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Zhou Buqi didn't care much about the group buying business, including the takeout business that was about to leave the campus market. He just let Wang Xing do it boldly.

The main reason is that this business is too complicated and difficult to run. Without some extraordinary perseverance and strong internal drive, it is impossible to do it even if you have money.

He didn't have the confidence to at least let Zhou Buqi lead this business in person.

This was also the reason why he wanted to recruit Wang Xing no matter what, and when Zhang Yinlei was running Fantuan.com so well and its performance was booming, he dismissed his position and parachuted Wang Xing to replace him.

Zhou Buqi can't see clearly this chaotic industry full of uncertainty.

Then we can only rely on foresight and experience.

Wang Xing built Meituan in his previous life, and that was enough. He put all his hopes on him.

However, Zhou Buqi still briefly learned about the situation on Fantuan.com to show his concern.

In the current domestic group buying market, if calculated in terms of transaction volume, the largest one is definitely on-campus group buying, followed by Juhuasuan, and then QQ group buying.

However, it is not appropriate to compare these three companies in this market.

These are not independent group buying websites. On-campus group buying is backed by Xiaonei.com, Juhuasuan is integrated with Taobao, and QQ group buying is also backed by Paipai.

These three websites are more of a form of group buying. In fact, they are a group buying section opened under a large platform.

The real top players in this field should be Lashou.com and Wowotuan.com, followed by Nuomi.com, Fantuan.com and Gaopeng.com.

Dianping also owns Dianping. After Fantuan.com acquired Dianping, it can basically firmly lock in the top three in the industry.

Wang Xing said with embarrassment: "We don't seem to be that popular in the industry."

"unwelcome?"

Zhou Buqi didn't quite understand. Could it be that he was jealous because he was too powerful?

Wang Xing said: "Behind Gaopeng.com is Penguin, which has a strong competitive relationship with Ziweixing."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "This is due to the influence of Ziweixing."

Wang Xing continued: "There is also Nuomi.com."

"What happened to them?"

Zhou Buqi knew about the famous Nuomi. Later, when Baidu started taking out food, it focused on the "Baidu Nuomi" brand and acquired Nuomi.com from the market.

Wang Xing said: "The person behind Nuomi is Qianoak Interactive."

"That's it! It's related to the school network!"

If you don't mention this, Zhou Buqi has almost forgotten it.

Back then, Qianoak Interactive and Ziweixing also had a head-to-head confrontation. The main competition was in the campus market. Ziweixing is on and off campus, and Qianoak Interactive is on the 5Q campus network.

After so many years, 5Q Campus Network has long since closed down.

Zhang Yinlei, who was standing next to him, added and said with a smile: "It's not just the school network. The flagship product of Thousand Oaks Interactive is Maopu, which was once the most popular forum in the country. Now it's no longer possible, and Maopu's activity is getting lower and lower. , everyone is using emerging products such as Friends.com, Weibo, and Weizhi.”

Zhou Buqi didn't care, "It doesn't matter, if you can beat Thousand Oaks Interactive once or twice, you can beat them the third time!"

"There are also Lashou Net and Wo Wo Tuan."

"What?"

Zhou Buqi was stunned.

What's going on?

Each of these leaders in the group buying industry has a grudge against Fantuan.com? Just Nuomi.com and Gaopeng.com, the parent company behind them did have a lot of business friction with Ziweixing.

But what happened to LaShou.com and WoWoTuan?

Aren’t these two independent group buying websites?

There is no parent company, and there have been no disputes in the past. Why are there so many discords?

Zhang Yinlei said: "Groupon is going to be listed in the United States, and so are Lashou.com and Wowotuan. They are also making a series of financial adjustments and are preparing to go public in the United States! Whoever can go public first will be the number one in the domestic group buying industry. Stock! If it is faster and more efficient, it may even be listed earlier than Groupon, and it will become the number one group buying stock in the world."

Wang Xing nodded, "Yes, the first share will have a strong brand premium."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "This is the weakness of this kind of independently operated company. There is indeed no restriction from the giant company behind it, and it has also lost the industry resources and financial support of the giant company. Rice balls, Nuomi, Gaopeng, etc. are not Anxious to go public, accumulate grain widely, and slowly become king. LaShou.com and Wowo Tuan are very anxious."

Wang Xing said: "It's not comprehensive either."

"oh?"

Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows.

Wang Xing said: "The key is that we are not very gregarious. We just want to run the company down-to-earth and build this business bit by bit. It doesn't matter if we spend more time and invest more money. We have confidence in this industry. But other Some companies, including group-buying websites backed by giants, seem to... seem to be working hard to pursue financial gains."

