"The new phone has arrived. Colleagues who saw it all said they wanted one. In a flash, the wealthy women in the company each ordered a unit."
"I'm an insider, and I'll tell you frankly: the number of pre-orders for the Orange S1 has long exceeded 3 million units. The manufacturer can't keep up with production even working overtime. Those who order now will have to wait."
"It just officially launched today, only a few hours ago, and you've already received your order?"
"It depends on what channel you used. I also got my phone at noon today, ordered through Renren Gou's premium selection. This is the fastest channel; other channels have to wait for express delivery, which takes at least two or three days."
"Brothers and sisters who got it, come out and tell us, how's the actual phone?"
"Very good, it looks even more beautiful than in the pictures and videos, and the system is really smooth, not laggy at all."
"..."
On March 19th, the Orange S1 launched as scheduled.
The first batch of one million units had already been shipped through various channels, but orders after the first million units would have to wait.
Subsequent ordered components had been sent to the contract manufacturer; production still needed time.
Foxconn and Inventec could produce about 400 phones per production line per hour.
Calculated at 18 hours of production per day, the daily output was approximately 150,000 units.
This was the maximum that Zhou Guangping could coordinate.
However, the pre-order quantity for the Orange S1 had already exceeded 3 million, and it would soon surpass 4 million units.
Subsequent customers would definitely have to wait.
Orange Phone also thoughtfully launched a slogan, compensating customers who waited too long through other means.
After multiple rounds of negotiation, Lin Bin ultimately signed ordering contracts with China Mobile and China Telecom respectively.
These two companies each purchased two million Orange S1 units.
China Unicom was playing some tricks, only wanting to order 500,000 units.
Lin Bin naturally disagreed,
"Should I make a custom version just for your 500,000? Dream on!"
Later, through other channels, it was learned that China Unicom was still intent on introducing the iPhone.
Lin Bin didn't force the issue, as the Orange S1 was already in short supply anyway.
As more and more people got their phones and showed off selfies everywhere, and word-of-mouth spread, the popularity of the Orange S1 remained undiminished, starting its second wave of popularity with its excellent camera features.
With no other option, Lin Bin directly shut down the sales channels, and all websites instantly displayed the three large characters: "Sold Out".
This made countless netizens anxious.
"Ah, what's going on? Someone just recommended it to me today, I was just about to buy one, and now I can't?"
"They say it's too popular, and production can't keep up."
"Me too, I can't buy it on any platform."
"Try looking for scalpers?"
"Scalpers won't work either. The previous purchase limit policy was very strict. The goods in scalpers' hands are recycled phones from the first batch, there aren't many of them, and they're ridiculously expensive."
"..."
The market presented a situation where one phone was hard to come by.
Lin Bin's somewhat "impulsive" move immediately brought him and Chen Pingjiang great trouble.
Both of their phones were almost constantly ringing in the following few days.
Suning Yigou, JD.com, and even some credit card points malls were frantically calling to place orders.
Even if you clearly told them there was a temporary shortage, the other party not only ignored it but directly offered:
"I'll pay more!"
It made Lin Bin feel helpless.
Platforms with great influence and extensive connections, seeing that Lin Bin couldn't solve the problem, turned around and went to Chen Pingjiang.
Chen Pingjiang, on a business trip in Beijing, was forced to put his phone on silent.
The person in charge of Renren.com Mall was relatively calm, as the mall was a somewhat marginalized business within Renren.
But Gao Songbin was different.
If Lin Bin dared to cut off his supply, he would dare to directly block Lin Bin's office.
"Brother Lin, Brother Lin, please be kind, pity your little brother, and give me some phones."
Lin Bin shook his head helplessly:
"President Gao, please understand. It's not that I don't want to give them to you. We're all brother companies, and no one will miss out on your share if there's no stock. But the problem is, there's a shortage right now. Of the subsequent five million units, only one million have been produced so far.
I've pushed the contract manufacturers so hard they're almost on three shifts. If I don't stop supplying the platforms, the accumulated orders will only increase, customers will wait longer and longer, and there will be many more negative reviews."
