"President Chen, 3.6 million in one hour—you've shattered our online store's monthly sales record. What's your final estimate for today?" Min Jie held his phone, gazing out the window at the distant skyline, a fierce competitive fire burning inside him.
"Ten million is a lock. Twenty million would be ideal for both of us," Chen Yansen replied casually from his reclined position.
"Right. We must hit twenty million," Min Jie muttered to himself.
He was the one who had convinced headquarters to give FoxTao a 70% commission across the board. He'd staked his reputation on this. Without results, his Bang Shopping division would struggle to secure quality resources within the group.
The big boss would be disappointed!
"President Chen, I'll replenish 1,000 units each of this morning's three top-selling items. You have to help me reach that twenty million target." After a moment's thought, Min Jie made his decision.
The three items totaled 537,000 yuan in inventory. Min Jie didn't hesitate to pump more stock into the promotion.
"Deal. Let's do another flash sale at noon," Chen Yansen agreed readily.
"Zhuang Rui, issue queue-jump codes to users who ordered this morning. One code grants a one-minute early access. Change the flash sale to 11:50 AM," Chen Yansen instructed after hanging up.
The queue-jump code was part of the user benefits system, developed since October and launched after the 0-Yuan Bargain, but never used as FoxTao hadn't run limited-time flash sales.
Zhuang Rui had tiered users into five levels based on order history:
F1 (0-1,000 yuan): 1 free code/month
F2 (1,001-10,000): 3 free codes/month
F3 (10,001-100,000): 5 free codes/month
F4 (100,001-300,000): 10 free codes/month
F Diamond (300,000+): 30 free codes/month
For the brand event, even buying a regular item granted one free code.
"Brother Sen, just sending the codes directly could trigger a wave of order cancellations," Zhuang Rui frowned, quietly reminding him.
Users would absolutely place and cancel orders repeatedly to farm codes!
"You think I didn't consider that? That's exactly what I want!" Chen Yansen chuckled, giving Zhuang Rui a meaningful look.
Both he and Min Jie needed users to feel the thrill of "finding a bug" and scoring a deal. They both needed eye-popping sales numbers.
Encouraging users to help inflate the figures was part of the plan.
"Brother Sen, I get it. I'll add a note in the instructions: canceling a regular item order within 24 hours gives the platform the right to cancel their flash sale item orders." Zhuang Rui was sharp. He immediately grasped the key point, nodded, and returned to his workstation.
Soon after the queue-jump codes went live, regular item orders skyrocketed.
In just fifty minutes, regular orders shot up to 60,000!
Total sales surged by over 6 million!
Min Jie was startled and called Chen Yansen, who explained frankly: "Of those 40,000+ extra orders, probably half will be refunded."
"Half is fine! The goal is the result, the buzz." Min Jie paused for a dozen seconds, then laughed in reply.
He couldn't help but admire Chen Yansen. Before FoxTao, brands like his looked down on e-commerce platforms. Now, his thinking had completely changed.
Chen Yansen and FoxTao's importance had just skyrocketed.
"After this event, your store's baseline monthly sales for these items will be at least 1,000 units. Another round on Juhuasuan could still net you a million. Mr. Min, seize the momentum." Chen Yansen smiled, offering a new idea.
FoxTao's brand group model was similar to Taobao's Juhuasuan, but Juhuasuan was still experimenting, while Chen Yansen had presented a polished, complete version.
"Thank you for the reminder, President Chen. It's a promise. After this, you must come to Shanghai. I'll host you properly." Min Jie felt a warmth in his chest. These words meant a lot.
"Deal! Let's lock that in. Contact me anytime." Chen Yansen smiled and hung up.
The final battle of November was crucial for him and for FoxTao.
Over forty people worked from day into night. Only when the autumn wind howled outside did Chen Yansen finally lean back and look around.
The ten-person customer service team typed furiously, fielding user inquiries.
The development team, with less to do, stayed overtime anyway, calling themselves "brothers in the trenches."
The operations team was the most relaxed, huddled with data, staring at the constantly updating sales figures on the big screen.
"The dorms are about to lock up. Aren't you going back? Planning to crash on my sofa again?" Chen Yansen whispered in Song Yuncheng's ear when no one was looking.
"I'm leaving right now! I sent you the latest UI mockups for the brand section." Song Yuncheng didn't dare reply or even meet his eyes. Clutching her laptop, she hurried off.
Bang bang!
"Time to go home! Xu Xingxing didn't book hotels today. If we don't leave now, we're sleeping on the startup park floor!" Chen Yansen slammed his fist on the table twice, announcing loudly.
"Brother Sen, I wanted to..." Hu Yun stammered.
"Want nothing! Everyone, back to your dorms! If you want to stare at data, do it from your rooms. Don't hold up everyone's clock-out." Chen Yansen scolded. These workaholics were ruining the work-life balance. The requirement was 6 hours; they were pulling 10.
Hearing this, everyone laughed, shut down their laptops, and headed out in small groups.
Chen Yansen glanced at the big screen. Sales were capped at 20.39 million. Under his orchestration, breaking 20 million had been effortless.
"The e-commerce world is going to be buzzing tomorrow."
A slight smile touched his lips as he hummed an unknown tune, strolling slowly back to Room 0418.
Work might be over, but orders were still pouring in.
Dorm 8, Room 8302.
