149: Chapter 148 Another Trap? I dare not enter easily!

Meanwhile.

Inside the office of Liu Qiang at the JD.com headquarters.

Liu Qiang leaned back in his chair, holding his phone in his hand.

On the screen was the homepage of Pinduoduo's Flash Sale channel, where a list of merchants—identical to those on Meituan Delivery—stretched for several pages right before his eyes.

His brows were slightly furrowed.

You have to understand.

For almost all e-commerce platforms, the 618 Shopping Festival is one of the most important milestones of the year.

Because Pinduoduo suddenly launched its "10 Billion Subsidy" campaign, major e-commerce platforms had been scrambling to respond over the past few days, at least by lowering the prices of already discounted goods a little further; otherwise, they would be no match for Pinduoduo in a price war.

In order to protect their platforms while maintaining profitability, every company had to rush to contact major brand manufacturers to demand more room for discounts.

Pinduoduo's sudden launch of the "10 Billion Subsidy" had left those of them who had been in the e-commerce business for years feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

But he never expected that at this critical juncture, Pinduoduo would add a food delivery channel in a routine update. How could Qin Mo possibly have the leisure to work on other things at such a time!

Even though he considered himself to have some understanding of Qin Mo, Liu Qiang was completely baffled at this moment.

Food delivery and e-commerce—two fields that had absolutely nothing to do with each other—how could he possibly combine them?

Just then.

The office door was pushed open, and Vice President Wang Bing of JD.com walked in quickly.

Liu Qiang looked up.

"Have you investigated it clearly?"

Vice President Wang Bing nodded and walked to the desk.

"It's been investigated."

"Pinduoduo's Flash Sale business was created in cooperation with Meituan, directly connecting to Meituan's interface and delivery network."

"And to achieve this step, it would likely be very difficult in a short period of time, so it's probable that before we even knew about it, Qin Mo had already sat down with Wang Xing and finished negotiations."

Speaking of which, he paused.

"And I just opened and compared them; the food delivery prices on Pinduoduo's Flash Sale are basically the lowest on the entire internet."

"They are a few yuan lower than Ele.me, and even lower than the prices on Meituan's own food delivery portal. It's Pinduoduo itself that is subsidizing it."

"Prices like these will even siphon off Meituan Delivery's own user base."

"Therefore."

"Pinduoduo has likely reached some kind of deep cooperation with Meituan, not just a simple interface integration."

Hearing this, Liu Qiang placed his phone on the table and leaned back into his chair.

He closed his eyes and began to ponder.

He recalled how Meituan had suddenly entered the fruit and vegetable e-commerce market previously. At that time, everyone thought it was because Wang Xing himself had seen the potential in that market.

And now.

Meituan had firmly secured the top spot in local fruit and vegetable delivery, pinning Ele.me's fruit and vegetable channel to the ground. It was likely that Meituan had already been in contact with Qin Mo back then.

Wang Xing entering the fruit and vegetable market was most likely information leaked by Qin Mo.

It was just that.

Liu Qiang stared at the Flash Sale entrance on the screen; he was truly confused.

Does it make sense for an e-commerce platform to integrate a food delivery portal?

Food delivery is Meituan's core business. For Wang Xing to open up Meituan Delivery's portal to an e-commerce platform is equivalent to putting his most core assets inside someone else's app.

He must have made this decision with great resolve, or perhaps even agreed to it only after some deep cooperative exchange conditions were met.

Liu Qiang did not believe this was just a casual attempt.

Qin Mo must have felt that this food delivery portal could bring huge positive returns to Pinduoduo, which is why he specifically launched it at such a critical time.

Vice President Wang Bing looked at Liu Qiang's pensive expression and asked cautiously.

"What should we do? Should we do something?"

After thinking, Liu Qiang shook his head.

"The 618 Shopping Festival is right around the corner. Even if we know there's something strange about this business, we can't do anything about it. We can only let nature take its course and wait and see for now."

"For e-commerce platforms, the 618 Shopping Festival is the most critical matter at hand. Even if Taobao has discovered this move by Pinduoduo, they can't do anything either; they can only watch for now."

