129: Chapter 129 The Ultimate Winner of Fruit and Vegetable E-commerce

Listening to Qin Mo's voice, both of them nodded.

Although Zhao Lei still didn't completely understand, he knew that his boss could not be wrong.

Even though he was currently in charge of Douyin, he just liked to pay attention to other projects whenever he had free time.

After hearing Qin Mo finish this sentence, Zhao Lei suddenly thought of something.

"By the way, Boss," he said. "There is one more thing I don't understand. Why did we take the initiative to reveal this market information to Meituan and let them enter the game as well?"

Beside him, Lin Xiao's eyes held the same confusion.

Qin Mo leaned back against his chair. Instead of answering directly, he asked a question in return.

"What do you think," he asked, "is the final evolutionary form of fruit and vegetable e-commerce?"

Both of them shook their heads simultaneously. Now that the blue ocean of fruit and vegetable e-commerce had just been discovered, how could they know what this blue ocean would eventually become?

"It is localized delivery service," Qin Mo said slowly.

"Except for fruit and vegetables from certain specific seasons or specific regions, the competitiveness of e-commerce platforms simply cannot compare to localized delivery."

"A rider delivering within two hours versus being jostled on the road for two days—the difference in quality is too great."

"The outside world doesn't realize this point yet because low prices have temporarily distracted users from noticing the damage caused to fruits and vegetables by long-distance delivery."

"For fruit and vegetables of the same quality, most users would be willing to pay an extra two or three yuan for same-day delivery rather than waiting several days for something that isn't fresh."

"When the price advantage is not obvious enough, the gap in quality of fruits and vegetables will be magnified."

Seeing that the two of them only half-understood, Qin Mo continued to explain.

"Even if we didn't say anything, Meituan would eventually realize this point themselves, and they possess the largest localized delivery service."

"Ele.me belongs to Anli Group, and Meituan has been fighting for market share against Ele.me. Facing a common opponent, we can naturally cooperate."

"Since fruit and vegetable e-commerce will ultimately come down to localization, why don't we tell Meituan earlier? They can capture the market before Ele.me reacts, and they will also be able to feel our goodwill."

Listening to Qin Mo's words, Lin Xiao finally understood. He nodded while looking at Qin Mo, his eyes filled with immense admiration.

"I understand. The final big winner in this market can only be Meituan or Ele.me, and we can end the competition between them ahead of time!"

"That's right," Qin Mo nodded, then changed the subject.

"And furthermore," he continued, "Pinduoduo will also be able to establish a foothold in the fruit and vegetable market. We will be the only platform that still holds market share in the ordinary fruit and vegetable e-commerce market."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Lei looked at him with some confusion.

"But Boss, didn't you just say that the evolutionary form of fruit and vegetable e-commerce is localized service?"

"Since it will eventually be replaced by localized delivery like Meituan, how can Pinduoduo still stand firm in the fruit and vegetable market? At that time, there should only be an e-commerce market for certain specific categories and regions of fruits and vegetables, right?"

Qin Mo nodded. "Normally, that is the case, but that is on the premise that the price advantage is not significant. However, the direction Pinduoduo has chosen can still survive on the e-commerce side."

Having said that, he reached out and pushed the fruit plate on his desk forward.

It was a glass fruit plate piled with some strawberries. The ones on top were quite large, evenly red, and were the kind sold for the highest prices in supermarkets.

Qin Mo moved those large strawberries aside and reached his fingers to the bottom of the fruit plate to rummage through it.

Soon, he picked out a very small strawberry from the very bottom. It was only the size of a thumb, and its shape was quite irregular. Placed together with the large strawberries on top, it was obviously the kind that had been picked over and left behind.

He held the small strawberry and placed it in front of the two of them. "Have you ever eaten this kind of strawberry?"

Zhao Lei took one look and shook his head; Lin Xiao also shook his head and said,

"Such small strawberries would be screened out during the picking process."

Zhao Lei also spoke up. "Fruit farmers wouldn't let this size of fruit enter the market. They can't fetch a good price, and it wouldn't even cover the shipping costs."

"Even if they were actually collected by someone, they would probably be used to feed pets or make jam."

Qin Mo put the strawberry into his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed.

"But do you know what? Its taste is no different from those large strawberries; the only difference is that it is much smaller."

He pushed the fruit plate back to its original position.

"Many people have never eaten a strawberry in their entire lives."

"It's not because they don't like them, but because in those towns and rural markets, there has never been a strawberry prepared for them."

"Merchants won't stock this kind of fruit that doesn't fetch a good price and lacks appearance, and supermarkets certainly won't open stores in those places."

"There is demand and production for this kind of low-quality fruit and vegetables, but there is simply no channel to connect the two."

"And the only non-localized fruit and vegetable e-commerce that can survive is this very channel."

Lin Xiao and Zhao Lei didn't speak, listening quietly. And Qin Mo's voice continued.

"Pinduoduo's final fruit and vegetable channel doesn't need the fastest delivery or the most beautiful fruit; it only needs two things: extremely low prices and acceptable quality."

Qin Mo leaned back against his chair. "And this is also the final form of Pinduoduo."

"Apart from fruits and vegetables, most of our goods are also prepared for them."

After finishing, Qin Mo recalled his past life.

In his past life, for the sake of extreme low prices, many of Pinduoduo's products couldn't even be called low quality—they had no quality at all, reaching the level of fraud.

Many fruits and vegetables were almost inedible. Having acceptable quality and being inedible are different concepts; the sinking market does not want things that can only be fed to pigs after being bought.

Therefore, in this world, at least regarding the quality of goods and fruits and vegetables, he would ensure it.

Meanwhile, while Langchao Group was waiting for Taobao's moves and preparing to officially launch Pinduoduo at any moment,

over the past two days on the Great Xia internet, apart from the discussions about fruit and vegetable e-commerce, there was another matter that couldn't be called huge, but which many people were paying attention to.

The Wuzhen Summit, led by Old Ma, was taking place the very next day.