However, this search results page was extremely difficult to log into. The page had three different display columns.
First were the advertising slots, which required payment and were few in number but very expensive, leading to an undersupply.
Second was the new product listing display column mentioned earlier. By listing new products, one could briefly gain a few minutes of priority display opportunity among similar new products.
This priority display for similar new products was the row of recommended items on the left side of the webpage. There were a total of 30 positions. Whenever a store listed a new product, the positions would refresh, gaining the corresponding recommendation.
This led to the operation of listing and delisting 300 times a day, all to try and secure a temporary spot in the new product listing column.
Initially, when there weren't many similar products listed daily, each refresh would allow a listing to stay for about 2-3 minutes, bringing in over 10 users. This was very effective.
However, as more and more stores learned and adopted this tactic, the result was that the new product recommendation slots became fiercely competitive. In a single minute, over a hundred products were constantly being listed and delisted. A new product might only remain in this recommendation column for less than a second. Many merchants were getting tired of refreshing.
Worse still, this couldn't be automated with scripts. Not only did you need to manually enter dynamic verification codes when refreshing listings, but there was also a rule that the text repetition rate for products listed within 24 hours could not exceed 50%.
This meant that you had to modify more than 50% of the product's title and description to consider it a new product. With just this one requirement, who knows how many merchants were forced to become literature-level writers.
If new product recommendations could be obtained through repeated listing, then the biggest recommendation slot on the entire search page, the search result ranking, was incredibly difficult.
This is because the search ranking result was derived from a combination of various data points, evaluating factors such as the merchant's star ratings, product prices, user reviews, and sales in the past week.
This appeared to be a very fair result, allowing users to buy products that were relatively safer, cheaper, and of better quality. But for merchants, it was despairing.
Because of this, many merchants had to go to great lengths to please buyers, improve their store star ratings, offer the lowest prices, and the highest quality products, driving their profits down to the absolute minimum, just to have a chance at a prioritized ranking in the search results page.
Simply put, this forced stores and merchants into a state of intense internal competition, to the point where they were almost losing money on every sale before they could stop. In fact, many later merchants, in order to quickly increase their store star ratings, genuinely bore the cost of losing a few yuan per order to compete for search result page recommendation slots, driving those who were already in competition to unbearable pain.
Moreover, as more and more merchants joined the Jiangnan Mall, the intensity of this competition became even more terrifying. Soon, a large number of merchants were on the verge of going mad from the competition.
Then, Gou Huasuan came out and told them that these pain points had been resolved. They would make money just by joining, and there was no need to compete, because all recommendation slots were either paid for or arranged on a rotating basis. In any case, they didn't need to compete internally, which made many merchants feel refreshed and develop a favorable impression of this newly emerging Gou Huasuan platform.
The representative of Gou Huasuan then told them that Jiangnan Mall's current monopoly was actually very detrimental to them, as it meant Jiangnan Mall controlled all traffic channels.
If Jiangnan Mall gained a dominant position in a few more years, they would find ways to exploit them. Not only would the security deposits increase manifold, but all recommendation slots would require payment. Even if a user simply clicked into your store page to browse without buying anything, the Jiangnan Mall platform would charge you one yuan for traffic.
In the future, they might even open a "Premium Mall," where joining would require a 200,000 yuan store fee, followed by hundreds of thousands of yuan monthly to maintain store traffic.
They also forced you to price online lower than offline, or face fines and traffic restrictions.
Oh, and they also forced you to grovel to buyers. Any negative review from a buyer would cause immense trouble. If a buyer wanted a refund, they could get it, and the platform would even deduct your security deposit upon refund.
Finally, the platform would force you to choose one of two options, compelling you to stay on their platform exclusively, or face all sorts of deductions, even having your store shut down instantly, rendering years of hard work in vain.
In the end, you would operate a store for a year, earn a million yuan through hard work, but 800,000 yuan would be taken by the platform, leaving you with a meager 200,000 yuan. Yet, you would still have to praise the platform for helping you earn that 200,000 yuan!
