splendid star

Chapter 90 "Morning Speed" Shifts the Battlefield
As major domestic group buying websites launch rounds of financing competitions, tug-of-wars, positional wars, and advertising wars outside the fronts are sweeping across the country. The general public in the city is surrounded by all kinds of constantly renovated websites. In group buying advertisements, we have gradually become accustomed to this new thing.The low entry threshold has undoubtedly accelerated the development of the group buying industry, but it has also inevitably caused vicious competition and rapid reshuffle in this industry.
As the beneficiary, consumers, how to buy higher-quality items at the lowest prices in group purchases, has become the most popular and popular topic for people to talk about after dinner.
Due to the lack of sufficient capital to continue to promote Anchen's morning speed group buying, the early stage of the business was fast and large, resulting in a lack of follow-up, and the market share was forced to drop again and again. In this group buying battle without gunpowder, it was slowly at a disadvantage. passive position.
"An Chen, have you read the news? Jujube Group Buying has completed its third round of financing, raising a financing amount of 3 million yuan." Meng Chenyu sat at his desk, browsing the news on the Internet, and gave An Chen On the phone.
"Brother Meng, I have also seen this news. Do you believe it to be honest? I don't believe it anyway. These days, bragging does not require tax. They deliberately let it out. In addition to scaring competitors, it is also to make the next round bigger. Financing, right?" An Chen replied on the phone.
"An Chen, I heard from internal sources that this is true. Moreover, the red date group purchase is planning to go public overseas in the near future!" Meng Chenyu replied after taking a sip of tea.
"3 million is not a small amount. Aren't those venture capitals afraid of being ruined?" An Chen couldn't believe it. Is the group buying industry so crazy now?
"In fact, this is a winner-take-all game. The fastest runner has the best chance of becoming the final winner, and everyone else will become cannon fodder sooner or later. So, now this game has become, to a certain extent, whose Whoever has the strongest financing ability is more likely to have the last laugh." Meng Chenyu said sharply.
"Brother Meng, I don't quite agree with your point of view. If you keep making money and burning money, what's the use of speed but no efficiency? Our Chensu has now completed 2000 million in Series B financing, although it's still worse than Hongzao. Very far, but I think entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a [-]-meter race, and those who run fast at the beginning may not win in the end." An Chen replied.
"An Chen, as long as the speed increases in the front, the efficiency in the back can also keep up! If you win the opportunity and market share in the front, you will have the initiative to adjust and change in the later period. As I said just now, the Internet is a winner-takes-all approach. Although it is definitely a healthier business model to start a game without burning money, the growth is too slow. Once others spend money to gain market share, more capital will come to invest in it, which means there will be More resources will be integrated, and by then, I’m afraid you’ll be eliminated before you’re even halfway through the marathon.”
"But I'm really not used to this kind of money-burning game." Perhaps after staying in the traditional industry for a long time, An Chen has been involved in the Internet for more than a year, but he still has not adapted to the rules of this game.
"Okay, let's get down to business. An Chen, I've raised another 5000 million for you, but we have to change our approach. In today's first-tier cities, group buying websites are seriously saturated, and there are also powerful eldest and second brothers here. Chensu's Market share has dropped rapidly recently, so I suggest that we can learn from the wisdom of the older generation, adopt the model of surrounding cities from rural areas, and leave limited bullets to cities that are still on the verge of group buying." Meng Chenyu suggested.
"The countryside surrounds the city? This sounds interesting. Brother Meng, why don't we meet and have a chat." An Chen suggested with interest.
"Well," Meng Chenyu lowered his head and glanced at his watch, "Let's have lunch together today and chat while eating. I'll wait for you at the same place."
"Okay, see you later." An Chen said.
Meng Chenyu and An Chen arrived at the private room booked in advance as promised.
"Brother Meng." As soon as An Chen entered the door, he saw Meng Chenyu already sitting inside, "I thought I came early enough, but I didn't expect you to arrive first."
"I just arrived too. Come, try the Longjing I brought here." Meng Chenyu said and served An Chenman tea, "An Chen, what should we eat?"
"Just stir-fry two dishes." An Chen said as he sat down.
