Afternoon, at Slackin’ Delivery Store No. 1, which was also the location of the Slackin’ Delivery Food Laboratory.
Rui Yuchen, dressed in a well-fitted casual suit with a microphone pinned to his chest, was diligently familiarizing himself with the speech he would deliver shortly.
The script he needed to deliver was quite long, but fortunately, there was a teleprompter.
Meng Chang was briefing him on various matters to note, while many staff members were adjusting camera positions, focus, and lighting.
The entire Slackin’ Delivery Store No. 1 had been temporarily closed and would reopen after the filming was completed.
Many customers had gathered at the entrance, curiously peering inside.
For Rui Yuchen, this scene was somewhat familiar. When Slackin’ Delivery first introduced a batch of food waste processors, he had been interviewed by a television station right here. The present moment echoed that past one.
Unfortunately, unlike the previous occasion when Mr. Pei was present, this time, Mr. Pei was in seclusion.
Without Mr. Pei’s attention, it felt like something was missing.
After a series of arrangements, Meng Chang gave an “OK” hand gesture: “If there’s no problem, we can start filming officially.”
This “Department Heads Speak” program was jointly approved by all the department heads.
Previously, everyone had brainstormed in the department heads’ group chat, trying to figure out how to win this public opinion war.
At first, they came up with some elaborate ideas, like shooting promotional videos, but someone quickly suggested: Why bother with all those gimmicks? When dealing with such enemies, they shouldn’t follow the gentlemen’s code—they should just flip the table like Lü Mingliang!
They should hit directly at the opponent’s most vulnerable spot!
The other department heads thought about it and agreed!
Why bother with all those fancy approaches?
In competition between other companies, they usually followed the gentlemen’s code because they all had the same profit model. If they exposed too much, they would be undermining the entire industry’s livelihood, and wouldn’t gain much advantage themselves, so everyone exercised restraint.
Only when two different mega-corporations from different fields genuinely fought would they tear into each other’s secrets.
But even at that stage, it wouldn’t cause too much damage, because such mega-corporations all had some skeletons in their closets. Mutual exposés would seem to spectators more like dogs biting dogs—both sides getting dirty.
But Tenda was different.
Tenda’s biggest advantage was that its business model was completely different from these companies. Its reputation among customers and the social responsibility it bore were worlds apart from other companies!
Lü Mingliang’s scathing criticism of Shengrun Group’s Nie Yunsheng during the livestream had already verified that this was an invincible divine weapon.
As long as they used it well, they would be unstoppable and invincible!
Given that, why bother with the gentlemen’s code? They should charge in and attack directly. All departments could just repeat what Lü Mingliang had done!
Thus, the “Department Heads Speak” program was born.
Simply put, it involved department heads taking turns to dissect business tactics in their respective fields, analyzing the differences between these companies’ business models and Tenda’s, and then fiercely criticizing these business models!
However, the department heads were still undecided for a while about who should shoot this program.
Although Fei Huang Studio was very professional, they had their own tasks assigned by Mr. Pei and needed to devote all their efforts to preparing for the film.
Upon reflection, they could only turn to the Marketing Department, considering that Meng Chang had created many successful promotional campaigns and enjoyed Mr. Pei’s trust.
Although Meng Chang also had promotional tasks this month, he readily agreed.
Because he felt that shooting the “Department Heads Speak” program wouldn’t require much effort—it just involved using his experience to guide these department heads, with a difficulty level similar to a content creator shooting a video.
He could plan his promotional campaign simultaneously without either task interfering with the other.
Moreover, this “Department Heads Speak” program obviously played a crucial role in Tenda’s development in the coming period. As a Tenda department head himself, how could Meng Chang stand idly by?
Swift action was essential. Meng Chang had already completed filming the first episode of “Department Heads Speak”—the one where Guo Licheng compared Tuoguan Fitness with Haoxiang Fitness.
Judging from the online response, it was a great success!
This direct exposure of others’ secrets was something internet users loved to see.
The key was that Haoxiang Fitness couldn’t even refute it—they could only passively endure the beating!
Therefore, Meng Chang believed they must keep up the momentum. The next episode of “Department Heads Speak” would feature Slackin’ Delivery, targeting Zhaiju Delivery!
Zhaiju Delivery was a newly emerging food delivery platform, mainly integrating current merchant resources to provide delivery services for customers… of course, simply put, it was still operating as a platform.
However, Zhaiju Delivery’s scale wasn’t particularly large yet, far from achieving a complete market monopoly. There were still many other platforms competing with it, so overall, it was still in the stage of burning money and offering huge subsidies.
Zhaiju Delivery was unlike Haoxiang Fitness—it was a relatively thorny opponent.
