99: Chapter 99 The Storm Is Brewing

Old Ma's silhouette disappeared at the end of the corridor. Qin Mo withdrew his gaze, his champagne glass still held mid-air. Liu Qiang walked over from the side and patted him on the shoulder.

"That man, Old Ma, holds a grudge."

He paused.

"You need to be careful."

Qin Mo swirled the champagne glass in his hand, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"Don't worry, it's just a matter of countering each move as it comes."

"If you don't even dare to begin, success is out of the question."

After a few pleasantries, Qin Mo and Zhao Lei prepared to take their leave. Liu Qiang glanced into the office at the directors still excitedly discussing, his expression complex.

Just a few days ago, these directors had looked grim because of the money being burned by logistics and warehousing, terrified they would have to sell to Old Ma at a low price.

But today.

Once the contract with Langchao Group was signed, these old guys had instantly changed.

After a moment of thought.

Liu Qiang pulled Qin Mo aside and lowered his voice.

"Actually, I'm a bit worried about what Old Ma said earlier."

Liu Qiang's tone was serious.

"The scale of Douyin Mall is too small. It's inherently built into the Douyin Short Video app. Even if the users of Short Video have the desire to shop, they will often habitually open Taobao."

He paused, looking into Qin Mo's eyes.

"Frankly speaking."

"The current scale of Douyin Mall really cannot support such a massive logistics system. If these logistics lines and warehouses aren't utilized as soon as possible, they will just become a money pit that burns more cash every day."

"You should have sold them to Old Ma earlier."

After saying this, Liu Qiang felt a bit strange himself.

As someone who had been in e-commerce for over a decade, when had he become so kind-hearted?

But he couldn't put his finger on the reason.

Perhaps it was because Qin Mo hadn't haggled the price down from start to finish and had given him a fairly reasonable offer.

Or perhaps, he saw a bit of his younger self in Qin Mo.

Back then, he had been just like that, standing in a place where no one held out hope, preparing to challenge an opponent who seemed invincible. Although he lost, he didn't regret it; after all, JD.com had been built up.

Qin Mo listened to Liu Qiang without speaking.

Just smiling.

Liu Qiang had intended to say a few more words, but upon seeing that smile, he was suddenly taken aback.

He realized it instantly.

"The logistics lines and warehouses you bought are not for Douyin Mall at all!"

Qin Mo did not deny it.

Liu Qiang took a deep breath.

"You want to build your own large-scale e-commerce platform!"

Douyin Mall and a standalone large-scale e-commerce platform are two completely different concepts. The former exists on many apps, and its volume and market share are not large.

But a large-scale e-commerce platform is different; both the invested capital and the difficulty of building it are incomparable to the former.

Qin Mo nodded then.

He set down the champagne glass, his tone calm.

"At that time, we might even be considered half-competitors."

"However, the direction I'm taking shouldn't squeeze out too much of JD.com's market share."

He looked at Liu Qiang.

"I'm aiming to snatch Taobao's market, so there won't be much conflict with JD.com's unique ecosystem."

Liu Qiang was silent for a long while.

He looked at Qin Mo, then at the signed sales document on the table.

Finally, he let out a long sigh.

"This battle won't be simple."

His voice carried the heaviness of someone who had been there before.

"The Anli Group behind Taobao controls Alipay, holding the payment gateway for the vast majority of online transactions in the country. If you want to build an e-commerce platform like Taobao..."

Liu Qiang didn't finish his sentence.

But the meaning was already quite clear.

JD.com was able to reach its current scale by competing through differentiation from Taobao, following the path of authentic products and logistics, only then managing to tear a piece of meat from the e-commerce market.

It took so many years for JD.com to barely get users accustomed to using bank cards directly on JD.com, rather than using Alipay.

And what Qin Mo wanted to do was to challenge Taobao head-on, not take a differentiated route or a unique ecosystem.

This was even harder than what JD.com had done back then.

But when Liu Qiang looked over, there was no wavering in Qin Mo's eyes.

