164: Chapter 164 Dead End?

At the same time, at Langchao Group.

The sound of footsteps in the corridor was fast and urgent, and two figures quickly pushed open the door to Qin Mo's office.

Zhao Lei walked in front, his face flushed red as he entered, the words in his mouth practically spat out as curses.

"Boss, Anli Group has gone too far!"

He sat on the sofa and slammed his phone onto the coffee table; the screen was still lit, displaying the announcement that Anli Group had just released.

"They actually cut off the Alipay payment interface directly!"

"All that talk about colluding with foreign forces, about data security reviews—it's all just an excuse, it's all slander!"

"They're just panicking because they see our shared meals service is about to take over the food delivery market and Pinduoduo is about to catch up to Taobao, so they've flipped the table. How can they be such sore losers!"

Lin Xiao followed him in, his expression equally grim.

He wasn't as agitated as Zhao Lei, but judging by his hand tightly clutching a file, he was also suppressing a lot of emotion.

Before them, Qin Mo stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, with his back to the door.

Outside the window was the night view of Shanghai, and in the office building opposite, several floors were still lit—those were the floors for the Langchao Group R&D department.

"Ma Kun, in the end, you still took this step." He muttered a few words.

After looking at those lit windows, Qin Mo slowly turned around and nodded at the two of them.

"I already know."

In fact, at the same time Alipay cut off the payment link, he had received an urgent report from the Pinduoduo department; the department manager had even contacted him directly.

After all, the impact of this matter was too great.

Currently, Alipay occupied the vast majority of online payment channels in the country, with a market share exceeding ninety-five percent!

The rest—the scattered wallet functions of various major software, whether it was Douyin payment or JD.com payment, etc.—all added together didn't even reach a fraction of Alipay's market share.

Over these years, it wasn't that no one had tried to challenge Alipay's position; dozens of large and small third-party payment tools had been launched, but all of them had sunk without a trace.

Many internet users had long been accustomed to using Alipay for payments.

In their eyes, paying online was synonymous with opening Alipay and scanning a code.

This habit had been formed ten years ago when Taobao rose to prominence, and it was deeply ingrained in their bones.

For many internet users, linking a bank card directly to other software made them feel unsafe, and even if those software had their own payment systems, few people were willing to use them.

Douyin payment was the best example.

Not long after Douyin launched, it built in its own payment function. The card-linking process was made very simple, and promotional activities were pushed every few days.

But after so much time had passed, the proportion of Douyin users who linked their cards to Douyin payment and used this system to pay was not even ten percent.

Every time an event ended, those users who had only linked their cards for a few dollars in discounts would unlink their bank cards and go back to using Alipay.

This move by Anli Group—not to mention Pinduoduo, almost all internet companies in Great Xia couldn't handle it. The three words "Alipay" almost represented the entire online payment system of Great Xia.

It was just like talking about instant messaging software; everyone only thought of QQ.

Moreover, for Langchao Group, there was another very important point.

From the first day it went online, Pinduoduo had taken root in the sinking market.

Many of the middle-aged and elderly users in county towns, townships, and rural areas couldn't even enter their own bank card numbers. Their Alipay had been set up by the young people in their families when they returned home for the New Year, and after it was set up, they had never changed any settings.

When they bought things, they would just click to scan and pay; they only recognized this one payment method.

Now that Alipay was cut off, this group of people was equivalent to directly disappearing from Pinduoduo.

They wouldn't link cards, they didn't trust other payment channels, and it was even less likely that they would go out of their way to learn how to use mobile banking just to buy things on Pinduoduo.

Meanwhile, in Qin Mo's office, his voice continued, with not much fluctuation in his tone.

"With this move from Anli Group, Pinduoduo's pace of expansion will indeed have to slow down."

"Even, the market share of both e-commerce and food delivery will have to be given back."

Lin Xiao pushed up his glasses, his voice carrying a touch of coldness.

