I See through Everything

After the partnership with the Haida Group was finalized.

For Hailufeng Company, this collaboration was essentially an opportunity to make money without lifting a finger.

「November 13th.」

The recent Double Eleven had been another relatively dismal year for e-commerce platforms in terms of sales performance.

Fortunately, Hailufeng Company’s products hadn’t been part of the Double Eleven sales. There was simply no need; the platforms had too many schemes, and it was better for the company to run its own promotions.

Meanwhile,

The e-commerce division, now operating out of a standalone house in Nanhu Village, was in the middle of a busy meeting.

Qin Xingzu, head of the App Development Office who had just joined Hailufeng Company this month, was presenting his project plan to the manager, Zhang Xinyi.

"As per the boss’s request, we’ve completed the project proposal."

Qin Xingzu, whose role was equivalent to a product manager, had previously worked for a mid-sized internet company in Peng City. He had been headhunted a month ago to join Hailufeng Company and lead the development of their shopping app.

His job was to define the app’s features, workflow, and user experience design, coordinate resources, and manage the overall project timeline.

The rest of his office consisted of:

Three UI/UX designers, responsible for interface and interaction design to make the app more visually appealing and user-friendly.

Seven Android developers, responsible for the Android version of the app.

As for iOS development, the company had shot down the idea. An iOS version would require significant effort, and the company wasn’t willing to invest too much in that area for now.

Then there were four back-end developers, responsible for building and maintaining the server-side architecture, handling data storage, user authentication, and other functions.

And three test engineers responsible for checking the app for bugs and functional defects.

The entire App Development Office consisted of 17 people in total.

"Team Leader Qin, how long will you need to complete the app?" Zhang Xinyi asked, flipping through the project proposal.

Qin Xingzu mentally calculated the project’s schedule and replied, "The basic framework is already done. If everything goes smoothly, I estimate it will take four to five months."

The company’s decision to develop its own shopping app was a proactive measure.

With Hailufeng Company’s product line constantly expanding, the product commissions and technical service fees from selling on other e-commerce platforms would add up to a significant sum.

For instance, White Truffle and eel fry were classified as special products on several e-commerce platforms, commanding a high commission of 5%.

For eel fry alone, Hailufeng Company had been charged 7.52 million Hua Yuan in product commissions last month.

Zhang Xinyi found this unacceptable. She had reported the issue to Jiang Miao back in September and proposed developing the company’s own app to stop the e-commerce platforms from bleeding them dry.

After all, a dozen or so software engineers would only cost just over 500,000 Hua Yuan a month.

For Hailufeng Company, this was a trivial expense. Compared to the commissions skimmed off by the e-commerce platforms each month, it was peanuts.

Jiang Miao, ever receptive to good advice, approved the project for the e-commerce division. He even gave the app a name: "Hailufeng Specialty Store."

For the time being, the app would exclusively sell the company’s own products, handling both retail and wholesale.

Zhang Xinyi wasn’t worried about finding customers.

The company had already built a substantial client base, including eel farmers, Egyptian Catfish farmers, high-end restaurants, domestic Japanese eateries, and boiled fish specialty shops. These were regular customers; if the company sent out a notice, they would have no choice but to obediently switch to using Hailufeng Company’s shopping app.

As for individual customers, who mostly bought fruit and canned goods, the profit margins on those products were average. They could continue to be sold on other e-commerce platforms for the time being.

However, the e-commerce division would definitely work on gradually attracting individual users in the future.

After all, the company’s product line would gradually diversify, making it increasingly attractive to individual consumers.

As a company aspiring to be the world’s number one agricultural enterprise, Hailufeng Company would not stop there.

The thought of paying commissions for another four to five months made Zhang Xinyi’s heart ache. She frowned and asked, "Four to five months? Can you speed it up?"

After a moment’s thought, Qin Xingzu provided an updated timeline. "If we add another five or six people, I’m confident I can shorten the timeline and launch by March."

"Done. I’ll have the HR department start recruiting immediately. Give me a list of the positions you need filled."

"No problem."

Suddenly, Zhang Xinyi remembered something. "One more thing. The boss gave specific instructions about this yesterday. The app needs to include a Digital Hua Yuan wallet and prioritize it for payments. Will that be difficult? Will it affect the timeline?"

"It won’t. We have to integrate a payment system anyway, so adding the Digital Hua Yuan wallet won’t have any real impact."

"That’s good."

Evidently, Jiang Miao didn’t fully trust the payment systems of major internet corporations like Tao Net or Penguin. To be on the safe side, he had decided to push hard for the Digital Hua Yuan wallet to be the primary payment method.

After the meeting with Zhang Xinyi and the others, Qin Xingzu hurried back to the standalone house next door.

This four-story, 120-square-meter standalone house was the office for their App Development department.

He returned to his office.

The delivery person from the cafeteria had already brought tonight’s dinner.

He glanced out the window. The afterglow of the sunset illuminated a cactus on the windowsill. Qin Xingzu stretched.

He went down to the first-floor lounge, which also served as the dining room.