Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 368: Negotiating with Ele.me Representatives
After bringing the porcelain bowl back to the collection room at home.
Chen Yiyang was preparing to go to sleep when he received a call from his assistant.
"The people from Hope just came to the company, saying they hope to meet you in the next few days."
The people from Hope?
Chen Yiyang was somewhat puzzled.
If the people from Hope are looking for him these days, it must be related to instant retail.
But didn’t the people from Ali already approach him? Ali has already started doing instant retail, so why would Hope, a company fully controlled by Ali, come looking for him?
However, if he couldn’t meet the people he wanted to, talking with the people from Hope wouldn’t be bad either, thought Chen Yiyang.
The next day, Chen Yiyang met with the representatives sent by Hope.
"Before we talk, I have a question." Chen Yiyang was straightforward, asking directly, "Before you, the people from Ali approached me about acquisition. Are you representing Ali this time, or is it solely Hope?"
Perhaps Chen Yiyang was too direct, as the people from Hope took a while going around in circles before finally making Chen Yiyang understand.
After the emergence of instant retail, Hope wanted to enter the instant retail sector first.
But Taobao intervened at this time.
Taobao wields much more influence at Ali headquarters than Hope.
As a result, Ali headquarters chose to suppress Hope, letting Taobao take the lead in this business.
But Hope was unwilling to accept this, so they sought out Chen Yiyang, hoping to collaborate with Chen Yiyang’s company.
"We are not seeking to acquire your instant retail company," Hope’s representatives laid out their terms.
"Then what do you want?"
"Investment, collaboration," the Hope representatives said, "Although Hope’s market share in the takeaway sector is not as large as Ugly Group, we still have a total of over 200 million transaction users.
If we introduce instant retail to Hope’s platform, we can promise not to charge any fees and will also help you with free traffic diversion."
The terms offered by Hope were very straightforward.
They would allow Chen Yiyang to put his instant retail onto Hope’s app platform.
The profits from instant retail would go entirely to instant retail, with Hope not taking a single penny, as long as Chen Yiyang allows Hope to take a 20% stake in instant retail.
"Wouldn’t you be at a disadvantage this way?" Chen Yiyang was curious.
"Not at all." Hope’s representatives answered firmly.
"Why?"
"Because, for Hope, having new channels to attract users is what’s most crucial."
Hope briefly introduced to Chen Yiyang the current customer acquisition costs for major apps.
For platforms like Hope that already have considerable scale, acquiring a customer to start consuming on the platform costs over 50 to 60 yuan.
In mature commercial sectors like takeaway software, most people tend to first download the software of the most famous company. If it doesn’t meet their requirements, they will then consider downloading software from other platforms.
However, since Ugly Group is the top dog, it’s rare for clients to have unmet needs with their software.
This creates a winner-takes-all situation.
No matter how many young people start trying delivery, most of them will become users of Ugly Group rather than Hope.
Thus, Hope is now desperately in need of channels for attracting users.
Building its own instant retail business might have been a great way to attract users.
But Ali, because of Taobao, temporarily prevents Hope from entering the instant retail sector.
Unless Taobao completely fails in the instant retail sector, Hope might be allowed to try instant retail at that point.
But Hope evidently doesn’t want to abandon this emerging business.
Hence, they sent people to find Chen Yiyang, hoping to collaborate with him.
After talking with the representatives from Hope, Chen Yiyang asked the accountant to see them out, and then he discussed the matter with Liu Xiaoyue and Zhang Sen.
"I think collaborating with Hope is feasible," Zhang Sen said, "Although Hope will take equity, we still retain control of the company."
"But will Ali allow us to just collaborate with Hope like this?" Liu Xiaoyue raised a concern, "Ali has 100% control over Hope.
If Ali finds out we didn’t accept their acquisition but chose to collaborate with Hope instead, they might obstruct us."
"Indeed." Chen Yiyang nodded, acknowledging Liu Xiaoyue’s point.
Hope’s offer looks very tempting.
But it poses a critical issue: Ali is currently not allowing Hope to enter the instant retail market. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Even if Chen Yiyang and Hope reach an agreement, once Ali headquarters takes note, even if the contract is signed, Hope might still cancel the contract even under penalty.
At this moment, Chen Yiyang’s phone rang.
When Chen Yiyang picked up the phone, he saw it was Liu Qiangxi calling.
Upon answering, Liu Qiangxi’s voice came through the phone, "Mr. Chen, I’ve arrived in Lin’an, let’s have a talk."
In the collection room of his villa.
Chen Yiyang showed Liu Qiangxi various antiques he had purchased from different places and placed here.
"This sword is one of Europe’s three Holy Swords, regarded as a national treasure of Europe." Chen Yiyang pointed to Durandel and spoke to Liu Qiangxi, "If I were to put this sword up for auction, it would easily fetch several billion."
"You’re just boasting," Liu Qiangxi didn’t believe that Chen Yiyang could have one of Europe’s three Holy Swords in his collection room.
"And what about this glass cup?" Liu Qiangxi curiously looked at the Warring States Crystal Cup in Chen Yiyang’s collection room.
"This is a cup from the Warring States period, the Lin’an Museum’s prized possession is the same model. There are only two in the country, one in the museum and one here."
"You’re like the National Treasure Gang now," Liu Qiangxi was incredulous.
Chen Yiyang’s collection room contained items either rare enough that museums didn’t have them, or there was one in the museum and one here.
How could he not be exaggerating?
Even the world’s richest person might not have the capability to collect such rare items.
"Believe it or not," Chen Yiyang rolled his eyes.
Liu Qiangxi, being face-blind was one thing, but not being able to distinguish authentic antiques was another.
So Chen Yiyang simply took Liu Qiangxi out of the collection room and asked, "Qiangxi, what brings you to me in such a hurry?"
"What else," Liu Qiangxi said, "I heard you’re planning to sell your instant retail to Ugly Group?"
"Your information is already outdated," Chen Yiyang said, "After Ugly Group, people from Ali and Hope have all come looking for me, hoping to collaborate."
"So what are you planning to do?"
