From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 129 Sheng Mingyue is shocked by Pinduoduo's prices

Chapter 129 Sheng Mingyue is shocked by Pinduoduo's prices

At the meeting, Wang Zaixing said, "Lin Mu, I have an idea. I saw a batch of goods here. A small business owner has 5000 T-shirts with the 2008 Olympics printed on them that are not selling. Because the ink quality is poor, the color will fade after washing and it will also stain the skin. It is impossible to sell them."

He paused, then continued, "For products like this, how about we create a special entry point so users can try them on for free? And put this item in the 1-yuan flash sale section to make it a lead-generation item."

Lin Mu asked, "Is it free to try it on?"

"That's right!" Wang Zaixing explained, "It means the user doesn't need to pay. This T-shirt is considered a subsidy from us to the user. If the user is satisfied after receiving the goods, they can click to pay; if they are not satisfied, we don't actually need them to return the goods. The return shipping fee is another expense, so we can just give it to them directly."

"Furthermore, my idea is that although this might give users the impression that 'cheap goods are no good,' it can also subtly convey to them that Pinduoduo's products are indeed cheap and that you really do get what you pay for. Besides, if users are truly dissatisfied, we'll give them away for free. This process of giving them away should actually strengthen their positive impression of Pinduoduo."

Lin Mu thought for a moment, then turned to Jiang Fan and asked, "Jiang Fan, isn't this technically very difficult?"

"If it's given away for free, there will probably be a lot of people who try to get it for free, choosing not to pay after receiving the goods. It's even possible that one person could create dozens or hundreds of accounts to claim hundreds of items of clothing."

It's worth noting that in 2010, one mobile phone number could be linked to 20 QQ accounts, and there's still no real-name registration requirement for mobile phone numbers.

Mobile service centers offer very cheap pre-paid SIM cards that only cost 5 yuan per month.

There's also a gray market where people exploit these "white cards" to activate various QQ virtual items, such as Yellow Diamond, Green Diamond, and memberships, essentially performing "card-stealing" operations.

This shady business has also spawned a special website called "Card Alliance," where you can get all sorts of virtual memberships at extremely low prices.

Jiang Fan's expression was serious. After thinking for a moment, he said, "ZaiXing's idea is good, and it's not difficult to implement technically. As for the issue of 'wool-gathering' that you're worried about, Mr. Lin, we can raise the bar. How about three suns on QQ?"

"For users to use the free trial feature, they must first verify their QQ level. If their level reaches three suns, they can use this feature."

"Moreover, I think Resun's idea is really good. It's not just about clothes. We can also select some department store items and food to enable this feature, such as socks, plastic gloves, and plastic slippers. These items are not worth much money. Even if users default, we won't lose much, and we can also filter out a group of high-quality users from them."

Lin Mu thought to himself: As expected of Jiang Fan, he is not only a technical genius but also a strategic master, and he is also so excellent in tactical execution.

On the other hand, Wang Zaixing felt a sense of urgency.

He originally thought that with Lin Mu starting his own business, he would definitely be able to become Lin Mu's right-hand man, but he never expected that this small startup company would be full of hidden talents and a bunch of amazing people.

The competitive pressure is even greater than within Alibaba, so I need to play a bigger role and not be outdone.

Wang Zaixing volunteered, "Lin Mu, we also need to pay attention to the problem of counterfeit goods."

"There aren't many merchants on Pinduoduo in the first batch, only a few hundred. My colleagues and I from the operations department will go to the warehouse to check for counterfeit or substandard products."

"If someone won't even let us inspect their warehouse, they must have something to hide. We should just terminate the cooperation."

Lin Mu nodded and told Wang Zaixing to take care of it.

In the following two weeks, Lin Mu signed contracts with a total of 280 merchants, becoming one of Pinduoduo's first batch of merchants.

4 month 20 number.

Lin Mu has set May 1st as the date for Pinduoduo's first public beta test.

On April 20th, Pinduoduo's web version and various operating systems and mobile apps...

Everything has been developed and today is the day for the first internal test.

Lin Mu addressed all employees, saying, "Take the product home and try it yourself, and then ask your relatives and friends to try it too. Treat everyone as a test team. Closer to the launch date, carefully test it to see if there are any serious bugs."

Some time later, Sheng Mingyue received a QQ link forwarded by Lin Mu. Coming from a wealthy family, she used an American version of the iPhone 4 and was playing Fruit Ninja in her spare time. Seeing the link Lin Mu forwarded, she thought to herself: her husband's startup project is finally about to launch.

Lin Mu had, of course, discussed his ideas about Pinduoduo with Sheng Mingyue. As a layman, Sheng Mingyue felt that this business model had the potential for success.

She once asked Lin Mu if he needed her father, Lai Rongzhi, to help her. With her father's prestige, it would be easy for him to secure tens of millions in angel investment, but Lin Mu refused.

Sheng Mingyue paused the game, then logged into QQ and clicked the link to go to Pinduoduo. A pop-up message appeared asking if she had linked her QQ account and if she wanted to log in with her QQ number.

Oh?

Has her man convinced Tencent and gained their support? He truly is the man she chose.

Sheng Mingyue thought to herself, and then chose to log in with her QQ number.

Soon, the page refreshed smoothly and I was taken to the Pinduoduo web version.

She saw all the products displayed in the waterfall layout, as well as the brightly colored 1-yuan flash sale entry.

Sheng Mingyue glanced at the goods and was immediately surprised by the prices: 6.6 yuan for 3 nail clippers, 10 yuan for 10 pairs of socks, and a pack of 12 rolls of toilet paper for only 8.8 yuan.

"No, this is too outrageous!" Sheng Mingyue had heard Lin Mu say that he would sell his goods very cheaply, but she never expected that they would be this cheap.

The price was so cheap that it made her uneasy, and she wondered to herself: Are these goods counterfeit or substandard products?

She clicked into the 1-yuan flash sale page and saw something outrageous—women's nail stickers, a group purchase for two people, flash sale price of 1 yuan, free shipping, pay later.

"What? What? What?" Sheng Mingyue, the rich young lady, was completely dumbfounded, feeling like she was illiterate.

She recognized every single word on it, but when they were put together, she couldn't understand it. What did "1 yuan nail stickers" mean? What did "pay later" mean? Was Pinduoduo a charity?

As a second-generation rich kid, Sheng Mingyue spends hundreds of yuan on a single manicure at a nail salon, but she is also aware of the realities of the market: at a budget nail salon, a complete manicure can be done for 9.9 yuan; she has also searched for nail stickers on Taobao, and the average price is around 10 yuan, not including shipping.

How can you find nail stickers on Pinduoduo for just 1 yuan with free shipping and the option to pay later? This is definitely not normal; is there something wrong with the website?

Sheng Mingyue took a screenshot of the product and sent it to Lin Mu on QQ, along with a question mark emoji, asking, "How can it be so cheap?"