After Meng Chenyu called the waiter to order the food, he turned to An Chen and said: "An Chen, according to statistics, the number of group buying websites across the country is increasing rapidly at an average of 10 per day. Of course, there are almost thousands of group buying websites announced in the past few months. Bankruptcy, it can be said that group buying is everywhere in first and second tier cities, but the model is single and homogenization is serious. According to my estimation, group buying will soon go bankrupt. So I thought about it, we can shift Chensu’s main battlefield Go to third- and fourth-tier cities, or even small counties, to open up new bases there.”
"I thought this was a new model of encircling cities from rural areas! It turned out that the first and second tier cities were withdrawn to develop small counties? Brother Meng, how many bullets did we invest in the advertising campaign in first and second tier cities in the early stage? Now the people already know that Chen Come on, is it appropriate for us to withdraw?" An Chen felt that Meng Chenyu's suggestion was not reliable.
"An Chen, you misunderstood me. I'm not saying to completely give up the territory of first- and second-tier cities, but now there are group buying all over the big cities. If we want to win here, I'm afraid it will be difficult. Those top group buying Relying on a strong background, we can eat up the share in our hands in minutes. Even if we run out of bullets and win slightly, it is only a temporary achievement and cannot affect the overall situation. However, we choose these top group buying companies to temporarily disdain or care about them. Small places that cannot go up can quickly achieve monopoly. Big cities strive to hold on to their bases, while small cities quickly expand their territories. When they run out of bullets, and we circle back, then the chance of winning will be much greater." Meng Chenyu analyzed.
After An Chen heard this, he didn't answer. He lowered his head and thought about what Meng Chenyu had just said.
Seeing that An Chen didn't answer, Meng Chenyu continued: "An Chen, let me give you the bottom line. Since many of the sites we set up in the early stage have suffered long-term losses, and the advertising campaign has been too fierce, now our funds have been exhausted. It’s relatively tight, so I want to use the 5000 million I just raised to form a monopoly advantage in small cities, so that the funds can slowly come back, and ultimately realize the rural areas surrounding the cities.”
"Brother Meng, I want to first understand the reasons for the long-term losses of those sites. If it is the agent, we will change the agent. If it is the market, we will simply stop and shrink the front." An Chen discussed .
"Well, we need to shrink the front line and keep the profitable sites. We can simply cancel the sites that have been losing money for a long time." Meng Chenyu said.
"Although I have to stop, I still need to find the reason for the loss before I can rest assured." An Chen picked up the tea cup, took a sip and said, "Good tea!"
At this time, the food was served, and Meng Chenyu asked with a smile: "Siyi has been busy starting a business with you recently. She must be exhausted, right?"
Speaking of Siyi, An Chen's eyes were immediately full of tenderness: "Yeah, it's quite heartbreaking to see her bumping around with me. I want to take her on a vacation abroad to relax after the business is temporarily stable. "
"Yuqing has been having a hard time studying for graduate school recently. When Chensu enters a stable period, we will be your companions and go on vacation together." Meng Chenyu replied with a smile.
"Then we've made an agreement! Let's go together then and go on a trip to see the world." An Chen replied with a smile, "Brother Meng, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you. Look, Chensu's current business is too many and too complex, almost catching up with grocery stores. I think we have been at a disadvantage in terms of physical goods. How about reducing this business and increasing and polishing the service business?"
"Your suggestion is very good," Meng Chenyu said after thinking for a moment, "pure consumer goods such as clothing and shoes are not only sold in physical stores, but also on major shopping websites. They are too competitive and substitutable, and if In the pure service industry, the situation should be much better. Of course, the situation is different in small cities, and physical group purchases do not need to be reduced," Meng Chenyu said.
"I understand this." An Chen replied.
Through the conversation between An Chen and Meng Chenyu, Chensu determined the battlefield transfer strategy.After agreeing on the next plan, An Chen planned to open up a new battlefield.
But before that, An Chen planned to visit a few sites with particularly serious losses to find out.
An Chen went straight to one of the sites without saying hello. When this site was just established, An Chen came here once. In the past few months, he was busy with advertising and competition with other group purchases, and he never had time to come and inspect it. .
An Chen and several members of the entrepreneurial team came to the site's office non-stop.
