Major companies in the venture capital circle were working hard to formulate investment plans for Makino Technology's C round of financing. Li Mu made an appointment with Liu Shixiong to talk about the current progress in logistics.
Liu Shixiong had recently completed the purchase of cars. At the same time, the backbone force poached from several major logistics companies had begun to recruit manpower in various provinces and cities. Liu Shixiong's own confidants and professionals in the logistics field had relocated the cities where the six major logistics bases were located. This time, a large-scale logistics base and warehouse base were to be built. Once it was launched, the investment would be huge, and it would be difficult to make any changes. Therefore, not only did they have to consider the existing geographical conditions and traffic conditions, but they also had to take into account the highway development plan and railway development plan that had been set by the country in the next few years.
Li Mu roughly remembered that several highways running through the north, south, east, and west passed through those cities, but Li Mu really couldn't remember which city they passed through, so he couldn't help. He could only let the professionals do the professional things, and he only needed to trust the judgment of the professionals.
However, there was one thing that Li Mu was very concerned about at the moment, and that was the automatic sorting system.
The representative sent to Germany for inspection had not returned yet, but according to Liu Shixiong, the relationship had been established. The Germans were not as strict and old-fashioned as they were rumored to be. When they did things, they also attached great importance to ostentation and human relations. The three local tycoons in Hua Xia made them realize the wealth behind Taobao Logistics. At present, they had provided several solutions and reasonable prices for the automatic sorting system to Taobao. Moreover, they only needed to pay a 10% deposit, and Berman could start production. Because Berman was very familiar with the entire system, as long as Li Mu's demand was not particularly large, it could basically be completed in two months.
Berman's cooperation method was that after 10% of the deposit was received, 70% would be paid after the ship was shipped to the designated port. After arriving at the port, Taobao would clear the customs themselves, and the remaining 20% would be paid before the customs were cleared. Once the customs were cleared, Berman's professional technicians would immediately arrive in Hua Xia to do a full set of installation and training work for Taobao Logistics. Berman would also be fully responsible for after-sales service.
According to the current price, the cost of a mature medium-sized automatic sorting line was about 20 million. If Li Mu wanted to install an automatic sorting line in each logistics base, the overall cost would reach 120 million.
At present, 500 million would be used to purchase a large number of vehicles, build a national network team, and logistics base. It was a little difficult to make ends meet. Taking out more than 25% of the funds for automatic sorting was indeed a little extravagant. However, after thinking for a moment, Li Mu still told Liu Shixiong about his current idea.
"Liu Shixiong, I think the automatic sorting system can be put in place in one step. We will first pay Berman 12 million as a deposit and let them start work immediately. However, it must be clearly stated in the contract that if we have special circumstances, we can ask Berman to delay the delivery. We will pay Berman a reasonable amount of storage fees and overdue fees every day. At the same time, we will also start talking about the Series A financing for Taobao Network and Taobao Logistics. If the investment is not settled in two months, we will not let Berman leave the warehouse for the time being. At most, we will pay him a small amount of liquidated damages. When our capital is in place, we can immediately pay Berman and ask Berman to ship."
Liu Shixiong nodded and said, "The news of Makino Technology's Series C financing has already made the entire venture capital circle go crazy. If Taobao and Taobao Logistics also release the news of financing now, it will definitely be more popular."
As he said that, Liu Shixiong said, "Actually, I don't recommend Taobao to do financing for the time being. We have so much settled money in our accounts. Take out a few hundred million first and you will be able to expand the logistics scale you want."
Li Mu smacked his lips and said, "That's true, but I feel that we should not use that money recklessly or as little as possible. This money is not our profit. It's just the payment from our partners. It's like the depositors' money in the bank, but the amount is much smaller than the savings. The e-commerce industry will be in chaos in the future, and the overseas giants have not made their moves yet. Once the overseas giants make their moves, we will need to burn money in many areas, and it will not be easy to get financing. Also, if we use too much of the settled money, we will not be able to repay our customers, and we will be in big trouble."
