Chapter 6

The Monkey told Mu Hanxia about something.

It was about what happened the year Lin Mochen graduated from Columbia University, from what he had heard.

One of Lin Mochen's classmates came from a family of farmers who grew fruit. Due to the high level of mechanization in the United States and policy subsidies, the surrounding farms generally had an excess of produce that couldn't sell at a good price.

So, Lin Mochen partnered with his classmate to sell fruit.

While others dealing with fruit were all about pulling strings, running around making sales, and organizing transportation, he was different. After preparing silently for several months, he suddenly launched a new website called "OneFresh".

What did this website do? It was specialized in selling fruit to white-collar workers in Manhattan.

The website advocated: Eating a fresh fruit every day is the healthy lifestyle for a Manhattanite. Too busy with work to remember or bother to buy? No problem, just place an order on the website, and someone will deliver the fruit to the convenience store nearest to you every day. All you have to do is pick it up on your way to work, off work, or going out for lunch.

And the fruit we sell is absolutely fresh and green. Each piece of fruit comes with a small card, stating the date and time it was picked from which farm, from Tom's or Jack's, from which specific tree. This is definitely fresher than what you would buy from a supermarket or fruit shop, whether it's been overstocked or refrigerated for a long time. (Of course, whether this was true or not, only Lin Mochen knew.)

The targeted customer base of the website was women, but it particularly encouraged men to purchase a long-term order as a gift for their girlfriends. The website even included a complimentary rose. Thanks to the local connections and influence of Lin Mochen and his friends, the website quickly gained traction and even became a hit throughout Manhattan.

When money was made, naturally, some became envious. The biggest fruit supplier in the New York area couldn't stand it.

They started with promotions, but to no avail. The white-collar workers simply didn't care. After all, they were eating fruit for the quality and as a gesture of self-respect. Who cared if your apples were 2 cents cheaper each?

Later, competitors also built websites, trying to emulate and launch similar services. Normally, this would be very dangerous in the business world. If a big company copied the new business model created by a small company, with all the stronger aspects of a big company, the small company would just get wiped out.

But suddenly, the competitors found they couldn't get their website off the ground. Why?

Because Lin Mochen had already secretly signed written agreements with those community convenience stores—only his company could provide fruit storage and delivery services. Any violation would be a serious breach subject to hefty compensation. Since no one had ever done something like this before, the convenience stores had happily agreed after receiving a bit of money from Lin Mochen.

During the previous months of silence, Lin Mochen had been busy making these arrangements.

The competitors' fruit may not have been worse than Lin Mochen's, and they could even offer lower prices. But they just couldn't get close to the customers.

They became furious and resorted to underhanded tactics. They poached some farmers from Lin Mochen and threatened to beat up his delivery staff, even sending him threatening letters. Lin Mochen remained unfazed, and his website continued to thrive, even announcing ambitious goals like "a sales target of 500 million US dollars" and "expansion across the United States within 3 years".

In the end, the competitors had no choice but to invite Lin Mochen for negotiations.

The result of the negotiations was that the competitors bought the exclusive rights from Lin Mochen for a substantial amount, and it was agreed that "OneFresh" would no longer offer similar fruit delivery services. It's said that from this battle alone, Lin Mochen and his partners made a fortune.

...

"How does it feel?" the Monkey asked.

Mu Hanxia: "Impressive... but I don't think he did anything inappropriate."

Monkey: "Hehe... You think it's over just like that?"

...

The competitors thought the same when they invested a large amount of money in advertising and stockpiled a huge inventory of fruit, at the opening of their website. When customers saw that "OneFresh" was no longer delivering fruit, they switched to the new website, with everything looking promising.

That's when "OneFresh" introduced the "Fruit'sHeartCard".

What was this card about? The website told everyone that to thank the customers for their support, they would provide a batch of fruit of the same excellent quality, at a price lower than you could imagine. This time, we're not making a profit. You just need to order a Heartfelt Card on the website, and you'll be able to collect your gift from several major supermarkets at our supply points. What's more, if you don't use up the amount in one go, you can use it next time.

Some customers bought the card and were indeed surprised at the supermarket. The fruit was as fresh as their previous orders had promised, each with its fresh pedigree marked. Yet the price was not only lower than on the previous website but also lower than that of the competitors'. It was even much lower than the promotional prices at ordinary fruit supermarkets! Certainly an unprecedentedly low price beyond your imagination!

——Of course, the prices were low. Because Lin Mochen had invested all the money given by the competitors right back into this.

Sales skyrocketed instantly, with rumors that the Heartfelt Cards, valued at 100 US dollars, sold hundreds of thousands.

In a region, the demand for fruit is limited, and since some customers bought many cards, effectively paying for a year's supply of fruit to Lin Mochen, the competitors' website immediately saw sparse traffic, with some days even recording zero dollars in sales.

Lin Mochen waged a brutal low-price flank battle, killing off the new business model he had once created.

And what was the result of this small-scale regional business war? The competitors, with a huge stockpile of fruit that couldn't be sold and needed to move quickly, had no choice but to transfer it all to Lin Mochen at an even more painful low price. Thus, not only did Lin Mochen not lose out, but he also made a tidy profit from it. Furthermore, his and his friends' companies firmly occupied the fruit market in New York from then on.

...

Monkey: "And remember those few farmers who betrayed him and went over to the competitors? It's said that Lin Mochen appeared indifferent at the time, but after he monopolized the market, he specifically singled them out and completely blocked their sales channels. And what about his employees who were beaten up, the threats he received himself? Later, he hired the best lawyers and sued the perpetrators and their instigators in court, winning heavy judgments... In short, those who offended him met with very grim fates. He's a person who holds a grudge and is extremely cunning."

Mu Hanxia: "..."