Chapter 349 Why does the second place have to live in this world
"Thank you Mr. Gu for taking care of me. I am willing to give up the entire zero-low-fee shopping group market in exchange for the agent access to the Lanfang Tour project.
I also hope that you will keep your promise, stick to it, and adhere to the principle of "no matter what platform, as long as it involves zero-fee tours, they will not be allowed to act as agents for Lanfang Tourism". Otherwise, it will be disrespectful to our efforts.
I can completely imagine that after our Niutu announced that we have completely abandoned the zero-fee group market, other platforms that were originally ranked second or third on this track will be very excited and eager to come in and overtake in cheap corners.
I believe that Mr. Gu is a caring person who will not judge a hero based on success or failure, nor will he judge his standards of conduct by saying, "I will cooperate with whoever has the largest market share."
In the final stage of the negotiation, when both parties toasted champagne to celebrate the cooperation, Yu Houde still said these words with some worry.
In fact, I have never seen such a principled investor in the field of Internet entrepreneurship before. Even after Gu Kun emphasized it so many times, he was still a little worried.
Gu Kun held the champagne and patted Yu Houde on the shoulder: "I guarantee that someone will keep his word. How much does your track cost? Be a good person and work hard. Don't do those cheap businesses. Don't care about the valuation."
and the so-called imaginative space of virtual imagination.
Focus on making profits, and you will be rewarded. If you know someone on your track who has overtaken you by cheating, I will step on it within my ability. Of course, it must be in line with free market competition.
I will not use non-market forces for personal gain."
Yu Houde left with a lot of gratitude. Before leaving, he seemed to suddenly remember something and reminded him: "Boss Gu, there is something I shouldn't have said. Your style of play blocked the situation for a while.
It won't be forever, you won't let your heart
Your direct descendants do certain things, but as long as these things are profitable, your prohibition will only tie the hands and feet of your own people, while their enemies will be able to do whatever they want. Sooner or later, your direct descendants will be harmed by you.
Yeah."
Gu Kun raised his eyebrows: "What you said is targeted, right? Did you get some news, or did you see the direction of the trend? Don't hide your displeasure, and say it clearly if you have something to say."
Yu Houde: "I have also heard this in the industry. You should know that the domestic e-commerce platform has been developing for three years, and only Taobao has done a good job in making it big. In the past, because foreigners' e-bay competed with Taobao,
The two sides fought into a sea of blood, and the third and lower players died instantly.
But now that e-bay is on the verge of retreat, and I heard that Taobao also has a new upgrade plan, aren't you afraid that a new second player in the industry will enter the market to sell fakes of your luxury brands and quickly rise to prominence?"
In this life, with Gu Kun's support, Taobao's development, and even the development of China's e-commerce as a whole, has accelerated a lot compared to the same period in history. However, so far, Taobao is still the only one in the country. This competition
There are no other players with overall competitiveness in Tao.
The reason is that in the first few years, Taobao was fighting with foreign capital and competing with E-bay. With this kind of structure, it is easy to wash away the third place.
Just like Jiaduobao and Wonglaoji have repeatedly fought brand tug-of-war. Every few days there is big news about a legal lawsuit. Either Jiaduobao has regained the legal right to use a certain brand/advertising slogan, or Wonglaoji has successfully sniped and lost something.
Propaganda. Under such a tug of war, Heqizheng herbal tea becomes cold in an instant.
This is the effect of the repeated back and forth between the top and second-place players in the industry. The smart third-place players will not choose to enter the market during this window period. They would rather choose to work hard on other small tracks with narrow focus and heavy focus.
A few more years.
Specific to the field of e-commerce, this is just like Dangdang has been insisting on selling books in the past few years, while the new Goudong only dares to sell 3C electronic products. It will not invade the main battlefield where Taobao and E-bay compete.
Until now, e-bay is about to be beaten out of the Chinese market by Taobao, and other potential competitors who are "qualified to play the second role after e-bay leaves" are ready to enter the market.
Therefore, for Ma Feng and Gu Kun, they are just now preparing to face the problem of "are there any subsequent competitors who want to take the shortcut of selling fake luxury goods of a specific brand to overtake them?"
After all, competition existed in the previous three years, but the opponent was E-bay after all.
Although e-bay is not very good at doing business in China, one thing is still very reliable, that is, it comes from a country with strict intellectual property protection. When it comes to trademark/brand infringement, e-bay is
Don't dare to do it.
After expelling such a foreign competitor who is taking the right path, the newcomer who is barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes on the wild road is not so particular.
Gu Kun thought about it and realized that this issue should indeed be put on the agenda of concern and alertness.
His eyes were sharp, with a trace of killing intent flashing through his eyes: "Just tell me, you heard who is planning to do this."
Yu Houde hesitated for a second and decided to submit a letter of investment: "Don't you think you should know if there are any colleagues in the Internet e-commerce circle who have recently been inspecting Lanfang's luxury investment layout and protection efforts. These
It’s not convenient for me to say it, and it may not be accurate. You will come to a conclusion soon after your personal investigation.”
