128: Chapter 128 Penguins are here too? The entire internet of the Great Xia Kingdom is in complete chaos.

In the following days.

E-commerce platforms like JD.com and Suning successively launched fruit and vegetable portals.

Some took the boutique route, using labels like organic certification and farm-to-table shipping, while others focused on specialty fruits, dealing only in imported fruits and high-end categories.

Most still chose a low-price strategy, directly adopting the tactics used by Pinhaohuo.

Even Meituan suddenly announced it was joining the fray.

But they were not doing nationwide fruit and vegetable e-commerce delivery; instead, they focused on localized delivery. Relying on their existing network of riders, after a user placed an order, a rider would go to a nearby partner supermarket to pick up the goods and deliver them within an hour.

This model was completely different from the tactics of e-commerce platforms, but the entry point was quite precise. Meituan naturally had an inherent advantage in this regard.

However, because the invested capital was not enough to support significant discounts, the momentum of Meituan's delivery model was currently no match for the fruit and vegetable portals of the major e-commerce platforms.

Besides that, even QQ launched a fruit and vegetable e-commerce purchasing portal!

This move surprised many people; Tencent and fruit and vegetable e-commerce had absolutely nothing to do with each other, yet they actually came to get involved.

After QQ launched the fruit and vegetable e-commerce portal, the relevant search terms shot straight to the top of the trending list, and the comment section was shocked by Pony Ma's actions.

"Pony Ma really pounces on every new trend he sees. It looks like the alliance of valiant arms and dota 2 really did cause Tencent to lose quite a bit."

"Even with such a completely unrelated connection, Tencent still wants to get involved. Is this fruit and vegetable e-commerce market really that big?"

"In my opinion, Pony Ma is just looking for the next window that can bring in a large number of users."

After Tencent entered the fray, for a time, almost the entire Great Xia internet set its sights on this fruit and vegetable e-commerce market.

But whether this market was truly that big, and how many platforms it could actually support, the capital following the trend was not sure.

There was only one reason they did this! That is, Qin Mo was the first to enter this market, and he had even acquired JD.com's logistics lines and warehousing in advance to prepare. When he entered, he was even very careful, fearing he would be discovered!

These various actions were enough to show how much importance Qin Mo placed on this market!

And one must know, up until now, Qin Mo's vision had never been wrong!

Therefore, even if they couldn't see through the fog on this blue ocean, these capital firms still chose to get on board first and follow Qin Mo.

If the blue ocean market for fruits and vegetables was truly incredible, they wouldn't fall too far behind.

As numerous capital firms entered the fray, time continued to slip away amidst this seemingly noisy scramble.

In the process, the users of the major e-commerce platforms were the ones who really profited.

Various one-yuan-per-jin fruit and vegetable deals were just the beginning. Later on, many platforms even started promotions like ten-yuan durians.

Moreover, because this was the initial stage of capturing the market and they couldn't afford any issues with their reputation, these fruits and vegetables were not inferior products; the quality was quite good.

Almost every day, people on major internet platforms were discussing how to get more deals.

Among the various activities and promotions, the one with the most investment and the largest scale was naturally Taobao.

Taobao had the financial backing of Anli Group, a bargaining chip that other followers didn't possess. The subsidy level for its fruit and vegetable portal was maxed out from the very beginning: free first orders for new users, stacked discounts for existing users, and zero price difference for farm-to-table shipping.

And so on. The effect of pouring money into these activities was immediate.

Just one week after launching the fruit and vegetable portal, Taobao's official blog announced that the number of core users for the portal had exceeded five million.

Five million users had made at least two or more fruit and vegetable purchases, and the repurchase rate was quite astonishing.

This battle report quickly shot to the top of the Weibo trending list, and the number of comments exploded instantly.

"Holy crap, is this the scale of Taobao? They got five million users buying fruits and vegetables in just a week?"

"Although five million isn't much compared to Taobao's entire user base, it's already quite incredible. After all, it's only been a week!"

Besides being shocked by this number, most of the comments were expressing pity for Pinhaohuo.

"Pinhaohuo was the first to discover the blue ocean, but they couldn't keep it hidden. Once Taobao discovered it, they were immediately crushed."

"This is the ruthlessness of the internet. Even if you discover a blue ocean first, the capital that enters later can invest crazily to surpass you."

"It really is a pity."

However, there were also a few doubtful voices among these comments.

"Pinhaohuo has the shadow of Langchao Group behind it, and Langchao Group isn't short on money. But why has Pinhaohuo been so restrained in its promotional investment? Even when Taobao entered the fray, they didn't launch any exaggerated subsidy activities?"

This comment was drowned out in the overwhelming discussion, and not many people noticed it.

... Just the day after Taobao officially announced that its core fruit and vegetable e-commerce users had exceeded five million, at Langchao Group, Lin Xiao and Zhao Lei pushed open the door and walked into Qin Mo's office together, their faces showing an irrepressible excitement.

"It's enough." Lin Xiao placed a data report in front of Qin Mo.

"Our Pinhaohuo core user group has exceeded one million. With the help of full-scale advertising on Douyin, we finally achieved this. It wasn't easy."

He flipped to the last page of the report. "The goods from all major warehouses have been fully integrated, and the logistics lines are also ready."

"For the previous Pinhaohuo, we only utilized a very small portion of our logistics and warehousing. Now, all nodes have been rolled out, and we can support a magnitude of ten million users at any time."

"We can proceed to the next step now." Lin Xiao pushed up his glasses, and both he and Zhao Lei looked somewhat excited.

"Can we start updating Pinhaohuo and launch Pinduoduo?"

But Qin Mo leaned back in his chair and slowly shook his head.

"Wait a little longer, it's not urgent yet."

Hearing this, both of them were stunned for a moment. Lin Xiao spoke up, "We still have to wait?" He was a bit puzzled.

"Because our subsidy level for Pinhaohuo isn't very high, the growth of core users has been very slow in the last few days. If we keep waiting, we might even lose users."

Qin Mo picked up the coffee on the table and took a sip. "It won't be long."

"Taobao has already tasted the sweetness, and soon it will have absolutely no concerns."

"And for a company of Taobao's scale, once it has taken the first step, even if it immediately discovers a trap under its feet, it won't be able to stop due to inertia and sunk costs; it will have to step on the trap and keep moving forward."

He put down the coffee cup. "When they are completely unable to stop, that is the time for us to make our move."

"By then, we will be able to snatch a significant amount of time for Pinduoduo."

Zhao Lei and Lin Xiao looked at each other and nodded, seemingly understanding yet not quite. "Boss, we'll listen to you."

"But how much longer do we have to wait?" Qin Mo looked out the window, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

"It won't be too long. I'm afraid it will be within these two days. Taobao will completely throw itself into fruit and vegetable e-commerce."