Reborn: Billionaire in College

Chapter 332: The First Shot of Mobile Payment

Entrepreneurs in the industry with a slightly more sensitive sense of smell have all smelled the smoke of a war.

These people sit back and watch the fight between two tigers. It is none of their business anyway, so they are happy to watch the show.

"This drama is several times more exciting than previous ones. It's a treat for the eyes."

"Hasn't the fight started yet?"

"Then both families are mobilizing their troops and making preparations. If there is no fight, I will tear my head off and let you kick it like a ball."

"Who do you think will win?"

"Alipay! After all, they have been in the payment industry for a long time, have a good user base, and have a higher market share."

“Then why don’t you say that WeChat Pay has higher interactivity and customer loyalty?”

"Hey, what are you two arguing about? It's not like you two are fighting."

These people are not wrong. Alipay was launched by Alibaba in 04. Alipay, which is rooted in Taobao, has its own application scenario from the beginning - online shopping. At that time, Alipay mainly served as a virtual account with the function of credit intermediary, thus effectively reducing transaction risks.

In order to expand the scope of use of Alipay, Alibaba launched the Alipay "full compensation" system in 2005, and began to reach strategic cooperation agreements with banks such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China; at the same time, it entered external markets with a high degree of networking, such as online games, airlines, and B2C; it also gradually entered daily expense scenarios such as water, electricity, coal, and communication fees, guiding and educating users to use Alipay to complete payments online, thereby cultivating consumers' usage habits.

As of August 2008, the number of Alipay users exceeded 8 million, surpassing Taobao's 1 million users and accounting for 8000% of the total number of Internet users. Alipay's annual transaction volume exceeded RMB 40 billion.

At that time, domestic users' mobile payment habits had not yet been cultivated.

Various payment methods coexist, including online payment, mobile payment, NFC payment, and SMS payment.

Last year was 2010.

The transaction volume of Taobao and Tmall reached the billion level. Users who shop online need to switch to electronic banking payment, which requires tools such as password cards and U shields. The process is cumbersome and the payment success rate has been hovering around 80%. Alipay was also the first to come up with quick payment, which was the biggest game between Alipay and banks. With full access to Alipay, banks were also worried that their own online banking brands would be replaced by Alipay. After all, at that time, "whoever has the account wins the world."

In comparison, WeChat Pay, which just came out not long ago, is like a child in front of Alipay. Although its ecological chain is complete, its scale is not yet impressive.

Therefore, it is normal for the outside world to be skeptical about WeChat Pay.

After obtaining the payment license, Renren.com acted quickly and immediately connected to value-added services such as Renrengou, JD.com, and its own website games.

In addition, Zhizhen Catering Group and Yuanfang Plazas across the country were the first to connect to WeChat Pay.

What’s even more amazing is that WeChat payment has been enabled on WeChat mini-programs before.

"In the field of mobile payment, Chen Pingjiang fired the first shot."

People then realized that Renren had already made preparations and was not as weak as it looked from the outside.

Li Xihui reported: "Alipay accounts for 70% of the mobile phone payment market, while even if we fully integrate it, we only account for 30%. Moreover, there is some overlap. That is to say, users usually use WeChat Pay to transfer money with friends or for group purchases, but they will switch to Alipay when shopping online."

Chen Pingjiang nodded and consoled him: "You can't become a fat man in one bite."

Chen Pingjiang himself is very open-minded. He believes that the mobile payment war will not be over unless it takes five to eight years.

It is impossible to completely kill Alipay. At most, WeChat Pay will have the active advantage, but Alipay can still hold its own base.

In the future, no matter which merchant, small trader, or government agency, they will be connected to both.

That is to say, the two companies will be in a stalemate for a considerable period of time in the future.

It's just that the focus of each company is different. WeChat Pay does not have its own app, but it is embedded in WeChat itself. To be honest, from the perspective of professionalism, it is indeed weaker than Alipay. But Alipay's desire to engage in social networking is also a pipe dream, who said it has no social gene.

Moreover, Chen Pingjiang has no way to develop a WeChat payment app on his own, because doing so would be putting the cart before the horse.