Tang Zhenzhe had planned to use the weekend to meet a girl from the student council at the park. Things were looking promising; maybe even a kiss was on the table.
But just as he was ready to head out, his neighbor begged him to place an order for her.
She kept calling him "Class Monitor." He couldn't refuse.
Among the freshmen at Xucheng College, less than half had a computer. Less than one-tenth had online banking. "Shopping experts" like Tang Zhenzhe, with both a PC and the know-how, were rare gems.
So he spent the morning placing orders. Then at noon. Then in the evening.
He couldn't even find an excuse to leave. If he said he was hungry, someone would sprint to the canteen to buy him food.
His date texted to hurry him up. After replying multiple times that he was "helping a classmate order things," she stopped responding.
"Chen Yansen, you've ruined my life!" Tang Zhenzhe, having placed orders all day, rushed to Meng Xibo the moment he saw him, on the verge of tears.
"Brother Zhe, what's wrong?" Meng Xibo asked, puzzled.
"Bobo... my lovebird has flown the coop again," Tang Zhenzhe said lifelessly.
"Your bird flew away?" Meng Xibo, dizzy from dealing with people all day, didn't catch the mumbled words.
"Forget it! I'm going to sleep." Exhausted, Tang Zhenzhe waved a hand and crawled into bed.
Better to give up on this one, he thought. I should keep pursuing Su Meiling. Otherwise, these past two months of effort are wasted.
In his dream, Su Meiling, wearing a princess dress, pleaded sweetly, "Brother Zhe, I want this down jacket. Can you order it for me? Your orders are always the fastest."
Tang Zhenzhe was overjoyed, his smile stretching ear to ear.
Meng Xibo and Zhu Xiaopeng, still awake, sat up simultaneously. They exchanged a glance and looked helplessly at the sleep-talking Tang Zhenzhe.
"I heard Brother Zhe spent the whole day placing orders for people in the dorm. Didn't expect him to dream about it too," Zhu Xiaopeng whispered with a grin.
Meng Xibo laughed so hard his body shook, making the wooden bed creak.
"Bobo, I'm exhausted. Stop messing around," Song Yang, worn out from a day of packing and shipping at the courier station, pleaded sleepily.
"Just a little longer... I'll sleep right away," Meng Xibo covered her mouth, shoulders still trembling.
The Next Morning.
E-Commerce Value was first to report: "FoxTao & Metersbonwe Brand Event: 130,000 Orders, 21.96 Million Yuan in 14 Hours!" The news instantly sent ripples through the e-commerce industry.
The three major portals followed up, confirming the story.
Executives from Taobao, JD.com, Paipai.com, and leading domestic brands soon got wind of it. After verifying, they all started asking for Chen Yansen's contact details. While Metersbonwe's success had multiple factors, that 20-million-plus sales figure was undeniable.
This year, even Taobao's top sellers only hit 20 million in a single day during the 11.11 sale. For FoxTao to break that record on an ordinary day was nothing short of astounding.
"Daniel, this FoxTao is too aggressive. Should we curb them?" Hu Zhilong walked into Zhang Yong's office, reporting the details.
"He's definitely a talent. Our Juhuasuan project's marketing plans aren't as mature as his. Have the team submit a learning report. Good strategies are worth studying." Zhang Yong gently shook his head, rejecting the suggestion.
True, FoxTao was booming, but over 90% of its business flowed through Taobao. The better it performed, the better for Taobao.
For the Ali Alliance, FoxTao became a benchmark, attracting more investors and entrepreneurs to e-commerce. A larger ecosystem meant greater market value for Ali's future IPO.
Zhang Yong was playing a much longer game.
"Learn marketing... from an affiliate?" Hu Zhilong was utterly bewildered. Wasn't this backwards? In his mind, Ali was the parent, FoxTao the child. The strong don't learn from the weak.
But he didn't dare contradict Zhang Yong's decision. He could only nod in agreement.
Second Floor, Startup Park.
As soon as Chen Yansen appeared, Hu Li and Xu Kun quickly approached.
"Brother Sen, the person in charge of Taobao operations for 361 Degrees wants direct contact. Can I give him your number?" Xu Kun asked.
"Follow the brand group cooperation process. You handle contact. From now on, unless it's the head of an S or A-tier brand—like a store manager or distributor—you make the call."
"Follow the rules within the rules. If it's outside the rules, discuss it with me."
If he had to personally negotiate with everyone, what was the point of having an operations team?
Damn, I still need to hire. Chen Yansen thought. These six ops people are doubling as product managers and channel managers. Their roles are too messy; problems will arise.
If the authority of Chen Xu, Zhang Yifeng, and others wasn't separated, corruption was inevitable.
His clarity came not just from experience, but because in his past life, he had been the parasite.
How else could he have amassed startup capital in just four years?
Human nature is easily tested. Chen Yansen knew this all too well.
All morning, merchant calls flooded in about brand group cooperation. Only after Zhuang Rui launched the merchant registration function did the calls slow slightly.
Chen Yansen opened the merchant CRM database. Currently, only 47 stores were registered, including brands like Xtep, Anta, Midea, Subor, Joyoung, and Helen Keller. The number was small, but they were FoxTao's first core resources for its transformation.
"Zhuang Rui," Chen Yansen stood up, his gaze fixed intently on the developer. "Launch FoxTao 2.0."