I'm back in 1990

Chapter 656: Trial Operation of Jietong

In June 2004, after much effort by Jiang Bixing and with the strong support of city leaders, Shidai Commerce and Trade, with the assistance of relevant departments, reached a preliminary agreement with UnionPay and several major banks to jointly establish "Shoujietong Network Financial Payment Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Shoujietong"). Each party received a certain percentage of shares, but the actual operation rights were in the hands of Shidai Commerce and Trade.

After extensive preparations, the "Shoujietong" online payment system is scheduled to be officially launched for trial operation in Shanghai on June 22.

To complete this important task, Jiang Bixing overcame one obstacle after another, much like a journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures. In his thirties, he even started to go bald.

On June 17, before the official trial operation, Jiang Bixing came to Guangda Real Estate Building to report the current work progress to Huang Xiaochuan.

After listening to Jiang Bixing's report, Huang Xiaochuan was silent for a moment, and then said to Jiang Bixing, "Old Jiang, you're thinking too far ahead. I don't think we need to think that far ahead now. Our era has an advantage that others don't have, which is that we have a large and very stable customer base, including many young people."

Are you suggesting the marketing department just sitting around doing nothing? Get them to use their brains! For example, they could offer online shopping discounts at various stores in Shanghai, attracting customers to shop online at the Times Super Shopping Center. Integrate "Shoujietong" into the online platform, and customers will naturally come into contact with the system. After using it a few times, they'll understand its benefits, and that'll build customer loyalty!

Jiang Bixing knew that doing this would definitely have benefits, but Times Commerce had not yet recovered from the public incident in 2003. After all, hundreds of stores were affected to varying degrees at that time, and suffered losses for half a year. The losses were not hundreds of millions or billions, but more than 4 billion!

Because of the employee benefits and marketing strategies implemented by Huang Xiaochuan, the company's profits have consistently remained below 10%, so these losses cannot be recovered in a short period of time.

Moreover, the e-commerce division is an extremely expensive department. From last year to now, this one department has wiped out the entire net profit of Times Commerce for a whole month.

Jiang Bixing is now in a situation where even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. He has many ideas, but without money, he can't do anything. He ostensibly came to report on his work, but in reality, he came to complain about being poor.

Upon hearing Huang Xiaochuan's suggestion, Jiang Bixing silently took out the marketing plan he had prepared long ago and handed it to Huang Xiaochuan.

Huang Xiaochuan took the marketing plan from Jiang Bixing with a puzzled look, opened it and read it through. Damn!

So all that talk was for nothing. Jiang Bixing is getting more and more cunning. They already had a plan, which was pretty much the same as what I just said, only more detailed.

Jiang Bixing had been watching Huang Xiaochuan's expression closely. Seeing Huang Xiaochuan's face change, he quickly explained, "Chairman, you see, we've both come to the same conclusion, which means this plan is feasible. But the problem is, we don't have the money to implement it right now! You know the overall financial situation of Shidai Commerce; we simply don't have the money to invest. Supplier payments are a dead end, and you've explicitly forbidden Shidai Commerce from taking out bank loans. I just can't conjure up any money!"

Huang Xiaochuan closed the marketing plan and pointed at Jiang Bixing: "Old Jiang, you're full of idiots now too."

She's even learned to be secretive when talking to me now. If you want money, just write a report and apply for it directly. Why bother with all this trouble? I think you're just bored.

Jiang Bixing then touched his bald head and laughed, "Since Shidai Commerce separated from Dadao Group, it has become an independently operated enterprise. We can no longer rely on Dadao Group to provide us with funding as before, so I really can't bring myself to ask. After thinking it over, I came up with this terrible idea."

Huang Xiaochuan patted the sofa armrest and pondered for a moment.

"Shoujietong" and "Shidai Logistics" will be the two giants protecting the traditional retail industry in the future. The money-making ability of these two giants is also quite strong, but it has not yet been revealed. After all, one of these giants has just been weaned and the other is still crying for milk.

Huang Xiaochuan then said, "How about this, I'll call Cao Charlie and ask him to lend you a sum of money, ten billion? Is that enough?"

Jiang Bixing was overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly nodded, saying, "That's enough, that's enough!"

Having achieved his goal, Jiang Bixing left in high spirits. As soon as he returned to the headquarters of Shidai Commerce, he summoned Gu Zhiqi, the Minister of Marketing, and Yuan Wenzhu, the Minister of E-commerce Business Department, to his small conference room.

The three held a brief meeting.

"The chairman has approved our plan, and the funding issue has been resolved. Dadao Group will lend us one billion yuan, so the promotion plan can be implemented."

The marketing plan that Jiang Bixing gave to Huang Xiaochuan included a core strategy: offering significant discounts and promotions online. Otherwise, it would be impossible to attract people to shop online.

After more than a month of screening, the marketing department selected hundreds of products suitable for young people from tens of thousands of goods in the entire Times Commerce, such as electronic digital products, cosmetics, and imported food. Moreover, the online prices are generally 5 to 10 yuan lower than the store prices.

Users who link their "Shoujietong" account will also receive a 10 yuan electronic coupon, which can be used directly for their first purchase.

According to the plan, GG will be deployed in all Times Square stores in Shanghai, and the "Shoujietong" service will be promoted by utilizing outdoor GG and in-store TV screens.

Furthermore, all employees have undergone relevant training and will be responsible for providing on-site explanations of the event to customers.

Times Logistics has completed all the preliminary preparations and is just waiting for the day of trial operation.

With a total of 89 stores of varying sizes in Shanghai, covering tens of millions of customers, the "Shoujietong" promotion is definitely a money-burning activity.

June 22nd arrived quickly, and "Shoujietong" officially began its trial operation. On that day, Shoujietong's downloads exceeded 6, which was a rather astonishing number.

As more and more customers download and register, the server cluster built by Times Commerce is under increasing load, and the data is constantly soaring.

At 11:30 p.m. on the 22nd, Jiang Bixing learned the exact figures: today, "Shoujietong" had 512911 downloads and 108344 bound users. These users were highly active, and the total online sales reached 3.4 million yuan, which was an impressive figure. In the past, the daily turnover of online consumption relying on the Times Shopping Card was only around 100,000 yuan.

Cola Novels makes reading always a chapter faster than others.