I just need to extend the tentacles that I should extend and play within my own ecological chain.

…………

While at work in the morning, Zhao Yidu took advantage of the time to go to the toilet to slack off.

As soon as he opened WeChat, he received a reminder that the version was out of date.

Zhao Yidu updated his WeChat using the company's WiFi.

"Wow, WeChat 4.0 is here." While squatting on the toilet, Zhao Yidu studied the differences of the new version of WeChat.

The biggest difference was that he found that there was an item called a wallet in the service column.

When I clicked in, I saw a row of columns arranged in sequence.

The one at the top is called Change, and below it are columns such as bank cards, family cards, payment settings, bills, etc.

Zhao Yidu, who had played with Alipay a lot, immediately understood the approach of WeChat 4.0.

"This is actively moving closer to Alipay. But I feel it is more convenient to use than Alipay. When I transfer money to my wife on Alipay, I have to enter her Alipay account number, but in the future I can transfer directly from WeChat." Thinking of this, Zhao Yidu clicked on an avatar named Baby.

Without thinking, I turned to "520".

[Grinning, my dear, try to accept it. ]

After a while, the person named Baby sent a reply.

[Where is the money after it is collected? ]

【Have you updated WeChat to the new version? 】

【not yet.】

【Then you update first, and you will see it after the update. 】

【Oh, I updated it and saw it. Thank you, husband. Now I can save my own money and focus on my husband’s money. 】

Zhao Yiduo replied with a silly smile:

[Yes, it is my duty to support my wife. 】

Even though you cannot deposit your change into the Change Pass now, you can only keep money in the change bank.

But this version update is a big step forward for WeChat.

After walking out of the toilet, Zhao Yidu's legs were so numb that he stomped his feet several times before the pain was slightly relieved.

After returning to his workstation, he threw his phone on the table and asked his colleague next to him, "What are we having for lunch?"

The colleague next to me shook his head, looking listless: "Why are you going down there? It's exhausting to go back and forth. It takes at least half an hour to eat lunch every day."

Zhao Yidu deeply agreed with this. A small company like theirs did not have its own cafeteria.

Every day I have to wait for the elevator when going downstairs, and I have to wait for the elevator when going upstairs. Each trip takes at least 10 minutes.

Including the time for walking and eating, the only one-hour break at noon passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhao Yiduo sighed. "I can't not go down. I can't not eat."

"Brother, read more books and newspapers to keep up with the times. You've been traveling and you're a little out of touch with the times."

Zhao Yidu's face was full of question marks: "?"

A colleague next to me pointed out: "Open Renrengou. There is a word called "takeout" in the upper left corner. Click it and you will know what it means."

Zhao Yiduo opened Renrengou with doubts on his phone, and indeed saw the word "takeout" in the upper left corner. He clicked on it and was immediately impressed.

Wow, there is a row of food categories written on it, including delicacies, desserts, drinks, vegetables, fruits, dinner, home cooking and so on.

When he scrolled down, he immediately saw many brands including KFC, McDonald's, Miaocha, Xiao Chen BBQ, Tai Er Pickled Fish, etc.

He even found that several of his favorite restaurants were on his phone, but they were located relatively far back, so it took a long time to scroll down.

"Fuck! I only went to Thailand for two days, and I'm already here. Let's share a plate of Tai Er Pickled Fish for lunch. It's a bit of a waste if one person can't finish it, but it's just right for two people."

"Okay, go ahead and order. I'll transfer the amount to you via WeChat."

Zhao Yidu excitedly entered his name and address as prompted, ordered a few dishes he liked, and pressed the payment button.

The system prompted him to bind a bank card, but luckily he remembered his savings card number.

After the binding was successful, the money was deducted immediately.

"Is it all right to just sit and wait like this? Or do I need to go downstairs to get it?"

"No need to go downstairs, the Blue Knight will bring it up himself."

"Uh... so good." Zhao Yidu was a little uncomfortable for a while. He curiously clicked left and right, and saw a map on the phone screen. On the map, a blue man was riding a Q version of an electric bike.

