Chapter 109 - 101: Your Success Is Their Failure, Your Failure Is Their Success?
On February 18th, the day after the Lantern Festival, several of Gaopeng Network’s flash sale items were mixed into the Super Rebates product pool and went on sale.
"What’s this? A KFC Family Bucket, original price 89 yuan, with a 17.8 yuan rebate, for a final price of just 71.2 yuan?"
Far away in Hu City, Zhang Peng opened FoxTao as usual and browsed the 10 AM flash sale on Super Rebates with great interest.
Ever since he got a free Apple phone through the "bargain down to zero" feature, his loyalty to FoxTao had reached a new level.
He now not only bought clothes, socks, and underwear from the site, but also picked out instant noodles, snacks, and shampoo from the Super Rebates channel. His user level had risen to F2.
Moreover, he had also turned several of his dorm mates into loyal FoxTao users.
"Brother Peng, how much did you just say that Family Bucket was?" asked a guy sitting behind him, cleaning out his ear with a look of utter surprise.
"The final price is 71.2 yuan. That’s 20% off!" Zhang Peng confirmed, his tone certain.
"Damn! Brother Peng, send me the link, quick! It normally costs 113 yuan if you order it at the restaurant. This is almost half off!"
His roommate shook Zhang Peng’s shoulder, urging him on impatiently.
"Alright, I’ll send it to the group chat." Without hesitating, Zhang Peng immediately sent the link to their dorm’s QQ group.
"Zhen Gongfu’s shiitake mushroom and chicken combo is a great deal! Only 12.8 yuan, four yuan cheaper than a Group Buy deal. FoxTao is really something else. This price is insane!"
The other roommates said excitedly as they clicked into Gaopeng Network’s Brand Group Buy section.
"I just discovered that FoxTao’s Partner Rebates section added Elong Travel. From now on, we can get another 3-5% off when booking hotels, or buying attraction tickets and train tickets."
Zhang Peng added casually after he was done browsing.
"You can get a discount on train tickets too? Holy shit! Badass!" Hearing this, his roommates hurriedly found Elong Travel in the Partner Rebates section and started exploring it.
On the first day Gaopeng Network went live, its four flash sale items sold a total of 93,000 orders, and its over 400 regular items sold a cumulative 77,000 orders, for a combined total of 170,000 orders.
The total sales volume reached a staggering 9.02 million yuan!
These results not only shocked the participating brands like KFC, Zhen Gongfu, and Little Fatty Sheep, but also stunned competitors like Meituan and Lashou.
Although the flash sale items caused Gaopeng Network to lose over two million yuan in a single day, it brought in more than 18,000 new customers and increased its market share.
If that money had been spent on search engine marketing and subway posters, it definitely wouldn’t have had this kind of effect.
On the second day, sales were 7.36 million yuan. It was a slight decline, but still astounding.
On the third day, sales were 5.17 million yuan.
In three days, Gaopeng Network’s sales reached 21.55 million yuan, more than its entire previous month and equivalent to over 30% of Lashou Network’s monthly sales.
Meanwhile, Gaopeng Network’s costs were only 6.7 million yuan, yielding an ROI of over 3. It acquired 70,000 new customers, far exceeding the results of previous advertising campaigns.
Sitting in Room 206, Chen Yansen first received a call from Meituan, then Lashou Network and WoWo Group. Finally, even QQ Group Buy reached out. They all wanted to replicate Gaopeng Network’s Brand Group Buy strategy.
Chen Yansen agreed to all of them. Whoever offered the highest advertising fee would get to go live first.
’He knew full well that the investors behind these Group Buy sites were loaded. If he just took a small piece of the pie, he could easily rake in tens of millions.’
However, there was a downside to working with Group Buy sites. The commission was only settled after users redeemed their Group Buy vouchers, meaning a payment cycle of over three months, which was far worse than Taobao’s one-month cycle or the two-month cycle for B2C platforms.
Song Yuncheng was in charge of the Gaopeng Network project. At this rate, the earliest she could get her commission would be early June.
"Brother Sen, new user acquisition was 600,000 yesterday, and our DAU broke the 1.5 million mark for the first time. Zihao said that at the current growth rate, our DAU could reach 2 million before the end of Q1."
Hu Yun reported earnestly, holding his laptop as he sat to Chen Yansen’s right.
