Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
The relationship between major e-commerce companies and VRstore was akin to the relationship between retail chains and shopping malls. From payment to logistics, traditional e-commerce stores were responsible for providing the goods, while VRstore provided the “window.” The relationship between the two parties more closely resembled a symbiotic relationship.
In fact, Jiang Chen previously considered starting from scratch – he thought about getting rid of those veteran e-commerce giants, taking a series of chains from payment to logistics and creating a platform belonging to Future Technology. However, after discussion with Xia Shiyu, he gave up on this plan.
It was like Future Technology was building a rocket, but there was no need to carefully polish each screw.
Inside Future Building on Coro Island, wearing a perfectly-tailored business outfit, Xia Shiyu stood at Jiang Chen’s desk and reported the stats of VRstore. From the excitement flowing out of her solemn face, Jiang Chen could already sense the gratifying accomplishments of the “VR+ e-commerce” plan that had been in the works for half a year.
“… According to feedback from the North American branch, Amazon’s total revenue rose 18% in the first week, while the VRstore platform accounted for 40% of this week’s transaction volume. eBay’s transaction revenue also rose by 13%. The two e-commerce giants immediately submitted an additional cooperation agreement to us. They’re hoping we can relax the auditing process and speed up the process for additional shops to enter virtual reality.”
Jiang Chen comfortably leaned back in his seat.
“What about Hua?”
Xia Shiyu’s lips formed a smile then she said:
“Taobao’s revenue rose by 28% compared with last week, Jingdong 34%.”
This 28% increase wasn’t to be underestimated. Although it was attributable to many factors such as natural growth and online marketing, the entire sales base was gigantic. Just looking at Taobao alone, Taobao’s annual transaction volume in 2015 was 3 trillion! And since 2010, it had maintained a 60% increase over the years.
Although the growth rate had slowed down, according to Taobao’s 2017 data, the transaction volume still exceeded 4 trillion. Now, with the sudden emergence of VRstore, Taobao’s transaction value could break the 5 trillion milestone.
“It’s almost like a money printing machine,” Jiang Chen exclaimed.
“I think so too.” Xia Shiyu nodded in agreement. “Do you know how much money we made on VRstore last week?”
“How much?” Jiang Chen was intrigued.
“1.2 billion.”
Upon hearing this figure, he was stunned.
However, Xia Shiyu seemed to think that the number wasn’t shocking enough, so she added, “1.2 billion US Dollar.”
After recovering from his shock, Jiang Chen smiled and touched his nose with embarrassment.
“…If you didn’t tell me, I would’ve thought it was Vietnamese Dong.”
1.2 billion a week was more money than a money printing machine! A money printer couldn’t print that fast!
Even more shocking was that this 1.2 billion was their income after tax. Although the scanning fee for the one million items contributed to more than half of the sum, the figure of 1.2 billion still stunned Jiang Chen. Alibaba’s net profit per year was around 7 billion and it ranked top among the global e-commerce giants. Future Group’s VRstore only took a week to earn the same amount Ali earned in a quarter.
Once VRstore matured, what would it become?
In order to celebrate this victory, Jiang Chen gave a large red envelope to each of the 300 employees of the VRstore project team and also hosted a party on the Hot Spring Island.
From the beginning, VRstore had used programmers from the modern world and independently developed VR programs. For Future Group, it was undoubtedly a big step towards technological independence.
For now, in all of Future Group, only Future Technology managed to achieve this feat.
The first reaction of people with vested interests in emerging technology was repulsion. The second reaction was determining how to stop technology. The third reaction was thinking about how to respond to the trend and make changes. However, if they began to think about change three beats slower than the rhythm of the world, they would unfortunately be eliminated by the times.
Bentonville, Arkansas, home to Walmart, the world’s largest retailer.
This legendary retail company had a near-mythical family history. When Fortune magazine released their list of the world’s top 500 companies in 2007, Walmart topped the list with a revenue of 35.11 billion US Dollar and received this honor for six consecutive years. When Fortune magazine began assessing the top 500 companies in the world in 1955, Walmart was just a mom and pop shop in Bentonville.
At that moment, in the Walmart headquarters, the board of directors held an emergency meeting to discuss their strategy for dealing with the impact of VRstore on the retail landscape.
“Which idiot has the proposal from Future Technology? We could’ve taken the VRstore ride.”
“We had a vote from the board of directors, Mr. Casero.” CEO Macmillan rose and responded to the director who mocked him.
“Oh? You mean, all of us here are idiots?”
“Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely didn’t mean that, Mr. Casero. Unless you personally think so.”
“You—”
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound of knocking on the table forcefully dispersed the noise around the conference room.
The chairman, sitting at the head of the conference table, Robson Walton, stopped knocking his hand and glanced at the two men with cloudy but sharp eyes.
“We have more important things to do than arguing, don’t we?”
The aged Walton family owner had a high prestige among the board of directors. When they saw Old Walton speaking, all the directors looked at each other and quickly ended their meaningless arguments. McMillan shrugged, opened his mouth, finally said nothing, and sat back.
Yes, Walmart had rejected Future Technology.
Walmart also ran its own e-commerce website, and it was the third-ranked in the UA. But six months ago, they didn’t accept the concept of “VR + e-commerce” proposed by Future Technology. As for why, Walmart’s network was comprehensive; it could connect its large physical retail stores and online businesses together to provide a full range of customer shopping services, so there was no need to rely on the VR platform.
No Americans were unfamiliar with the products on Walmart’s shelves.
Also, if Walmart supermarkets appeared on the virtual reality platform, this would definitely have a greater impact on Walmart’s physical store sales.
But the facts proved their decision to be horrendously wrong.
Whether they were willing to accept it or not, Walmart’s physical store sales would be impacted by VRstore. Their refusal to enter VRstore resulted in more market share in ecommerce taken away by Amazon and eBay.
“We were at a disadvantage against Amazon. Now. VRstore has pushed us directly to our pitfall. It’s not only Amazon, but eBay is also trying to gain distance on us.” One director shook his head as he spoke.
“It isn’t too late to make up for it now. I’ll personally go visit Xin. I’ll make the secretary book a ticket for tomorrow,” Macmillan said.
“It isn’t too late? Even if we change our minds now and beg Future Technology to let us join VRstore, do you think we could immediately enter the VR platform?” Casero, who had previously argued with him, mocked him. “Scanning 800,000 products took more than half a year. If we enter now, there are still countless shops ahead of us in queue. Maybe this time next year, Walmart’s merchandise will appear on the shelves of VRstore?”
It would be impossible for them to set aside their partners and allow a latecomer jump in.
“I’ll persuade him,” Macmillan said earnestly.
“Ha—”
Casero was about to say a few mocking words, but Mr. Walton, the chairman, didn’t give him a chance to speak and forcibly interrupted him.
“You don’t need to book anything – take my plane. Don’t wait until tomorrow – go today.”
Holding his breath, Macmillan nodded his head seriously.
“Yes!”