Liu Shixiong could not help but ask him, "Do you think the overseas giants will make their moves in Hua Xia? I don't think eBay has done much after acquiring Ebay, and Amazon has not shown any signs of entering Hua Xia yet. "
Li Mu said, "I'm not sure what their future strategy in China is, but we can't let our guard down. If one day we want to start burning money, then the money we burn must be the capital's money. It can't be this money. Otherwise, we'll be carrying a ticking time bomb. It's fine if it doesn't explode, but if it does, we'll be doomed."
Liu Shixiong thought for a while and asked Li Mu, "Then when do you think we should start financing?"
Li Mu thought for a while and said, "Let's do it this way. Let's set a basic strategy. First, we will set a capital limit for ourselves. My idea is that we can use the deposited money, but we do not have the capital to cooperate with them. So, we need to be cautious. We will take up at most 20% of the deposited money. This is our capital limit. Once we cross this line, we must immediately find a way to ease the pressure on our capital and try to prevent this ratio from increasing. If we cannot save the situation, we will take up at most 30% of the funds. 30% is the critical line that we cannot exceed. Once we cross this line, we would rather borrow money from our sister companies, sell our shares at a low price, get a mortgage, or sell our shares than continue to use the deposited money."
Liu Shixiong nodded and said, "The ratio is very reasonable. The highest is 30%. If there is a problem, we should be able to stop the losses in time. I have no objections."
Li Mu said, "Alright, then we will do that first. You can talk to the people in Germany tomorrow. We can talk to Berman about the purchase contract. If they agree to our request, we can sign the contract and pay the deposit first for Berman to start production."
"Okay, I will call them now and ask them to start immediately."
After Liu Shixiong finished the call, Li Mu asked him again, "By the way, have the management staff of the large daily chemical and food and oil companies arrived at their posts?"
"They arrived on Monday." Liu Shixiong said, "I had a meeting with them two days ago. For the time being, our work request is to smooth the relationship. We are not going to invite these companies to open direct stores in Taobao for the time being. Instead, we hope to cooperate with them as the only agent of Hua Xia Internet. We will purchase their products on our own, but we need them to give us a certain price advantage and give us a certain amount of promotional rebates."
As he said that, Liu Shixiong looked at Li Mu and said seriously, "I know what you are thinking. You want to push a wave of daily necessities and increase people's dependence on online shopping. However, the price of daily necessities is relatively low, and the profit margin for distributors is not as big as that for electronic products. So, it is quite difficult to make a price advantage. Do you have a specific idea now?"
Li Mu had indeed planned a big promotion in the department stores for a long time. Since the day of Taobao Brand Day, the department store promotion had become a major event in Li Mu's mind.
Previously, through the efforts of Taobao Brand Day and the subsequent influence of the media, almost all the consumers in the country knew that they could buy electronic products cheaper on Taobao Online. This was the first label that users put on Taobao Online.
However, Li Mu did not want Taobao to be like Dang Dang Books or Suning Home Appliances, which was labeled to the end. Therefore, he had to quickly put a second, third, and even more labels on the users' minds before the first label was solidified.
He wanted Taobao to become a large and comprehensive e-commerce website. Not only would it have a rich and versatile C2C business, but it would also have a B2C business that included all brands. Therefore, he had to promote a second large-scale promotion to the users as soon as possible.
The targets that Li Mu set for this promotion were: daily necessities, grains, oils, and foodstuffs.
These eight words included the most down-to-earth, the most essential, and the most frequently purchased products. Daily necessities, rice, oil, salt, soy, vinegar, tea, beer, mineral water, clothes, shoes, hats, toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent …
In short, they were all products that were closely related to the lives of ordinary people.
Li Mu introduced his campaign plan to Liu Shixiong in detail.