Gao Songbin came up with an idea:
"If we clearly note the waiting period as one month during sales, wouldn't that work? Those willing to wait can place an order; those unwilling can just forget about it."
Lin Bin was so entangled that he had no choice.
If he didn't agree, he probably wouldn't be able to work today.
"If your customers can accept it, I have no problem, but I can't give any guarantees."
Gao Songbin grinned, putting on an "I understand" expression:
"Thank you, Brother Lin! I'm treating tonight, you must honor us with your presence."
After leaving the office, Chi Weijie, who was waiting at the door, immediately came over and asked,
"President Gao, what's the word?"
Gao Songbin said:
"There's a shortage everywhere now, and no channel can get phones. But I talked to Brother Lin, and he'll make an exception. Our premium channel will continue to list them, but we must specify the waiting period, which essentially makes it a pre-sale."
"Haha, that works too, it's better than directly writing 'Sold Out'."
"This afternoon, you can go back to Shanghai with peace of mind. Here at headquarters, I'll personally keep an eye out. As soon as the goods arrive, no matter what, I'll grab a batch and send them to you."
Gao Songbin and Chi Weijie had never imagined that a single phone could drive such a large increase in Renren Gou's registered users.
As one of the officially designated channel partners, Renren Gou absolutely crushed it this time.
Especially since Renren Gou has branches in various cities, most of which are stocked.
As long as a customer places an order on Renren Gou, they can generally get the phone the same day.
This speed was faster and safer than any other channel.
In contrast, Meituan was getting a headache.
Already increasingly powerless under Renren Gou's stranglehold, it now suffered a crushing blow.
They also wanted to get some Orange S1 phones to sell, but they couldn't get any stock.
So, they had to settle for something else and got some Samsung phones.
The result was obvious!
They couldn't sell them!
They couldn't sell them at all.
They brought in 100,000 units, sold for a week, and 90,000 were still left.
If possible, Wang Xing would have wanted to find a place to hide and cry.
This was also the first time the thought arose:
"We might really not be able to beat Renren Gou; there's nothing we can do."
Renren Gou was backed by Renren.com and Orange Phone; their resources and capital were simply too vast.
Even a tiny bit revealed through their fingers made others uncomfortable.
Meituan was fighting alone, while Renren Gou was engaging in multi-dimensional warfare with allied businesses.
The traffic entry points included Renren Gou and Weibo, and now there was also WeChat.
Among them, in Wang Xing's view, WeChat was the most terrifying.
Although the installation base wasn't very large yet, it was the future.
WeChat directly provided a link to Renren Gou on its service page, allowing users to jump directly by clicking on "Lifestyle Services".
In terms of dining, Renren Gou also had loyal fans.
The last merchant conference, which invited businesses under Chen Pingjiang's name, was already a laughingstock.
These brands, either controlled or partially owned by Chen Pingjiang, all offered good services and had excellent reputations.
They were ace stores, and Meituan could hardly compete for them.
Now there was another Orange Phone!
Every Orange Phone came pre-installed with the Renren Gou app, and users could also snap up Orange Phones within the app.
The playbook was truly mastered.
Gan Jiawei said:
"The current situation is becoming increasingly unfavorable for us. We can't hold up whether online or offline. The only way forward is to find another powerful investor, one with especially abundant resources, and rely on their resources to quickly acquire platforms ranked behind us."
Wang Xing rubbed his face, a little tired:
"Are you referring to Alibaba? Don't they already have Koubei.com?"
"There's no one else but Alibaba. Internet giants stand behind all our competitors, but not us. Koubei.com's development is quite ordinary right now, and I think Jack Ma has realized this. If we can successfully persuade Alibaba to make a strategic investment and then persuade them to abandon Koubei.com, it would be a brilliant move."
Gan Jiawei continued:
"We can leverage Alipay for promotion."
...
Renren Gou's official Weibo account was constantly stirring things up, creating a poster that clearly told consumers that as long as they were willing to wait, there would be stock.
