It was a group of profit-seeking people. No matter the time, the only thing on their minds was profit.
After Le Tao's team realized the huge business opportunities behind the Taobao Alliance, almost everyone's heart was filled with jealousy and bitterness.
Although Cai Chongxin's words were somewhat sarcastic and sarcastic towards Le Tao's current methods, implying that Le Tao's business model was unhealthy, no one took it to heart. After all, his analysis of the Taobao Alliance was convincing.
Boss Ma didn't say anything for a long time. He secretly calculated in his heart and came to a conclusion. Then, he said with a depressed face, "It seems that in the future, at least half of the Taobao Alliance's profits will go into Taobao's pocket! That's too cruel! That's too cruel! "
Lu Zhaoxi also sighed. "If it's really like what Old Cai said, once the Taobao Alliance starts to commercialize, it'll become a drug for Taobao Alliance's sellers! The more you smoke, the more addicted you get, the more you can't get rid of it.
Then, Lu Zhaoxi asked Boss Ma, "Boss Ma, should we try to advertise the alliance as well? Although we aren't as strong as Taobao, we can start small. Then, when Taobao Alliance officially starts to collect fees, we can slowly get the bottom of it. "
Boss Ma sighed. "Of course I want to do it, but there's no point talking about it now. We haven't built a solid foundation yet, and there's still a long way to go. Moreover, the Taobao Alliance has basically become a monopoly. With a proprietary platform like Taobao, we can't do anything to it. If we want to advertise the alliance, we have to see what Taobao Alliance's next step will be. If Taobao Alliance really starts to pursue profits, then we'll have a chance."
At this time, Li Mu was also discussing with Lei Jianguo and Liu Shixiong. The issue they were discussing was the cost of the Taobao Alliance's future operations.
Since the establishment of the Taobao Alliance, all costs had been subsidized by the platform. In other words, Li Mu had spent money to buy traffic from thousands of individual webmasters to subsidize the Taobao sellers. The reason for doing so was to rapidly increase the c2c business. From the looks of it, this goal had already been exceeded.
Using subsidies in exchange for development was a special method in a special period, but because it went against the laws of the market, it was definitely not a long-term solution. The real long-term solution was to make it fully market-oriented, commercialized, and find its own way of survival.
As the Taobao Alliance continued to grow, the Taobao Alliance's costs skyrocketed. If it continued to subsidize like this, not to mention Taobao, even ten Taobao might not be able to bear it. This was just like the government's periodic tax exemption policy and support funds for enterprises. The purpose was to put the enterprise on the right track faster, and it was not a permanent subsidy. Therefore, transferring the Taobao Alliance's costs to the sellers was an inevitable law of the market.
Lei Jianguo was quick-witted, and he was good at operations. He quickly realized the huge profits contained in the Taobao Alliance's huge traffic. Therefore, his suggestion was basically similar to Cai Chongxin's guess. He hoped that through the Taobao Alliance, he could increase the income of the Taobao Alliance.
Liu Shixiong was sentimental. Although he could see the huge business opportunities in the Taobao Alliance, he felt that the Taobao Alliance ultimately had to be a service-oriented e-commerce platform. Therefore, he had to have integrity. It was okay to make money, but not some money. From his point of view, the Taobao Alliance was a powerful mechanism that benefited the entire e-commerce industry. It should not be used to make money.
Li Mu's heart was more inclined towards Liu Shixiong. From his point of view, a gentleman should make money in a proper way. The biggest mission he had given to the Taobao Alliance was to become the engine that pushed the Taobao Alliance forward, and even the development of e-commerce. It should not become another money-making machine in his hands.
Just like 3321, it should be pure and not commercial.
Therefore, Li Mu said to the two in the office, "As for the Taobao Alliance, my personal opinion is that, at least for the time being, I do not intend to use it to make money. The Taobao Alliance's principles and algorithms are actually not difficult. Many companies have the ability to implement the Taobao Alliance on a technical level. However, the biggest difference is that we are the ones who truly gave the Taobao Alliance its core philosophy."
As he said this, Li Mu continued, "My idea is that the Taobao Alliance's selection algorithm will not change. We will not accept sellers actively spending money to buy traffic. The only way is to use our algorithm to integrate each store's views, conversion rate, total sales volume, total credit rating, total positive rating, and the weight of the 10,000 investment ratio to carry out intelligent matching. This will ensure that the Taobao Alliance's traffic distribution is fair and just. We need to create a healthy business environment for Taobao Alliance sellers to know that whoever works harder, who is more attentive, who is more trustworthy, and who pays more attention to consumers, will get more weight and more resources."
Lei Jianguo asked Li Mu, "Li Zong, if we do not accept sellers taking the initiative to buy traffic, how should we implement the concept of paid promotion?"
