Chapter 703 I Will Rule the Market

Kyoto, Guomao Hotel, the deep night in spring is charming, and with the thousands of street lights and the continuous stars, it looks even more dazzling.

Travis' suite is filled with exquisite Western food, entertaining his friend Peter Fenton who came from Silicon Valley.

"You haven't been back for a long time?"

"I will go back when the market stabilizes."

"Is the business here good?"

Travis opened a bottle of whiskey and walked over with a bright smile: "The Chinese market is like a toy made of gold to me, very shiny, but... I can only play with it."

Fenton picked up the glass and smiled: "It seems that the real Chinese market is far less dangerous than the rumors."

"Of course."

Travis raised his glass: "The great ones usually like to find reasons for failure, like Amazon, eBay and Groupon, they always feel embarrassed after being driven away, so they have to describe this market as more dangerous."

Fenton Put down the wine glass: "But I always think that Chinese consumers are very exclusive of Americans."

"Of course they are exclusive, but it doesn't prevent them from using our products."

"What an interesting country."

Travis cut the steak: "If you have time, you can stay a few more days to see how Uber wins. I think the time is about right. I will conquer this continent again like my ancestors."

Fenton nodded: "It sounds grand, I like grand performances."

The two picked up the wine glasses and just took a sip when they heard the door open in the suite. Travis's female secretary came in and smiled at Fenton.

Travis raised his head: "Miss Anna, what's the matter?"

"Mr. Cheng and Mr. Chen just called and I'm afraid they can't attend your dinner."

"Why?"

"They said they were unwell, but it sounds like they have the same disease."

Travis' face turned cold: "They are still making meaningless delays, so we don't have to leave room for them, just crush them in the market."

Fenton thought for a while with the wine glass: "Who is Mr. Cheng? Who is Mr. Chen?"

"CEO of Kuaidi and Bibi, China's local taxi-hailing platforms."

"Uber's rival?"

Travis glanced at him and said, "You must be drunk."

Fenton grinned, "It sounds like you are very disdainful of your rival?"

"Weakness is the original sin. I gave them a choice, to merge with Uber and cash out. Although they agreed, they kept dragging their feet. Chinese businessmen really have no integrity."

"Yellow people are all like this."

Afterwards, after a Western meal, Travis planned to take Fenton to his China headquarters, so he asked Anna to call a car.

After the two got in the car, Fenton looked at the surrounding street scenes along the way and was attracted by the words Didi that could be seen everywhere.

"Uber only has two competitors in China, Bibi and Didi Kuaile? Why do I always see this Didi? Ube's ads are even less than its."

"A platform that works hard on marketing but can't even see Uber's taillights."

"Anna, what's written on that car?"

Anna, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked out the window after listening: "Mr. Peter, it says Didi Taxi, low-carbon travel, which is also one of the ads."

After listening, Travis also looked out the window and found that there seemed to be a lot of cars with "Didi Travel" written on the street, with different styles and brands, wandering between the roads that extend in all directions.

He frowned slightly, showing a thoughtful expression, and finally couldn't help but snorted and sat up straight again.

Soon, the car drove to Uber's China headquarters, and the two visited various departments, but were stopped by Trott, the operations director, halfway.

"Mr. Travis, I have something to report."

"What's wrong?"

Trott flipped through the data sheet in his hand: "Recently, the number of Uber's orders has been decreasing, and other data has also shown an overall downward trend."

Travis took a look: "Spring Festival effect?"

"No, the Spring Festival has been over for a long time, and it has been a month since we resumed work. This is not right, especially the overall decline in daily activity, frequency, and new user registration rate. It cannot be regarded as an ordinary fluctuation. There must be a reason."

"Impossible, the person in charge of Bibi and Kuaidi are both sick. This is an ordinary fluctuation. Don't be too nervous. The market is already ours."

Trott opened his mouth: "Mr. Travis, there is also Didi in the market, and its boss It is the great Jiang Qin. If you underestimate him, you will be cursed. "

Travis laughed instantly: "Trott, this is the funniest joke I have ever heard. You should have saved it for April Fool's Day."

Trott said with a serious expression: "Sir, I have seen such data fluctuations before."

"?"

"Lashou.com's data performance was like this when it went from prosperity to decline."

Fenton was also staring at Trott at this time: "Mr. Trott, are you Chinese or Japanese?"

