From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 56 This world is truly teeming with heroes and heroines.

Lin Mu took a long detour to the Three Little Bees Company early in the morning before going to work.

At the company, Boss Gu Ming looked listless with large dark circles under his eyes, and several empty iced Americanos sat on his desk.

Lin Mu laughed and said, "Old Gu, you've been staying up late a lot lately. Be careful not to die from overwork."

Because he had been staying up late, Gu Ming's thinking was a beat slower. He scratched his head, touched his hand covered in scalp oil, and asked blankly, "What does 'sudden death' mean?"

Lin Mu was taken aback, then realized that the concept of "sudden death" was not yet widespread in this era. This concept only became known to the public around 2012, when the golden age of the Internet arrived, overtime work became the norm in major companies, and people died suddenly from time to time.

Gu Ming said, "According to your plan, Mr. Lin, these next few days are crucial, and I dare not sleep for a moment."

Immediately, Gu Ming slammed his hand on the table, jumped up, and said, "President Lin, the results are encouraging! My store's best-selling items have now reached number one in their category, the store level has reached one crown, and the newly launched membership system has accumulated 1 store members for me."

"Even without discounts, thanks to the reputation I've built up recently, I can still generate 400 to 500 organic sales every day."

"Each order is worth about 20 yuan, and the daily turnover is about 8000 to 1 yuan. My gross profit is about 10%, which is 1000 yuan a day and 3 yuan a month."

Lin Mu asked, "If the gross profit is 3, what is the net profit?"

Gu Ming's shoulders slumped, and he said, "5%, 15,000 a month."

To be fair, a monthly income of 15,000 yuan was definitely considered a high salary in 2008.

But for a small business owner like Gu Ming, this amount of money is nothing. Lin Mu also knows that's how the food industry works; in fact, a 5% net profit margin is considered high.

In later years, Three Squirrels' total annual revenue reached 70 billion yuan, but its net profit was only 2%. After a year of hard work, its net profit was only 1.4 million yuan, with all the money going to the platform.

However, in the food industry, you can't calculate money that way; you have to calculate turnover rate.

To use an imperfect analogy, if you invest 100 million yuan in a product, the net profit after one round of development is only 5%, which is 5 yuan.

However, if the turnover is fast and all the goods can be sold out in a month, that is, one cycle of turnover per month, then after 12 cycles of turnover in a year, the principal of 100 million can generate a net profit of 60, with a return rate of 60%.

Furthermore, as the business grows and the brand gains recognition, you can use the contract to apply for low-interest loans from banks and use the bank's money to do business.

They can even put pressure on downstream customers to negotiate a longer payment period, such as the normal 60 to 80 days, so that downstream manufacturers can advance the funds, thus transferring the risk to the downstream customers. They can then use the money from bank loans to make various financial investments and make a good profit.

The food industry is a deep and complex place, with countless ways to make money. Of course, Gu Ming's Three Little Bees Food Company is far from being a behemoth.

Lin Mu's goal is to make Three Little Bees Company a top player in the industry, and he certainly won't be satisfied with this amount of revenue.

He said, "Boss Gu, the market share of breakfast bread is expanding year by year."

"Take Panpan Bread for example. Despite the 08 financial crisis, it still managed to increase its market share by 40% against the trend."

"So let's not even talk about the transformation we're going to undertake. Just by staying put and maintaining your current position, your organic traffic and customer base will continue to grow."

"Believe it or not? It's the end of 2008 now. By the end of 2009, even if I do nothing and you don't do any marketing, your entire store can still sell 20 orders in a year."

Gu Ming nodded and said, "I believe that. I've researched the market. The top e-commerce platform on Taobao right now is Chengyi E-commerce. Last year, Chengyi E-commerce sold 25 orders across all its stores, and this year they're aiming for 30 orders. We won't be any worse than them. Besides, we have you, President Lin, right? You've only been in charge for less than two months, and you've already achieved this level of success."

Afterwards, Lin Mu chatted with Gu Ming for a while before going to work. Gu Ming, unable to withstand several consecutive nights of staying up late, fell asleep on his desk.

In his dream, he saw Three Little Bees Company grow and prosper, achieving annual sales of 1000 million orders, with both online and offline sales flourishing, and annual revenue of several hundred million yuan. He chuckled, drool dripping from his mouth.

……

Lin Mu arrived at Alibaba's headquarters by car. He saw a newsstand downstairs and casually went over to buy a newspaper.

He wanted to check recent national developments to pinpoint the timeline and see if there were any additional opportunities.

When the boss saw Lin Mu arrive, he said, "Oh? Young man, do you work at Alibaba?"

Lin Mu often bought newspapers here and was familiar with the newsstand owner, so he replied, "Yes, what's up?"

The old man asked, "I heard that your Tmall store, which you guys run, is going to shut down. Is that true?"

At this moment, Lin Mu also saw the newspaper headline: **Unloved by his maternal grandmother and uncle, Zhang Yong takes over Alibaba's abandoned Taobao Mall**.

Lin Mu took out a one-yuan coin to buy the newspaper and casually replied, "Taobao Mall isn't dead, it's just that Mr. Zhang has taken over. These are just rumors, not to be believed."

The old man, fanning himself, pointed at the battlefield and said, "I think it's risky. Changing generals on the eve of battle is a major taboo in military strategy."

Lin Mu smiled but didn't say anything. He stood by the newsstand and quickly skimmed through the newspaper. There wasn't much to say about the content; it was all the same old stuff.

After reading the newspaper, he took it back to the company. It was rush hour, and the main road was bustling with people. Many Alibaba employees were walking and chatting, and there was a lot of negative information about Taobao Mall.

Someone said, "President Zhang made a mistake. Why did he have to take on this mess?"

Some people said, "Apart from Jack Ma, no one in the entire Alibaba group is optimistic about Taobao Mall anymore. I really don't understand what Mr. Ma is thinking."

Some people said, "But you know what, Mr. Ma has done quite a few things like knowingly doing the impossible and turning the impossible into the possible. Like Taobao at the beginning, and then Alimama later, this time Taobao Mall might become another classic case."

Do you know JD.com?

"I know, you mean JD.com's ecosystem is the same as Tmall's? Dude, don't be ridiculous. JD.com's founder is crazy, he's going for an asset-heavy model. As long as no one is burning money for him, he's doomed. I think he's a fraud."

"To be honest, I'd rather believe that Taobao Mall can succeed than JD.com."

Lin Mu strolled along, listening to the conversations around him. Taobao Mall, Jack Ma, JD.com, Liu Qiangdong, Olympics, 4 trillion yuan stimulus package, earthquake, snowstorm, massive infrastructure projects, high-speed rail... one after another, these terms popped into his ears.

Lin Mu looked up at the sky, filled with emotion. The tide of the times rolled forward, and countless business geniuses each shone brightly.

Who could have imagined that China's high-speed rail, JD.com, and Tmall would later achieve such scale and influence? And who could have imagined that Pinduoduo could emerge from the encirclement of the two giants, Taobao and JD.com?

Lin Mu said smugly, "This world is truly full of heroes and great men."

……

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