"New customers make up 40% of that. We’re still too reliant on the ’bargain down to zero’ feature and the paid acquisition team. Find some time to talk to Zhuang Rui. We need to reactivate old customers—those who haven’t placed an order in seven days and those who haven’t logged in for thirty. We paid good money to acquire them; we can’t just let them gather dust."
Chen Yansen instructed Hu Yun with a frown.
"Okay, Brother Sen. I’ve already mentioned this to Zhuang Rui. Once he’s finished with the ’1-Yuan Purchase’ acquisition plan, we’re planning to use the new-customer-exclusive template to launch a targeted subsidy campaign for those two user groups to bring them back."
Hu Yun nodded and replied calmly.
"Alright, got it." Chen Yansen nodded and waved his hand.
"I’ll get back to work then, Brother Sen." Hu Yun stood up, went over to the product team, and pulled Zhuang Rui toward a conference room.
Chen Yansen opened up the UI design for the "1-Yuan Purchase" feature. The color scheme was predominantly dark gold. Existing users could get a chance to buy a product for one yuan by inviting a new user who then placed an order. New users could participate as soon as they registered.
The products on the page were high-commission items secured by the business development team, with commissions ranging from 50% to as high as 100%. For example, a newly founded cake e-commerce platform not only gave away free cakes but also offered an additional 30-yuan reward for every new customer.
The products were priced around 20-30 yuan. On average, it cost 20 yuan to get a new user to complete the entire rebate process.
While users waited for their rebates, a series of exclusive digital coupons and subsidies could be used to guide them to explore FoxTao’s other features like Super Rebates, 9.9-Yuan Deals, Search Rebates, and Partner Rebates. This would increase the repeat purchase rate and lower the overall acquisition cost.
’How is FoxTao’s DAU supposed to increase if I don’t spend the 560 million from the Series A funding?’
When it came to spending money, Chen Yansen never held back.
Between the "bargain down to zero" feature, the referral program, the "1-yuan purchase" promotion, and advertising, he planned to spend 100 million yuan per month to stabilize the DAU at 3 million within half a year.
’What if the money runs out?’
’Just raise more funding!’
’Look at the group-buy wars, or the future ride-hailing wars—which one didn’t involve burning through investors’ cash like crazy? Sure, your equity stake gets diluted, but as long as the pie gets bigger, the founder’s net worth skyrockets.’
’Equity is only meaningful when the valuation is going up.’
After finishing up, Chen Yansen glanced at the time and called for Wang Zihao to head out with him.
"Pick someone sharp from the team and start training them. Don’t spend all day staring at ad creatives, spending, and data. Spend more time thinking about strategy. Delegate the execution and just manage the overall direction."
Chen Yansen advised him earnestly, having noticed something was off about Wang Zihao’s work methods.
"Brother Sen, we’re spending tens of millions a month on ads right now. I can’t rest easy if I’m not watching it closely."
Wang Zihao took the car keys with a wry smile and got into the driver’s seat.
"It’s only tens of millions. If I asked you to manage a hundred million in ad spend a day, are you going to stay up 24/7?"
Chen Yansen retorted irritably.
"My heart isn’t as strong as yours. You’ve got to give me some time to adjust." Wang Zihao chuckled, started the BMW, and drove toward the city center.
"Zhao Maolin approaching us for a partnership is a good thing for FoxTao. It fills our gap in phone bill top-ups."
Chen Yansen said with a light chuckle from the passenger seat.
"Just a 1% commission. So stingy!" Wang Zihao curled his lip in disdain.
"You think I care about that tiny margin? Once we land Telecom, it’ll be easier to negotiate with Mobile and Unicom."
Chen Yansen revealed part of his thinking.
The terms Zhao Maolin offered FoxTao were a 1% rebate on phone bill top-ups and a 2% rebate on data plan top-ups. For 2011, this was barely acceptable.
More than a decade later, there would be phone top-ups with 10% or even 20% discounts, but Chen Yansen wouldn’t dare offer them. Who knew when he might end up in jail for it.
’I’ll use this opportunity to apply for a payment license first. Even if I don’t use it myself, in a few years when the authorities start strictly controlling the number of licenses, I can sell it at a premium and make a fortune.’
Chen Yansen narrowed his eyes, calculating silently.
Half an hour later, the car pulled up in front of a China Telecom branch office.