The words of the Gou Huasuan representative struck the hearts of these store owners like needles. Finally, the representative told the merchants that the only way to solve the problem was to have a competitor. This way, Jiangnan Mall wouldn't dare to push the merchants too hard, otherwise, all the merchants would go to the competitor, and everything would be over.
Therefore, only with a competitor could merchants live comfortably and enjoy more benefits.
It had to be said that Old Brother Ma was indeed Old Brother Ma. He saw through the mindset of the merchants perfectly. After this speech, most of the merchants were moved.
If there were any who weren't, the representative would then pull out a trump card: "Look, this is our latest promotional plan. We plan to subsidize your products. For every item you sell, we will subsidize you by more than two yuan. This way, you can earn an extra minimum of two yuan per order on our platform. We are investing heavily and genuinely want to grow and become strong. If you miss this opportunity, you won't get another!"
Moreover, you could completely open stores on both platforms simultaneously and earn income from both. This way, regardless of how the platforms competed, or which platform had more user traffic, it wouldn't matter to you. You could earn money from both platforms, which was not a disadvantage to you.
With this trump card revealed, the merchants naturally had no room for refusal. It was only natural that 90% of the stores would choose to join the Gou Huasuan platform.
"Fortunately, I only managed to grasp some minor blind spots that Huang He didn't see. But it's not his fault. He's expanded his operations now, and with more money, Jiangnan Mall is just an ordinary business under his command. Huang He can't possibly pay attention to these matters in every aspect, and can only delegate to others."
"But I'm different. My entire livelihood is here. I have to operate this business with 120% spirit and energy. All my focus and wisdom are concentrated here, so it's only natural that I could find Jiangnan Mall's weaknesses!" Old Brother Ma said humbly.
However, his humble statement seemed to carry an inexplicable sense of superiority, as if he were praising himself.
Of course, Old Brother Ma didn't get carried away. He quickly and pragmatically said, "We still have 10% of the merchants left, and we can't give up on them. We must find the pain points of these remaining merchants and get them to join us too."
"Wen Sheng, do you know why these merchants are unwilling to join us?" Old Brother Ma asked.
"I have a general idea!" Lou Wen Sheng nodded. "In fact, most of the remaining 10% of merchants are willing to join us, but they think too much. Some are worried that Jiangnan Mall will block their stores if they find out about their actions."
"And currently, Jiangnan Mall's traffic is far greater than ours. Although the terms we offer are good, they seem a bit like flowers in the water and the moon in the mirror, which is why they are hesitant. If we can resolve this concern, then I think at least another 5% of merchants will change their minds."
"That's simple!" Old Brother Ma laughed. "Go and tell all the merchants that when they register on our platform, they should collectively change their names. As long as they don't use their original Jiangnan Mall names, Jiangnan Mall won't be able to know their identities!"
"Moreover, you can represent the company and assure them that the company will absolutely not betray any merchant information. This way, they don't have to worry about exposure!"
"Boss, you're brilliant! Yes, if they just change their names, the problem is solved. I never thought of such a simple solution!" Lou Wen Sheng said with admiration.
"Alright, stop flattering me. You're so smart, you wouldn't not think of such a simple solution. You were just saving it for me to say!" Old Brother Ma said with a chuckle. The two of them laughed heartily, and Lou Wen Sheng also laughed happily.
"Okay, proceed as I said. If this is successful, you will be the biggest contributor to the company. In the future, when the company goes public, everyone will get shares. I guarantee that everyone will become a billionaire in the future!" Old Brother Ma said with a smile. Lou Wen Sheng nodded vigorously.
He never doubted whether he could get rich or become a millionaire by following Old Brother Ma, because when he decided to abandon his public service and work with Old Brother Ma, he had already believed in this future.
It seemed somewhat mystical, but Old Brother Ma indeed possessed a kind of regal aura that made people instinctively tremble and prostrate themselves in worship.
"By the way, has Tong Yu come to work today?" Old Brother Ma suddenly asked. Lou Wen Sheng's expression stiffened slightly.
"He may not have come to terms with it yet. Give him some more time, and he will understand!" Lou Wen Sheng said with a wry smile.
"Never mind, you may leave!" Old Brother Ma waved his hand with a hint of melancholy. Lou Wen Sheng then left with a bitter smile.