This made many beautiful women eager to get a phone incredibly excited.
"Sisters, quickly @ your husbands and have them place orders for you."
"Only waiting a month, I think it's fine. It's cheaper than buying from scalpers, and at least it gives me a time certainty."
"It truly is their favored child; the treatment is just different. When the whole network is out of stock, they can actually pre-order here."
"..."
The news that Chen Pingjiang was in Beijing had become widely known through promotion.
More and more people were lining up to see him, including Dongzi.
"Brother Dong, long time no see since our last farewell."
Liu Qiangdong was a bit flattered by the address, waving his hands repeatedly:
"President Chen, just call me Qiangdong. I wouldn't dare be called that; others would think I'm too arrogant if word got out."
Chen Pingjiang warmly waved his hand:
"Why pay attention to them? I can't control what happens outside. Let's just be relaxed when we're together privately, no need for so much pretense."
Seeing that Chen Pingjiang put on no airs, Dongzi's favorable impression of him soared.
At the last gathering, he already thought Chen Pingjiang was a good person, wealthy at a young age yet very low-key and modest.
JD.com had developed quite rapidly in the past two years.
By taking a differentiated route from Taobao and focusing on the mid-to-high-end market and 3C categories, JD.com was able to stand out.
JD.com's service and quality were clearly superior to Taobao's, and its heavy investment in logistics and warehousing also resulted in very fast delivery speeds.
Just last June, monthly sales exceeded 300 million.
Professional analysts predicted that JD.com's sales could break 10 billion by the end of this year.
"President Chen, you know that JD.com mainly focuses on 3C products, and mobile phones are a very important part of that. Now, Orange Phone is incredibly popular, but... we don't have stock."
After speaking, Dongzi looked eagerly at Chen Pingjiang.
Chen Pingjiang pondered for a moment, then slapped his thigh.
"I won't hide it from you. Lately, people calling me for stock have nearly blown up my phone. But no matter who it is, I only have one answer: no stock. However, Brother Dong, you came in person; that's giving me face. The day after tomorrow, I'll have someone send 200,000 phones to you."
"Huh?"
Liu Qiangdong was stunned.
He thought it would be a difficult negotiation, but it was resolved so simply?
He couldn't even say his planned words?
For a moment, Liu Qiangdong was so moved he almost cried.
Not putting on airs, being approachable was one thing, but being so good to him was key!
Brother!
"President Chen, don't worry, this afternoon I'll have our finance department transfer the payment for the goods to your company's account."
"No rush."
After thinking, Liu Qiangdong tentatively asked:
"I wonder if President Chen has any understanding of JD.com?"
Chen Pingjiang raised an eyebrow, glanced at Dongzi, and sensed that the guy had something more to say.
"Of course, I do."
"Then I'll speak frankly. There are rumors outside that you, President Chen, have keen insight. I'd like to ask for your advice on what JD.com's next step should be?"
What Chen Pingjiang was considering at this moment wasn't whether he could speak, but the meaning behind the words.
Clearly, Dongzi was also looking for traffic entry points, and his asset-heavy model was particularly short on funds.
Asking this way was almost like revealing his hand and making a goodwill gesture.
Chen Pingjiang was not averse to making a strategic investment in JD.com.
JD.com was clearly a high-quality stock, not to mention the capital returns it would bring after listing.
Just the fact that JD.com could significantly boost WeChat Pay's market share and usage frequency after integrating it meant Chen Pingjiang couldn't say no.
Once the e-commerce ecosystem that Renren.com lacked was brought under his wing, and with JD.com and Renren Gou walking on two legs, WeChat Pay could instantly compete with Alipay on equal footing.
"I noticed that JD.com recently launched daily necessities?"
"Yes, it just launched recently."
Liu Qiangdong nodded.
Chen Pingjiang narrowed his eyes:
"Listen to me, don't focus your efforts there. Turn to books; achieve success in one stroke."
"The book market is very small. We've estimated it's only 30 billion a year, combining online and offline. Currently, Dangdang and Joyo hold the top two positions."
