Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The base salary for a Meituan rider was 1,400 yuan, which came out to 700 yuan for half a month.

Wang Huiwen acknowledged this, then called over an assistant. After giving a few instructions, he sent them downstairs to handle it.

The registration portal for part-time Meituan riders had only been open for 24 hours, and they already had over 400 sign-ups. At this rate, they could expand to over 10,000 in a month.

’What value did that group of people downstairs have anymore?’

”Fuck! Only 700 yuan? Are they trying to get rid of a beggar?”

”Man, that’s just plain dirty!”

”Fine, 700!”

Of the more than thirty delivery riders, half took the money and left. The other half stayed, continuing to cuss them out and running through the entire list of Wang Xin’s closest relatives.

It wasn’t until the Inspection Institute sent people over that the two sides came to an agreement. Each side took a step back: Meituan added another 100 yuan in compensation, and the riders finally dispersed.

But these people didn’t go straight home. Instead, they grinned, took the money, and one by one, headed over to a Kuai Pao delivery station.

They registered, signed an employment contract, and received their uniforms. After going through the whole process, the Meituan riders had transformed into Kuai Pao delivery staff.

As for being a part-time rider for Meituan? Not even a dog would do that job!

The next morning, the number of Meituan riders in Chaoyang District surged. Kuai Pao riders immediately noticed this phenomenon and reported it to their stations, and the news was then relayed to corporate headquarters.

”Part-time riders, an outsourcing model? That’s a killer move!”

Upon learning this, Pei Yi immediately realized the gravity of the situation.

In reality, Wang Xin’s move was still a human sea tactic, an attempt to win through sheer numbers.

This way, anyone who just wanted to earn enough for a bowl of noodles could deliver a couple of orders on their bicycle. The delivery efficiency would be low, but you couldn’t argue with the overwhelming numbers.

Kuai Pao had always controlled the maximum number of riders. They would only initiate recruitment plans when the average daily order volume increased, thereby guaranteeing the income of every full-time rider.

The number of part-time riders was also strictly controlled.

Otherwise, when an order came in, should it be assigned to a full-time rider or a part-time one?

When too many people flood into an industry at once, it only causes a decline in per-capita income.

In the short term, revenue and gross profit are fixed. The more people there are, the lower the unit price becomes.

This principle applies to the food delivery industry as well as any other business sector.

Pei Yi thought it over for a moment. Once he had sorted out the logic, he pulled out his phone and called Chen Yansen to update his boss on Meituan’s new changes in delivery capacity.

”Boss, should we increase the approval rate for part-time riders to compete with Meituan for these idle delivery capacity resources?”

After finishing his report, Pei Yi cautiously asked for Chen Yansen’s opinion.

”Ignore him! Riders who can handle more than 20 orders a day will naturally flow to the Kuai Pao platform. What Wang Xin is doing saves costs in the short term and solves his capacity shortage, but many of those part-time riders are just doing it for fun. There’s no strong hold over them, which will easily lead to widespread customer complaints.”

”It’s true that order fulfillment capability is the core of a food delivery platform, but planning for merchants, users, and marketing is also crucial. What are your advantages?” Chen Yansen asked.

’Kuai Pao’s advantages?’

Of course, they were backed by Senlian Capital. For traffic, they had secondary entry points on QQ and WeChat, as well as the Orange Application Mall, Gaode Map, Toutiao, and Lingxi Browser. For funding, they had infusions from the group, Ah Li, and Penguin.

They had money, they had traffic, they had a strong team, and they had powerful backing!

”Boss, I understand now,” Pei Yi replied with a smile.

He should use Kuai Pao’s strengths to attack Meituan’s weaknesses. By concentrating manpower, resources, and finances to increase subsidies for both merchants and users, he could leave Meituan’s riders with no orders to deliver.

Once they couldn’t make money, who would be willing to play Wang Xin’s game?

After hanging up, Pei Yi immediately pulled the supervisors from Kuai Pao’s Yanjing operations, marketing, ground-promotion business, and events teams into a big meeting.

