Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

One week later, November 18th.

Many QQ users suddenly discovered a new ”Pinbei” entry in their menu bar.

”Pinbei? Is it a new game from Penguin?”

In a university dorm room in Luzhou, Wang Minghao muttered to himself as he held his phone and tapped on it.

Pinbei had a small burst of popularity in early October, but not many people paid attention, since it hadn’t officially launched yet.

Three seconds later, an H5 micro-page loaded. The first item was a 4-jin package of navel oranges, priced at only 5.9 yuan, with free shipping!

”Huh, so it’s an e-commerce site?”

Wang Minghao had shopped on Taobao before, so he was no stranger to e-commerce.

After realizing it wasn’t a game, Wang Minghao didn’t close the page. Instead, he kept tapping and went to the product page, wanting to confirm if the price was really just 5.9 yuan.

He glanced at the main picture and tapped ”buy.” A pop-up window for filling in his shipping address appeared. Looking at the weight options, the 4-jin navel oranges were indeed only 5.9 yuan.

”Cardboard box packaging, net weight 4 jin of small fruits [diameter 6-7cm].”

Wang Minghao used his fingers to estimate the size, thinking the oranges were pitifully small. He scrolled down.

”Cardboard box packaging, net weight 3 jin of small fruits [diameter 7-8cm].”

The fruits were a size larger, but the weight was one jin less, and the price rose to 8.9 yuan, also with free shipping.

”I’ll buy a box and try it. It’s not much money anyway.”

Faced with the low price of 5.9 yuan, Wang Minghao didn’t overthink it. He skillfully entered his address, bound his bank card to activate Orange Pay, and transferred 6 yuan into his account using his online banking.

’DING! Congratulations on your successful payment! Please share this product with other users to complete the group buy!’

Wang Minghao froze when he saw the message.

After carefully studying the event page, he finally understood how Pinbei worked: after placing an order, you had to invite friends to place orders as well before the platform would ship the goods.

Fuck!

No wonder it’s so cheap!

Wang Minghao was annoyed, but he had already filled in his shipping address, linked his online banking, and activated Orange Pay. The sunk costs were too high.

He hesitated for a moment, but still sent the group-buy link to his dorm’s group chat.

”@everyone, help me complete this order! We can eat them together when they arrive.”

”Brother Hao, what’s this?”

”Whoa! These oranges are so cheap! I asked the fruit stand at the school gate yesterday, and they were 4 yuan a jin!”

”5.9 yuan for 4 jin with free shipping? It’s not a scam site, is it?”

His roommates couldn’t quite believe it.

In 2011, the e-commerce scene wasn’t that cutthroat yet. For most users, 9.9 yuan with free shipping was already the limit of what they could accept.

”It’s an official QQ event, probably some kind of farmer-support product. Stop dawdling! Hurry up and join my order!”

Wang Minghao urged in the group chat.

Pinbei didn’t even have a shopping cart, which made placing an order especially convenient. If Penguin hadn’t refused to embed Orange Pay, the shopping process could have been even simpler.

Soon, one of his roommates completed the group buy with Wang Minghao.

Wang Minghao checked, and the order status had changed to ”awaiting shipment.”

”I placed an order too, to send to my mom. Who can help me with my group buy?”

Just then, another roommate @’d everyone else in the group chat.

Wang Minghao didn’t have time to look at his phone; he continued browsing the Pinbei interface.

Above the endless scroll of products were only filter buttons like ’Featured,’ ’Fresh Produce,’ ’Food,’ ’Home Goods,’ ’Digital & Appliances,’ and ’Women’s Apparel.’

He clicked into the men’s apparel section. The first item was a plain white t-shirt from Meiters, available in 37 styles, all priced at 19.9 yuan.

’This cheap? For real?’

Filled with doubt, Wang Minghao clicked on it. On the product details page, he could clearly see the words ’Meiters Official Flagship Store,’ followed by a black and gold brand certification logo.

A minute later, Wang Minghao sent another link to the dorm group chat: ”Quick! Meiters Bonwe undershirts for 19.9 yuan, sweatshirts for 26.9 yuan, and cargo pants for 39 yuan! Let’s group buy!”

「At the same time.」

Pinbei entry points appeared in the navigation bars of both the QQ desktop client and the WeChat mobile app.

On the homepages of Weibo, Tencent, NetEase, and Sohu News, there were ad materials from Pinbei’s media buying team.

Group A: A box of fresh, juicy navel oranges with the eye-catching text: ’Xiyue Navel Oranges, 4 jin with free shipping, group-buy price 5.9 yuan.’

