161: Chapter 161 The Takeout War is Halted

A few hours later.

Langchao Group, Qin Mo's office.

Lin Xiao was standing in front of the desk, reporting the latest data on Pinxixi Flash Buy.

"Pinduoduo was the first e-commerce platform to integrate the takeout business, quite a bit earlier than JD.com and Taobao."

"Because we seized the time window, combined with the fact that our discount levels have been maintained at a relatively high level, and the fact that Pinduoduo's own social fission is still continuously acquiring new users, the popularity remains high."

"Therefore."

"Currently, Pinxixi Flash Buy's share of the takeout market has stabilized at around forty-five percent."

He turned to the next page, his finger stopping on a number.

"It is basically on par with Taobao Flash Buy, and the gap between the two sides is very small."

Just as he was about to continue, Qin Mo's phone rang.

Looking at the number on the phone, Qin Mo frowned, then raised a hand, and while Lin Xiao stopped, he answered the call.

The call did not last long and ended quickly.

After a while, having hung up, Qin Mo placed the phone on the desk.

He shook his head helplessly.

"So that's how it is."

"Liu Qiang gained the most benefits, so this must be a tactic from Taobao. This Ma Kun, he was actually willing to use such a method."

"Boss, what's wrong?"

Seeing Qin Mo's expression, Lin Xiao was also a bit puzzled.

Qin Mo leaned back in his chair and pondered for a moment.

"Go to Jincheng for me this afternoon."

"It's actually not a big deal, just to attend a meeting."

He paused.

"Also, that final blockbuster feature for Pinxixi Flash Buy is about ready to go live."

Lin Xiao was stunned for a moment.

"Although that feature has been fully developed, didn't we say before that we would wait until the takeout war ended naturally before launching it?"

"Why advance the timeline?"

Qin Mo nodded.

"That's right, that was the original plan."

"But the takeout war is already coming to an end."

...

Time came to the next day.

Netizens who were prepared to continue "wool-gathering" habitually opened the takeout portals of the three e-commerce platforms.

But they soon discovered something.

Overnight.

The low-price promotions that once covered the entire screen had almost all disappeared.

The full-reduction coupons were still there, but the amounts had shrunk significantly; the 1.9 yuan milk tea was gone, the 0.9 yuan coffee had disappeared, and the free-meal promotions for new users had also been removed, reverting back to plain, ordinary discounts.

Moreover, this was not the case for just one platform; Pinduoduo, Taobao, and JD.com had all stopped simultaneously, which was clearly pre-arranged.

But one must know.

The takeout war had only just begun a few days ago, so how could it have ended already?

Just when countless netizens were wondering what exactly had happened.

At 10 a.m. that day, a search term was hung directly at the top of the Weibo trending list.

This search term did not have any ranking numbers like one or two; it simply parachuted directly into the top spot, even ranking higher than the number one spot below it.

Everyone who clicked on the trending search understood the style of this entry; this was an official action.

Only official trending searches had this style, independent of the platform's popularity mechanism.

And this search term contained only one sentence.

"Consumer regulatory departments summon the three major takeout platforms for talks."

The content inside was very brief.

The authorities believed that the subsidies in this takeout war were too aggressive, exceeding the scope of normal market competition and violating the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.

The three platforms were selling at prices below cost, squeezing the survival space of small and medium-sized merchants, while also unreasonably compressing delivery fees for riders.

The final resolution was for the three takeout platforms to simultaneously stop excessive subsidy behaviors and restore normal market price order.

The comments section below this trending search was filled with wailing.

"I hadn't even had a chance to 'wool-gather' yet, and it's just gone? Yesterday I said I was going to stock up on a week's worth of fried chicken today, but opening the app, I found the prices had all gone back up, and the full-reduction coupons had shrunk by more than half."

"From start to finish, it was less than ten days. This is probably the shortest war in the internet industry. The last takeout war at least lasted a few months; this one didn't even last two weeks."

"Who on earth reported this? Dare to stand up! I just registered new accounts on three platforms and hadn't even had a chance to use them, and all the discounts are gone!"

On JD.com's side, although the authorities did not disclose the whistleblower after the talks, Liu Qiang just thought about it for a moment and knew that this was clearly Taobao's doing.

Since they didn't have the money to continue with the subsidies, they went straight to the regulatory authorities, pulling the rug out from under everyone.

All platforms were forcibly pulled back to the same starting line, and the takeout war instantly lost the foundation to continue.

JD.com focused on quality dine-in; its takeout prices were already more expensive. Now, without large-scale subsidies to support it, the price gap returned to the range of user perception.

However.

Although the takeout war had been halted.

Secretly subsidizing was still possible, but it was no longer possible to blatantly grab market share with one-cent takeout meals as before.

And this level of secret subsidy was acceptable to Taobao.

Soon.

Netizens also noticed that although Taobao and JD.com no longer had super low-price takeout activities, if one looked carefully, one could still find some coupons secretly hidden in corner positions.

The intensity was naturally not comparable to the war period, but they were at least usable.

None of the platforms were willing to just hand over market share like that; on the surface, they stopped subsidies, but secretly they were still burning money, just at a much smaller scale.

But on Pinduoduo's side, it seemed as if nothing was prepared.

JD.com and Taobao were both secretly issuing coupons to maintain user engagement, but the Pinxixi Flash Buy interface was clean; there were no free meals for new users, and the full-reduction coupons for old users had shrunk to the same level as the regular discounts on other platforms.

Just when many people felt.

That Pinduoduo had chosen to give up after the takeout war was halted.

Just at 8 p.m. that evening.

Pinduoduo pushed a routine update to major app stores.

The update description had only one sentence.

"Pinxixi Flash Buy's brand new channel, Pin Hao Fan, is officially live."