It would be unreasonable to sell the dog directly. Yu Houde believed in Gu Kun's intelligence ability and intellectual property protection ability. As long as Gu Kun paid attention, he would be able to find out soon.
Gu Kun pressed the bell on his desk, and soon a female secretary came in to ask for instructions.
Gu Kun gave a few instructions in a low voice, and someone immediately went to inquire about the relevant information, and then reported back quickly.
Yu Houde tried his best to lower his presence beside him, so as not to appear too obtrusive, and waited for this awkward time.
In fact, it only took less than half an hour. Whoever makes Gu Kun have money can do things more efficiently. The business intelligence collectors and security companies under him are not vegetarians either. There are some things that the boss just doesn't take care of, but everyone has always maintained
Staring.
Especially the protection of intellectual property rights for luxury goods, which has always been one of Lanfang’s three pillars and lifeline industries.
"Sure enough, there are people who are not afraid of death. Xiao Yu, I was indeed careless in this matter. I really didn't expect that even though Taobao was suppressing the momentum of selling fake goods, there would actually be people who were not afraid of death."
Gu Kun couldn't help but smile when he looked at the freshly released survey results.
He was really blinded by the lamp, or in other words, because he was a reborn person and had some foresight about history, he misled himself instead.
In the memory of his previous life, he felt that in the early days of China Internet's c2c e-commerce, the problem of poor intellectual property protection seemed to be mainly concentrated in Mafeng and Taobao. It seemed that as long as Taobao was focused on, at least 90% of the counterfeit problem would be solved.
Other later competitors that compete with Taobao in a differentiated manner seem to have been flaunting their own quality control.
This kind of inertial thinking made Gu Kun somewhat selectively blind at this juncture of 2006/2007, when the trend of fake goods involving Shelanfang Holdings brands first appeared in the Chinese e-commerce circle.
(Note: Gu Kun has never been completely stuck on the issue of e-commerce selling fake luxury goods. Givenchy Dior, the big luxury brands of the lvmh series, or the leading industries of the Richemont Group such as Constantine,
Gu Kun has never spent his energy on deliberately cracking down on famous watches. Those fakes have been on the Internet for three years.
Anyway, it's none of his business. He chose to stay out of it and had no obligation to meddle in other people's business. He only wanted to protect the brands he controls and prevent fakes from appearing online. As for whether the Donkey brand has become a street bag for grocery shopping aunts
, has nothing to do with Gu Kun, and happened to tacitly agree to attack competitors such as the other three major luxury groups.
The new counterfeit trend mentioned here this year specifically refers to "even the brands controlled by Gu Kun, fakes are almost appearing on Huaxia Online this year.")
"Companies like Goudong have been flaunting their 'quality control/integrity, vision and values' and other nonsense, so they wouldn't do such a thing, right?" The first moment Gu Kun saw it, he was still a little skeptical.
However, after taking a closer look, he quickly retracted his prejudice and realized a natural law:
In this world, only the number one company is qualified to speak about its corporate culture, integrity, vision and values.
What qualifications does the second place have to be a human being? What qualifications does it have to be completely independent, spontaneous and independent in talking about vision and values?
"It seems that the values of the second place in the industry in the previous life were not what they wanted to set from the beginning. It is because the first place has occupied the vision, mission and values that are easier to develop, so the second place can only start from the second place.
One person reluctantly chooses one from the remaining ones."
Gu Kun quickly identified this natural law and eternal truth.
The reason is simple: Internet-related industries are very Matthew effect, and the second place will die.
The way for the second place to survive is to focus its segmentation in a direction that is different from the first place.
If your play style is the same as the first place, you must die.
There is only overtaking in curves and changing lanes, but there is no overtaking in a straight line.
Therefore, in his previous life, Ma Feng was not strict about counterfeiting in the early days. Those who competed with him had no choice but to flaunt their efforts to catch fakes more strictly in order to gain a differentiated advantage.
And when Ma Feng also tightens his grip, the second place player can only do the opposite.
In a word, if the second place wants to survive, it must provide something that the first place cannot.
Now in the land of China, in the field of Internet e-commerce, is there any bigger vacuum market for fake scarcity than the "luxury brand matrix controlled by Gu Kun"? There seems to be no more.
"Oh, what a tragedy. To be honest, you said that I started my business by selling oil, doing tourism, and engaging in the real economy. Is it easy for me? I really don't want to invest in those Internet companies, and I don't expect those companies to make money for me.
.
I only do it for defensive purposes, for self-defense. To put a halter on those barbarians so they don’t sell fake goods to my territory. That’s it, there are still people who won’t let me stop. Sometimes
I really don’t understand why those who are second in a certain segment of the Internet refuse to die directly, insisting on struggling a few times and wasting social resources.”
Gu Kun let out a heartless sigh, which could be regarded as a silent lament for the natural law of the Matthew Effect.
There is no way, even though he is rich and powerful, he still cannot fight against the laws of nature.
Then go ahead and kill him with a heavy hand.
Why are there so many people in this world who are uncomfortable with technology and refuse to cooperate with its destruction? Don’t they understand that the more they struggle, the more painful they become?