Because gyms, even as chain stores, were ultimately physical businesses that expanded slowly and had very low profit margins, making them unlikely to attract large capital. Haoxiang Fitness was pulled into the Anti-Tenda Alliance purely because the alliance needed an industry to counter Tuoguan Fitness—they were essentially there to make up the numbers.
But Zhaiju Delivery was different. Like Zhujia Group, it was a standard internet company operating as a platform!
Although there were other food delivery platforms competing with it, in Zhaiju Delivery’s eyes, these posed no real threat.
Because everyone’s business model was the same.
In such circumstances, which food delivery platform would ultimately win depended not on capability and standards, but on capital.
Even if a platform temporarily had stronger technology or better software, what did it matter? Zhaiju Delivery had many large investment companies behind it with plenty of money to burn. By directly throwing massive subsidies into the market, they could firmly grasp merchants and customers in their hands.
Moreover, having money meant they could poach talent—whether excellent product managers, programmers, or delivery personnel—they could poach them all.
The gap in technical capability was not an issue at all.
So, with such powerful resources behind it, Zhaiju Delivery didn’t take any other food delivery platforms seriously.
Some might ask, what if other big capital entered the field to support other food delivery platforms?
That wouldn’t be a problem either.
Because even if they lost, competitors would likely acquire them at a high price, striving to swallow the entire market. At that point, Zhaiju Delivery could sell itself and still make a substantial profit.
Who won or lost was merely a question of making more or less money—ultimately, everyone would profit.
But Zhaiju Delivery had always viewed Slackin’ Delivery as its biggest threat because Slackin’ Delivery was fundamentally different from these delivery platforms!
Other food delivery apps operated as platforms, where the actual cooking was done by various restaurants and eateries in the city, and the delivery was handled by delivery personnel. These platforms’ task was merely to develop and maintain the app, establishing channels between restaurants, delivery personnel, and customers.
Slackin’ Delivery was different—it had physical stores and competed with both delivery platforms and restaurants.
So, its foundation was particularly solid!
With Slackin’ Delivery around, no matter how much money Zhaiju Delivery burned, it would likely struggle to achieve a de facto monopoly position.
Therefore, Zhaiju Delivery, like Zhujia Group and Shengrun Express, was one of the tough nuts to crack in this alliance, because their motivations for opposing Tenda were strong enough, and their strength was sufficiently powerful.
The video targeting Haoxiang Fitness had already achieved great success and sparked enthusiastic responses, which was good news for the department heads—they had gotten off to a winning start.
So, the second episode couldn’t go after another soft target; they needed to tackle a tough opponent to see if this approach would still be effective against stronger enemies. This would directly impact future battle plans.
Rui Yuchen cleared his throat, ready to begin.
Although his appearance hadn’t changed on the surface, Meng Chang had arranged for someone to specially groom him.
From makeup to hairstyle to clothing, everything was both down-to-earth and formal, with a touch of handsome elegance, guaranteed to leave the best impression on viewers.
At this moment, Meng Chang reflected on how Mr. Pei’s mandatory enrollment of all Tenda employees in Tuoguan Fitness had indeed been beneficial!
The department heads all had great physiques that wore clothes well, setting them apart from the bosses of other companies in terms of image and demeanor.
For Guo Licheng’s episode, Meng Chang had specifically had him wear clothes that showcased his physique, highlighting his professionalism as a fitness trainer. Today, Rui Yuchen was dressed in the Slackin’ Delivery staff uniform, looking both professional and formal.
In a public opinion war, details determined success or failure.
This was Meng Chang’s area of expertise, and he knew this principle well, which is why he strived for perfection.
“OK, let’s begin!”
With Meng Chang’s command, Rui Yuchen began to speak fluently according to the content on the teleprompter.
Similar to Guo Licheng’s episode, he started with a brief self-introduction before diving straight into the main topic, beginning to analyze the differences between the Slackin’ Delivery and Zhaiju Delivery models.
“Zhaiju Delivery’s model is actually the common ‘platform model’ of internet companies, which doesn’t fundamentally differ from companies like Shengrun Express and Zhujia Group—only the field differs.”
“The manifestation is different, but the business model is the same.”
“Zhaiju Delivery is a platform, a bridge connecting restaurant merchants, customers, and delivery personnel. From a positive perspective, it indeed provides convenience for customers, creates value, and allows people to conveniently order the takeout they want without leaving home. This is certainly a convenience brought to us by the mobile internet.”
“But the problem is that, as a platform company, it can never escape the shackles of being a platform company. These shackles were actually pointed out by Lü Mingliang during the livestream debate between Headwind Logistics and Shengrun Group: platform companies under the control of big capital will inevitably transform from platform companies into middlemen taking a cut from both sides. For better financial reports and higher profits, after achieving a market monopoly, they continuously squeeze value from merchants, customers, and delivery personnel.”
“Because platform companies don’t create value, to increase their market value and profits, they have absolutely no other way but to grab more slices from the existing pie!”