In short, whether for the group-buy or food delivery business, they would max out all subsidies and promotions, aiming to ’crush’ Meituan in a price war.

For group buys, every new customer would receive a 10-yuan coupon with no minimum spending requirement, and existing customers would get a 5-yuan no-minimum coupon every day.

They would hold four flash sales a day—for 1 yuan and 9.9 yuan—at 10 AM, 12 PM, 6 PM, and 8 PM, to keep users locked into the Kuai Pao app.

New food delivery customers would get an instant 15-yuan discount, matching Meituan’s offer.

Strategically, it was clear that Pei Yi’s approach was identical to the tactics Liu Qiangdong had used against Dangdang. While stabilizing the food delivery market, he would use high subsidies and zero-profit marketing to rapidly eat away at Meituan’s group-buy market share.

”Kuai Pao’s subsidies won’t stop until Meituan exits the market.”

Pei Yi gave the order to the heads of the East China and North China Regions. This time, they were going to drive Meituan into the ground.

For merchants, they adopted a two-pronged approach of low commissions and commission-free periods. If a Meituan KA (Key Account) merchant was willing to sign an exclusive ”choose one of two” agreement, Kuai Pao would grant them a three-month commission-free period.

This would cut off Meituan’s lifeline at the source.

Once Kuai Pao’s subsidy war began, Lashou, Dianping, and WoWo Group were caught in the crossfire. They suffered a massive loss of users, who all flocked to Kuai Pao for the discounts.

That afternoon, Lashou Network formally announced that, effective immediately, their product would be renamed Qian Du Lashou Network.

They also made a high-profile entry into the subsidy war, offering extremely generous promotional policies for both new and existing customers.

Dianping’s Zhang Tao cursed under his breath, ”Another shit-stirrer has arrived!”

After cursing, Dianping also quietly adjusted its subsidies for new and existing customers to prevent losing market share.

Only WoWo Group’s Wang Yunming was truly out of money. Desperate to make a profit, he had even dabbled in e-commerce. How could he have any spare cash to fight Kuai Pao, Lashou, and Meituan?

As a result, the market shares of Kuai Pao, Lashou, and Meituan all rose, while WoWo Group gradually faded into silence.

In addition, Kuai Pao and Nuomi Network accelerated their business merger. Pei Yi also dispatched the employees trained under the ”Thousand Talents, Hundred Cities” plan to the small and medium-sized cities where Meituan’s influence was most concentrated, engaging them in a direct confrontation.

The reason Wang Xin had been able to emerge victorious from the ”Thousand-Group-Buy War” was not just his powerful ground-promotion team; his precise market positioning was also a major factor. He was the first to seize the small and medium-sized cities that everyone else looked down on, creating economies of scale to attract investment.

In fact, this strategy had been remarkably effective, as evidenced by Meituan’s rise to the top spot in the group-buy industry.

But Pei Yi gave Wang Xin no chance at all. He stuck to Meituan like glue, using Kuai Pao’s efficient operational system, stable cash flow, and superior product performance—playing his strengths against Meituan’s weaknesses.

In just one week, Meituan’s market share fell from first to second in the industry. Dianping picked up the slack, leaping into the top spot in the group-buy sector.

At the same time.

「In a private club in Hu City’s Hongqiao.」

Shen Nanpeng of Redwood Capital, Zheng Qun, the director of Google’s investment and M&A department, Xu Xin of Today Capital, and Ji Gang from Ah Li’s investment department were all gathered together, discussing the recent changes in the group-buy market.

”Now that a spoiler has entered the game, the ’Gu-raising’ plan has to come to an end. If we don’t give Meituan another cash infusion, I’m afraid Wang Xin will be knocked out of the game early,” Shen Nanpeng of Redwood Capital said, pushing up his glasses and looking at Ji Gang.

Among this group, only Ah Li had also invested in Meituan, holding an even larger stake in it than it did in Kuai Pao.

”Sorry, President Shen, Ah Li isn’t getting involved in this mess. Chen Yansen doesn’t care about costs when he’s fighting for market share. To gain market share in the express delivery industry, he burned through 7 billion in losses and acquisition funds. Ah Li can’t fork over that kind of money.”