Zhang Yinlei waved his hand and said bluntly and decisively: "Actually, the problem is very simple. The problem lies in the fact that Lashou.com and Wowotuan are going to be listed in the United States. I have discovered it a long time ago. In fact, Groupon's earliest plan was this month The IPO was rejected by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission because the relevant departments believed that the group buying industry was full of uncertainties and that once Groupon went public, it might cause harm to shareholders. Now, Groupon has added some other materials ."

Zhou Buqi was surprised, "So it also affected Lashou and Wowo in China?"

"Yes, the group buying situation in China is better than that in the United States..." Zhang Yinlei sighed, "But because it is so good, too many people have joined the game. There are more than 5,000 group buying websites, 10 times that in the United States. Things must be reversed at the extremes, and now The situation is dangerous."

Zhou Buqi also felt helpless about this.

Doing business in China, regardless of policies, environment and other aspects, is definitely the most difficult place in the world. The competition is too fierce. If you are optimistic about a good project, countless capital and entrepreneurial teams will rush in like crazy. .

Then, a large number of homogeneous products appeared in a short period of time.

What to do to stand out?

Then the only way is for the Eight Immortals to cross the sea and show their magical powers. In order to survive, any insidious tricks can be used, and there is no bottom line.

Without competition, it will create a monopoly and harm users; if the competition is too fierce, in order to survive, companies will launch some things that harm the rights and interests of users but can save their lives, which will still hurt users.

In the next few years, many industries and companies will be swinging between two extremes.

Zhou Buqi said helplessly: "We are good at solving problems, but not good at raising them. This is the fundamental reason. There is so much homogeneity and competition is so fierce just because the vast majority of entrepreneurs lack the innovative thinking to adapt to changes. I couldn’t ask my own questions. Seeing that the questions raised by others were good, I rushed in and solved them together.”

Zhang Yinlei said: "Yes, it's just like the gas station theory you mentioned."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "I am also paraphrasing it. It was said by Lao Liu, Liu Qiangdong of JD.com. There is nothing we can do about it. The general environment is like this."

As an e-commerce company, JD.com faces a complex competitive situation that is not as unprecedented as Fantuan.com, but it is still fierce.

Liu Qiangdong always complains.

After talking a lot, Zhou Buqi learned it and took the story of this gas station as an example.

It was a Jew who opened a gas station in one place and made money; another Jew found out about it and opened a supermarket there, supplementing the ecology of the gas station and also made money; another Jew went there and opened a restaurant; and then , hotels, auto repair centers, bathhouses, and bars were all built, turning it into a small town.

Everyone makes money.

If we encounter this situation in China and find that a person is making money by opening a gas station, he will run over and open a gas station too. The third man went over and opened another gas station. Soon, the ten kilometers around were filled with gas stations, and no one could make any money!

Wang Xing said: "So what I admire the most is the campus network. If possible... the campus network should try to guide college students to change from a problem-solving mindset to a problem-posing mindset."

"Your demands are too high." Zhou Buqi twitched his lips, "How can a small website have so much energy? You go walking around on the street, and a child keeps asking this and that. The adults became impatient and stopped asking him."

Wang Xing nodded, "However, this is not the main reason why Fantuan.com is not favored by the industry."

"what is that?"

“If you don’t fit in with the crowd, you will be considered an alien.”

"Um?"

"It's more complicated." Wang Xing glanced at Zhang Yinlei and decided to speak for himself, "Both of us believe that we shouldn't collude with them, it would be a bit disrespectful. Just like Mr. Wu holding hands, I heard that in private It’s all sarcastic, saying that you don’t understand technology and can only be sales-driven.”

"Whatever they say." Zhou Buqi laughed, "What's going on with the conspiracy?"

Wang Xing said: "Groupon's listing was blocked because the financial report it gave was not stable and beautiful enough, which made the US Securities Regulatory Commission very worried about the company's growth prospects. This is also the case with Lashou.com and Wowotuan. If they can't give a Even if they go to Nasdaq to apply for an IPO with beautiful reports, they won’t be able to get it approved.”

Zhou Buqi suddenly figured it out and opened his eyes wide, "What do you mean? It's not financial fraud, right?"

"right."

Wang Xing responded affirmatively.

Zhang Yinlei said: "Data cannot speak. These group buying companies will disclose some data every quarter, and the same goes for Fantuan.com. If there are obvious contradictions between the data of various companies, it is easy to analyze. There must be inaccurate data for some companies." In this regard, Nuomi deserves praise. The model produced by their data is very similar to that of Fantuan.com. However, the data models produced by Lashou, Wowo, and other group buying sites are very exaggerated."

"To go public?"

"Some are for financing, some are for listing. Others are to help Lashou and Wowotuan go public. The Internet is a big circle, and we need to help each other."