Chapter 195: Chapter 179: If I Can’t Make It Work, I’ll Give Sunning to You

"So, what brings President Liu here? Afraid Pinbei’s going to poach your suppliers?"

Zhang Jindong shot back bluntly, a cold smirk playing on his lips.

With no media present, he dropped the act entirely. The two had been trading barbs from afar for months, and he was filled with pent-up anger.

"No one can steal what’s mine."

Liu Qiangdong crossed his legs, appearing nonchalant on the surface, but inwardly, Zhang Jindong’s words had struck a nerve.

He had arrived early and, glancing around, saw many familiar faces. Representatives from over one hundred digital and home appliance brands were present, and to his surprise, more than half of them were Jingdong’s key account (KA) suppliers.

Only then did Liu Qiangdong understand. No wonder Chen Yansen had merely added a symbolic clause about Orange Pay to the contract, allowing Jingdong’s self-operated products onto the Pinbei platform.

Although the two were currently partners, the ever-vigilant Liu Qiangdong had already sensed the threat Chen Yansen posed.

"I wouldn’t be so sure," Zhang Jindong replied with a grin.

He said it deliberately to sow discord between Liu Qiangdong and Chen Yansen, hoping Sunning would benefit from the fallout.

The past year’s experiences had taught him that online and offline retail were two completely different ball games.

Even though he had defeated Gome, Sunning was still a minor player in the online space. It needed to leverage traffic from third-party channels to grow.

Moreover, Zhang Jindong was confident that with over 1,500 physical chain stores, Sunning had far more leverage over its suppliers than Jingdong did.

Even if brands under the Sunning umbrella bypassed it to join Pinbei directly, Chen Yansen would never get the same wholesale prices that Sunning commanded.

"President Zhang, I think you’ve got the right idea. Just give up on your online strategy. Hand the appliance business over to Jingdong and Pinbei. It’s a win-win for everyone, right?"

Liu Qiangdong countered with a smile.

The implication was that Sunning wasn’t cut out for e-commerce and should just stick to being a brick-and-mortar retailer, leaving the online operations to Jingdong and Pinbei.

"You got 1.5 billion in financing and now you think you’re hot stuff? You think you know how to handle a heavy-asset model? If Sunning’s e-commerce business fails, I’ll hand the whole company over to you."

Zhang Jindong was no fool. He immediately understood Liu Qiangdong’s jab and didn’t hold back in his reply.

’Heh, he lost his cool.’

Liu Qiangdong felt a surge of satisfaction. Beaming, he ignored Zhang Jindong.

Jingdong was already under immense pressure from its price war with Taobao, and now Zhang Jindong was relentlessly nipping at its heels.

For the exact same product, if Jingdong sold it for 100, Sunning would deliberately sell it for 90, undercutting Jingdong by an average of 5% to 10%.

To protect his market share, Liu Qiangdong could only grit his teeth and lower prices again.

He had only started the conversation to get under Zhang Jindong’s skin. His goal achieved, he abandoned Zhang Jindong and started chatting with Li Mingzhe, Supor’s head of e-commerce.

Zhang Jindong’s chest heaved with rage. He only managed to compose himself when Chen Yansen walked over with Xu Pei Xin, the owner of Red Child.

"President Zhang, what a surprise to see you here." Xu Pei Xin hurried over to greet Zhang Jindong the moment he saw him.

Recently, Sunning’s investment department had been in contact with Red Child about a full acquisition.

Xu Pei Xin came from an investment banking background and prioritized return on investment above all else.

His current mindset was similar to Lei Yijun’s seven years prior. He felt e-commerce was a cash-burning business, and after seeing Chen Yansen sell FoxTao and cash out for over ten billion, he began entertaining the idea of selling Red Child to cash out early himself.

The moment Sunning reached out, he had been eagerly receptive.

"President Xu, does Red Child also have plans to join Pinbei?"

Zhang Jindong beckoned for Xu Pei Xin to sit on his right and asked with a smile.

He was genuinely interested in Red Child, wanting to absorb it into Sunning’s e-commerce division to bolster their user base in the mother-and-baby product category.

But if Xu Pei Xin joined Pinbei and his company’s performance improved, his willingness to sell would become a major question.

"President Zhang, you must understand the struggles of a niche e-commerce site. If even Jingdong’s self-operated division can get on board, then of course Red Child can too."

Xu Pei Xin sighed as he sat down, then explained.

"And the acquisition?" Zhang Jindong asked tentatively.

"Let’s discuss it after the New Year. That will mark the end of a full fiscal year, which will make the asset valuation easier for Sunning."

Xu Pei Xin thought for a moment and decided to postpone the deal. He wanted to see how Red Child performed on Pinbei first.

They were all businesspeople, after all. Who wouldn’t want to sell for a higher price?

As ten o’clock approached, representatives from home appliance brands like Haier, Little Swan, Wanhe, Gree, and Galanz began to file in.

Representatives from the apparel category included Meiters, Han Du Yishe, Tang Lion, Yalu, and Xuezhongfei.

The sportswear category included Anta, 361 Degrees, Hongxing Erke, Adidas, and Nike. However, while the first three sent brand representatives, the latter two sent distributors.

Given Pinbei’s current scale and industry influence, the brands willing to attend its merchant conference were mostly A-tier and B-tier.

Take the cosmetics category, for instance. The brands that bothered to show up were the likes of Meifubao, Mei Jiajing, and Mofajia. The slightly better ones were Yu Nifang, Kazilan, Pechoin, and Perlaia. Not a single S-tier brand was present.