"Starting with Bertelsmann, books were the earliest and most mature category in online retail; furthermore, book users are generally high-quality, highly educated, truly middle-class users with purchasing power, which aligns well with JD.com's user attributes and positioning; third, books have a high repurchase rate, which can increase user stickiness.
Dangdang.com is also preparing to expand into other categories. If you don't fight fire with fire and burn it in their backyard now, you will create another opponent for yourself."
"In 3C, JD.com's advantage isn't greater than Gome's or Suning Yigou's. They have existing stores nationwide, deliver faster than you, and can offer lower prices. Only by expanding beyond this can JD.com continue to exert its strength. For books, you can directly copy Dangdang and Amazon."
The more Chen Pingjiang spoke, the clearer Liu Qiangdong's eyes became.
After a long while, he nodded:
"I've learned a lot; the rumors outside are indeed true. A casual word of advice from you, President Chen, is more impactful than a week-long board meeting for us. We truly hadn't considered focusing on books before, intending instead to go into daily necessities."
Chen Pingjiang chuckled:
"The 'hundred' in 'daily necessities' indicates its complexity. Instead of spreading your efforts across a hundred categories, it's better to focus your strength on one."
"President Chen, what do you think of JD.com? If possible, have you ever considered making a strategic investment in JD.com?"
Dongzi's gaze at Chen Pingjiang gradually grew fervent.
His intuition told him that he must hold tightly onto Chen Pingjiang's leg; only then might JD.com walk more smoothly on the road to success.
As long as Chen Pingjiang was willing to invest in JD.com, Dongzi felt he wouldn't have to worry about resources, capital, promotion, channels, or even strategic direction.
There was no more suitable investor than Chen Pingjiang.
What's more, if Chen Pingjiang's investment was announced today, JD.com's valuation could skyrocket tomorrow.
This name was a guarantee!
Eagerness doesn't make a good deal.
Even though Chen Pingjiang already planned to invest in JD.com, he still needed to play hard to get now to secure greater benefits later.
"What can JD.com offer me?"
Chen Pingjiang asked, looking into Liu Qiangdong's eyes.
"As long as JD.com goes public, it can definitely bring generous returns to your investment company, and I will reserve a seat for you on the board. In terms of business, JD.com can also complement Renren.com and Orange Phone. JD.com is more than willing to become part of the Renren ecosystem, and I am willing to lead the charge against Alibaba in the future."
"Then…"
Chen Pingjiang nodded:
"I agree."
Dongzi's strategy dictated that JD.com would continuously be short on cash until its IPO.
All told, JD.com raised 7-8 rounds, a little under 3 billion US dollars, with the largest single round reaching 1.5 billion US dollars.
It's imaginable what a money-guzzler JD.com was.
The capital behind it included Capital Today, Bull Capital, DST, Tiger Global Management, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Saudi King Holding Group, and Tencent.
With the initial intent reached, both of them relaxed.
For Chen Pingjiang, this deal was quite profitable.
His future focus was in the physical high-tech sector, and it was best for e-commerce to enter in the form of an investment.
Tianyuan Capital, led by Bu Housheng, directly continued communication with JD.com to determine the investment method, amount, and equity stake.
...
The night before Chen Pingjiang planned to return to Dongjiang, Shen Nanpeng came forward and invited a few business friends to bid farewell to Chen Pingjiang.
At the dinner, Chen Pingjiang met an unexpected person—the Red-Clothed Patriarch.
The Red-Clothed Patriarch at that time had not yet become part of the "national team" nor secured an official position; his status in the industry was mediocre.
The future Red-Clothed Patriarch could be said to be unrivaled in prominence.
In the post-two Mas era, he could still stir up a fuss on social media all day, filming videos to sell and buy cars.
Yet, various car manufacturers still bought into his influence, eagerly driving their cars to the 360 Company building for him to choose from.
The Red-Clothed Patriarch test-drove each car for a week, only then deciding which one, and no one knew how he would eventually step down from this position.