"We had anticipated this situation before, but I didn't expect Ma Kun to actually dare to take action."

"Calling off the food delivery war before was nothing; this is the real 'removing the firewood from under the cauldron'! Using payment channels to choke us is more ruthless than any other commercial competitive tactic."

"It's too shameless!"

Zhao Lei stood up from the sofa, walked two steps beside the coffee table, and then turned back around.

"And Anli Group's announcement specifically added a supplement saying that other projects under Langchao Group are also under review. This is an obvious threat!"

"They want us to know that it's not just Pinduoduo; if they want, Douyin, league of legends, and crossfire—all projects can have their payment channels cut off one by one!"

His voice grew more urgent as he spoke. "This is a huge blow to us."

"All consumption by Douyin users and in-game purchases for games all rely on online payments. This knife is held against our throats, and they can Slash down at any time!"

"This move is too ruthless."

Although he was incredibly furious, because he knew the importance of Alipay, Zhao Lei also understood that Langchao Group absolutely could not drop Alipay at the moment.

After listening to the two of them, Qin Mo finally spoke. His expression didn't show much anxiety. He just slowly looked at Lin Xiao.

"Regarding Pinduoduo, how are the payment channels I asked you to prepare coming along?"

Lin Xiao nodded. "We have long since obtained the license, and the functions of DuoDuo Wallet have already been run through in the backend."

"Just now, Pinduoduo has pushed a full update. After all users update, they will be able to see the entrance for DuoDuo Wallet."

"The linking process is similar to other payment tools: enter the bank card number and the reserved mobile phone number, verify with a verification code, set a payment password—a few steps and it's ready to use."

Speaking to this point, Lin Xiao paused, but there was no optimism in his tone. Because he knew that a mere DuoDuo Wallet simply couldn't affect the overall situation.

"But in our estimates, only a portion of users will choose to link DuoDuo Wallet after Alipay is cut off."

"This proportion is unlikely to be very high. Many people are long accustomed to only using Alipay; changing payment channels is too high a barrier for them, not to mention the majority of users in the sinking market who can't switch even if they wanted to."

He opened the folder in his hand and pointed to a set of data. "Douyin payment is a cautionary tale."

"We pushed it for over a year, and the proportion of users linking cards still hasn't exceeded ten percent."

"And this is with the premise that we frequently launch card-linking promotional activities and that the Douyin user base is primarily young people."

"Pinduoduo's user age structure is significantly older than Douyin's; trying to get middle-aged and elderly users to proactively link a new wallet will only be more difficult."

Listening to Lin Xiao's words, Qin Mo pondered for a moment. "Simultaneously enable the 'pay later' function for DuoDuo Wallet."

"Open the credit payment channel first. Users don't need to link a bank card all at once; they can pay with DuoDuo Wallet first and repay after receiving the goods."

"This process can bypass the psychological barrier of linking a card and should be able to convert a portion of users who are willing to try new payment methods."

After speaking, Qin Mo sat down and leaned back in his chair. "However, even so, without Alipay, the decline in Pinduoduo's volume can no longer be stopped; Taobao should be able to quickly take back the market share in both e-commerce and food delivery."

"Alipay being cut off—the impact is just too great."

After hearing this, Zhao Lei's face also turned somewhat pale. He muttered to himself.

"Could it be that we can only watch helplessly as Pinduoduo's market share is snatched back by Taobao? And let Anli Group have their way?"

"We spent over two months, polishing from Pinhaohuo all the way to Pinduoduo, from fruit and vegetable e-commerce to a full-category platform, gnawing market share from zero to almost surpassing Taobao."

"And yet, I didn't expect that Anli Group could turn the tables with just one Alipay."

Lin Xiao also raised his head. In his thoughtful gaze, he didn't know what he was thinking.

"Boss, what else can we do?"

"Is it possible for us to also make a payment software that can compete with Alipay!"