Group B: A poster for Meiters men’s and women’s apparel with the copy: ”Buying autumn clothes? Go to Pinbei! Big price drops on the Meiters brand, starting from just 19.9 yuan!”

Group C: Orange Mobile Phone, direct from the manufacturer, starting at only 1989 yuan!

Based on the blockbuster products provided by the Investment Attraction Department, Wang Zihao created a total of 16 sets of ad materials.

They would first run small-scale tests, then select the most effective ones and increase the ad spend.

The first rotating banner on the homepages of Orange Mall, Orange Community, and the Orange Mobile Phone app store were all download links for Pinbei.

Pinbei’s presence could also be seen in the interstitial ads on Youku, Tudou, iQiyi, Tencent Video, and LeTV Network.

With the all-out promotional efforts of the Marketing Department and the media buying team, Pinbei’s registrations surpassed 3 million within 12 hours of its launch!

More than 70% of these new users came from QQ or WeChat channels.

The number of orders reached as high as 1.09 million!

The conversion rate was approaching 40%!

This was completely different from traditional comprehensive e-commerce or shopping guide platforms. The sky-high conversion rate greatly boosted the spirits of colleagues in the Investment Attraction and Category Management departments, who were all discussing the final sales figures for the day.

Everyone stayed at the company, watching the sales data climb like crazy!

By midnight, Pinbei’s total user registrations for the day were fixed at 4.7 million!

Number of orders: 1.8 million!

Sales revenue: 107.52 million yuan!

The best-selling categories were mainly food, digital products, small home appliances, and apparel, with Orange Mobile Phone contributing 60% of the sales revenue.

The Pinbei technology and security department had been on high alert all day, fearing that high concurrency would lead to slow responses, reduced system throughput, or even server crashes.

Fortunately, they had prepared a contingency plan in advance, using load balancing to evenly distribute traffic across all servers and optimizing database performance.

The day passed without any incidents.

”Brother Sen! Sales have passed one hundred million!”

Wang Zihao excitedly rushed into the office and looked at Chen Yansen.

This was completely different from when they were running FoxTao. Back then, first-day sales were only twenty to thirty thousand.

”Has everyone at Pinbei clocked out yet?” Chen Yansen asked with a faint smile.

The advertising costs alone exceeded 10 million today. Excluding the sales from Orange Mobile Phone, the actual sales revenue was less than 50 million.

The performance could only be considered average, not quite meeting his expectations.

But Chen Yansen knew that once users accepted the group-buying model, they would place orders as if they were addicted, completely unable to stop.

This wouldn’t be unusual more than a decade later, but in 2011, its impact on users was immense.

Oranges for 5.9 yuan for 4 jin with free shipping, a branded short-sleeve shirt for 19.9 yuan, a mini fan for 15.9 yuan, a Midea electric kettle for 49 yuan, a Jiuyang rice cooker for 99 yuan...

These low-priced quality goods were enough to attract users and get them to pull in their friends and family just to complete a group buy.

The viral spread would be astonishing!

”Everyone’s getting ready to leave. Don’t worry about the customer service team; the administration department booked hotels for them.”

Wang Zihao understood Chen Yansen’s meaning and replied with a smile.

Aside from the 60-odd customer service reps, most of Pinbei’s employees were recent graduates or new hires from the public. They lived in faculty apartments or residential buildings across from the East Gate, so there was no need to worry about dorms closing.

”It’s getting late. Go home and get some rest,” Chen Yansen said directly.

For the members of the Pinbei team, this was the first day of their new venture.

But for Chen Yansen, it was just another project launch.

A single-day sales figure of over a hundred million didn’t bring much surprise. After all, Ah Li’s daily sales had already surpassed 2 billion!

”Brother Sen, I didn’t book a hotel. Can I crash at your place for the night?” Wang Zihao nodded and asked for Chen Yansen’s opinion.

”If you didn’t book one, then go book one. It’s not convenient at my place.” Chen Yansen glanced at a message on his phone and rejected Wang Zihao’s request.

”Brother Sen, I can just sleep on the couch. No need to waste money.” Seeing Chen Yansen walking out, Wang Zihao hurried after him.

Chen Yansen ignored him and walked straight into the elevator.

’His couch was already reserved. As for Wang Zihao... he was a brother. He could sleep anywhere.’

When he reached the first floor, Chen Yansen got into the driver’s seat of his Bentley and drove toward Xuyuan.

He had just driven two or three hundred meters south when he saw Song Yuncheng waiting on the side of the road.

Chen Yansen stopped the car in front of her.