A line of words "The Blue Knight has arrived at the merchant" is displayed above the blue man's head.

After reading through it, Zhao Yidu felt a little sleepy. He looked up and found that his colleagues in the company were all dozing off on the tables.

"How rare." Zhao Yidu smacked his lips. In the past, the company was empty at this time as everyone went downstairs to eat.

After sleeping for about ten minutes, Zhao Yidu was woken up.

A young man in a blue T-shirt and a blue helmet was shouting, "Who is Li Yuan? The takeaway has arrived."

"Here, I am!" The girl Li Yuan trotted over and took the takeaway with satisfaction, "Thank you, you are really fast."

After a while, the smell of rice wafted over. Zhao Yidu swallowed his saliva unwillingly and looked at his mobile phone again.

Above the blue man's head, it says "Blue Rider is delivering quickly, expected to arrive in 5 minutes."

"Tong Shaozhen, takeout!"

"Qiu Zhongyun!"

Wow, within a few minutes, a large group of Blue Knights arrived one after another, and the office became lively again.

But then the style of the painting started to go astray.

"Daniel Wu, takeout!"

"Andy Lau, takeout!"

"..."

"Zhao Yidu, takeout!"

Another blue knight rushed over, and Zhao Yidu finally heard his name. He ran up hurriedly to take the takeaway.

As soon as he saw the packaging, Zhao Yidu nodded with satisfaction.

The food is contained in a green insulated bag, the opening of which needs to be slightly torn open to reveal an exquisite packaging box wrapped in plastic film to prevent the soup from spilling.

"Eat, eat. I'm starving. Oh, it smells so good. I haven't eaten in a long time."

Zhao Yidu opened the boxes one by one while chattering.

"It was really fast. It only took half an hour. I usually have to wait at least half an hour to eat at Tai Er Pickled Fish. And the price is not bad, and there are red envelopes to deduct it."

My colleague laughed and said, "I didn't cook at home last night. I was too tired after a day's work to cook, so I just ordered two dishes."

Such situations are constantly happening in various CBDs or core business districts in first- and second-tier cities.

At present, the inherent constraints on the large-scale promotion of food delivery business no longer exist.

GIS has long been connected to Renrengou, and combined with WeChat Pay, food delivery is becoming increasingly popular.

This starts to force users to use WeChat Pay, otherwise they won’t be able to pay. Even worse, if they don’t have a smartphone, they will have to buy one just to order takeout.

In this way, the entire ecological chain is activated.

The sales of Orange mobile phones will be further improved, the number of users of WeChat Pay will continue to rise, and Renrengou’s food delivery business will finally be promoted on a large scale.

When the outside world saw this, the word "shock" could no longer be used to describe it.

Gao Songbin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The takeaway business was the first to come out, even earlier than group buying. However, due to the immaturity of various conditions, it was strictly suppressed within the scope of Dongjiang University Town.

Now it has finally shown its fangs.

Completely change the way people live.

…………

Wang Xing, who was far away in the capital, could only be described as having a head as big as a bucket.

He also paid attention to the rise of the company Ele.me, and also heard that Renrengou was frantically recruiting riders in major first- and second-tier cities.

Although I thought about following up as soon as possible, I was still several steps late.

It’s not that he is too slow, but that Renrengou’s speed is too fast, so fast that he can’t react.

He had originally planned to watch the fight between Alipay and WeChat Pay, but he didn't expect WeChat Pay to turn around and connect with Renrengou, instantly bringing the war to himself, which made him a little amused.

Why would a small shrimp like me be involved in the fight between the big guys? It's really f*cking infuriating.

Wang Huiwen asked: "We have to speed up. If we slow down a bit, the market will be snatched up."

However, the senior vice president in charge of human resources smiled bitterly and said, "I also want to recruit people, but it's not that easy. First of all, Renrengou is more well-known than us, and their riders recognize them. In addition, Renrengou does pay more. In addition to the delivery fee paid by the user, plus the subsidy from Renrengou, the rider can get 8 yuan per order on average. And they also have a full attendance award, and they are also holding an event recently, which is to add 24 yuan to the delivery fee for each order run within hours."

