More not-so-good news came.
On October 7th, Lashou.com launched.
On October 23rd, Wowok.com launched.
Immediately after, 24quan.com, Manzuo.com, and Gaopeng.com launched.
On November 1st, Meituan.com launched.
Finally, Chen Yizhou of Qianxiang Group also launched Nuomi.com.
The reason for such a dense cluster of group buying websites launching was certainly due to Chen Pingjiang's Renren Group Buy factor, as well as the establishment of Groupon across the ocean.
A new track, already existing abroad, was being developed domestically by Chen Pingjiang, instantly attracting a lot of attention.
Just like Weibo.
Chen Pingjiang's curses blurted out.
How are these people so damn sneaky?
Such a situation was naturally not good for Chen Pingjiang.
He almost encountered unprecedented sieges of all kinds.
The competitors in the SNS track were Xiaonei.com and Kaixin.com.
Social games also had Tencent.
The Weibo track had Sina, Tencent, Netease, etc.
Even the current group buying business encountered rivals.
He was almost surrounded on all sides, encountering sniper attacks from competitors in every track.
"Although Chen Pingjiang is seen by people as having the vision and ability to turn stone into gold, with his various businesses taking the lead in different fields, we need to question how long this advantage can be maintained.
After all, there is no precedent in the domestic internet market for a company to flourish in multiple areas. Because resources are limited, even powerful Tencent suffered setbacks on SNS social platforms."
"There are no eternal kings in the internet. This time, we are very likely to see new kings ascend the throne."
"SNS, social games, Weibo, group buying, and if you add games, Chen Pingjiang is almost fighting against the entire internet industry."
Some sharp news media captured Renren.com's "dilemma," gave it a quite eye-catching title, and then seriously found a bunch of experts or internet practitioners to comment.
Even the most optimistic commentators did not believe Chen Pingjiang could have the last laugh in every track.
There were onlookers, detached observers, and schadenfreude sufferers.
The uniqueness of the Groupon group buying model lies in promoting only one discounted product per day, limiting each person to one purchase per day, and the discounted item always being a service type.
After logging into the website, users do not need to search for desired information among a dazzling array of products; the entire homepage only offers one item, simple and clear, preventing users from spending a lot of time browsing irrelevant pages.
Because merchants are screened through certain procedures in advance, it also saves users a lot of comparison time, thus making it simple and clear to decide whether to consume or not.
Some called it Group Buying 2.0.
Unlike Renren Group Buy's maximum discount of 20-30% off, Groupon's biggest discounts could go directly down to 70-80% off, or even lower.
In other words, Renren Group Buy's advantage lay in its comprehensive categories, while Groupon's advantage lay in its specialization.
Chen Yizhou's Nuomi.com was temporarily only launched in BJ, and will gradually open in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and 17 other cities in the future.
It is rumored that on its launch day, the website offered an 80% off group purchase for a double movie package at a certain cinema, including 2 movie tickets, 2 cups of cola, 1 popcorn, and 1 Haagen-Dazs ice cream scoop, originally priced at 176 yuan, but only 35 yuan for group purchase.
It not only broke Groupon's record of 16,000 sales on its first day, but also set a new sales record for domestic 2.0 group buying websites.
In addition, Nuomi.com also launched premium discount coupons, offering a variety of consumption services to choose from, including gourmet food, leisure and entertainment, SPA, beauty and hair, photography, sports and fitness, etc.
Users can directly download and print from Nuomi.com or receive them via free SMS, and enjoy discounted offers at designated stores with the coupons.
Wang Xing's Fanfou.com, unable to continue operating due to frequent disruptions from numerous internet giants, led Wang Xing to turn to a new project, Meituan.
The first product Meituan launched online was the Fanya wine tasting package, which attracted 79 buyers and generated nearly 4,000 yuan in sales.
Wang Xing positioned his new project as a new type of group buying website, with its biggest feature being selling only one product per day, listing only seven items per week, covering all aspects of food, drink, and entertainment, and offering significant discounts.
To put it plainly, it was a direct copy of Groupon, replicating the star startup Groupon in its business model, functional planning, and page design.
Lashou.com, on the other end, was pretty much the same, but their cleverness lay in also copying Renren Group Buy's model.
To outsiders.
Chen Pingjiang was feeling for stones to cross the river.
Others were feeling him to cross the river.
Even more blatantly, whatever he did, others did too.
Market observers began to constantly predict the decline of Renren.com and Chen Pingjiang.
It was precisely these pessimistic voices that led Lashou.com to announce an investment from Taishan Angel, totaling 5 million US dollars, less than a month after its launch, becoming the first new group buying website in China to receive investment.
