Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park. Building 8. The lounge area on the balcony.

Chen Yansen leaned back in a wicker chair, gazing at the distant night sky as he pressed the answer button.

”President Chen, I think this has gone on long enough. How about we all call it a day tomorrow?”

Liu Qiangdong got straight to the point, suggesting with a laugh.

”So we start when you want to start, and we end when you want to end? You’d think Pinbei was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jingdong. Is that it, Boss Liu?”

A slight smile played on Chen Yansen’s lips as he replied at a leisurely pace.

In terms of capital reserves, he was dozens of times stronger than Jingdong. He wouldn’t mind if this price war dragged on from the April 18th sale all the way to the June 18th one.

Of course, that was assuming he could stomach the pressure of losing billions.

”We all saw good traffic and sales today. The objective has been met. There’s no need to drag this out—there’s only so much potential consumer demand to go around.”

Liu Qiangdong said coaxingly, a smile on his face as he sat in his office.

He paid no mind to the mockery in Chen Yansen’s words.

Jingdong was down two hundred million. His investors would only tolerate that for two or three days. Since they’d already achieved the desired effect, it was time to cut their losses.

”Let’s go one more day,” Chen Yansen said flatly.

’Fuck!’

’Two hundred million a day! Are you going to foot the bill?!’

With a look of helplessness, Liu Qiangdong subconsciously rubbed his temples. ’He hadn’t expected Chen Yansen to be so difficult. Money really did give you balls.’

With one wanting to continue the fight and the other wanting to end it, it was no surprise they couldn’t reach an agreement.

According to the original plan, the 418 Super Sale was only supposed to last one day, but since Pinbei had been able to start early, they could just as easily end it late.

Sunning feared this exact scenario. After consulting with Zhang Jindong, they received a single directive: Keep fighting! Take out Jingdong in one fell swoop!

Zhang Jindong had just successfully issued bonds, so he wasn’t short on cash. He knew Liu Qiangdong’s weakness, and as a veteran of the business world, he certainly understood the principle of striking a snake at its vital point.

If this dragged on for a few more days, Liu Qiangdong definitely wouldn’t be able to afford it.

In his eyes, Sunning, with its thousand-plus chain stores, was the adult in the room. Jingdong’s paltry size made it look like a child. Fighting Jingdong was like an adult beating up a kid.

However, the ambition Pinbei had revealed couldn’t help but put him on high alert.

The next morning, promotional articles about Jingdong’s 418 sales results flooded Weibo. The content seemed objective and fair, but a quick read-through left one with the distinct impression: ’To buy home appliances, go to Jingdong.’

Ah Li wasn’t about to let Jingdong get away with it. They immediately published a ”418 Appliance Festival Investigation Report” under the FoxTao name. Using a combination of text and graphics, it hinted to users that ’Gome’s prices were the lowest, followed by Pinbei and Sunning, with Jingdong being the most expensive.’

The presentation included tons of screenshots covering over a hundred different products. Whether it was consumer electronics or major home appliances, the most expensive sales channel in every price comparison chart was always Jingdong.

Liu Qiangdong took one look and cursed, ’Shameless!’

For example, there was a Mountain Star i9100 smartphone. Jingdong sold it for 3,069 yuan, Sunning for 2,999 yuan, Gome for 2,989 yuan, and Pinbei for 2,979 yuan.

The price from every website was backed up with a high-definition screenshot!

But Liu Qiangdong distinctly remembered that the price for that product had dropped to 2,969 yuan after 4:00 p.m. the previous day. The editors at FoxTao, however, had turned a blind eye, deliberately using a screenshot of the product page from before the price drop.

’Is that fucking fair?’

Liu Qiangdong immediately posted a response on Weibo, questioning FoxTao’s neutrality.

”How much did Gome pay you, Ah Li? To be shilling for them this hard?”

Chen Yansen walked into the conference room. He first reviewed the data from yesterday’s super sale, then turned his gaze to Hu Yun.

”Gome offers the highest commission rate. After all, FoxTao is a shopping-guide e-commerce site,” Hu Yun said with a chuckle.

He knew this partly from comparing the data, and partly because he’d privately asked a few old colleagues who used to work at FoxTao.

”Remember to coordinate with Liang Bo. We can’t be spending all this money without users even noticing,”

Chen Yansen instructed Hu Yun.

Unlike Jingdong, Pinbei had its own promotional platform. Even though Toutiao only had a little over ten million users, that was still far more than what Liu Qiangdong had at his disposal.

”Got it, Boss,” Hu Yun replied with a wide grin.

Pinbei’s data, design, and Market Departments had already coordinated with Toutiao’s operations department yesterday. Today, they would launch a full-scale marketing blitz on the homepages of Weibo, Sina, NetEase, Penguin, Sohu, and Toutiao to promote Pinbei’s 418 Appliance Festival results.

”Meeting adjourned,” Chen Yansen said with a wave of his hand.

Regardless of whether Jingdong, Sunning, and Gome took the bait, Pinbei’s super sale would proceed as planned.

At 11:00 a.m., Pinbei’s ”418 Performance Report” was released.

Sales in Major Home Appliances: 390 million!

Sales in Digital & Consumer Electronics: 840 million!

Total Sales Across All Categories: 1.97 billion!

Furthermore, the report included a price comparison chart for identical products across all platforms. Pinbei’s prices were highlighted in red, making it clear at a glance that Pinbei was the e-commerce site with the lowest prices.

”I bought an Orange C2 phone on Pinbei yesterday for only 2,599 yuan. That’s a hundred yuan cheaper than the launch price!”

”I snagged a three-door refrigerator for 999 yuan.”

”Jingdong is so dishonest, all they do is pull shady tricks. I was going to buy a TV after work, but everything was out of stock. Who are they trying to kid?!”

”Sunning is even worse! The website wouldn’t even load, and I couldn’t pay!”

”From now on, I’m sticking with Pinbei for my shopping. Their prices are genuinely cheap, and they don’t pull that classic trick of raising prices right before a big sale just to ’lower’ them again.”

After being ”curated,” the comments section on Toutiao easily guided netizens toward a positive impression: ’Buy appliances on Pinbei,’ ’Pinbei has great prices,’ and ’they’re honest with their customers.’

This was how you captured the hearts and minds of your users.

Soon, promotional articles about Pinbei’s performance report also began to appear on Weibo, the three major portal sites, and Penguin News. The content was detailed and well-supported. Coupled with the swarm of Pinbei users sharing their own shopping experiences in the comments, it further solidified Pinbei’s positive image in the minds of netizens.