With a ding, the elevator stopped at the top floor.
As soon as the doors opened, a woman in professional attire was already waiting at the entrance to welcome them.
"President Ji, President Chu, the boss is waiting for you in the office."
Ji Zhe and Xu Hai exchanged a glance, giving each other an encouraging look.
After all, they were about to face the true boss of the Wanlong Syndicate. To say they weren't intimidated would be a lie.
Just as the two of them reached the office door, the assistant, Su Mansu, pushed it open. "Boss, President Ji and President Chu have arrived."
Inside the office, Liu Yutong and Yu Xin were sitting on the sofa, sipping tea and chatting with smiles on their faces, seemingly discussing something delightful.
Seeing Ji Zhe and his companion enter, Liu Yutong set down her teacup and turned her gaze toward them, a faint smile still lingering on her face.
For some reason, even though the girl before them was beautiful and her smile was lovely, Ji Zhe and Xu Hai still felt an invisible pressure.
"President Ji, President Xu, please have a seat," Yu Xin stood up and gestured with her hand.
The two sat down.
Chu Hai habitually took out a voice recorder and placed it on the table, but after a moment of hesitation, he quietly put it back away.
Damn it, this was the Wanlong Syndicate. If he accidentally recorded something he shouldn't, he might be silenced for good.
Ji Zhe took a deep breath, preparing to speak up and question them. However, when he met the calm gazes of Liu Yutong and Yu Xin, the little bit of momentum he had managed to muster faded away.
Honestly, cooperating with the Wanlong Syndicate was quite miserable. As investors, wherever else they went, weren't they treated as honored guests? Didn't they hold the initiative? They could make money while standing tall.
But here at the Wanlong Syndicate, they were practically begging on their knees.
"Chairman Liu, we came here today because we wanted to talk to you and President Yu about the company's newly introduced rider welfare policy. I wonder if you and President Yu have seen the reports outside?"
"We have," Liu Yutong nodded.
Yu Xin also nodded in agreement.
Ji Zhe said, "Chairman Liu, since you've seen them, why did you still do it? You have no idea how many calls we received from investors in just one night. They practically cursed us to death."
"Even if you want to do a good deed, shouldn't you at least wait until the company goes public and the stock lock-up period ends? Doing this now, aren't you just throwing us all under the bus?"
After listening quietly, Liu Yutong asked, "So, President Ji, what do you think we should do?"
Ji Zhe replied, "Of course, we should retract the policy and issue a supplementary statement. We can say that the previous welfare policy was poorly considered and needs adjustment, so it will only cover full-time riders for now, while part-time riders will be discussed later."
Liu Yutong shook her head and said, "Constantly changing a policy that has already been announced will cause even greater damage to the company's reputation."
"That's still better than watching the company be dragged down!"
Ji Zhe became a bit agitated. "We've done the math. If we do this, the company's monthly costs will increase by at least twelve million, which is over a hundred million a year. Moreover, Wanhui Youxuan's net loss this year has already exceeded four hundred million. It wasn't making money to begin with, and now with such a massive sudden increase in labor costs, the pressure is simply too great."
"And think about it, we are doing group buying and delivery, which is still an emerging model. At a time like this, we should be concentrating our resources on seizing the market and building barriers, rather than spending money on delivery personnel."
"If things continue like this, whether we can even turn a profit will be a problem, let alone going public. What investment bank would dare to take our case?"
Liu Yutong slightly raised her delicate eyebrows. "You guys!"
"Wasn't it you who agreed in the beginning that Wanhui Youxuan's case would be left to you, and told me not to worry? I took that seriously. Could it be that you were joking with me?"
Ji Zhe and Xu Hai suddenly choked up, hurriedly waving their hands. "It wasn't a joke, not a joke. You must be kidding."
Liu Yutong said, "Since it wasn't a joke, then you should proceed with what you need to do. We will operate Wanhui Youxuan properly, so there is no need for you two to worry about it further."
Ji Zhe and Chu Hai exchanged another glance, only bitterness remaining on their faces.
Damn it, do we really have no human rights left at all!
Is this still a normal relationship between investors and investees?
They had talked their hearts out for so long, and they were just brushed off so lightly?
Honestly, at this moment, they really wanted to ask: Can we withdraw our investment?
It was just that they didn't dare.
If Liu Yutong were to turn around and claim they had no money, wouldn't the tens of millions they invested just go down the drain?
Due to certain well-known reasons, the investment agreement they signed with the Wanlong Syndicate was much looser compared to other projects. It did not mandate that the Wanlong Group must buy back their shares if problems arose with the project.
Therefore, if Wanhui Youxuan ultimately failed to go public, they would suffer massive losses and could only consider themselves unlucky.
Right then, Yu Xin, who had been listening quietly from the sidelines, felt it was about time. She picked up the teapot and stood up to refill their cups with hot water.