Ji Gang spread his hands and decisively rejected Shen Nanpeng’s proposal.

Zheng Qun and Xu Xin glanced at each other. They, along with Shen Nanpeng, were major investors in Dianping. Kuai Pao’s entry into the group-buy business and the price war it had instigated were clearly affecting their interests.

Shen Nanpeng frowned and cursed inwardly: ’If Ah Li doesn’t want to cough up the money, then what are you even doing here?’

Ji Gang gave a dry laugh and adopted a detached air, acting like a complete bystander.

”President Shen, what do you have in mind?” Xu Xin of Today Capital said with a faint smile, picking up her teacup and taking a sip.

Shen Nanpeng was the one who had organized this gathering, so he must have come prepared.

”Merge Meituan and Dianping. Consolidate our resources to face the challenge from Kuai Pao,” Shen Nanpeng answered calmly.

”Would Wang Xin agree to that?” Ji Gang interjected.

”I can persuade Zhang Tao to accept this plan,” Shen Nanpeng said, looking at Ji Gang with full confidence.

”I don’t agree to a merger. Dianping’s momentum in first-tier cities is very strong. It’s still too early to say who will win or lose,” Xu Xin of Today Capital snorted, not giving Shen Nanpeng any face at all.

Right now, Dianping was number one in the industry. She had no reason to bail out Shen Nanpeng’s investment.

”President Shen, I’m sorry, but I can’t agree to the merger plan either. It doesn’t align with Google’s interests.”

Zheng Qun shrugged, indicating that he was powerless to help.

Seeing this, Shen Nanpeng knew it was a lost cause. Suppressing his anger, he exchanged a few brief words with the others, made a hasty departure, and left by car.

”It seems Meituan’s market share has dropped significantly. Otherwise, Shen Nanpeng wouldn’t be in such a rush.”

Xu Xin chuckled, making a pointed remark in front of Ji Gang, Zheng Qun, and the others.

Hearing this, Ji Gang and Zheng Qun didn’t say a word. Each preoccupied with their own thoughts, they left the club one after another.

Shen Nanpeng’s first attempt at a merger discussion ended in failure before they could even get into the details.

...

...

「Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park, top-floor office of Building 9.」

”Kuai Pao’s group-buy business (including data from Nuomi Network): last week’s total sales reached 110 million, a week-on-week increase of 46.5%, ranking fourth in the industry...”

Only after reading Pei Yi’s work email did Chen Yansen realize just how rotten Nuomi Network’s organizational structure and ground-promotion team were. Their market in third- and fourth-tier cities was completely propped up by agents.

If they lost those agents, their market share would plummet by 60 to 70 percent.

Pei Yi didn’t dare make drastic changes, fearing it would cause chaos. He could only proceed step by step, using the management trainees from the ”Thousand Talents, Hundred Cities” plan to gradually replace the agents throughout the East China, North China, and Southern China Regions, thereby reclaiming control over merchants and promotions.

’No wonder Chen Yizhou was losing over 30 million US Dollars a year. When it comes to loopholes in risk control and management, only Cheng Wei could compete with him,’ Chen Yansen remarked to himself.

The second email was a sales data summary from Yan Peng, director of Orange Technology’s e-commerce department. Besides the new products, it included sales figures for the Orange C1, Orange C2, and Orange D1, as well as progress on developing the East Africa market.

The Orange C3 and Qingcheng D1S had been on the market for eleven days, with sales of 1.49 million and 3.72 million units, respectively, for a total of 5.21 million units. Total revenue was 8.47 billion yuan.

But as the market became saturated, daily sales over the last two days had already dropped to around 170,000 units.

After all, the domestic market in 2012 was only so big. To grow further, they had to go abroad.

Chen Yansen had handed over the overall management of overseas markets to Zhou Shouzhi.

Suddenly, the phone on his desk rang. Chen Yansen glanced at it. It was Zhou Hongyi again. He didn’t even have to guess to know why the man was calling.

(PS: In 2012, total smartphone shipments in China were 210 million units. Including feature phones, the total was 360 million.)