The information exchange between different industries was not smooth enough. For example, although Yi Qu knew that a competitor was contacting the merchants on its platform and knew that the other party's platform was called Taobao, they did not really take it seriously.
That was because no Internet business model could be exclusive, especially e-commerce websites that did not require too much technical preparation. There were dozens of such websites in China. Some were big competitors to Yi Qu, but some were not. Many platforms had no money or traffic after they were launched. It would not take long for them to close down. Moreover, they did not know the details of Taobao. They did not know who invested in Taobao. They did not know what kind of team it had, and they did not know what resources Taobao had gathered.
For the MP3 industry, they knew that Yi Ting had cooperated with a brand called Mango to create a low-priced Mango-ME. However, they did not know how Mango-ME was going to be sold. They did not know that it was going to be launched together with an e-commerce website called Taobao.
If there was someone who knew about the e-commerce industry, the MP3 industry, Makino Technology, and Li Mu, they might be able to sort out the whole thing through a comprehensive analysis of various information. However, Li Mu was very protective of his privacy. Therefore, no one except his own people could integrate so much information from various industries.
Far away in Hangzhou, Boss Ma had been in the e-commerce industry for several years. However, he had always been doing information services between companies. He did not involve online transactions.
After years of development, coupled with a large investment from SoftBank, Ali had become a powerful Internet company. Boss Ma was keenly aware that the development of Alibaba, which was rooted between small and medium-sized enterprises, had become sluggish. He felt that the real core of e-commerce was not to integrate with small and medium-sized enterprises, nor was it to create an information exchange platform for small and medium-sized enterprises. With the continuous improvement and growth of social productivity, national GDP, and the world's commodity circulation, the real core of e-commerce would eventually sink to the end of the retail chain. Boss Ma's Internet thinking and e-commerce thinking were inspired by the United States.
Boss Ma's internet thinking and e-commerce thinking were inspired by the US. He was very clear about the business models of eBay and Amazon, and he also understood the significance of PayPal. In fact, he was already thinking about the feasibility of operating retail e-commerce in China. He also understood the concepts of B2B, B2C, and C2C. Ali was currently doing B2B, but the ceiling of doing B2B in China was too low. He could easily see the ceiling now. To him, he was not satisfied with the current situation. He had been thinking about the feasibility of B2C and even C2C in China since last year. After a long period of deliberation, he had decided that Ali's next development direction was to do C2C in China.
Similar to Li Mu, Boss Ma was also very far-sighted. His ability to control the linkage of resources was extremely strong. He was doing B2B now, and in some aspects, he was also laying the foundation for future C2C. In fact, when the time was right, he would convert the B part of B2B to the C part of C2C. From there, he would smoothly transfer resources and build a new e-commerce platform rooted in retail.
In this concept, Boss Ma had long thought about improving eBay's model in the domestic market environment. Then, he would imitate PayPal and create an online payment channel in China using Renminbi as the settlement basis. However, he had not waited for the right time, so these ideas had not really been implemented.
When Alipay was created by Li Mu, Boss Ma was nervous for a period of time. The core concept of Alipay and PayPal was exactly the same product. This was also the product model that he was going to imitate in the future. Suddenly, someone else created it, which made him worry that the other party was like him, aiming at the e-commerce market.
However, the soil where Alipay was born was very special. It was a product that was born on a completely public welfare platform like 3321. This made Boss Ma slightly relieved. In his opinion, Alipay was a tool created by Li Mu for 3321. Although Li Mu also began to open up Alipay to third-party companies, it should be unintentional. As long as Li Mu did not see the e-commerce industry, he did not have to worry.
However, recently, Boss Ma had heard some fragmented news from various parties and smelled something wrong.
The first thing that made him suspicious was the huge shock that Mango-ME caused in the MP3 industry.
When he first heard that Mango-ME turned out to be customized by Easy Listening Network, he felt that it was a little interesting. That was because there was a clear distinction between Internet companies and hardware companies. He had never heard of an Internet company that did not focus on software but hardware. Easy Listening Network was the first.
As someone who had a deep understanding of the Internet, Boss Ma had a whole new level of respect for Easy Listening Network. He felt that an Internet company dared to touch the hardware industry and could even cause a shock in the hardware industry. This in itself was a very remarkable thing. In some ways, it proved that Internet companies had a lot of room for development, and their development direction was also very diverse.
However, as Boss Ma understood Mango-ME and the MP3 industry, he found something particularly difficult to understand, and that was the cost of Mango-ME.