Trott narrowed his eyes: "Talking is talking, don't curse!"

"Hey, this sentence seems to be Chinese. It seems that you are Chinese. I have always been interested in Chinese culture. Can I know your Chinese name?"

"My name is...Kang Jingtao."

When Travis established the Chinese team, he learned from the failure experiences of Amazon, Gaopeng and Waimai Superman, and specially selected the most localized team.

At the beginning, Kang Jingtao worked at Koubei Waimai, and because he was afraid that Jiang Qin would leave, he later joined Uber.

There are many reasons. Foreign companies pay more and have plenty of rest time, but the most important reason is that Jiang Qin is not interested in this market.

But who knew that at the end of the year, Jiang Qin suddenly left, so that Kang Jingtao has been worried for several months.

However, Didi's subsequent performance has been very unsatisfactory, which has alleviated his uneasiness until the overall data table of this month came out.

Some people are afraid of the rope for ten years after being bitten by a snake.

He has really seen this data, and he thinks that this kind of data fluctuation can be named Jiang's fluctuation line.

In the following half a month, the direction of things began to develop rapidly in the direction that Kang Jingtao was most worried about. Kang Jingtao, who had been staring at the data, found that the data was still falling, but Travis still did not believe that there was a hidden crisis in it. This is the arrogance unique to Americans.

Some small things may go unnoticed when they first appear, but when they attract attention, the crisis is already coming.

"Private cars...?"

As Uber's data continued to fall for a few days, a large number of private cars suddenly flooded into the entire Shanghai and Kyoto markets, and all of them were private cars with Didi Chuxing logos.

The response speed of Didi's taxi-hailing service gradually changed from the original fifteen minutes to one to two minutes.

In mid-March 2014, less than a few days before April Fool's Day, a piece of news only available in Shanghai and Kyoto was quickly forwarded to the circle of friends by WeChat users.

"I work part-time as a driver for Didi, earning more than 10,000 yuan a month"

So in the half month after March, the number of Didi drivers increased rapidly, and many people have never seen this growth rate.

Because Didi did not invade the market of its competitors, it opened up a brand new market.

Travis was completely blown up. Looking at the Didi Chuxing cars all over the street, he felt a huge shadow roaring over, making him feel suffocated like never before.

[Didi is coming, Uber should withdraw]

[China's best business dog is here, and Uber doesn't have much time left]

Travis suddenly remembered the comments he saw online before, and the man who was praised by many people. His deep eyes widened: "What the fuck?"

As a bystander, Fenton realized that the dangers of the Chinese market did not seem to be deliberately exaggerated by Amazon to save face. There was no grand performance. What appeared now was... a catastrophe!

In just half a month, one-third of Uber's users were swallowed up.

When they came, they were surging, like a raging tide, but now it seems that they have been turned back...

"Private car?"

"How could it be a private car?!"

"The Shanghai Transportation Commission issued a regulation last month that private cars are not allowed to carry passengers privately!"

You know, in the Chinese market, private cars are not allowed to carry passengers to make money.

Bibi and Kuaidi have always cooperated with the taxi industry in the market, and their starting concept is to move taxis online.

Uber mainly provides high-end services at low prices, but it also signs contracts with regular business travel companies, high-end escort companies, luxury car fleets with operating qualifications, and event celebration fleets.

Now Didi directly uses a part-time method to allow every private car to operate online after information registration, which is equivalent to breaking the market rules.

How many taxis are there in Shanghai? How many private cars are there?

At this time, Bibi and Kuaidi, who had already learned about this matter, had organized people to investigate privately.

"At present, Shanghai and Kyoto have clear management regulations prohibiting private cars from carrying passengers. If you dare to do so, you will be fined."

"But there is another problem here. After the formal real-name system and information registration, the private cars controlled by the platform and can track the route, are they applicable to this clause?"

"The boundary is very vague, and the details of the regulations are not clear. We can call it a gray industry, which is not clearly illegal, but not completely legal."

"Now, the management of urban road traffic is controlled by the local transportation committee. The prohibition of illegal taxi operations is intended to maintain social order. If Didi's behavior does not harm the city, Management, how should it be handled? "

"The most important thing is that the current operating rules of Didi are to give drivers bonuses according to the number of orders, rather than direct transactions between passengers and drivers. This loophole is very large."

After listening, Cheng Wei opened his eyes wide: "In other words, if we also refer to Didi's bonus model, we can also operate private cars? !"