"Take Shanghai for example. They don't recruit workers locally. Many of them are recruited from third- and fourth-tier cities and brought here directly. They may not be familiar with the routes at first, but now with AutoNavi GIS, they can recognize the roads quickly."

"They have 1-2 stations near almost every business district, with an average of 6-70 riders at each station. They also provide dormitories and bike rentals. All kinds of supporting facilities are very complete. Compared with them, we are almost like the difference between regular troops and bandits."

Wang Huiwen and Wang Xing looked at each other and smiled bitterly. What the vice president of human resources said was indeed right. It was not their fault, as they had not thought of this strategy at the beginning.

On the other hand, Renjia.com has been preparing for this for a year, and Wang Xing would have his head chopped off.

"We are not putting pressure on you. Since we can't recruit people with this delivery fee, we will charge one more dollar than them. If one dollar is not enough, we will charge two dollars. I will find a way to deal with the money."

The group buying war just ended not long ago, and now the food delivery war is about to start again. Meituan’s money is obviously not enough, so it can only seek financing.

Wang Huiwen said: "Let's go find Alipay. We need Ali, and Ali needs us. Anyway, we all need to use mobile payment, and there is no difference between Alipay and WeChat."

Wang Xing nodded helplessly and said, "I really don't want to go to Alibaba. People say Renren and Tencent are overbearing, but Alibaba is more overbearing. The main reason is that Jack Ma wants to acquire the company in full at every turn. Who can stand this?"

"Who else can you find if not Lao Ma? Are you going to find Chen Pingjiang? We can't just connect to WeChat Pay now and help others."

Wang Xingmeng and Zhang Xuhao's team far away at Jiaotong University were even more dumbfounded.

The predecessor of "Ele.me" was jointly founded and operated by a college student entrepreneurial team composed of several students. In April 2009, Zhang Xuhao, who was still a student at Shanghai Jiaotong University, and his classmates took a fancy to the catering delivery industry and co-founded the Ele.me online restaurant with alumni Kang Jia, Wang Yuan, Ye Feng, Cao Wenxue and others.

Starting a business is very difficult, especially for a college student entrepreneurial team. Difficulties are inevitable, and various confusions and choices follow one after another. The initial start-up capital was scraped together by themselves. Even so, several young people always fought side by side with a strong entrepreneurial enthusiasm.

As the founder of the team, Zhang Xuhao slept only four to five hours a day in the early days, often personally delivering food, working hard and steadily, accumulating credibility and popularity bit by bit. What kept them going was probably the entrepreneurial dream in the hearts of young people.

They had already completed coverage of the university town and began to gradually spread to the surrounding business districts.

Unexpectedly, just three days ago, the situation took a turn for the worse.

The giant Renrengou suddenly entered the market and almost swept through the business district in their next plan in a clearing-out manner.

This interrupted their plan to expand outwards, and they had no choice but to start over in the campus market.

Fortunately, Renrengou’s food delivery business has just been launched, and the giants have not yet set their sights on the university town market.

However, that day is expected to come soon.

Kang Jia hurried in from outside the office and said, "Three knights didn't come to work this morning, and they didn't answer the phone."

Zhang Xuhao had no doubt: "The salary was paid just the day before yesterday. They worked ten days this month, and the average salary was estimated to be 1500 yuan per person. If they don't want the salary, they will probably go to Renrengou to deliver food."

"You mean they were bought by everyone?"

"That's not the case. If they had thirty people, Renrengou might still be able to attract them. Three people are too few. Most likely they heard that the Blue Knights at Renrengou had high salaries, so they got there on their own."

"Then what should we do now?" Wang Yuan said helplessly.

Zhang Xuhao spread his hands and said, "It's cold. The giants are coming and we can't afford to spend as much money as they can. We only have $80 left in the A round of financing."

"You can only go find money, or you can only wait to die."

Zhang Xuhao felt a chill in his heart.

It's simply a dimensionality reduction attack. The feeling of despair is suffocating.

After two years of hard work, getting up early and going to bed late, working in the wind and rain, I thought everything was getting better.

did not expect……

(End of this chapter)