You Were Told to Design Software, But You Created Tiktok?!

244: Section 244Some netizens even collected all the officially announced group buying and takeout websites and apps during this period, regardless of whether they were still under development or had been launched.

And the final number he got…

Had easily surpassed a thousand!

(PS: In reality, during the Thousand Group Battle period, the number of group buying websites that emerged exceeded five thousand.)

Chapter 171: Meituan’s Choice, The White-Hot Thousand Group Battle!

While countless internet users were shocked by the impending Thousand Group Battle,

Time continued to flow forward.

Ten days after Meituan’s launch,

Many group buying websites and apps once again announced their latest achievements. Among them, Penguin Group Buying and Ele.me, which had the most aggressive marketing and promotion, saw their user numbers increase by another five million, reaching around twenty-five million.

Other apps,

Such as Dianping, Ctrip, and Tuanbao, which also had significant investments, basically saw their user numbers reach close to ten million.

Their battle to attract users continued.

However,

While other websites and apps announced their initial user numbers, Meituan remained quiet for the time being, still without any major marketing campaigns.

Seeing this scene,

Many internet users were somewhat puzzled.

Originally, in their expectations, this Thousand Group Battle should have been a three-way standoff.

But from the current situation,

Penguin Group Buying and Ele.me indeed seemed to be dividing the market, but Meituan still made no moves.

Just as many people felt confused,

Meituan finally released its initial data.

However, what it announced was not the number of users, but the number of cities where services were launched.

Since the 603 group buying website targets the offline local life sector, the number of cities where this service is launched is also quite crucial.

And Meituan’s number of launched cities in these ten days had reached around one hundred and fifty.

This number doesn’t seem like much, but compared to other group buying websites and apps, it’s several times more.

Except for Meituan,

All other group buying apps had an average of around twenty to thirty cities where services were launched.

Even Penguin Group Buying barely reached around forty.

Furthermore,

Most of the cities where Meituan launched services were second and third-tier cities, with a low proportion of first-tier cities.

However, other group buying websites primarily launched services in first-tier cities, leading to extremely intense competition among them.

Currently,

Quite a few group buying websites that had established themselves in first-tier cities had already started pouring money into user acquisition battles.

But in most of the cities where Meituan launched services, it was the only group buying app, with no competition whatsoever.

Because Meituan had not made any major moves before,

This information, upon its release, briefly climbed the hot search rankings, sparking considerable discussion.

“I knew you were quiet for a reason; you were hiding it here. (bifj)”

“The small city I’m in has Meituan, and it’s the only group buying app.”

“Trying to surround the cities from the countryside again, huh? Wonder if this tactic will still work in this group buying war.”

“Penguin Group and the others should have noticed Meituan’s idea and actions, but they still haven’t attacked the Lower-Tier Market where Meituan is. In their view, user numbers are paramount, especially users in first and second-tier cities.”

“I’m in a first-tier city, and various group buying website activities are endless every day. Everything is so cheap.”

“The initial money-burning battle is like this; it just depends on who can survive in the end.”

Not long after this hot search appeared,

Meituan finally began its offline marketing and promotion in third and fourth-tier cities.

Many users in these cities had previously only been able to watch users in first-tier cities enjoy the convenience of group buying, feeling only envy and jealousy.

Many people didn’t know that Meituan had actually launched services in their cities as well.

Therefore,

Shortly after this hot search appeared,

Many users in third and fourth-tier cities finally discovered Meituan’s existence and started downloading it.

Additionally, since they currently had no other choice, even though Meituan had just started its promotion and the intensity wasn’t high, its user growth rate quickly caught up with Penguin and Alibaba.

At the same time,

In addition to the fiercely competitive group buying market,

The takeout market in another domain was also in chaos.

Due to this internet Thousand Group Battle, most apps initially chose the group buying sector, so there weren’t many apps specifically targeting the takeout sector.

After all, in the group buying sector, they only needed to contact merchants to join, and it wouldn’t involve more complex situations.

But if,

They chose to operate in the takeout sector,

Then it would inevitably require building their own takeout logistics system, and this alone was enough to stump many, many internet companies.

After all, establishing a takeout logistics system involves physical operations, exceeding the capabilities of many companies.

Therefore, there were far fewer players in this sector than in the group buying sector.

While various group buying apps were aggressively promoting and marketing,

Ele.me had temporarily become the leader in the takeout sector.

However,

When Ele.me’s number of launched cities reached thirty and its user count reached over twenty million, it stopped further city launches and promotional activities.

What it planned to do next was to fully expand its takeout business in these cities.

Because the time was too short, even though Ele.me recruited many delivery riders immediately, it was still insufficient to support takeout services in most cities.

In fact,

Although it had launched services in thirty cities,

In about one-third of these cities, it was almost impossible for riders to accept orders during meal times, meaning Ele.me had too few riders compared to its user base.

Therefore, although Ele.me currently had many registered users, its daily active user count was very low.

Ele.me also noticed this and had now started recruiting a large number of riders.

Even the requirements for registering as a rider were quite simple: just download the app, register, and have an electric scooter. One could become an Ele.me rider almost on the same day, without any training or formalities.

Of course,

These riders also had no employee benefits whatsoever.

In addition to the simple rider registration,

To increase the types and numbers of merchants, Ele.me’s merchant registration was even simpler, not even requiring photo uploads or qualification documents.

As a result, many small workshops and stores began to occupy most of Ele.me’s platform.

And in the takeout sector,

Behind Ele.me were Baidu Takeout and Penguin Group Buying’s takeout services.

Their operational methods in the takeout sector were almost identical to Ele.me’s: aggressively launching in cities and then frantically recruiting local riders, with no restrictions on merchant onboarding either.

They didn’t realize yet,

That this initial convenience-driven approach would become the key to their eventual defeat.

As for Meituan’s takeout function,

Because he had memories from his previous life, Wang Mo did not want Meituan’s takeout function to become an entity that exploited riders and merchants, as it was in his past life.

In this world,

Meituan Takeaway riders had all the insurance and benefits of official Junzi Group employees, required training before onboarding, and merchant onboarding was very strict, not allowing small workshops that only did takeout to join.