Li Mu smiled faintly and said, "It's very simple. We first don't care if the seller is willing to buy or not. We first run the algorithm. Through our algorithm, we will filter out a portion of the stores and products that have a chance of being promoted. We will also calculate the number of promotions that each store's product will receive. Then, we will send a confirmation request to the seller at the back end of the Taobao Alliance to inform the seller that some of the products in his store have a chance of being promoted by the Taobao Alliance. We will estimate the number of promotions, the expected number of valid clicks, and the conversion rate. If he is interested, he will first pay the promotion fee. After the promotion fee is paid through Alipay and the system confirms it, the advertisement of the store's product can be released."
Lei Jianguo nodded. "I understand. In other words, we will completely give up on bidding. First, we will filter out the users who have a chance of getting promoted. At the same time, we will calculate the approximate number of promotions and fees, and let the seller decide whether to promote it or not."
"That's right." Li Mu said, "In this way, we will eliminate the bidding process."
As he said that, Li Mu said to Lei Jianguo with a serious face, "CEO Lei, some things may not sound good, but the three of us are the core team of Taobao. So, I have to say these unpleasant words in advance. Without a doubt, bidding advertising is the best way to maximize the platform's profits. However, I think that bidding advertising is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs for the entire e-commerce development. It might even be forcing the innocent into prostitution!"
Not only Lei Jianguo, but even Liu Shixiong was stunned by Li Mu's serious words.
The two of them looked at Li Mu. Li Mu said with a serious face, "E-commerce involves the sale of physical products. Since it's a physical product, then there must be strict quality assurance, price assurance, and after-sales assurance. If we adopt the bidding method, it is equivalent to us directly killing the development prospects of low-profit products. It might even lead the entire industry astray.
"For example, the same liquefied gas valve, product A is sold for 30 yuan, but the profit margin is only 3 yuan; product B is sold for 15 yuan, but because of the poor materials and poor processing, the profit margin can also reach 3 yuan. If we sell it under normal circumstances and let the consumers decide for themselves, then the two products will attract their own target customers. However, if we adopt the bidding method, then it will be a complete mess!
"Product A's profit margin is insufficient, and it can only afford the price of 10 cents per UV valve. But product B, by further reducing the quality and cost, can increase the profit margin of a single product to 8 yuan. Instead, it has a profit margin of 7 yuan, and it can even afford the price of 25 cents per UV valve. In this way, all the display opportunities of liquefied gas valves will be occupied by product B. Consumers will see the advertisement of product B. Naturally, most of them will buy product B. However, when product B reduces the cost, it will inevitably lower the quality. If its product has a one in ten thousand risk of leakage, it will be a matter of life and death."
Speaking of this, Li Mu paused and said, "Of course, there is another possibility of bidding. That is, in order to win in the bidding, product A will also imitate product B and desperately reduce the cost of its own product. In the end, product A and product B will enter a tug-of-war of cost reduction. In the long run, the entire liquefied gas valve market will fall into the wave of cost reduction. It won't be long before the market will basically be unable to buy truly high-quality liquefied gas valves. At that time, facing various accidents caused by liquefied gas leakage all over the country, what can we do to appease our conscience?"
"You may think that liquefied gas valves are a niche product and do not have much influence. Then think about furniture, decoration materials, children's toys, and various other supplies. If these industries continue to reduce the cost in order to bid, what if the quality of the products finally pushed in front of consumers is not up to standard? What if formaldehyde and other harmful substances exceed the standard? What if it causes serious diseases such as leukemia in infants? From a legal point of view, we are just a platform. We naturally have no responsibility, but ask ourselves, can we feel at ease? "
Lei Jianguo and Liu Shixiong's expressions were serious, and they were speechless for a long time.
Li Mu sighed and said, "Business competition must form a general environment of healthy competition. Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable. If the industry is pushed into the direction of desperately reducing costs and increasing the promotion budget, then we will become the sinners of the physical manufacturing industry."
At this time, Li Mu changed the topic and said in a particularly solemn tone, "But what if we, as a platform, stick to our moral principles? What if we stick to our moral principles, don't be greedy for money, take maintaining a healthy business environment as our platform's responsibility, completely eliminate vicious bidding promotion on our platform, and make the distribution of promotion resources not just based on who pays more, but who is more serious, more honest, and who is more recognized by consumers? In this way, although I am not sure whether it can make the overall e-commerce healthy development, I do not dare to guarantee whether it can promote the healthy development of the physical manufacturing industry, but at the very least, we can ensure that all sellers in our platform must abide by the rules and operate in a down-to-earth manner. If we can do this, we can at least have a clear conscience! "
Lei Jianguo was silent for a long time, and said with exceptional shame, "Li Zong, I was indeed a little short-sighted on this issue. I did not expect the crisis hidden behind the bidding. You are right, we must ensure the healthy development of the platform."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
