147: Chapter 147 Taobao's Forced Actions

That night, the official Pinduoduo Weibo account released a new announcement.

"The Pinduoduo 10 Billion Subsidy campaign is about to go live."

"All high-end electronics, digital products, beauty products, branded clothing, and more are already listed on Pinduoduo, and all have been integrated into the 10 Billion Subsidy zone."

"On 618, the 10 Billion Subsidy officially begins! For all authentic products, the platform will provide additional subsidies on top of existing discounts, making the prices the lowest on the entire web!"

"At the same time, all Douyin Mall live-streaming influencers have signed with Pinduoduo."

"On 618, all products in the live-streaming rooms will be integrated into the 10 Billion Subsidy system and broadcast on Pinduoduo; every item in these live streams will be at the lowest price on the entire web."

"You can enter the Pinduoduo 10 Billion Subsidy zone now to view all subsidized products and their final prices, so add your favorite items to your cart!"

Once this announcement was made.

The entire Great Xia internet instantly erupted, as the discount intensity of this 10 Billion Subsidy was truly immense.

Someone clicked into the 10 Billion Subsidy zone and took a look, only to discover that the latest smartphone with an official retail price of 2,000 was available on Pinduoduo for only 1,500!

For the same phone, the price after Taobao's 618 discount was still 1,700—it was a full 200 cheaper!

It wasn't just phones.

Tablets, imported milk powder, branded cosmetics, and so on—the final prices for almost all categories were significantly lower than Taobao's 618 discounted prices.

Someone specifically created a comparison table and posted it on Weibo, showing the price difference between identical items on Pinduoduo and Taobao. It listed forty or fifty rows from top to bottom, and Pinduoduo was lower in every single one.

This comparison table was shared over 300,000 times in half an hour.

The comment section was filled with shock.

"Damn, who said Pinduoduo only had budget products before? Doesn't it have high-end categories now? And they're starting off with super low prices!"

"I've been saving money for months for 618, just to get a new phone and tablet. I had already picked them out on Taobao, but I didn't expect Pinduoduo to be cheaper. Why would I hesitate?"

"10 Billion Subsidy—that's 10 billion! How could it not be cheap?"

"I've already added a bunch of items to my cart, just waiting for 618!"

"They have high-end goods, they have low-end goods, and everything is so cheap. Goodness, is Taobao really going to get crushed by Pinduoduo?"

...

Meanwhile.

That night.

Taobao held an emergency meeting internally.

After all, the Pinduoduo 10 Billion Subsidy campaign had caught them completely off guard.

There were more people in the conference room than last time.

Feng Haicang stood in front of the projector screen and looked down at Ma Kun.

"Our 618 campaign plans have already been fully released, and discount coupons have been distributed to users in advance."

"But now, Pinduoduo's final prices are nearly 10% cheaper than ours, and they've undercut us on all categories."

He paused.

"And it's not just that their prices are low; all the live-streaming influencers on Douyin have signed with Pinduoduo, and the live-streaming schedule for 618 is entirely integrated with the Pinduoduo Mall."

"This means Douyin's live-streaming e-commerce and Pinduoduo's backend have been fully integrated."

After Feng Haicang finished speaking, another executive leaned back in his chair, his tone filled with skepticism.

"Let's put other things aside for a moment."

"How did they manage to push their prices so low?"

"I've looked at the price difference for many items; if they are relying solely on platform subsidies to cover this gap, at the volume expected on 618, I'm afraid Pinduoduo would have to subsidize billions?"

"Could it be that Qin Mo really launched a 10 Billion Subsidy and is actually going to put up 10 billion?"

After this person finished speaking, Old Ma at the head of the table finally spoke.

"We already investigated this matter half an hour ago."

After saying this, Old Ma looked at Ma Kun beside him.

Ma Kun let out a long breath.

"Before this, Langchao Group contacted major brand manufacturers. Qin Mo even personally went to many places to negotiate partnerships and discounts with major brand distributors and even the manufacturers themselves."

"Pinduoduo signed guaranteed sales contracts with many merchants, using the high sales volume of 618 as leverage to get these merchants to lower their prices. Coupled with Pinduoduo's own contributions, they have indeed subsidized quite a bit."