Even though Tencent had the upper hand 14 years ago, it didn't end well either.
"All told, it's only about half a year left."
Chen Pingjiang murmured to himself.
After Chen Pingjiang arrived, Shen Nanpeng leaned over and whispered:
"Old Zhou seems to have something to discuss with you. I've arranged a place for you both for the second round later."
This also showed that as Chen Pingjiang's social status rose, he commanded great influence in the business world, and he himself gradually acquired the air of a business leader.
At the dinner, Old Zhou was very low-key, repeatedly expressing his desire to learn from Chen Pingjiang, almost praising Chen Pingjiang to the heavens.
After arriving at a private tea room.
Old Zhou said impatiently:
"President Chen, you must help me!"
Chen Pingjiang smiled:
"Is it about Tencent?"
"Yes, Pony Ma is too much of a bully, too overbearing. Whatever others do, he does, leveraging his large size after entering the same field. But unfortunately, none of us are a match for Tencent. Only you can deal with Tencent, repeatedly pinning them down and rubbing them on the ground."
Old Zhou spoke with great emotion, spittle flying.
"We were doing perfectly fine with 360 Security Guard, and they also want to enter this field. Come in if you want. What's too much is that they just launched QQ Doctor, clearly targeting us."
After listening, Chen Pingjiang smiled.
The first phase had just ended; the main event was yet to come.
The mark of the second phase should be Tencent upgrading QQ Doctor to QQ PC Manager, openly deploying its full forces against 360 Security Guard, which gave Old Zhou a considerable sense of crisis.
QQ PC Manager relied on QQ to forcibly install itself on users' computers, threatening 360's survival.
Consequently, 360 began to take action against it.
Next, the two companies engaged in a war of words, with Tencent suing 360 for unfair competition, and 360 accusing Tencent of prying into user privacy.
The big climax should have been when 360 launched QQ Bodyguard, which surpassed 20 million downloads in 72 hours and continued to increase.
This pushed Tencent to the brink, directly issuing an open letter stating,
"QQ will cease to run on computers with 360 software installed, advocating that 360 must be uninstalled to log in to QQ."
To be honest, this move by Tencent was a bit reckless, essentially forcing users to choose between two.
Of course, its destructive power was also immense.
Afterwards, according to the Red-Clothed Patriarch, the number of 360 Security Guards uninstalled during this period reached 60 million; their very foundation was dug up.
It wasn't until Old Zhou backed down and the regulatory authorities intervened that peace was restored.
There were many stories behind it.
Old Zhou later recounted that he received a call on his way to work, saying that the headquarters building was surrounded by police officers, and the president below told him to run quickly.
Frightened, Old Zhou quickly found his passport and fled to Hong Kong.
Recalling it later, Zhou Hongyi quoted a sentence from "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" in his book—"The real problem is not having a great dream, but when you wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night to find that the dream has turned into a nightmare."
In his anger, Old Zhou slammed the table, fuming:
"I've said it before: people in the internet industry will inevitably encounter three unavoidable problems: life, death, and Tencent. The emerging internet enterprise products imitated and terminated by Tencent are too numerous to count. On this point, I think Pony Ma should really learn from you, President Chen."
"Although Renren is also a large company, many of its products are original. It's the domestic leader in SNS, the domestic leader in group-buying, and the same goes for Zhihu and WeChat. This is the responsibility and social obligation of a major company."
Chen Pingjiang quickly told Old Zhou to calm down:
"Pony Ma and I don't have any grudges; we even greet each other when we meet. Don't praise one and step on the other. Besides, how can I help with your situation? Am I supposed to go tell him not to make security software?"
Shen Nanpeng was also amusing; he played on his phone the whole time, as if he had no ears, completely oblivious to Old Zhou's complaints.
"Of course, I wouldn't dare to expect that, and Tencent wouldn't abandon a project just because of a single word from you. You are currently the number one figure in China's internet industry; your words carry weight whether in the industry, among the public, or with the government. I hope that when the time comes, you can speak up for me."
(End of chapter)