The next morning, Jingdong officially announced on its Weibo account that it had completed a 400 million US Dollar Series D financing round, with a valuation exceeding 8 billion US Dollars.
This move was a counterattack against Li Guoqing’s claim that "Jingdong’s capital chain is about to break and won’t last until October." It was also a slap in the face to the brokerages on Hong Kong Island and in the Lighthouse Country that had valued Jingdong at 6 billion US Dollars. Furthermore, it served to boost the capital market’s confidence in the company.
Liu Qiangdong followed up shortly after, declaring on his personal Weibo account that Jingdong would pour a billion into promotional subsidies, increasing its investment in Singles’ Day to provide users with high-quality, affordable digital and home appliances.
All the way in Jinling, Zhang Jindong took the hint and immediately responded with enthusiasm. He blasted Jingdong for always making a huge spectacle, claiming their so-called subsidies were just the classic trick of raising prices before "discounting" them.
Although both Sunning and Jingdong had been fined hundreds of thousands in cash by the Market Supervision Association over the "August 15th Price War," the fine was a mere slap on the wrist for the two of them.
Having experienced the benefits of the extra web traffic, Zhang Jindong didn’t even need a heads-up from Liu Qiangdong to tacitly play along with his rival’s publicity stunts.
And just like that, Sunning and Jingdong were at each other’s throats again.
Singles’ Day should have been Ah Li’s solo performance, but to suppress Liu Qiangdong, Zhang Yong had repeatedly challenged him by holding competing sales during Jingdong’s own "618" anniversary event, aggressively siphoning off its traffic and orders.
Naturally, Liu Qiangdong refused to back down. He immediately elevated the Singles’ Day mega-sale to the same level of importance as his company’s own 618 event.
Half an hour later, Liao Wei, the CEO of Cloud Speed, announced that Cloud Speed Express would launch a time-sensitive delivery service (namely, Cloud Speed Air Freight) by the end of December. They would also establish Cloud Speed service points in rural areas, extending the reach of e-commerce and logistics into lower-tier markets.
When Ma Liyun found out, he cursed Chen Yansen and all his ancestors. ’Little Sith, copying my plan! Absolutely shameless!’
As the saying goes, you become like the company you keep. In Ma Liyun’s eyes, Chen Yansen, being so close to Ma Wenteng, had clearly picked up some of his bad habits.
「Meanwhile.」
Liao Wei submitted a technical proposal for electronic waybills to Zheng Shengyu of the Postal Association. The system converted sender, recipient, and logistics order data into a digital format, then generated a standardized waybill template to be printed as a physical paper label.
Compared to traditional paper waybills, electronic waybills could automatically capture order data, ensuring error-free entry. They also synchronized logistics statuses in real time, allowing customers to track their package’s entire journey and reducing disputes over lost or misdelivered items.
"This technology is excellent. It reduces costs while also increasing efficiency."
Zheng Shengyu said with a smile, pulling Liao Wei to a seat beside him.
After all, processing a single traditional waybill took three to five minutes. With electronic waybills, that time could be cut to under ten seconds, increasing the average daily processing volume several dozen times over.
Furthermore, sorting centers could use the barcodes on the electronic waybills to sort packages automatically, pushing the entire logistics industry toward greater automation.
"Chairman Zheng, we’ll still need your guidance on standardizing the waybill format. And, by the way, would the Postal Service have any need for this electronic waybill technology?"
Liao Wei asked, looking up at Zheng Shengyu with a wide grin.
"Trying to make money off of me?"
Zheng Shengyu retorted, staring at Liao Wei with a faint, unreadable smile.
For a private logistics company to try to earn patent royalties from the Postal Service—this was utterly unprecedented.
"Chairman Zheng, improving the smart printing, image recognition, and data acquisition technology cost Cloud Speed a fortune in R&D funds. You’ve got to let me recoup some of that," Liao Wei replied with a smile.
"I’ll bet that rascal Jensen put you up to this. Fine. What’s the pricing?"
Zheng Shengyu asked, waving his hand and getting straight to the point.
"A technical service fee of one fen per waybill," Liao Wei replied instantly, his smile gone.
Don’t underestimate that one fen. The estimated express delivery volume for 2012 was over 8 billion packages, which would add up to over 80 million Hua Yuan.
In a little over a decade, that number was projected to hit 200 billion items, which would mean a net profit of 2 billion Hua Yuan a year.
The technology itself was minor, but when scaled to a market of 1.4 billion people, it could still generate a substantial return.
’One fen?’
Zheng Shengyu was stunned for a moment, but he quickly realized what was happening. Cloud Speed’s goal was to push its electronic waybill technology across the entire nation’s logistics industry.
"Done."
After a moment of thought, Zheng Shengyu nodded and readily agreed to Liao Wei’s proposal.
’He couldn’t have all the private logistics companies using electronic waybills while his own Postal Service employees were still stuck with the old paper ones, could he?’
’Over saving a single fen, the hundred thousand postal couriers across the country would curse him into an early grave!’
"Chairman Zheng, actually, I had another reason for coming to Yanjing..." Liao Wei added, seeing that Zheng Shengyu was on board.
「At the same time.」
The Yunsu Express Station at the Yiwu Trade City was already using electronic waybills, and its efficiency had skyrocketed several dozen times over.
Liao Wei’s act of seeking Zheng Shengyu’s approval was merely a formality. Private logistics companies didn’t actually need the Postal Association’s permission to choose their own waybills.
Packages were piled mountain-high inside the station. The Yiwu region had a massive volume of package pickups, and the number of deliveries was equally staggering.
Lu Hua zipped down Futian Road on an Electric Vehicle laden with packages.
Six months ago, he had been a temporary worker for Yuantong Express. Now, he was a full-time employee of Cloud Speed Express.
His base salary was 3,000 Hua Yuan. On top of commissions for pickups and deliveries, he received benefits like overtime pay, a housing allowance, a full social insurance and housing fund package, and quarterly bonuses. He could easily take home over 10,000 a month.
There were over 4,000 Cloud Speed Couriers like him in Yiwu alone, a testament to the sheer volume of business in the region.