"That is how their high-end goods are so cheap, and how they earned the title of '10 Billion Subsidy'."

Hearing this, the executive who had spoken earlier couldn't help but ask.

"Can we follow suit? If we drive our prices down to their level, wouldn't we be able to pull the users back?"

"Based on the current price difference, I'm afraid many Taobao users will go to Pinduoduo to shop on 618."

Ma Kun shook his head.

"Even if we wanted to follow, we don't have the money."

"Whether it's the losses from the fruit and vegetable market, building warehouses, or the red envelope subsidies to win back user reputation—each incident has caused significant losses for Taobao. With these things combined, there isn't much liquid capital left on the books."

There was another silence in the conference room.

Everyone's expression was grim. They had been in e-commerce for so many years and had fought all kinds of promotional wars, but never once had they faced a situation like this: knowing exactly what cards the opponent was playing, yet being unable to come up with the chips to match them.

But they couldn't just watch Pinduoduo steal all the 618 users.

Finally.

Ma Kun tapped his fingers on the table and spoke slowly.

"Give up profits."

Ma Kun looked up at the people in the conference room.

"Cut all profits from every category on the Taobao platform participating in 618. Lower the prices as much as possible; don't think about making money on the prices anymore."

"As long as we can narrow the price gap to a range that users can accept, we have a chance."

"After all, Taobao's user base is here, and user habits aren't changed in a day. As long as the price difference isn't absurdly large, most people will stay on their original platform."

Feng Haicang was stunned.

"Cut all profits? There are hundreds of categories participating in this 618—phones, home appliances, beauty, clothing. If we cut the profits on all of them, Taobao's financial report for this quarter will look terrible."

"Do you think we have any other choice?"

Ma Kun looked at him.

"If we don't cut profits and the price gap widens to this extent, the loss from user attrition will be greater than the loss of profits."

He paused.

"But you don't need to worry."

"This 10 Billion Subsidy definitely isn't a long-term campaign. No matter how rich Langchao Group is, they can't keep pouring tens or hundreds of billions in cash into it forever."

"As long as we survive this wave, once they stop the subsidies, prices will naturally return to normal, and we will still be the leader then."

"Furthermore, relying on our advantage in user volume, there is no way their sales volume for this year's 618 will catch up to ours."

Old Ma, sitting beside him, leaned back in his chair without speaking, his attitude one of tacit approval.

Seeing this.

Everyone nodded and said nothing more.

Feng Haicang picked up his documents and walked quickly out of the conference room to notify the operations departments of each category to adjust their campaign plans.

Having discussed it to this point, this was all they could do.

...

Meanwhile, over the following few days.

To build momentum, leveraging Douyin's comprehensive push, Pinduoduo launched an unprecedented marketing offensive. Almost every social media platform was constantly flooded with information about the 10 Billion Subsidy.

This time.

Langchao Group had invested unprecedented marketing funds and channels.

Offline.

Billboards in major cities, large screens on the exterior walls of shopping malls, and bus wraps were all replaced with advertisements for the Pinduoduo 10 Billion Subsidy.

The most prominent locations in shopping districts like Wangfujing, Nanjing Road, and Chunxi Road were all secured by Pinduoduo.

Online was even more exaggerated.

In addition to the opening screen recommendations on Douyin and Pinduoduo itself, Pinduoduo had also bought out the opening screen ads on most other social platforms.

Opening any app, the first thing one saw were the four big characters: 10 Billion Subsidy.

Weibo's trending list, Bilibili's feed, Zhihu's recommendation page—every spot where an ad could be placed was replaced with a Pinduoduo link.

At this moment.

Almost the entire internet's attention was drawn to this 10 Billion Subsidy campaign launched by Pinduoduo, and everyone was shocked by the intensity of the discounts.

And in a place no one noticed.

Just as the 10 Billion Subsidy was being aggressively promoted, three days quietly passed, and only two days remained until 618.

Pinduoduo pushed a routine update to major app stores.

The update notes contained only one line of text.

"Added Flash Sale channel, fully integrated with Meituan Delivery."

"Low-price subsidies are now active."