they still have control in their hands, but the stake is as low as 52.5%, so they can suppress the previous investors in this round of financing, but once it is completed, they will lose this control. Right, at that time, investors will need to stand on their side in the board of directors, so they need to disperse the shares.

Although the introduction of too many shareholders may make the relationship between the board of directors more complicated, and it will be troublesome to win over shareholders, but it is better than being taken away. "

"Now there are powerful major shareholders?"

Chen Fan noticed the current predicament of Alima Company, and keenly felt that there seemed to be shareholders who were already challenging the founder team.

"Softbank in the island country has a large share in the two rounds of investment. It is said that it has reached 17%. This time they want to eat all the financing this time. By then, their equity will exceed 25%. , but was rejected by Ma Yun, Alima Company was founded by Ma Yun, and he owns [-]% of the shares of the founder team."

Liu Ying replied.

Chen Fan probably understands that if he completes this round of financing and continues to invest in hard and soft, then Ma Yun will only have more than 30 shares, while Softbank will have more than 20 shares, which will indeed pose a challenge to his control over the company. He has a sense of crisis, so he refuses Softbank to continue to invest.

"Earlier you said that Goldman Sachs wanted to withdraw?"

Chen Fan asked suddenly. At this time, he had forgotten that he was opposed to investing in these projects before, but he began to think about other things.

Chen Fan, the venture capital company of Softbank, knew about it. When he attended the charity dinner, he seemed to know the manager of Softbank's imperial capital branch, but he didn't give him a good impression.

Because he didn't have a good impression of Softbank, he wanted to make trouble. At this time, throwing out a few hundred and eighty thousand yuan is really a trivial matter for Chen Fan. Money can't buy me happiness.

(End of this chapter)