Chapter 977 Firing the First Shot

On the way back, Wang Ying's mind was always lingering with the words Qin Hao said when he let her go.

"If one of me and Yang Cheng is going to fall, whose side will you stand on?"

Wang Ying waited until she returned to the dormitory, but there was no answer to this question.

Ever since she saw Yang Cheng's childish side in the police station, Wang Ying finally figured out that her feelings for Yang Cheng over the years were not love, but she was used to his existence. Only in this way could she explain why Yang Cheng had so many girlfriends over the years, and she was not angry or jealous, but every time she saw Qin Hao and Xiao Qianxi together, she would feel inexplicably irritated.

"Miss, what are you daydreaming about? Where did you go just now? I answered a phone call and ran away."

Xu Lin's sudden appearance scared Wang Ying.

"No, nothing, I went to deal with something." Wang Ying's eyes flashed with panic.

Xu Lin wanted to continue asking, but Xie Qiao pushed open the dormitory door and came back.

"Have you eaten yet? I brought you pancakes."

"Give me one." Xu Lin took it and took a big bite: "Why are Qin Chuan and Da Long still setting up a stall in front of the school? Didn't they get Lao Qin's investment and say they want to rent a stall in the school cafeteria?"

Xie Qiao sighed: "Don't mention it, it was originally agreed, but it was stuck at the logistics department. They said they would not rent that stall to Qin Chuan."

"Why is it like this? Didn't Qin Chuan get his business license?"

Xu Lin suddenly remembered something while eating a pancake, and turned to look at Wang Ying: "Miss, you should have a way to do this, or you can help Qin Chuan, so that we can also eat delicious pancakes in school in the future."

"Ah? Oh, I'll call and ask."

Wang Ying was still in a sleepwalking state, and she agreed without paying attention.

"Okay, let Qin Chuan go to the logistics department to sign the contract tomorrow."

Xie Qiao and Xu Lin were stunned. Is this the power of a young lady? Just a phone call can get it done.

Sure enough, the next day, when Qin Chuan went to the logistics department again, their attitude towards him changed 180 degrees. They were so polite that they even reduced the deposit by three months.

Compared with Xie Qiao and her friends' leisurely college life, Qin Hao was much busier. The Yiguo platform would be launched next month, and he had to make a decision on a lot of things.

As Wang Ying said, they encountered a lot of trouble in purchasing. The Yang family still had a lot of influence in the Beijing business circle, and many dealers of well-known brands rejected Yiguo's group purchase plan.

On the one hand, they were under pressure from the Yang family, and on the other hand, e-commerce was still an emerging industry in China. No one had tried it before, and these dealers were also holding their money and watching.

At first, according to Qin Hao's idea, the group purchase activity next month was mainly electronic products, but the dealers refused to cooperate. After thinking it over, Qin Hao decided to change his mind.

Although electronic products are well-known and attractive to college students, the unit price is too high. A casual MP3 costs one or two hundred yuan, not to mention mobile phones and digital cameras that cost thousands of yuan.

Therefore, Qin Hao focused on snacks, daily necessities, and books.

These products have low unit prices and high purchase frequencies. They are also needed by students in their daily lives and studies, and can mobilize the enthusiasm of college students to participate to the greatest extent.

For Qin Hao, making money from group purchases is actually secondary. Cultivating college students' consumption habits is the most important thing.

Millions of these college students graduate and enter society every year. They will be the main consumer group for online shopping in the next 20 years.

Users are the most valuable assets of Internet companies.

Time flies. In a blink of an eye, more than half a month has passed. It is already March 2002.

The four seasons in the north are relatively distinct, and it has just started to warm up in March.

On the campus of Peking University and Tsinghua University, students can finally take off their heavy winter clothes and sweep away the dullness of winter.

On this day, a Peking University and Tsinghua University student suddenly discovered that a store called "Yiguo" suddenly appeared in the school.

From the outside, it seems to be a supermarket, because there are display cabinets and shelves inside, but there are too few goods inside, right? There seems to be only one or two of the same product.

And the products inside don't seem to be that complete.

"Hey, could this be an Internet cafe? There are so many computers."

Yes, the most eye-catching thing in "Yiguo" is the computers placed on both sides. A curious student asked the waiter after entering.

"How much is it for an hour of Internet access here?"