Various group buying websites sprang up like mushrooms after rain; in just over a month, there were hundreds of group buying websites in China, though most of them, of course, only had a few employees.
Gao Songbin, who was originally enjoying occupying territory, suddenly felt a sharp increase in pressure.
The most obvious sign was that merchants began to cooperate with two or three group buying websites simultaneously, and some even offered lower discounts than those given to Renren Group Buy, diverting many users.
Under these circumstances, Gao Songbin, originally in Shanghai, was summoned back to Dongjiang by a phone call from Chen Pingjiang.
This time, the meeting attendees were no longer solemn, but somber.
Various rumors and pessimistic forecasts from the outside world.
With each business unit of the group facing competition, even encirclement, no one could be happy.
Chen Pingjiang smiled as he scanned the room, then said,
"What's wrong? Everyone looks so gloomy. It's not the end of the world. Don't forget, no matter which business, our market share is currently number one."
He then changed his tone and continued,
"Today is the most comprehensive gathering of our businesses. Although the shareholders behind each company are different, they are all sister companies. All the heads of Renren.com, Group Buy, games, catering, Weibo, Zhihu, etc., are here."
"Since we are sister companies, we should cooperate even more wholeheartedly. 1+1+1 is definitely greater than 3. In fact, what outsiders say is not wrong; if our businesses fight independently, because resources are limited, it is indeed possible to be defeated one by one."
"Here's an idea for you. Renren.com should leverage its resource advantage to help allies with promotions, catering can do co-branding with games, and group buying can find our Weibo influencers or celebrities for product endorsements. In short, combine two by two, amplify strengths, and defeat competitors through collective power."
This is the power of building an ecosystem.
When fighting, you think it's 1v1, but in reality, it's N people against you.
After Chen Pingjiang finished speaking, Gao Songbin said,
"Chairman Chen, I'd like to report on a situation. We have just completed coverage in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, and currently, within our existing basic market, there are no major competitors, mostly local group buying websites. We face two problems.
First, should we accelerate our expansion, changing from direct operation to agency, cooperating with local agents to preemptively occupy territory? If those second and third-tier small cities are taken by Lashou, Nuomi, and Meituan, the cost to reclaim them will be too high.
The second problem is that in the areas we have already occupied, we are constantly harassed by local group buying websites, which is honestly very annoying."
The situation Gao Songbin described was what Renren Group Buy currently faced.
They had to both compete with other rivals for territory and face guerrilla warfare in occupied areas.
Chen Pingjiang directly shook his head:
"Don't count on agents; they are difficult to manage, of mixed quality, and seemingly a step ahead, but ultimately they will ruin the brand and reputation. We will stick to direct operations. Being a bit slower doesn't matter; management is crucial.
Even if we cooperate with agents to take the second and third-tier markets a step earlier, won't other group buying sites still enter? Sooner or later they will come, and as long as they come, there will be a fight."
"Aside from the territory we already hold, there's no rush for other third and fourth-tier small cities; there's no need to fuss over the gains and losses of individual cities. As the head of group buying, your mind must be clear, take a holistic view.
There are many ways to defeat your opponents. Group buying involves a large number of ground promoters and subsidies, all of which cost money. Those group buying websites constantly need massive financing.
So, let them fight among themselves first, eliminate a portion, and then we will frequently reap the benefits; as long as their funds are insufficient, they cannot be stopped."
"As for your second problem, local group buying websites that can't make it will naturally die off. For those that pose a slight threat to us, we will directly acquire them."
In fact, Chen Pingjiang's mind was very clear.
He was not arrogant enough to wage a full-scale war against all group buying websites nationwide.
Even if he had the will, he didn't have the power.
There weren't enough ground promoters, and Renren Group Buy's funds didn't allow for it either.
So his strategy was very clear: hold onto the existing base, abandon other cities, let other group buying websites fight it out among themselves, and then enter to reap the harvest when they were almost done fighting.
Sometimes taking the first step is not a good thing, because then you have to endure the impact from all the group buying websites.
If Lashou came, they'd fight Lashou; if Meituan came, they'd fight Meituan; if Nuomi came, they'd fight Nuomi.
Even if they agreed, Renren Group Buy would be dragged to death.
That was real money being poured in.
Since that's the case, it's better to hold onto the basic market.
In reality, there was no barrier to replicating the group buying model, but it required strong execution and offline promotion capabilities.
Otherwise, seemingly conquering a city, if operations faltered, it would quickly be taken away by others.