”I booked a hotel. It’d be a waste not to stay there,” Song Yuncheng muttered as she got in and fastened her seatbelt.

”What’s the room number? I’ll have Zihao stay there,” Chen Yansen asked with a smile after Song Yuncheng closed the door.

”Forget it. If the administration department lets it slip, Zihao will definitely get suspicious,” Song Yuncheng said softly.

”It’s fine. Take my phone and send the room number to Zihao.”

Chen Yansen laughed to himself.

’That kid Wang Zihao already knows.’

Seeing Chen Yansen insist, Song Yuncheng picked up his phone, opened WeChat, found the chat with Wang Zihao, and sent the room number, imitating Chen Yansen’s tone.

After sending it, she was about to hand the phone back when she noticed a chat window with Meng Jie.

Song Yuncheng glanced up at Chen Yansen, who was focused on driving, and secretly tapped on it.

But after reading just a few lines, her expression fell.

”Are you peeking at my messages?”

Chen Yansen asked with a confident tone, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

”How did you... I wasn’t looking,” Song Yuncheng quickly denied.

’This damn man is such a player! The content of his chat with Meng Jie made her face burn.’

”Is that so?”

Chen Yansen asked back with a noncommittal smile.

Song Yuncheng gave an awkward smile and quickly changed the subject, proactively bringing up Pinbei’s first day online.

”At this rate, we can get at least 40 billion in sales in a year!”

”40 billion? Is that a lot? Taobao has 600 billion.”

Chen Yansen said dismissively.

”They’ve been around for almost ten years. We’re just getting started,” Song Yuncheng retorted.

”Then you’d better work hard! When you get Pinbei’s sales to 600 billion, I’ll promote you to vice president.”

Chen Yansen dangled a carrot.

”600 billion?” Song Yuncheng smiled wryly, not believing for a second that she could achieve it.

She knew better than anyone how today’s hundred million in sales had been achieved.

First, there was the traffic from QQ and WeChat. Second, they had spent tens of millions on advertising. Third, they relied on the viral nature of group buying and the ”slash to 0 yuan” events. And fourth, there were the merchant resources accumulated from FoxTao last year.

Taobao claimed to have 5 million merchants, but Pinbei didn’t even have 500.

”You still have to have a dream. What if it comes true?” Chen Yansen said, borrowing a line from Jack Ma with a teasing smile.

「Meanwhile.」

Wei Yucheng, who had been watching his computer, was dumbfounded. Ever since Pinbei went live, the orders for his store hadn’t stopped coming in.

In just one day, his transaction volume reached 130,000 orders, selling 260 tons of navel oranges.

In the past, he wouldn’t have even dared to dream of this.

”Boss Wei, I downloaded all the orders from the data backend for you. The total sales for these 130,000 orders is 2.197 million, with a gross profit of about 194,000.”

Zhang Yifeng took a sip from his bowl of rice wine and said to Wei Yucheng with a smile.

This guy, so afraid of losing money, had urged him to calculate the gross profit margin as soon as the orders hit 100,000.

”Calling me Boss Wei sounds too distant. From now on, call me Brother Wei,” Wei Yucheng said, enthusiastically putting an arm around Zhang Yifeng.

In the corner, Li Hui had a strange expression on his face. He looked at Wei Yucheng, then glanced at Yuan Wei, and chuckled to himself.

The three of them had been busy in Xiyue for half a month for this deal. Luckily, everything went smoothly.

Although Wei Yucheng hadn’t budged much on the price, he didn’t play any tricks when it came to shipping. The fruit diameters strictly followed the specifications on the page.

”Brother Wei, Cloud Speed picked up 20,000 orders today. Tomorrow, we could easily have over a hundred thousand more. We need to hire more packers.”

Zhang Yifeng kindly reminded him.

”Don’t worry, I already arranged for people to go to town and hire more workers this afternoon. There won’t be any problems.”

Wei Yucheng was in high spirits. He had made a net profit of 200,000 in a single day. His gamble had paid off.

Far away in Yanjing, Liu Qiangdong heard about Pinbei’s launch and thought to himself: ’This kid Chen Yansen sure knows how to stir things up! He’s making phones and still has the energy to launch a new platform!’

At this moment, he hadn’t yet realized that Pinbei was coming for him and Ma Liyun.

As the night deepened, in countless QQ groups, WeChat groups, and BBS forums, a massive number of Pinbei users were still actively sharing their group-buy links or sending out ”slash to 0 yuan” invitation links.

This time, it was even more ferocious than the rise of FoxTao last year.