"Hello, this is not an Internet cafe."

"If it's not an Internet cafe, then why are there so many computers? Are they just for decoration?"

"Sir, these computers can be used, but for now they can only log in to our internal website."

The student lost interest when he heard it: "If you can only log in to the internal network, what's the point? I don't even want to play with it for free."

"Sir, our internal website is different from other intranets. Ours is a group buying website."

"Group buying? What do you mean?"

"It means that you can place an order for the products displayed here on our website. The price is generally 70% lower than the market price, and some products can even be 30% off."

"Is it really that cheap? It can't be counterfeit, right?"

"You can rest assured that we can open a store directly on the campus of Peking University and Tsinghua University. It has been strictly reviewed by the school and a huge deposit has been paid. Once you buy counterfeit goods from us, we will compensate you tenfold."

"Are you sure you can compensate you tenfold?"

"Of course, this promise is written directly on our Yiguo homepage."

The students began to browse the website under the guidance of the waiter, and found that the products in it were indeed much cheaper than those sold in supermarkets.

"The goods on the shelves and display cabinets are our physical samples, so you don't have to worry about the goods not being what you ordered."

After hearing what the waiter said, many students were tempted.

"Give me two packs of this country bumpkin chicken legs, and two buckets of instant noodles."

"I want some toilet paper, and a box of shampoo and soap."

At this time, the waiter smiled and said, "You can directly register an Yiguo account, and then place an order directly on the website. After the payment is successful, you can come to our store to pick up the goods tomorrow."

A student hesitated and said, "After paying, you will not get the goods until tomorrow. What if you collect the money but don't give the goods?"

"Don't worry about this. Our Yiguo can open a store in Peking University and Tsinghua University. It must have been strictly reviewed by the school, and a huge deposit has been paid. You can confirm this with the school."

"As for why we can only get the goods tomorrow, the reason is also very simple. Why are our Yiguo products so much cheaper than those outside? Because we adopt the group purchasing model, and only when everyone's orders are gathered together can we negotiate with the manufacturer and reduce the price to the lowest."

The IQ of those who can be admitted to Peking University and Tsinghua University is definitely not low. As soon as they hear it, they understand what this group purchase is. This novel shopping method has aroused the interest of many Peking University and Tsinghua University students.

"How about we buy some cheap stuff to test the waters first?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. I'll buy a few bottles of Coke first. If I can get the goods tomorrow, I'll buy something else next time."

Soon, the empty space in front of the computers on both sides was crowded with students queuing up to register and place orders.

And as some students called their roommates, classmates, and fellow villagers, a long queue had formed at the door just one hour after Yiguo's trial operation.

Seeing this, Qin Hao sent people to distribute small cards at the door with Yiguo's website printed on them, so that students could place orders directly through the Internet.

Xie Qiao and Xu Lin heard from Xiao Qianxi that Yiguo opened today, and they were curious to join in the fun, but they queued for half an hour and couldn't get in.

"Xie Qiao, what's wrong with Lao Qin's brain? How can he come up with so many weird ways to make money?"

Xu Lin was completely convinced, and Xie Qiao nodded in agreement: "Last year, Lao Qin said that we would see the name of Haoran Technology in the newspaper at the end of the year. I thought he was bragging, but I didn't expect him to be so awesome. Next time, if Lao Qin said that we would see him on CCTV, I would believe it."

"I have to say it, Qianxi is really lucky. She found such a good boyfriend right after entering college. If she reached the legal age, I would immediately take Lao Qin to get a marriage certificate, and spend the rest of my life comfortably at home as a young lady."

"Look at your little achievements, why don't you say that Lao Qin is lucky to meet such a beautiful and considerate girlfriend like Qianxi."

Just as Xu Lin and Xie Qiao were bickering, they finally squeezed in.

"Wow, Xie Qiao, look, this instant noodle costs 4 yuan in the supermarket, but only 2.8 yuan here, and this Rejoice shampoo is more than 2 yuan cheaper than outside."

Women are born shopaholics, especially they have no resistance to various cheap goods. Xu Lin and Xie Qiao are no exception. If they didn't have enough living expenses in their pockets, they would probably buy all the goods.

When they placed the order and paid, they realized that they had bought so many things.

"It's over. This month's living expenses will definitely be overspent. What should I do?"

