Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

By late March, the weather in Hu City was starting to warm up.

In the afternoon on Jinling Road Pedestrian Street, girls in miniskirts would occasionally stroll by, showing off their long, fair legs.

”Something catch your eye, President Chen?” Song Yuncheng asked through clenched teeth, noticing his wandering gaze.

”They’re alright,” Chen Yansen said, leaning back in his chair in the rest area. He said they were alright, but he didn’t look away.

’If you don’t look at legs during the summer, how will you know who’s beautiful?’

”Liu Qiangdong said on Weibo that for the next three years, Jingdong will maintain a zero-margin strategy for its large home appliance category, guaranteeing prices that are 10% cheaper than Gome, Sunning, and Pinbei.”

Song Yuncheng twisted open a bottle of mineral water, handed it to Chen Yansen, and said softly.

”Anyone can run their mouth. Have Huang Zheng issue a response: all of Pinbei’s products will be 5% cheaper than Jingdong’s.”

Chen Yansen snorted, his lip curling in disdain.

Handsome Dong had already burned through most of the 1.5 billion US dollars Jingdong raised last year.

The three-year zero-margin slogan sounded audacious, but large home appliances weren’t a significant part of Jingdong’s market share anyway.

Liu Qiangdong was using the same playbook he’d run against Li Guoqing of Dangdang last year.

The underlying logic was simple: sacrifice the margin on a minor product category and go straight for a competitor’s jugular.

After all, large home appliances were the core business for both Sunning and Gome!

Handsome Dong’s broadside was mainly aimed at Sunning and Gome, but since he’d called out Pinbei by name, if Pinbei didn’t respond, wouldn’t it make them look like a pushover?

”All our products? We’d be making 40 million less a day,” Song Yuncheng reminded him quietly.

”Sunning’s 418 sale is about to start. Liu Qiangdong is going right for Zhang Jindong’s jugular. A real ’old friends meeting up for a shot in the back’ situation.”

Chen Yansen quipped.

”The internet says one is from Su Bei and the other is from Su Nan, so they’re not really from the same hometown,” Song Yuncheng said, stifling a giggle behind her hand.

”...” Chen Yansen let out a laugh and shook his head. ”Don’t worry. At the end of the day, everyone’s in business to make a profit. Jingdong, Sunning, and Gome won’t be able to keep this up for more than a few days.”

’Handsome Dong has already stirred up the hype. Whoever jumps in first will get to ride the first wave of traffic.’

’His opponent wants to limit the battlefield to large home appliances, but I’ll open fire across all categories. I’m betting Handsome Dong doesn’t have much in his war chest and will be forced to back down in two days, tops.’

「Meanwhile.」

Just as Zhang Jindong was about to fire back at Liu Qiangdong, Pinbei’s CEO Huang Zheng beat him to the punch, tagging Liu Qiangdong on Weibo: ”With the 418 Home Appliance Festival upon us, Pinbei thought we’d join the fun! Effective immediately, if you buy something on Pinbei and find it’s more expensive than on Jingdong, just contact customer service to get the difference back! All products on Pinbei will be 5% cheaper than on Jingdong!”

Netizens piled into the comments section: ”Jingdong is 10% cheaper than Pinbei, but Pinbei is 5% cheaper than Jingdong... why don’t you all just sell everything for 0 yuan and get it over with!”

”@Sunning @Gome, get in here and fight!”

”Whether I can get a free air conditioner is all up to you! @Zhang Jindong @Han Pengde”

Netizens who loved a good show and didn’t mind making things worse eagerly fanned the flames from behind the scenes.

During the last war of words between Sunning and Jingdong, plenty of netizens had managed to buy large home appliances for 10% or even 20% off. Naturally, they didn’t want to miss out this time.

Zhang Jindong furrowed his brow, mulling over Huang Zheng’s words. Suddenly, inspiration struck. He burst out laughing and said, ”This is a great strategy. Why didn’t I think of this before?”

Jingdong always used categories where it had a smaller market share, like books or large appliances, to drag its rivals down into the mud.

In the past, Zhang Jindong only had two options:

Fight, and lose money; don’t fight, and watch all the customers leave!

’Now, by waging an all-out war across every category, it seems like the losses would be even greater, but this is the only way to really make Handsome Dong feel the pain.’

With that thought, Zhang Jindong had the head of the Market Department immediately make a public announcement: ”All products on Sunning.com will be priced lower than on Jingdong. If you buy from us and find a lower price on their site, we’ll refund you double the difference!”

「At the same time.」

At 208 Anwai Street in Yanjing, Li Guoqing pushed up his glasses and chuckled. ”Da Qiangzi, you came at me last year. This time, it’s my turn to hit back.”

In early March, Gome had leveraged its partnership model with Pinbei to officially launch on Dangdang Network, creating the Gome Electrical City. Gome was responsible for delivery, installation, and after-sales service.

This way, Gome gained another online sales channel, while Dangdang Network enriched its home appliance offerings, boosting both its platform sales and its stock price.

Now that Li Guoqing held the home appliance card, he could replicate Liu Qiangdong’s strategy and exact his revenge.

After all, Jingdong’s zero-margin strategy on books last year had given Dangdang Network a world of pain.

Soon after, Gome and Yixun Network also responded, joining forces to lay siege to Jingdong.

Liu Qiangdong sat in his office, his thick eyebrows knitted together. Ever since Huang Zheng of Pinbei had made his move, the nature of this price war had changed completely.

Sunning, Gome, Dangdang, Yixun, and Pinbei all aimed their attacks at Jingdong. It had the feel of the five great sects besieging Bright Summit.

’Is this fucking fair?’

’If you have any balls, fight me one-on-one!’

’What kind of skill is ganging up on someone!’

”Fuck! I never should have called out Pinbei by name!”

Liu Qiangdong slapped his thigh, instantly filled with regret.

Huang Zheng’s move had struck a fatal blow to Jingdong’s strategy. Sunning, Gome, Dangdang, and Yixun had all copied his example, turning a price war over large appliances into an all-out, all-category brawl.

Things had come to this; not fighting back would mean he’d chickened out. That evening, at the Jingdong Headquarters in Yanjing, Liu Qiangdong first downed a glass of baijiu with the heads of the procurement and sales departments, then said, ”Brothers! If we win this fight, everyone’s year-end bonuses are doubled!”

Every employee at Jingdong Headquarters joined the preparations for the great 418 war!

The administration department plastered slogans on every floor, things like: ”Sunning Beatdown Command Post,” ”Pinbei War Room,” and ”Crush Gome, Pulverize Dangdang.”