He looked at the problem from a completely different perspective from the people in the MP3 industry. The MP3 industry thought that Mango wanted to enter the MP3 industry, but Boss Ma felt that Mango-ME looked more like a tool for Easy Listening Network. Since Easy Listening Network was backed by Makino Technology, he was even more curious about this matter. Why would Makino Technology be interested in the small profits of the MP3 industry? What was its real purpose? This was the first reason.
Moreover, the price of Mango-ME was close to the cost price, which was even more strange. The channel cost of hardware sales was very high. Setting up the channel required a lot of manpower and material resources, and maintaining the channel required a lot of profit margin. This was one of the reasons why the hardware price was so high. What ability did Easy Listening Network and Makino Technology have to save the cost? This was the second reason.
The entire MP3 industry had never heard of Mango or Easy Listening Network setting up any exclusive stores or counters. It was getting closer and closer to the advertised sale date, but there were no signs of offline sales channels. What channel were they going to use to sell 100,000 units of Mango-ME? This was the third reason.
Combining the above three big questions and his own understanding of e-commerce, Boss Ma vaguely felt that Mango-ME should adopt the online sales model. Only online sales could solve the problem of cost and sales channels.
However, there was still a problem that had not been solved. What was their motive? Just to sell MP3? Impossible. Boss Ma would not believe it even if he was beaten to death.
Could it be to do e-commerce? This possibility was very high!
Boss Ma thought about it and felt that Makino Technology should want to use Easy Listening Network to create a music-related B2C platform. At the same time, it would create a music-related hardware brand. In this case, it could form an ecological chain. However, he did not expect that he was looking at eBay and PayPal, while Li Mu was looking at Taobao and Alipay. Everyone copied each other, and it was a fusion of each other. It did not matter who came up with the idea first. As long as the one who won in the creative field, he would be the best.
Boss Ma had recently asked a small team to pay attention to Easy Listening Network, Makino Technology, and Mango-ME. Today was the day of Mango-ME's sale. Boss Ma was also very curious about what Makino Technology was up to. Hence, he prepared to work overtime with the team that was responsible for paying attention to this series of issues. He wanted to see if there were any secrets in the Mango-ME sale that he had not guessed.
Li Mu stayed at Taobao until five o 'clock and left the team alone.
On the way back to school, he first called Su Yingxue and made an appointment to pick her up at the school gate. Then, he called his dormitory buddies to prepare to meet at the restaurant. In addition to the five dormitory buddies, Li Mu also invited Zhao Kang and his girlfriend. They wanted to take this opportunity to get together.
Since the restaurant was not far from the school, Li Mu did not drive. After parking the car, he walked to the school gate and waited for Su Yingxue to come out.
Su Yingxue deliberately slipped out of the classroom ten minutes earlier. When she saw Li Mu, she said to him, "Let's go get the cake first. Then, we will go to the restaurant to order the dishes and inform everyone to come over."
Li Mu said, "Then I'll ask them to leave a little later. Wait for my call."
Su Yingxue held Li Mu's arm, and the two of them went to a cake shop not far from the school. Su Yingxue ordered a large fruit cake for Li Mu. She even specially asked someone to write "Happy Birthday to My Dear Li Mu" in the center of the cake with a single word, "Xue".
The two of them went to the restaurant together and ordered a table of dishes. After the cold dishes were served, Li Mu called everyone to start gathering.
Sun Jian, Liu Nian, and Xue Jianfeng were all naked. Wang Yanan had to stay in the hospital to take care of her sick mother, so Hu Zhengdao was also alone. Only Li Yawei brought her girlfriend, Han Xiaoxiao, and Zhao Kang brought his girlfriend, Wang Jia.
Su Yingxue was very used to appearing in this kind of situation as Li Mu's girlfriend. She was usually a person of few words, but today, she was very warm to everyone. She kept asking everyone what they wanted to eat and drink. She was especially concerned about the girls, acting like the hostess.
The men all wanted to drink some beer, so they asked the waiter to serve some iced beer first. As soon as the beer was served, Li Yawei took the initiative to open it. She opened seven bottles in one go and gave a bottle to each of the men present.
When Su Yingxue saw that he handed a bottle of beer to Li Mu, she said to Li Yawei, "Don't let Li Mu drink today. He drank too much with you guys yesterday. Let him drink something today."
Li Yawei said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, Mu Ge has a good tolerance for alcohol. I've known him for so long, but I've never seen him drunk. When we left yesterday, he was fine and even sent us downstairs."
Li Mu's heart skipped a beat. He thought to himself, "Oh no, I forgot to tell them. Li Yawei's words came out of nowhere. Isn't it too fast?"
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