The game of group buying is the same as the game of ride-hailing; both require online + offline.
This is very different from the purely online promotion methods of Renren.com and Weibo.
Renren.com and Weibo can run ads, and people nationwide can directly access them, but group buying cannot; it ultimately has to rely on offline operations, down to every city and neighborhood.
Moreover, Chen Pingjiang saw clearly.
Don't look at how fiercely they're fighting now; the mobile internet era hasn't arrived yet, and there will be another reshuffle then.
...
What left everyone dumbfounded was that they had expected Renren Group Buy to expand aggressively, but this guy actually retreated into his shell.
Everyone else was scrambling for territory, but Renren Group Buy stayed put, guarding Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongjiang, and a few other second-tier provincial capital cities.
"Is Chen Pingjiang failing? Will random punches really kill the old master?"
"If Renren Group Buy doesn't expand its territory now, once others have taken all the territory, they will use the national market to crush Renren Group Buy."
"I can't understand this situation. It clearly has the greatest strength, the most capital, and the most complete team structure, but why is it the most conservative one?"
"..."
Chen Pingjiang was not in a hurry at all.
This group buying war wouldn't be decided in less than 2-3 years.
Let the bullets fly for a while first.
Renren Group Buy wasn't in a hurry, but other group buying websites were extremely anxious.
BJ was a disaster area, gathering sixteen group buying websites of various sizes, including Meituan, Lashou, and Nuomi.
This forced them to quickly expand outward.
Lashou.com's Shanghai station opened on October 23rd.
Meituan.com's Lin'an station opened on November 14th.
Nuomi.com's Tianjin station opened on November 17th.
...
Among these, Meituan and Nuomi subconsciously avoided Renren Group Buy.
Mainly, Wang Xing felt that Chen Pingjiang was a bit unpredictable, and Chen Yizhou had been suppressed by Chen Pingjiang in the SNS field, so neither of them particularly wanted to provoke Chen Pingjiang.
Only Lashou.com, which had just received 5 million USD in venture capital, shouted,
"You cowards, you don't dare to go, but I will! Chen Pingjiang, right? I've been annoyed with you for a long time."
Renren Group Buy's Shanghai branch prepared its forces to meet Lashou.com's challenge.
All ground promoters in other cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen were locally enrolled in Renren Iron Army's temporary intensive training classes.
Chen Pingjiang specifically found two Sanda coaches to train these two groups of people.
At the same time, Shen Nanpeng also flew from BJ to Dongjiang to meet Chen Pingjiang.
As soon as he saw Chen Pingjiang, he smiled and said,
"I'm here to deliver money. I heard you're about to fight, so I'm here to deliver ammunition."
Chen Pingjiang burst into laughter,
"Old Shen, there are so many group buying websites in BJ, and you didn't fancy any of them?"
"If it weren't for you, Chen Pingjiang, I would probably have invested in Wang Xing. Of course, if you refuse my investment, I will still go to Wang Xing."
Shen Nanpeng had made a fortune by following Chen Pingjiang; although Chen Pingjiang was very assertive, he was also very capable.
Renren.com firmly held the top position in SNS, Weibo was also thriving, DNF was far ahead in games, and social games achieved great success overseas.
Shen Nanpeng's expression reminded Chen Pingjiang of that classic line:
"Old Xu, do you want a wife or not?"
Chen Pingjiang nodded,
"Money is definitely needed, but let me be clear with you, this is Series B, not Series A. Series A was already taken by some local partners and friends in Dongjiang when Renren Group Buy first launched."
Shen Nanpeng frowned,
"For such a good project, why would you find those small local investors? They don't have much capital or resources; this isn't your style. You were so assertive during Renren.com's second round of financing."
"It's different. Some of these are friends. But more are owners from the service and catering industries who, with the help of Renren Group Buy, have already established a foothold in several first-tier cities outside of BJ and are doing well, with considerable influence."
Shen Nanpeng remained silent for a while, carefully pondering Chen Pingjiang's words.
Soon after, he suddenly looked up, staring at Chen Pingjiang in surprise:
"You've laid the groundwork to this extent? If these more than ten influential service and catering establishments only launch on Renren Group Buy, how will Lashou.com compete with you?"
Shen Nanpeng was not exaggerating.
This is like if McDonald's and KFC only offered discount coupons on Renren Group Buy; with their strong user base and brand recognition, users would be compelled to use Renren Group Buy.
This is almost equivalent to exclusive cooperation!
An open strategy, with no solution.
This further solidified Shen Nanpeng's idea of investing in Renren Group Buy.
(End of chapter)