Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Lingxi Search focused on artificial intelligence, while 360 touted its lack of pharmaceutical ads. Every move was aimed at Qian Du’s jugular.

In just one month, Li Yanhong lost 20% of the search market share, and his company’s stock value evaporated by over five billion US dollars. He wanted nothing more than to kill Chen Yansen.

Therefore, backing down was not an option.

He decided to ramp up his investment, determined to make Chen Yansen feel the same sting.

After the meeting, at 11 a.m. that same day, Qian Du Delivery sent a push notification to all users with a link to claim a cash bonus.

Both new and existing users could claim an 18-yuan voucher with no minimum purchase required.

Using the voucher to buy items like milk tea, bread, or fast-food meals meant they could essentially get them for free.

Although Qian Du Delivery was known for slow deliveries and riders with poor attitudes, users weren’t about to turn down a free meal.

Milk tea shops like CoCo, Happy Lemon, Hu City Auntie, and A Little Tea were successively slammed with orders. The cooks at restaurants serving braised chicken and rice, Yunnan ”crossing-the-bridge” noodles, Shaxian County snacks, and Lanzhou Noodles also went mad, with dozens of new orders flooding in every minute.

There was an endless stream of milk tea to shake, egg-fried rice to cook, and beef noodles to pull.

The merchants were going insane, and so were the riders.

In just half an hour, Qian Du Delivery’s order count had surged by 300,000!

”Hurry! Kuai Pao is fighting back! Click the link to get a 20-yuan voucher with no minimum purchase, plus another 20-off-40 coupon!”

”One-cent milk tea for everyone! Just log into Kuai Pao to claim yours!”

”Can anyone help me with a referral? Get three new users to sign up, and you’ll get a free KFC family bucket.”

Suddenly!

A deluge of deal-focused influencers popped up on Weibo and Toutiao, all posting links to claim Kuai Pao’s cash bonuses on their homepages.

QQ groups, WeChat groups, Douban forums, and the comment sections of Renren Network were also flooded with referral discount links.

It was simply a battle of marketing tactics!

Pei Yi was completely unfazed. After getting the go-ahead from the big boss, he immediately launched a counter-attack, targeting the cities where Qian Du Delivery was most active.

”Awesome! This is the life! I hope these promotions never stop!”

”I got two milk teas and a cream puff for zero yuan. Things always taste better when they’re free!”

”Why isn’t Taodian giving out coupons? @Taobao, come on, stop playing dead, will you?”

Netizens were discussing it heatedly in the comments, their words brimming with excitement.

Far away at the Hang City Ali Headquarters, Tang Yongbo requested instructions from Ma Liyun, only to be told not to get involved.

Taodian’s operational scope was mainly concentrated in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area, with just over 30,000 orders a day. There was no need to throw money around just to join the commotion.

”Doing business the way Chen Yansen and Li Yanhong are, even ten billion wouldn’t be enough to cover the cash burn.”

In his office on Taohua Island, Ma Liyun spread his hands and spoke with a helpless expression.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered joining the ”delivery war,” but the thought of the astronomical marketing costs quickly sobered him.

”Li Yanhong encroached on Senlian Capital’s territory, and in response, Senlian Capital teamed up with 360, Sogou, and Penguin to snatch away twenty percent of Qian Du’s search business. The way I see it, Li Yanhong has been backed into a corner and is lashing out.”

Zhang Yong said with a faint smile.

”By a rough estimate, Qian Du Delivery’s marketing spend for today will exceed 60 million yuan. Kuai Pao’s will be at least that much, if not more.”

Lu Zhaoxi’s brow furrowed slightly as he remarked with a sigh.

Ah Li was considered to have deep pockets, but they never dared to burn cash like this, not even during the 618 or Double 11 shopping festivals.

”Food delivery is indeed a good business. Ever since we added an entry point for Kuai Pao on Taobao’s homepage, our daily active users have increased by 11.7%,” Ma Liyun mused.

He coveted the high-frequency nature of the food delivery and Group Buy businesses, yet he could never bring himself to fully commit to entering the O2O market.