Since it was a general merchandise business, the first thing to do was to purchase on one's own. Only by purchasing on one's own could one obtain the greatest freedom in the sales process. If P&G were to do a full 199 minus 100 or 50 or 30 promotion on Taobao, P&G would definitely think that they were crazy. However, it did not matter. First, they would discuss the price with P&G and discuss the promotion rebates. After that, they would do the full reduction promotion themselves.
However, Li Mu was not really prepared to do such a cruel promotion. If he wanted to do this kind of promotion, there were only two ways. One was to fake it, which was to raise the original price and then give a full reduction. In the end, the actual cost to the consumers was almost the same as if there was no promotion. This was too much of a scam. If he played this trick right from the start, it would definitely make the users feel particularly disgusted. Therefore, he had to resolutely put an end to this.
If he did not fake it, then the full 199 minus 100 promotion must wait until his own platform had become a great sales channel of the enterprise and the platform had a strong voice in front of the enterprise. Because at that time, he could use his strong voice to force the enterprise to bear the cost of the promotion. But now, it was basically impossible to force the enterprise to bear the cost of the promotion.
Moreover, at present, there were basically no e-commerce promotion activities on Hua Xia. Except for Taobao's Brand Day, other brands and platforms had not really done large-scale promotion activities. Therefore, in Li Mu's view, not to mention the full 199 minus 100, even the full 199 minus 30 or 50 could attract a large number of users.
Li Mu's strategy was to generally use the full 199 minus 30 or 50 levels of promotion. As for the specific product with 30 or 50, it would be specifically calculated according to the cost price of this type of product and the enterprise's promotion rebate. In addition, he could use the form of lottery to regularly issue a certain amount of full 199 minus 100 coupons to the users every day. However, the number of coupons was relatively small, and it required the users to pay attention to the platform at all times. They could either grab it or draw it.
If a small number of full 199 minus 100 coupons were released according to a specific pattern and rule, it would definitely attract a large number of users' attention and scramble. It was just like the one yuan instant kill that Taobao did in his previous life. Millions of people scrambled for a laptop that was actually priced at 3999 yuan. The money invested was really worth it.
Of course, Li Mu was not going to be like Boss Ma and play with the people of the country like monkeys. His idea was to release at least 100,000 such coupons every day during the promotion period. As long as each coupon was used by a consumer, Taobao would have to bear at least a loss of 50 yuan. However, to Li Mu, this investment was very necessary. He had to really give in to the consumers in order to truly move them.
Before the promotion began, he would use television media and offline advertising to promote the relatively frugal housewives, middle-aged women, and middle-aged and elderly people who did not have access to the Internet but were relatively meticulous in their spending, to realize the benefits of Taobao's promotion. Usually, they would not hesitate to travel a few miles to buy rice that was 10 cents cheaper per catty. Now that they encountered such a big promotion, they could buy at home, and they did not have to fight for it with a group of middle-aged and elderly people. With such a good thing, they would definitely think of a way to participate in such a good thing.
At that time, for these non- Taobao users, as long as they successfully aroused their desire to buy, it did not matter if they asked their sons, friends, or neighbors to help them place an order, or learned how to use Taobao to place an order. In short, there would definitely be a way to transfer their money from offline physical stores to Taobao!
This was the first time Liu Shixiong had heard of a full discount promotion method. After carefully analyzing it, he was shocked for a moment.
It was also a promotion, but the ordinary discount promotion without any threshold was the simplest and most low-end promotion method. For example, any product would be 75% off, and any purchase would be discounted. In this case, it could only serve as a promotion, and the pulling effect would be much smaller.
However, if a full discount was used, the consumers would have to buy 200 yuan to be able to get a 50 yuan discount. It sounded like a higher promotion threshold, but the sales were all daily necessities. These daily necessities were the most likely to arouse the hoarding mentality of users. No one would buy five or six televisions at home, but there were too many people who would store a few buckets of detergent, a few packets of attractive powder, and a few rolls of toilet paper at home. Therefore, in fact, most users could accept the full discount method.