"It's strange. It's not a holiday. Why is the company door locked?" Siyi put her face close to the door and looked through the crack in the door. "There is no one inside. Where have all the employees gone?" Siyi said in confusion.
"Yes, where is the person?" An Chen was also confused. He raised his head and looked at the sign hanging at the door, and said with a smile, "If it weren't for the 'Morning Express Group Buying' sign hanging here, I would have thought it was a store. Where’s the apartment!”.
At this moment, a cleaning man happened to pass by.An Chen walked up quickly and asked, "Uncle, are you the cleaning staff of this building?"
The uncle replied with a confused look: "Yes!"
"Uncle, let me ask you something. Do you know about this company?" An Chen pointed at the door of Chensu Group Buying and asked.
"Oh, this company, I haven't been able to understand. Anyway, the door has been closed for the past few months, and I haven't seen any employees inside. Occasionally, a young guy will come over and look around. I don't know what this company is about. Yes." The uncle replied.
"You mean there has never been anyone in this company, except for a young man?" An Chen asked in surprise.
"Yeah, hey, what do you do?" The uncle looked at An Chen and his team members and asked cautiously, "Isn't this company engaged in illegal activities? Or is it just a leather bag company? Anyway, I’m not doing anything serious, otherwise it would be so empty all the time, and the lights would always be on inside, which would mean that there is too much money and nowhere to spend it.”
After An Chen suppressed his anger and thanked the uncle, he became furious.He picked up his cell phone and called the person in charge of the site: "Xiao Zheng, come to Chensu Company quickly!"
"Mr. An, do you want me to go to BJ now?" Xiao Zheng asked sleepily.
"I'm at the door of your office now." An Chen roared on the phone.
"Mr. An, when did you arrive? I'll be there right away." Xiao Zheng replied in panic.
After Xiao Zheng ran over panting, he opened the door of the office cautiously. Everyone looked at the empty office. There was nothing in it. It was obvious that it had not been used for a long time.An Chen couldn't help but get furious: "Zheng ××, can you explain to me what is going on!"
"Mr. An, all the brothers under me have gone out to distribute advertisements." Xiao Zheng said with a smile.
"Okay! Call them all back now." An Chen shouted angrily.
"This..." Xiao Zheng panicked after hearing this and kept wiping the sweat on his forehead with his hands.
"The situation you reported to me is that there are more than 20 employees under you, and the head office pays wages as usual every month, not a penny less, right? Where are these 20 people?" An Chen said sternly.
"Mr. An, I..." Xiao Zheng stood there with his head lowered, dumbfounded.
"From now on, your position as city manager will be suspended. In addition, I will notify the legal inspection team as soon as possible to investigate your financial situation. If there is anything harmful to the company's interests, we will do whatever we want to do at that time." An Chenwang He glanced at Xiao Zheng and said bitterly.Obviously, this moth has eaten a lot of free money.
"Mr. An, I was wrong, please spare me! I don't want to go to jail!" After hearing this, Xiao Zheng was so frightened that he knelt down in front of An Chen.
"Then please explain your situation properly." An Chen shouted sternly.
"Mr. An, you haven't asked me about this site since it was established. I wanted to work hard at the beginning, but later I saw that you didn't care about it, so I became bolder..." Xiao Zheng Kneeling on the ground, he confessed the reason for embezzling public funds, "Mr. An, I took out all the money I embezzled. Please don't send me to jail."
Seeing that An Chen didn't respond, Xiao Zheng seemed to have remembered something and quickly explained: "Mr. An, as far as I know, there are many city managers who have done this. I am willing to report them with my real name and redeem myself." .”
"Who is there?" An Chen asked word by word through gritted teeth.
Xiao Zheng truthfully reported all the people he knew to An Chen. After hearing this, An Chen was so angry that he could not speak. He felt both angry and regretful.These are all the consequences of blind expansion and blind recruitment.In the past few months, although sites in second- and third-tier cities have been established, I have focused mainly on the bloody battles in first-tier cities. I have no energy to deepen the work and no time to supervise the battle, which is why everything is happening today.
An Chen decided to cut the knot quickly. In addition to appropriately shrinking and holding the position in big cities, and seeking dominance in small cities, the other task was to vigorously rectify, stop the bleeding points, and cancel all existing continuous Losing money site.
(End of this chapter)