"However, I believe that Qin Mo must have a reason for integrating Pinduoduo with the food delivery channel."

Liu Qiang picked up his phone again, looked at the Flash Sale entrance, and repeated a few words in a low voice.

Food delivery, flash sales, combined with e-commerce.

Other fields combined with e-commerce.

Why does this feel so familiar?

Thinking of this, Liu Qiang was suddenly stunned.

This so-called Pinduoduo Flash Sale was just too similar to the previous fruit and vegetable e-commerce!

Back then, when Qin Mo integrated fruits and vegetables into e-commerce, the commotion he made was even bigger than it is now, as if fruit and vegetable e-commerce was the next trillion-level blue ocean market.

But in reality.

Qin Mo was trying to lure Taobao into the game; the fruit and vegetable e-commerce market itself didn't actually have such a huge market presence!

A cold sweat instantly broke out on Liu Qiang's back.

Could this combination of food delivery and e-commerce be the same as the fruit and vegetable e-commerce, also a trap!

He told Vice President Wang Bing his guess.

Vice President Wang Bing was shocked and immediately nodded.

"It's very possible, because the two are too similar."

"If we blindly follow suit, perhaps we will suffer significant losses in the end."

"Perhaps this combination of e-commerce and food delivery is another trap designed by Pinduoduo for Taobao."

"However."

Vice President Wang Bing's tone held some doubt.

"Since we can see it, Taobao, having been fooled once, will definitely be able to see it too."

"They definitely won't dare to enter the game lightly again; they will surely wait and see first."

"And if..."

Vice President Wang Bing didn't continue, but Liu Qiang, who had a great tacit understanding with him, already knew what the second half of the sentence was going to be.

So he spoke up to continue it.

"If."

"This is what Qin Mo really wants?"

"Perhaps this Flash Sale really has a market, and it needs a first-mover advantage to seize it?"

After speaking, the two looked at each other. What if this layer was also calculated by Qin Mo long ago?

Thinking of this.

Liu Qiang felt his brain was about to burn out, and he reached out to rub his temples.

He realized that when it came to Qin Mo, he no longer dared to make any decisions lightly.

Every step the other party took looked like it only had one or two layers, but once you really pondered it, you would find that there might be a third or fourth layer underneath.

You think you are countering his moves, but in reality, he has anticipated your anticipation.

This has already fallen into a dead loop.

Finally.

Liu Qiang leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

"JD.com has never touched the food delivery field."

"If combining food delivery with e-commerce really has potential, we don't have the capital to enter the game; we don't have that delivery network, unless we build a rider system from scratch."

He thought for a moment and added another sentence.

"However, we can first make a differentiation plan."

"The general direction is to only do food delivery for dine-in restaurants, but just do preliminary research; no need to invest development resources yet."

Vice President Wang Bing nodded and left the office.

Liu Qiang leaned on the sofa, picked up the cup of tea that had been half-cold on the table, and took a sip.

The image of that young man appeared before his eyes again.

"Fortunately, I am not your opponent."

"Otherwise, I would really be led in circles by you forever..."

"Let Taobao worry about it."

At the same time.

Taobao and other e-commerce platforms also discovered the new entrance that had appeared on Pinduoduo's homepage.

Much like what Liu Qiang thought, they couldn't determine at all whether this was another trap.

Furthermore, the 618 Shopping Festival was right around the corner, and everyone's work was already packed. Taobao's final internal conclusion was to temporarily ignore Pinduoduo's Flash Sale channel and focus their energy on the upcoming 618 Shopping Festival.

And under the eager anticipation of countless internet users.

The last two days passed, and the 618 Shopping Festival finally arrived.

On the same day, Pinduoduo's "10 Billion Subsidy" channel was fully opened.

In an instant.

Countless users with shopping needs flooded into Pinduoduo, and into this "10 Billion Subsidy" channel that had appeared for the first time.

Combined with the countless Pinduoduo livestreaming rooms for product promotion that started broadcasting that day.

Pinduoduo's sales volume began to skyrocket at an incredibly exaggerated speed.