Once users adopted the full discount method, there was no doubt that the price of customers would increase, the number of customers would increase, and the total sales volume would also increase. Moreover, it would be a significant increase. This was also why "full discount" later became the only way to promote fast consumer goods on e-commerce platforms!
After listening to Li Mu's entire promotion strategy, Liu Shixiong almost slapped his thighs until they were red. He repeatedly praised, "This full discount strategy is so creative! Genius! "
Li Mu waved his hand. "What genius? Being able to succeed is the way of the king."
Liu Shixiong smiled and said, "Don't worry, this promotion strategy will definitely not be a problem. It will definitely work!"
Li Mu said, "Tomorrow, gather the new employees for a meeting. I will assign tasks to everyone. You don't have to worry too much about the promotion, I will host it. Your focus should still be on the logistics."
Liu Shixiong nodded. "In two days, I will go to Yuzhou to discuss with Zong Shen and Jialing Motorcycles about the custom made three-wheeled motorcycles."
Li Mu said, "Sure, but you must strive for the best price and the most complete after-sales support. In the future, our three-wheeled motorcycles might be on the road for more than ten hours a day, so the quality must be guaranteed."
"Don't worry." Liu Shixiong said confidently, "Our demand is so high, so we have enough power to speak to them."
Li Mu stretched and said, "Alright, the rest of the matters will be discussed during the meeting tomorrow. Let's call it a day, I'm tired."
Liu Shixiong looked at the time. It was a bit past eight in the evening, so it wasn't too late. He said to Li Mu, "Do you want to eat supper and drink a couple of cups?"
Li Mu thought for a moment. "Let's drink tomorrow, you're not leaving tomorrow anyway."
"That's fine too."
Just as he finished speaking, Liu Shixiong's phone rang. He looked down and saw Liu Shixiong cheerfully saying, "Hey, Lei Jun is calling."
"Oh?" Li Mu was interested. "Answer it. Let's see if he has decided to sell the Zhuoying.Com."
Liu Shixiong nodded with a smile and answered the call.
"Hello, Director Lei."
…
"It's me, what's the matter?"
…
"Oh? Really? Have you thought it through? "
…
"That's great!"
…
"Don't worry, we'll talk about it when you come back."
…
"OK, I'll wait for your call!"
About a minute later, Liu Shixiong hung up the phone with a smile and said to Li Mu, "Lei Jun said he is interested in joining Taobao. As for the Zhuoying.Com, he wants to sell it, but Jinshan and Lenovo don't agree. He will meet with the executives of these two companies when he comes back."
"Really?" Li Mu raised his eyebrows excitedly. "Lei Jun … Oh no, Lei Jun agreed to join Taobao?"
"Yes." Liu Shixiong nodded and said, "He said he is on a business trip in the south. When he comes back tomorrow, he will first talk to the executives about the Zhuoying.Com. Then, he will arrange a time to meet with you to discuss the details of joining Taobao."
Li Mu understood. With Lei Jianguo's current ability and status, even though he wasn't very rich, he was still a very powerful person in the industry. If he joined Taobao, he would naturally need to talk about salary and shares. Thus, Li Mu said, "Alright, keep in touch with him and arrange a time to meet with me."
Liu Shixiong said, "His business trip in the south should be about West Mountain Residence, right?"
"Definitely." Li Mu smiled evilly. "The core team of West Mountain Residence changing sides should be a big blow to him."
Liu Shixiong said, "Lei Jun is a powerful person. With him in charge of Taobao's operations, it's a good thing for Taobao."
Li Mu didn't know what Liu Shixiong thought about him recruiting Lei Jianguo, but as the original founder and business partner, Li Mu still had to give him the greatest respect. He said lightly, "Liu Shixiong, Lei Jun is coming over. I'm going to make him the COO and COO of Taobao. He will be in charge of the platform's operations and report directly to you."
Liu Shixiong said, "It's better to report directly to you. After all, his experience is much stronger than mine."
Li Mu waved his hand and said without hesitation, "I'll report to you."
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