The expert invited by Bibi nodded: "Yes, as long as the local transportation committee allows it."

"Then I will go to the transportation committee immediately!"

After getting this answer, Cheng Wei quickly left the company and found Director Chen, who was in charge of road operations, with a heart full of questions and new hopes.

Director Chen had just eaten Cheng Wei's meal before the New Year, and he was embarrassed to see him visit: "Mr. Cheng, what do you want to see me for?"

"It's like this, Director Chen, I found that Didi seems to hire private cars for passenger operations. Can we Bibi do it?"

"Sorry, Mr. Cheng, this is not possible.

"Why?"

Director Chen pursed his lips: "Didi got the approval last month, but you didn't."

Cheng Wei frowned: "Whether to approve or not is up to you, isn't it Director?"

"But why should I approve you? The road operation regulations are not set by me, I don't have the right to do so."

"Then why did you approve Didi's operation?"

Director Chen smacked his lips: "Mr. Cheng, Didi is not doing road operations, it is doing public welfare activities."

After hearing this, Cheng Wei was numb, thinking, you are lying to me, damn, the taxi war has been going on for a year, everyone knows that they are fighting hard in the market, but it has become a public welfare activity for Didi?

"Director Chen, I don't have much education, so I don't quite understand why Didi is a public welfare activity?"

"You know, international public opinion is constantly accusing our country of excessive carbon emissions, and has repeatedly criticized China for using any means to pursue development. Some European and American countries are protesting in the streets, and the United Nations has also repeatedly stated that China needs to reduce carbon emissions. This is very damaging to our international image."

Director Chen sighed: "This year, the green indicators for energy conservation and emission reduction have come out again, which is twice as high as last year. The city leaders are all very worried about how to achieve results in energy conservation and emission reduction."

Cheng Wei opened his mouth: "So Didi is about energy conservation and emission reduction?"

"Did you know that Didi has a carpooling function? Probably That is, I can take four people on my way to work. In this way, four people don't have to drive. This is energy conservation and emission reduction!"

"Then we can do it. I will do it immediately when I go back. We also say that we are energy conservation and emission reduction!"

Director Chen waved his hand: "It's not enough to just say it. We are not fools."

Cheng Wei had a question mark on his face: "Didi said that it is energy conservation and emission reduction, and it is energy conservation and emission reduction. Why can't we say it?"

"Mr. Cheng, I have eaten a lot of your food. There are some things that I shouldn't show you, but since you ask, I can only show you. Didi's energy conservation and emission reduction is not what they said themselves."

"?"

Director Chen opened his drawer and took out a sheepskin file bag.

Cheng Wei had seen this file bag when he came last time. It was printed with the logo of Linchuan Municipal Government.

Director Chen reached out and took out a piece of paper from the file bag and placed it in front of Cheng Wei. This was a copy of the certificate.

Didi won the 2013 Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Science and Technology Innovation Award at the end of February this year. The issuing units were China Environmental News and the Ministry of Ecology and Environmental Protection, and the recommending unit was Linchuan Municipal Government.

Seeing this, Cheng Wei suddenly understood.

The platform hiring private cars to carry passengers is a gray industry, but it can greatly increase the employment rate in cities, and even ease the pressure of urban traffic and reduce the burden on the transportation department.

The attitude of local transportation committees towards the platform hiring private cars has always been ambiguous.

This thing is very good, it promotes economic development and helps per capita income, but the problem is that there are documents that stipulate that private cars cannot carry passengers. What should I do?

I really want to turn a blind eye, but I always have to have a reason and a name.

And Jiang Qin's medal certificate directly delivered the name to them. Everyone is for environmental protection.

"What Didi gives to drivers is not a share of orders, but a low-carbon bonus."

Director Chen added: "You can understand that Didi is a large public welfare organization that has gathered a large group of environmental enthusiasts and has made outstanding contributions to reducing vehicle use."

"How...how can there be such logic?"

"You can also run for election. Let me communicate with the city leaders and recommend you to run for election. You can get the prize in March next year."

Cheng Wei opened his mouth: "Next March, the market will be completely taken by Didi!"

Director Chen was stunned for a moment, and a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes: "What market are you talking about? We are talking about environmental protection."

(Double monthly tickets at the beginning of the month, 4,000 words to ask for a vote...or2, family members, please have pity)