Seeing the determination in Qin Mo's eyes, Liu Qiang swallowed the rest of his words.

He remembered when he had slammed the table at the board meeting, saying JD.com would build its own logistics system, and the whole room had looked at him with that same gaze.

Everyone thought he was crazy.

But in the end, JD.com's logistics system was built.

Although it didn't beat Taobao, at least it allowed JD.com to occupy a seat at the e-commerce table.

Thinking of this, Liu Qiang suddenly smiled.

He patted Qin Mo's shoulder.

"If you can really build an e-commerce platform that can threaten Taobao."

"Then, even if some of JD.com's market share is squeezed out by you."

He paused, his tone carrying an indescribable sense of anticipation.

"I, Liu Qiang, will accept it."

...

That night.

The news of Inspur Technology renaming itself to Langchao Group had only just settled a few days ago.

While countless players were anticipating the league of legends esports tournament, and looking forward to crossfire and alliance of valiant arms.

A leaked entry quietly climbed the trending lists of major social platforms, and then, at a speed no one expected, surged directly to the top.

"JD.com logistics and warehousing sold, buyer is not Taobao, but Douyin!"

Clicking into the entry.

It was a very detailed exposé post.

The post stated clearly that the massive amount of logistics lines and warehousing centers that had been left idle after JD.com's failed challenge to Taobao had been officially sold, with complete transfer contracts signed.

But the buyer was not Anli Group, not Taobao, but Langchao Group.

According to industry insiders, this logistics system and warehousing would, in all likelihood, be fully integrated into the backend operations of Douyin Mall, at which point Douyin Mall would officially launch a challenge against Taobao.

The post ended with an additional sentence.

"Besides entering the gaming industry, Langchao Group actually wants to truly enter e-commerce!"

The comment section exploded in less than half an hour.

"Taobao? That's the core industry of Anli Group; Alipay has locked down all payment gateways, and Taobao holds eighty percent of the e-commerce market. JD.com hasn't been able to take it down after fighting for so many years, what is Douyin Mall going to fight with?"

"But buying JD.com's logistics lines is different. Once this system is up and running, the scale of Douyin Mall won't be at its current magnitude; it can truly make an impact on Taobao's share."

"I personally think that regardless of whether they can win or not, at least with Douyin Mall having new moves, there will definitely be subsidies and discounts, which is a good thing for ordinary users."

"Honestly, I favor Taobao more. After all, its size is there. Douyin Mall, at the end of the day, is just a feature built into Douyin, not an independent e-commerce platform; it has an inherent ceiling."

Behind this trending topic, there was naturally the shadow of Taobao.

After the PR team of Anli Group received the news from Feng Haicang, they released the information immediately. Normally, this information would not be known to the outside world for at least ten days or half a month.

Old Ma's goal was also very simple.

To give Qin Mo a show of force, wanting to let Qin Mo know that not just anyone can truly enter the e-commerce industry.

Just the next day.

The backend of Douyin Mall began receiving applications from merchants to withdraw, one after another.

At first, it was dozens, then it became hundreds, then thousands.

In just a few days, the number of merchants on Douyin Mall dropped by one-third!

The vast majority of these withdrawing merchants had received a notice from Taobao.

There was no direct threat in the notice.

It just emphasized again the exclusivity clauses between the Taobao platform and signed merchants, and then reminded these merchants that if they needed to renew their annual contracts for Taobao stores, they should better re-examine their business strategies on other platforms.

It didn't directly name Douyin Mall.

But every merchant who received the notice understood the meaning behind it.

This was Taobao's tactic.

There was no need for public statements or direct conflict; it only needed to use the market share it held as a bargaining chip, and that was enough to make merchants make their choice.

And in the face of Taobao's move, Douyin Mall had no response.

It didn't issue statements, didn't run promotions, and certainly didn't try to retain merchants.

It was as quiet as if nothing had happened.

Just as the outside world was buzzing with discussion, three days passed in a flash.

On this day.

league of legends officially pushed a version update.

The update content was very simple.

The esports tournament system was officially launched.