When Renren Waimai had been online for 24 full hours, two banner ads were displayed on its separate page, dramatically announcing:
"Good news! Renren Waimai exceeds ten thousand orders in 24 hours since launch."
Hmm, if you break down each order and count by person, that's definitely ten thousand orders.
Renren.com's primary page even launched another major push in the form of a full-network pop-up window.
The whole world seemed to be buzzing with gongs and drums, making those "leeks" who hadn't used food delivery yesterday or had no conditions to order food instantly feel left behind and out of touch with the world.
What's going on?
Just because it snowed yesterday and I was too lazy to go to the internet cafe, how did the whole world change?
Topics discussed in the dorms shifted from talking about love, careers, boys, and girls to which food delivery to order tomorrow.
On Renren.com, chat trends changed from "Renren Waimai is so easy to use" to recommending previously undiscovered "treasure" shops.
This made users who hadn't had a chance to try it scratch their heads in frustration.
"I really want to join these conversations!"
"Waiting online, it's urgent. How can I pretend to be proficient at ordering food on Renren Waimai?"
Many people were paying attention to Tiantian Waimai's 24-hour launch data.
Dongcai university leaders, various partners, and so on.
They seemed to be witnessing the rise of an enterprise and the birth of an industry.
Do you think Chen Pingjiang's marketing stopped here?
No!
Under his arrangement, the content department planned a "share order and lottery draw" event.
A large number of users, enticed by the massive prizes, uploaded their orders.
All Renren.com users had an illusion:
"It seems like the whole world is using food delivery to order, and I'm not."
The ground promotion team directly contacted all partner shops, launching another "carpet bombing" at their storefronts either with posters or banners:
"Congratulations! Renren Waimai exceeded ten thousand orders in 24 hours!"
Numerous banners were hung on the commercial streets belonging to every university; it was truly hard to miss them.
Strictly speaking, this was the second wave of marketing; the first wave was the promotion before Renren Waimai's launch.
However, the second wave of marketing, boosted by sales data, had a far greater effect than the first.
Xiangpiaopiao's "seven hundred million cups a year" was false advertising, but Renren Waimai's ten thousand orders on its first day were not.
Renren.com's incubation park office presented a scene of booming prosperity.
The landline phone never stopped ringing, with shops constantly calling to seek cooperation.
In the office area, keyboard sounds and phone rings blended into a din, as employees shuttled back and forth between the boss's office, meeting rooms, and work areas.
"Boss, delivery capacity is starting to be insufficient, and delivery times for some orders are extending."
"Boss, the regional managers of KFC and McDonald's have expressed a desire to meet with you."
"Boss, a reporter from Dongjiang Daily wants to interview you."
"This payment application needs your signature."
"..."
Chen Pingjiang truly had his hands full, so busy his feet didn't touch the ground, without even time to drink water, issuing one command after another in his office.
"Wan Xuejie, it's only the second day, and we're already short on riders. Please recruit another one hundred Blue Knights as soon as possible."
"I know we have enough helmets and windbreakers, but we need to continue purchasing electric scooters."
"Interview? No time!"
"Hmm? This Blue Knight cartoon image is interesting. Contact the designer; if necessary, buy it."
A member of the Comics Association independently designed a cartoon image for the Blue Knight, which was handsome, cute, and a bit moe, and affectionately named it "Xiao Lan."
Chen Pingjiang immediately took a liking to it, thinking this was another great topic.
Shu Mang, with a worried expression on her face, walked into Chen Pingjiang's office and presented the financial statements of the two companies from last month.
"Boss, we're out of money."
Chen Pingjiang nodded, took the statements, and flipped through them.
Last month, the total revenue of the three BBQ restaurants slightly declined, barely exceeding 800,000 yuan.
Renren.com's advertising revenue was also 800,000 yuan.
After deducting various costs and expenses, the net profit was less than 10,000 yuan.
This was because Chen Pingjiang had bought an A6 under the company's name and also purchased hundreds of electric scooters for the riders.
"Not bad, at least it's not negative."
Shu Mang shook her head:
"This must be taken seriously. It's already very dangerous. Students are on holiday in January and February, Renren.com's usage will decrease, and advertising revenue will also decline. We are now completely diverting cash from the BBQ restaurants to fill the holes in Renren Waimai, but how long can we keep filling them?"
On Renren Waimai's first day of launch, Chen Pingjiang spent 15,000 yuan.
Today, the second day, estimated losses will soar to 25,000 or even 30,000 yuan.
Even if the three BBQ restaurants don't pay salaries and delay settling payments with suppliers, all their daily turnover combined would not be enough to cover Renren Waimai's losses.
The cash flow is almost stagnant.
"Currently, there are still several hundred thousand yuan in the account, but accounts payable are even higher. Payments to restaurant suppliers are due on the tenth, salaries are due on the fifteenth, and we still need to order another one hundred electric scooters right now."
Shu Mang hesitated, then continued,
"Renren Waimai has achieved initial success so far, how about we stop issuing coupons? Otherwise, losing 20,000-30,000 yuan a day, we really can't sustain it."
Chen Pingjiang shook his head:
"Tomorrow is only the third day. The effects of the two rounds of marketing are still fermenting. If new users see there are no coupons, they'll curse us to death. The most crucial thing is that users' spending habits still need to be cultivated until it becomes second nature to them."
"Then we can only look for money outside, through financing or loans."
"If we look for money so urgently now, we'll be at a disadvantage. The data hasn't peaked yet, there's no room for negotiation, and besides, there isn't enough time."
Chen Pingjiang said, tapping his fingers on the table:
"Let's first use the funds that need to be paid to the merchants for urgent needs."
"Initially, to attract merchants to join, we signed a one-week payment term. And this kind of 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' is not a long-term solution. It's quite nerve-wracking."
Limited by current payment methods and conditions, Renren Waimai's merchants cannot withdraw sales funds in real time, so all transfers are handled by the finance department, with a one-week payment term.
This also provided Chen Pingjiang with the necessary conditions to temporarily appropriate merchant payments.
"I'll handle the money issue. Don't worry too much. But the coupons cannot be stopped, and various promotions cannot be stopped."
Chen Pingjiang issued a strict order.
Shu Mang was quite curious,
"You're not going to borrow from loan sharks, or mortgage the Audi A6, are you?"
Chen Pingjiang rolled his eyes,
"Do I look like such a fool? In any case, please bear with it on your end. Slightly delay any accounts payable that can be delayed. Work hard. I know you've been incredibly busy recently; I've already asked Wan Xuejie to recruit two capable subordinates for you. Once this busy period is over, I'll give you annual leave and a raise."
"Drawing a pie again, huh? You were drawing all sorts of pies during the interview."
Chen Pingjiang stared with wide eyes and put on an expression that said,
"Why don't you believe me?"
"I, Chen, never draw pies. Just wait until I'm rich."
"With all due respect,"
Shu Mang dropped a sentence,
"at this rate of spending, when will you ever be rich?"
She then gracefully walked out of Chen Pingjiang's office.
(End of this chapter)
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