"There's no way. I can only tighten my belt. Alas, it's all Lao Qin's fault. He takes money out of our pockets in various ways."

Qin Hao, who was standing at the door, sneezed for no reason. Xiao Qianxi asked with concern: "Did you catch a cold last night?"

"It's okay. Maybe I worked too hard last night."

Seeing Qin Hao's smirk, Xiao Qianxi said angrily: "There are so many people here. They are not serious."

It happened that Xie Qiao and Xu Lin came out of the Yiguo store at this time.

"Qianxi, your family's Lao Qin has taken away all the living expenses for Xie Qiao and me this month. You have to take care of our meals." Xu Lin teased.

Xie Qiao also chimed in: "That's right. I just got the living expenses this month, and it's gone in the blink of an eye before I even warmed it up."

"Okay, I'll pay for your meals this month, but you have to come back to the company with me later and write an experience report."

"Ah? You have to write a report."

"For this month's meal expenses, just write it."

Originally, Yiguo planned to close at nine o'clock in the evening, but until half past ten, there were still students placing orders in the store. There was no choice but for the waiter to work overtime until eleven o'clock, and then dragged his tired body off work.

On the other side, the 12th floor of the Beijing Tsinghua Resources Building was brightly lit.

Liu Qiangdong stared at the screen in front of him. Although the numbers on it had not jumped for more than ten minutes, he still maintained this posture.

"Brother Dong, this should be the sales volume. You won't see much growth if you keep an eye on it."

Faced with Qin Hao's ridicule, Liu Qiangdong said seriously: "Brother Qin, are you sure you don't want to do the logistics company you mentioned last time?"

"I don't have that much time to do this. The e-commerce business alone is enough to deal with." Qin Hao said lightly.

"Okay, let me go back and learn about the logistics industry, and then we can talk in detail."

The reason why Liu Qiangdong was tempted was not because of how much money he made from this group purchase today, but because he saw the huge prospects of e-commerce.

There are so many people shopping online in just one place, Peking University and Tsinghua University. What about the whole Beijing, or even the whole country?

Liu Qiangdong dared not imagine how huge the market would be. Imagine that there are 1.2 billion people in the country. Even if each person only spends one dollar on online shopping, that would be a turnover of 1.2 billion.

Just thinking about it made Liu Qiangdong excited.

While the two were talking, the time had already reached 0 o'clock in the morning.

Half an hour later, the financial manager excitedly found Qin Hao.

"Boss, do you know how much our sales volume is today?"

"How much?"

"A total of 176,800."

Xiao Qianxi on the side was full of joy: "So much?"

If this amount was placed ten years later, it would naturally be insignificant. The daily sales of a good online store would be more than this, but this was in early 2002, when ordinary people could not afford computers.

Moreover, considering that it was the first day of Yiguo’s opening, its reputation had not spread yet, and many students were just trying it out, and they bought relatively cheap products. It was quite good to achieve such results.

Qin Hao’s expression was relatively calm. What he really cared about were the number of registered users, the number of orders, and the average unit price.

Today, more than 4,800 people registered Yiguo accounts, most of which were registered through external IPs, indicating that the "small cards" are still necessary.

"Everyone has worked hard all day today, go back and rest first, tomorrow will be the real test."

There is an order, but the user has not received the product yet, which can only be regarded as the first step towards success.

Early the next morning, Qin Hao did not care about being affectionate with Xiao Qianxi, and came to the Yiguo store on the Peking University and Tsinghua University campus to take charge of the dispatch.

"Hey, Master Han, have you set off yet? Okay, be careful on the road."

"Manager Liu, should all the employees be in place before eight o'clock? Please confirm again at seven thirty. If not, I will find some part-timers to take over."

At seven forty, the truck slowly reversed, and the employees began to unload the goods in an orderly manner.

At eight o'clock, Yiguo officially opened for business, and some students who were earlier came to pick up the goods.

Last night, the warehouse had already made sub-packages according to the orders. When the students came, they only needed to report the last six digits of their mobile phone numbers when they registered, and they could get the goods they ordered yesterday.

"Well, this Coke tastes right, it's not fake or shoddy."

"This bread is also OK, it's the same as the one you buy in the supermarket."

With the first batch of students who got the ordered goods back, Yiguo became completely popular in the Peking University and Tsinghua University campus circles. (End of this chapter)