Chapter 206: Chapter 186: Zhang Yiming, You’re on the Wrong Path

At ten o’clock sharp, Cheng Weixing took the stage. After a brief opening address, he handed the microphone to Secretary Wei, who was in charge of Hang City’s commercial sector.

Immediately after, a middle-aged man in a standard-issue jacket walked to the center of the lectern and began a long-winded speech on the theme of the forum.

Chen Yansen grew drowsy listening to it all. It was nothing but hollow rhetoric and platitudes, with no substance whatsoever.

The upcoming presentations on economic and trade cooperation projects and the networking luncheon were the real heart of the development forum.

"...We are greatly honored to have invited Mr. Chen Yansen, the founder of Senlian Capital. As a leading figure among the post-90s young entrepreneurs, I’m very much looking forward to him sharing his experience. I hope Mr. Chen will offer new opportunities for cooperation to entrepreneurs from home and abroad..."

Secretary Wei spoke with great confidence, making sure to single out Chen Yansen for special mention at the end, treating him as a major selling point for this year’s Youth Entrepreneurs Development Forum.

Chen Yansen smiled politely for the media cameras, privately grumbling, ’If I hadn’t shown up, they probably would’ve used Cheng Ou from Jumei Youpin as their main draw.’

Rumor had it that the conference had also invited Wang Xin from Meituan, but he didn’t want to attend. Afraid of offending Hang City, he used the excuse that he was born in ’79 and therefore didn’t count as ’post-80s’.

After mentioning Chen Yansen, Secretary Wei moved on to Lin Qi, the chairman of Youzu Network.

Chen Yansen followed the crowd’s gaze and realized that, apart from Cheng Ou, there was a gaming tycoon present with an even greater net worth.

According to Secretary Wei, Youzu Network was currently valued at three billion. Even if that was a slight exaggeration, the number probably wasn’t inflated by much.

After all, everyone in the audience was shrewd; baseless bragging would only backfire.

The third person named was Cheng Ou. That guy waved at the cameras, adept at seizing every opportunity to promote himself and his products.

He felt that Chen Yansen’s slogan, "I speak for myself," perfectly matched his own personality and the vibe of Jumei Youpin.

But Chen Yansen was too famous, and he didn’t dare to openly copy his rival’s persona, lest he be accused of being a clumsy imitator.

From a corner of the room, a flicker of envy crossed Zhang Yiming’s eyes.

They were all young men, but his own startups had failed repeatedly, while Chen Yansen, Lin Qi, and Cheng Ou had already made names for themselves in the industry and amassed fortunes in the hundreds of millions.

’When will I finally make my first hundred million!’

Half an hour later, Secretary Wei left the stage to a round of applause.

Afterward, various people took the stage to share their startup projects. The more high-end presentations were concentrated in investment banking, securities, electronics, and the internet industry. The more grounded ones involved ventures like opening dumpling factories or eco-friendly farms back in their hometowns.

Redwood Capital, Gao Ling, and Siwei Capital had also sent investment managers, but they were low-ranking. They were clearly not taking the forum seriously; their presence was merely a courtesy to the organizers.

Just as Chen Yansen was speaking with Old Gao, Cheng Weixing from Pan City Technology approached them.

"President Chen, after President Cheng of Jumei and President Lin of Youzu Network finish their presentations, would you be willing to share some of your entrepreneurial insights with everyone? A casual chat for ten minutes would be perfect."

"No problem." Chen Yansen nodded slightly.

’Since I’m here anyway, I might as well promote my company’s products and earn some points with Tang Qingshan.’

"Hello, everyone. I am Cheng Ou of Jumei Youpin. I am very pleased that the Hang City Youth Entrepreneurs Association invited me to this development forum. As a specialized beauty e-commerce site, Jumei has won over our users with exclusive services like guaranteed authentic products, real product photos, and a 30-day, no-questions-asked return policy even on opened items..."

You had to admit, Cheng Ou was a skilled speaker. He used the opportunity to talk at length about Jumei Youpin’s business model.

"Old Gao, what do you think of Jumei?"

Chen Yansen looked at Gao Weilin and asked with a smile.

"It has potential, but in my opinion, vertical e-commerce sites for things like cosmetics, mother-and-baby products, and footwear are built on a false premise. Aside from a few niche sub-categories with some room to survive, once a major category like cosmetics gets targeted by Taobao, Jingdong, or you, Boss, Jumei is finished."

Gao Weilin replied in a low voice, his tone confident.

During his time in the Mainland, he had conducted in-depth research on the e-commerce and mobile phone industries.

Vertical e-commerce appears to target the industry giants’ weakest points, avoiding direct confrontation.

But how could Ma Liyun and Liu Qiangdong tolerate someone stealing their market share?

Once Ah Li and Jingdong go public, the death countdown for e-commerce sites like Jumei will begin.

In reality, after Jumei’s market value peaked at nearly six billion US Dollars in 2014, it went into a nosedive and began a steady decline.

For the same brand of facial mask, Jumei would sell a box for 99 yuan, sourced from third-party distributors. Meanwhile, Taobao and Jingdong, who worked directly with the brand, could offer it at a promotional price of just 59 or even 49 yuan a box.

Coupled with Jumei’s weak oversight of its suppliers, some would forge documents like brand authorization letters and customs declarations. They would then either mix fakes in with genuine products or just sell counterfeits outright. As a result, Jumei Youpin’s public image plummeted.

Before Chen Yansen was reborn, Jumei had already been out of business for five or six years.

"In a category like cosmetics, unless you’re working directly with the brands, it’s very difficult to eliminate the problem of counterfeits."

Chen Yansen nodded, agreeing with Gao Weilin’s assessment. This was the very reason he had instructed Song Yuncheng that when so many third-party merchants for S- and A-list brands approached Pinbei, the Investment Attraction, Legal, and Market Departments had to jointly review their credentials. If even the slightest issue was found, they were to be rejected outright.

If Pinbei couldn’t get a handle on the counterfeit problem from the start, the issue would become too entrenched to solve once the company scaled up.