Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

On November 20th, WeChat released version 4.5, adding new features like a real-time walkie-talkie, multi-person voice chats, QR codes, and navigation. Penguin Maps was integrated into the WeChat application ecosystem for the first time.

Meanwhile, after two months of development, Lashou Network followed Meituan and Dianping in successfully launching a scan feature and a QR code system for redeeming Group Buy vouchers.

A whole new era had begun!

But the Group Buy market landscape was also changing dramatically. Dianping and Meituan held firm in the top two spots. After integrating Nuomi Network’s resources, Kuai Pao surpassed Lashou Network in just three months to claim third place in the industry.

Lashou Network, on the other hand, was relegated to last place!

According to an analysis report from a third-party data agency, the total transaction volume for the national Group Buy market in October was 4.6 billion. Of this, Dianping accounted for 1.14 billion, Meituan for 1.02 billion, Kuai Pao for 930 million, and Lashou Network for 650 million.

When Qian Du acquired Lashou, its monthly transaction volume was already over 600 million.

In other words, in the three months since Gong Zhenbing took over Lashou Network, he had poured a cumulative 60 million into marketing, yet their market share hadn’t changed at all.

”Qian Du is a technology-driven company. From Li Yanhong on down, none of them understand management or business. The fates of Lashou Network and DiDi Dache were sealed from the start—they’re guaranteed to lose!”

Shan Jiawei, the head of Kuai Pao’s Group Buy division, commented bluntly on Weibo.

Li Yanhong, conscious of his status, couldn’t personally get involved. Gong Zhenbing, however, had no such reservations and immediately fired back, ”Kuai Pao’s Group Buy business isn’t even number one in the market yet, so don’t act like some big shot telling everyone how it’s done. Besides, are you even qualified?”

”It’s still better than being a copycat,” Shan Jiawei retorted mockingly.

Seeing this, Wang Xin of Meituan and Zhang Tao of Dianping looked embarrassed. That bastard Shan Jiawei had just insulted both of them, too.

But Meituan and Dianping couldn’t refute it, because they really had copied it.

They had no choice. A QR code-based Group Buy voucher combined with a scanning feature could easily increase redemption speeds by more than tenfold. It was hugely beneficial for users, merchants, and the platform alike. They had to copy it!

Additionally, the promotional campaign for the movie *Lost in Thailand*, starring Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang, had begun.

After some thought, Pei Yi immediately bet on this film. He finalized a ticket subsidy campaign with Guangxian Media. Based on a 60-40 funding split, they lowered the ticket price for *Lost in Thailand* on the Kuai Pao platform to 9.9 yuan each.

The campaign would run from December 6th to December 12th!

From November 25th to December 5th, users could get a puzzle piece by either ordering food delivery or redeeming a Group Buy order. Collecting all nine pieces would allow them to redeem a free movie voucher worth 60 yuan.

For a time, Kuai Pao’s daily active users and user stickiness increased significantly.

Under Chen Yansen’s direction, Pei Yi proposed the ’T-shaped Strategy.’ This plan treated Group Buy as the horizontal bar of the ’T,’ while service categories like food delivery, movies, hotel & travel, and local life services were the vertical lines, thus forming the ’T’ shape.

Anything and everything could be a Group Buy!

With the help of Shan Jiawei, Zhang Xuhao, and others, Pei Yi extended Kuai Pao’s business footprint into all sorts of industries.

From food to leisure and entertainment, beauty and hair salons, massages and foot spas, attraction tickets, hotels and B&Bs, and vacation travel, all the way to doctor’s appointments and medicine, movie showtimes, and ride-hailing—the categories were comprehensive and all-encompassing.

In contrast, Lashou Network and Dianping’s businesses were concentrated on food and leisure/entertainment. Their categories were limited, and their ecosystems were incomplete.

Meituan was a step ahead, having already expanded into movies, hotel & travel, and food delivery. From a business model perspective, it posed the greatest threat to Kuai Pao.