"President Ji, President Chu, have some tea first to cool down."
"All the issues you were worried about just now, like costs, profitability, and so on, we have already calculated internally."
"Precisely because we have run the projections, we are even more convinced that doing this now is the right move. It can quickly build a solid moat for us."
"What do you mean?" Ji Zhe was confused.
Right now, the entire industry was competing on financing, subsidies, and the speed of city expansion. Shouldn't a moat be based on technology, scale, or capital? How could it possibly have anything to do with delivery personnel welfare?
It wasn't their fault for having this conventional mindset.
Currently, many corporate employees in the country still didn't have basic social insurance, and many bosses and capitalists had long comfortably believed that costs in this area could be saved. Especially for highly mobile positions like delivery personnel, in their eyes, there was even less need for investment. Outsourcing it would save so much money, which had to be better than their current choice.
Yu Xin, however, explained the benefits of doing this from another angle.
"You two presidents, I believe that as investors, you are well aware of how strong the replication capabilities of the domestic internet industry are. Take our Wanhui Youxuan as an example. Although we are the first platform to do group buying and delivery, it hasn't been long, and several formidable competitors have already emerged, such as Kuaisong Network and Pinshihui."
"To put it bluntly, no matter how good an idea is, if a strong moat isn't built, it can still easily be overtaken or even eliminated by others."
"Why do I say this policy is building a moat? Because Sister Yutong and I have always believed that for a group-buying platform, 'people' and 'good service' are the most important things."
"President Ji, you just said we should concentrate our resources to seize the market and build barriers. Then let me ask you, in this group-buying model, what is the ultimate barrier? Is it lower prices? Kuaisong Network and Pinshihui can also raise a lot of money, and they might even subsidize more aggressively than we do."
"Is it the large number of onboarded merchants? As long as the commission you offer is low enough and your ground promotion is fierce enough, merchants can also be poached away."
"We believe that what truly makes users return time and again, and even choose us first when prices are similar, is the real moat."
"To achieve this, the most crucial thing is the experience. It is the smoothness, reliability, and peace of mind throughout the entire chain from placing an order to receiving the goods. The most fragile link in this chain, and the one that best reflects differentiation, is delivery."
If the two investors, Ji Zhe and Chu Hai, had not come to demand an explanation, they might still have thought that their competitors would catch up. But now, they were almost certain that those rivals would not do so. Inertial thinking is hard to change in a short period of time.
And this was the best opportunity for them to consolidate their position in the future market competition, rather than waiting until several competitors who were too powerful to deal with emerged. By then, it would be too late.
"The turnover rate of the delivery team is very high right now, which you two should be aware of, right? Why is it so high? It is because of unstable income, lack of security, and a low sense of professional dignity. A rider delivering food today might go work at a construction site tomorrow."
"Under these circumstances, is it realistic for us to demand that they provide service with a smile, pay attention to details, and work regardless of the weather? In reality, they will only calculate the time, snatch orders, and avoid being fined for exceeding the time limit too much. Good service is out of the question; it is already good enough if they do not carry resentment."
"Our new policy this time is to fundamentally change this situation. Buying accident insurance for all riders is to relieve them of their worries, so they do not have to fear going bankrupt just from a fall. Paying for the comprehensive social insurance and housing fund for full-time riders is to give them professional identity recognition and long-term security. They are not just errand boys, but official employees of Wanhui Preferred, enjoying rights protected by law!"
"A rider who feels secure and has a sense of belonging will definitely provide better service. With better service, word-of-mouth among users will improve. When all these details accumulate, user stickiness will become much higher."
"All of these will work together to build a powerful moat!"
"I suggest you two think carefully. If other platforms cannot provide any security, which platform will those riders choose to take orders from?"
"Without riders, your delivery efficiency will drop, the user experience will worsen, and then you will slowly fall into a vicious cycle."
"When that time comes, what will they use to shake our dominant position? Our leading status will be indestructible!"
Yu Xin's final words were logically clear and resoundingly powerful.
After listening, Ji Zhe and Chu Hai could not help but fall deep into thought.
Following her analysis, this policy indeed sounded like a highly visionary strategy.
They also knew that since the emergence of Wanhui Preferred, copycat group-buying websites had sprung up like mushrooms after rain. To maintain an absolute advantage, they really needed something distinctive...
Before the two could fully sort out their thoughts, Liu Yutong suddenly spoke up.
"If you two have not figured it out, you can go back and think about it slowly. Since you are here today, let us talk about the next investment project. The new project does not require a large amount of financing, about ten billion will be enough."
Ji Zhe: "???"
Xu Hai: "???"
Wait, what did that mean?
We have not even jumped out of this pit yet, and you have dug an even bigger one for us?