Zhao Maolin had been waiting for a while. He stood at the entrance to greet them with Gu Wenwen, a broad smile on his face.
The last time Chen Yansen and Wang Zihao came, they had only managed to meet Zhao Maolin by bluffing their way past Gu Wenwen.
This time, the reception was completely different.
Watching Chen Yansen get out of the car, Zhao Maolin thought to himself with a sigh, ’I really didn’t misjudge him.’
In just six months, Chen Yansen had already made a name for himself in the Business Community. His company was valued at several billion yuan, and its growth rate was beyond imagination.
"Brother Zhao, it’s cold out. I’d feel terrible if you caught a chill waiting for us," Chen Yansen said, stepping forward to shake Zhao Maolin’s hand with familiar warmth.
"You and Zihao are like my own brothers. Waiting a few minutes is nothing. Come on, let’s talk inside."
Zhao Maolin laughed heartily, pulling Chen Yansen along while waving to Wang Zihao. The three of them walked inside, talking and laughing.
Before, he had called Chen Yansen "little brother" out of politeness. Now, when others called him "Brother Zhao," it was to show him respect.
Gu Wenwen followed behind, a smile on her face as she watched Chen Yansen. ’She’d never imagined it either. Just six months ago, the two of them were selling phone cards at Xuyuan. In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a business genius with an annual income of hundreds of millions.’
’At this thought, her heart stirred and her cheeks flushed slightly. Back then, Chen Yansen had teased her quite a bit.’
Once inside the office, Zhao Maolin gestured for the two to sit while he went to boil water for tea.
"The head office has a precedent for cooperating with Ah Li and Penguin. If this deal goes through, I’ll have a chance to move up from my current position. So really, you two are helping me out. Tonight, Star of the Milky Way is on me."
Zhao Maolin explained with a smile, holding the tea.
He had extensive connections within China Telecom but lacked performance results. After much consideration, he decided to use Chen Yansen as his ladder to climb higher.
"This partnership benefits FoxTao too. It’s mutual support. If you keep talking like that, Brother Zhao, I won’t come next time," Chen Yansen said, pretending to be displeased and putting on a stern face.
’You son of a bitch,’ Zhao Maolin thought with contempt. ’Did you ever come back even once after taking your commission from the campus cards?’
But he didn’t let it show on his face. He sat down next to Chen Yansen and they finalized all the details of the partnership, including the scope, profit-sharing ratio, and settlement cycle.
"I’ll take the contract back and have our legal team look it over. If there are no issues, we’ll sign it and get started on developing and testing the top-up feature right away."
Chen Yansen handed the contract to Wang Zihao, motioning for him to put it away safely.
In the initial phase, they would use a direct integration model, where FoxTao users making a top-up would first be redirected to a landing page managed by China Telecom.
FoxTao would only track the order to provide the rebate to the user.
Once Chen Yansen obtained a payment license, he would integrate a third-party payment platform, allowing users to pay within FoxTao and then push the order information to China Telecom.
Just as Zhao Maolin had said, the head office had a precedent for such partnerships, so there was no need to worry about their approval, especially since he had already smoothed things over in advance.
"Brother Zhao, I heard the China Telecom online store has a batch of smartphone inventory..."
Chen Yansen left his sentence unfinished, saying just enough. He knew Zhao Maolin was a sharp man and didn’t need it spelled out.
"The online store is managed directly by the head office. I can try to talk to them for you, but I can’t promise anything. Our system is full of more bureaucrats than you can shake a stick at."
Zhao Maolin frowned, a difficult expression on his face.
"Your success is their failure, and your failure is their success?" Chen Yansen understood instantly and quipped with a smile.
"Glad you understand. This brother of yours will do his best. If it doesn’t work out this time, just wait half a year, and I’ll definitely get it done for you."
Zhao Maolin said, full of confidence.
Chen Yansen smiled, understanding the unspoken meaning. ’In half a year, Zhao Maolin’s boss’s position would likely change, and this promotion for Zhao Maolin was probably an opportunity given by that same boss.’
It wasn’t until five in the afternoon that Chen Yansen and Wang Zihao tried to take their leave, but Zhao Maolin refused to let them go. He insisted on taking them to Star of the Milky Way, and since they couldn’t refuse, the two had no choice but to follow his car.
Just like last time, they entered an incredibly luxurious private room.
The manager led in a dozen young, scantily clad women who walked toward them in a swaying line.