In total, there were over seven hundred brand and factory representatives in attendance. From the stage, they were a dense sea of people.

"Hello, everyone. I’m Chen Yansen, the founder of Pinbei, and it’s a great honor to have all of you here at our merchant conference today. Over the past forty days, Pinbei’s cumulative sales have surpassed the six billion mark, an achievement that would be impossible without your support and trust."

Chen Yansen began slowly.

For an e-commerce platform that had been live for less than two months, these results were nothing short of spectacular. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Down in the audience, Zhang Jindong looked slightly awkward. After all, Sunning’s e-commerce platform had been online for two years, and its total annual sales hadn’t even reached six billion.

It was a good thing Chen Nian from Vancl wasn’t here. Otherwise, Chen Yansen’s words would have felt like a devastating opening blow.

"For Pinbei, 2011 was just the year we set sail. 2012 will be the year we ride the waves. The rest of the presentation is divided into two parts: our Three-Step Program for New Merchants, and Cloud Speed’s Intelligent Logistics. To start us off with the first part, I’d like to invite Pinbei’s Director of Major Accounts, Ms. Song Yuncheng, to the stage."

After his brief opening, Chen Yansen walked off the stage, leaving the rest of the proceedings to Song Yuncheng.

To put it simply, the Three-Step Program for New Merchants was a support policy aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. It included features like "Bargain Down" and group buying, the Ten-Billion-Yuan Subsidy program, and search algorithm optimization.

As long as a merchant had good products, good quality, and good prices, they could still receive massive traffic on the main search page, even without qualifying for the subsidy program.

Back in 2011, personalized recommendation algorithms—the so-called "thousand faces for a thousand people" approach—were not yet widespread on e-commerce platforms. Pinbei’s marketing strategy undoubtedly opened up a whole new world of possibilities for its competitors.

’This is brilliant. I’m definitely copying this!’

Liu Qiangdong thought excitedly, making a mental note.

With the market shifting from PC to mobile, a single phone screen could only display six to eight products. Figuring out how to get effective exposure for products had become a major headache for everyone in e-commerce.

Song Yuncheng stood on stage, a faint smile on her face. Composed and calm, she introduced Pinbei’s core channels and their sales figures. She frequently cited real case studies, describing how specific brands had achieved daily sales of up to ten million on Pinbei.

In the industry jargon of Ah Li, this was called "empowering merchants" and "enhancing their ability to thrive on the platform."

Chen Yansen sat in the audience, watching Song Yuncheng quietly.

’There are countless capable people in this world, but so few get the chance to realize their potential.’

Chen Yansen smiled faintly, musing to himself.

Song Yuncheng’s presentation was captivating, not because of her looks, but because the success stories she shared were mostly about B-tier and C-tier brands. It made many in the audience think, ’Hey, I could do that too.’

This was especially true for an air fryer manufacturer from Cixi. They used to be just a small brand supplying minor sellers on Taobao, but on Pinbei, they had sold nearly a million units.

The owner of that factory was sitting in the audience right now. When he heard Song Yuncheng mention the name "Zhi Xuan," he waved his hand in excitement.

The brand representatives around him all turned to look.

Clearly, this was the owner of Zhi Xuan.

If Pinbei could help a completely unknown factory achieve over a hundred million in sales, then for well-known brands like theirs that specialized in small appliances, their sales would surely be even higher once they launched.

Half an hour later, Song Yuncheng concluded her presentation.

Immediately after, Shi Quan, the director of the Cloud Speed Express Market Department, took the stage to replace Song Yuncheng. He was there to present the model and strategy behind "Cloud Speed’s Intelligent Logistics."

The first part of his talk covered Cloud Speed’s current state of development, including the number of stations, couriers, sorting centers, and regional transfer hubs, as well as its rate of expansion. He then moved on to the topic the merchants cared about most: price.

In response to the competition from the "Three Passes and One Reach" companies and Speed Peak Express, the base delivery fee for packages under one kilogram had already been driven down to two yuan.

But Shi Quan announced with a smile, "Starting in January 2012, Cloud Speed Express clients with warehouse contracts will enjoy a special rate of just 1.5 per order."

The moment he said this, the merchants in the audience could no longer sit still.

A hubbub of discussion erupted instantly!

For merchants who shipped small, lightweight items, this new policy was an unprecedented boon. They could save millions a year on shipping fees alone.

Liu Qiangdong frowned and shot a sideways glance at Chen Yansen. Although Cloud Speed was technically just a third-party courier partner for Pinbei, they shared the same boss. With Pinbei’s aggressive backing, Cloud Speed was bound to carve out a significant place for itself in the industry.

In fact, Cloud Speed had already forced the "Three Passes and One Reach" companies into the two-yuan era.

For a moment, Liu Qiangdong felt a pang of apprehension. ’If Jingdong Logistics eventually opens up to the public and goes head-to-head with Cloud Speed, do I even have a chance of winning?’

After Shi Quan left the stage, Chen Yansen returned, said a few brief words, and moved the event into the contract-signing phase.

After all, most of these people were here to secure resources, build connections, and find partnerships; they weren’t particularly interested in his speech.

After the onboarding contracts were signed, it was time to pay the store security deposits.

During the luncheon, Chen Yansen made his rounds, greeting the heads of several top appliance brands. Zheng Zhou from Gree and Li Mingzhe from Supor approached him, both hinting that they wanted extra resource support from the platform.

Chen Yansen smiled, scoffed inwardly, and passed the two of them off to Song Yuncheng.

’If you want traffic, you have to pay for it!’