243: Section 243

As long as their software had some large chain businesses at the very beginning, that was enough; it could already retain users.

Only after their user base was sufficient would they choose to attract other small, private businesses to join.

Their initial choice was exactly the opposite of Meituan's.

However, precisely because of Meituan's unconventional approach, many users immediately discovered the difference between Meituan and other group buying software.

Yan Country.

In an office building in a certain third-tier city:

"It's quitting time, everyone! Want to grab some dinner?"

"Old Yang's Hotpot Restaurant on the next street tastes pretty good."

As the clock hands pointed to quitting time, an employee in a plaid shirt stretched in front of his computer and spoke.

Hearing his words, someone next to him shook his head.

"It's too expensive. Last time, the four of us spent over five hundred and still weren't full."

"Let's pick somewhere else."

Listening to that person, the plaid-shirted man seemed to think of something and continued, "Isn't group buying very popular lately?"

"Let's see if that restaurant is on any group buying websites."

Upon hearing this, the others around him nodded.

Then, everyone started checking the most popular group buying apps.

But soon, a voice of regret rang out.

"Penguin Group Buying's nearest restaurant is only a hotpot chain a few streets away; it doesn't have Old Yang's Hotpot."

"I just checked the delivery situation too; Ele.me directly said our city isn't even open yet, can you believe it?"

"I also checked the other group buying websites, and none of them have it."

Listening to the voices of his other colleagues, the plaid-shirted man felt a bit helpless.

However, hearing their words, he seemed to realize they had missed something.

"Did you check Meituan?"

"Meituan?" Someone asked, sounding confused.

Clearly, that name hadn't appeared much in his mind.

The plaid-shirted man reminded him, "It's the group buying software developed by Junzi Group."

Hearing this, the person next to him finally remembered.

"Oh, it's Junzi Group's! No wonder it sounded a bit familiar."

"I'll download Meituan right now and check, but don't get your hopes too high."

"Penguin Group Buying and other software's advertisements are playing on TV every day, but Meituan seems to have no ads at all, making me almost forget about it."

"If those wildly promoted group buying apps don't have a small hotpot restaurant in our third-tier city, how could Meituan, which seems to have done nothing, possibly have it?"

As he spoke, Meituan had already finished downloading on his phone.

The plaid-shirted man also said, "Old Mao, you check first."

"If it really doesn't work, we'll switch to something else."

Upon hearing this, Old Mao nodded and then opened Meituan.

The next second, the phone's positioning system was activated, and Meituan was automatically locating.

Looking at the local interface still loading on his phone, Old Mao's expression remained unfazed.

Because he had seen the same screen many times just now.

Each time, after selecting their third-tier city as the address, the screen full of group buying businesses would shrink to just a few.

"It's still better in big cities."

"For group buying services to fully spread in our small city, it will probably take another six months to a year."

No sooner had Old Mao finished speaking than Meituan on his phone completed its location.

Looking at the local group buying businesses, he was stunned.

"This software seems to have a bug."

"What's going on?"

The plaid-shirted man also walked over.

Old Mao continued, "It seems unable to locate our city; the homepage is still showing group buying businesses from a first-tier city."

Old Mao handed the phone to the plaid-shirted man.

Looking at the content on the phone, the plaid-shirted man was momentarily stunned.

The next second, his voice suddenly rang out in surprise.

"What 'location error'? This is our city!"

"Look, Old Yang's Hotpot next door is right there!"

Hearing this, Old Mao was also taken aback.

"That's impossible."

"Other group buying software and websites don't have detailed information for our city yet."

"See for yourself."

After taking the phone and looking at the specific content, Old Mao finally realized that the plaid-shirted man was right.

He couldn't help but get excited.

Meituan hadn't had a location problem just now; it was just that Meituan really had that many group buying businesses in their city!

Although many small private businesses hadn't yet been added to Meituan, the current number of group buying businesses in Meituan already far exceeded other group buying software by a large margin.

"There's an 80% off group buying coupon for Old Yang's Hotpot on here!"

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

After seeing the hotpot restaurant they wanted to go to, Old Mao waved his hand and prepared to lead the others there.

At the same time, as the number of Meituan's offline businesses continued to skyrocket, more internet companies that had been observing finally made up their minds, due to the impressive initial results of Penguin Group Buying and Ele.me.

Suddenly, more group buying and delivery software announced that they were under development.