Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

’Just like with Cloud Speed Express, all Kuai Pao needed to do was become the strongest player in the field.’

On the last day of November, the second round of negotiations between Meituan and Dianping broke down. Ali entered the food delivery industry, and WeChat’s team was working overtime to develop its WeChat Pay feature.

It wasn’t until 8:30 PM that Chen Yansen finally left, speeding down Xucheng Avenue in an Aston Martin Rapide toward his new home in the Delta Villa District.

It was a detached villa with three stories above ground and one below, complete with its own open-air garden of over 200 square meters. A wrought-iron gate, intricately carved, swung open slowly.

Chen Yansen parked in the garage, then pushed open the wooden door to the living room. A grand foyer with a six-meter-high ceiling greeted him, a crystal chandelier hanging from its center above gleaming walnut floors.

He slipped on a pair of slippers, plopped down on the sofa, and summoned his system panel.

The number next to Human Dao Fire read 170,179.

’That’s enough to synthesize 1,701 wisps of Divine Dao Fire!’

As companies like Cloud Speed Express, the Orange Phone Factory, and Kuai Pao grew, his monthly labor costs alone reached as high as 1.7 billion, totaling over 20 billion a year.

’Synthesize. Allocate points!’

At his mental command, a golden mist materialized and shot into the space between his eyebrows.

A few moments later, his Constitution stat had changed to 64.48!

’At this rate, it will only take two months for my Constitution to break 100 and unlock the next talent.’

The enhancement complete, Chen Yansen found he couldn’t sleep at all. He felt unusually energetic. After a moment’s thought, he sent a text to Ye Qiuping: ”Make me a bowl of sweet dessert soup.”

Upon seeing the text, Ye Qiuping instantly understood President Chen’s little hint. She hurried into her room, found a lacy maid outfit, and dutifully put it on. She tied a black silk ribbon into a bow around her smooth neck, and another around one of her fair thighs.

...

...

「Hang City. Ali Headquarters.」

”Mr. Ma, the test results for Taobao Delivery are good. In Hang City, daily orders have soared from 60 to 1,000, and we have nearly 300 registered merchants...”

Tang Yongbo, the project lead for Taobao Delivery, reported the results.

In the spacious office, besides Ma Liyun, were Lu Zhaoxi, Zhang Yong, and several other executives.

”And the data on the couriers?” Ma Liyun asked casually.

”A total of 420 have registered, with an online rate of 27%,” Tang Yongbo replied instantly.

”The average courier is completing less than ten orders a day? As far as I know, a Kuai Pao Deliveryman handles over fifty orders daily, and their top performers can even do as many as a hundred.”

Lu Zhaoxi interjected.

”The pay-per-order rate, system, and dispatching for Taobao couriers are similar to Meituan’s, relying mainly on an outsourcing model. Kuai Pao’s delivery force, on the other hand, consists mainly of full-time employees. Their foundational logic is different.”

Tang Yongbo turned to Lu Zhaoxi and explained.

”Is it having a positive impact on the core Taobao business?” President Zhang pressed.

As the head of Tmall Mall and the Taobao C Stores, his only concern was whether giving Taobao Delivery such a huge traffic portal was actually boosting their e-commerce business.

’Use a high-frequency service to drive a low-frequency one. Acquire traffic at a low cost!’

’If the results are significant, then whatever money they lose on the delivery service would be negligible.’

”President Zhang, from a data standpoint, users are indeed opening the app more frequently, but we haven’t seen a significant increase in e-commerce orders. Of course, it’s also possible our user base and order volume are too small. We’ll need to expand the scope of the test to gather more direct and effective feedback.”

Tang Yongbo replied with extreme caution.

Even though Ali held a 4% stake in Kuai Pao, it did nothing to deter Ma Liyun’s determination to enter the food delivery market.

Even if it meant offending Chen Yansen.

Looking back at Ali’s investment history, it might seem scattershot and random. But if you just think of Ali Baba as an advertising company, Ma Liyun’s strategy becomes easy to decipher.

E-commerce itself doesn’t generate much traffic. Tmall Mall and Taobao are dependent on the support of external, third-party traffic sources.