This article originates from a Hema friend asking me what Hema should do. It's a common and practical question, and a further deepening of the issue after 'The Impact and Endgame of Giants Entering Community Group Buying'. Therefore, I wrote this article. -01- Is order volume the current primary goal? If fighting in Wuhan is merely to acquire group leaders, users, and orders, then this endeavor has no strategic significance, and the compounding effect is nearly zero. Because actions aimed at orders cannot answer questions like 'What is the core of the business?', 'Can we hold onto orders?', 'Is it replicable in other regions?', 'How much strategic space is there?', and 'Where is the leverage effect?'. In the article 'The Impact and Endgame of Giants Entering Community Group Buying', I mentioned that the community group buying business is deep, large, heavy, complex, and involves powerful participants. In such a battlefield, the key is to understand the laws of war and lay a solid foundation for winning. Only by understanding these laws can one achieve a leadership position in competition. Those who immediately start attacking cities and seizing territory without studying business laws, without using war to test laws, and without using laws to guide war, are not worth regretting if they die. Take the development of our Party's military strength as an example. Before the Sanwan Reorganization, all our Party's work focused on attacking Nanchang, Changsha, and Wuhan. There was no organizational method, military strategy, strategic intent, or national condition research. Everything was simplified to fighting, fighting, fighting. Did that yield any good results? Later, we gradually sorted out issues like 'How Long Can the Red Flag Fly?', 'A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire', and 'Strategic Problems in China's Revolutionary War'. We slowly clarified goals, adjusted strategies and tactics, and gradually grew stronger. If we had followed the simple thinking of attacking big cities, occupying populations, and expanding armies, we would have died hundreds of times. Whether it's the Groupon war, the food delivery war, the bike-sharing war, or the current community group buying war, aren't most people simply thinking that charging into battle and occupying bases is everything? These people deserve to die; if they don't, heaven and earth won't allow it. In September, Wang Huiwen mentioned again in a speech at Tsinghua the importance Meituan places on business research and methodology, emphasizing that business research and rapid learning are Meituan's core competitiveness, not orders and user numbers. Meituan's methods and past achievements should make us reflect. Therefore, the current core task is not orders, GMV, or user numbers, but studying business laws, exploring and practicing the best business models in the industry, and laying a solid foundation. -02- Should we aim for Hema's goals or the group's goals? If we aim for Hema's goals, can Hema win this war alone? What's the win rate? How much market share can it capture? No matter how strong Hema's capabilities or how many resources it has, it shouldn't go in directly. A true king doesn't take risks; they first establish an invincible position and then seek victory. So Hema's strategic goal is not to attack cities and seize territory, but to clear obstacles for the entry of major forces like Cainiao, Taobao, and Tmall, aiming for the group's goals. For example, can community group buying's warehousing and distribution synergize with same-city retail? Can community group buying fill the gaps of Taobao and Tmall in lower-tier markets? In concrete actions, Hema should choose a market at the county level or below, where competitors occupy markets at the prefecture level and above, for testing. And it should consciously develop Cainiao station masters as group leaders. This has several significances: 1. Prove that community group buying will fill the gaps of Taobao and Tmall in lower-tier markets. 2. Prove that this market is large and deep enough. 3. Prove that current players' layouts are far from sufficient, and there are still great opportunities to defeat competitors. 4. Prove the profit space in a weak competitive environment. 5. Prove the strategic position of Cainiao stations in this war and the necessity of their entry. Note: Some may worry that proving others' importance might lose their own leadership. Without rules and understanding of laws, and only with one-sided data, leadership will certainly be lost. With rules, understanding of laws, and a foundation, leadership remains in your hands. Just like Chairman Mao, without comrades or background, only with his cognition, passion, and confidence, he ultimately grasped leadership and moved toward victory. In scientific terms, behind matter are scientific laws; only those who understand laws have dominance. -03- War stages and goals War inevitably has different stages, and corresponding goals differ. If you cannot foresee the stages of war, you will inevitably fail to find the right goals, and failure is unavoidable. Stage One - Exploration Stage Tasks to complete in the exploration stage include: 1. Follow the most current market model to get familiar with the business, understand key links, and optimize on that basis. 2. Understand whether the countryside can encircle the cities. 3. Understand regional effects and where the boundaries are. 4. Understand competition intensity, market expansion difficulty, and resource consumption. 5. Where are the strategic synergies? Stage Two - Connection Stage Based on the model and conclusions from the exploration stage, promote it within a certain scope, occupy some bases, and complete the connection of strategic resources, preparing for a strategic counteroffensive. The main goals of this stage are to train troops, temper the organization, hone the business, and complete strategic concepts and encirclement. Stage Three - Strategic Counteroffensive Stage With orders, user numbers, and regions as goals, pour out all resources according to the laws of the first stage, launch a full-scale attack, and defeat opponents. Because of earlier business research, we can achieve extraordinary leverage, investing one unit of resources to get results several times that of competitors. Due to strategic synergy and support, the more we fight, the lower the costs and the greater the returns. Just like our Party's performance in the later stages of the Liberation War, the more we fought, the larger the scale, the stronger the troops, and the bigger the territory. Stage Four - Stalemate Stage The landscape is basically set, all sides cease fighting, no major battles, transitioning from strategic counteroffensive to stalemate. Each side cultivates internal strength, shifting from swallowing whole to nibbling. -04- Concept explanation Research and practice The purpose of research is to serve practice and to be tested and deepened through practice. I oppose the approach that simply takes orders, GMV, and user numbers as the primary goals, at least in the current stage of community group buying. Valuing research doesn't mean investing proportional resources, because research has a strong leverage effect. Investing 20% of resources can achieve a 2x effect. So, for research, we should attach strategic importance but tactically despise it appropriately. We should emphasize fighting, but even more so, use laws to guide fighting. Fierceness, morale, and achievements Many people are confused by surface phenomena. Seeing user numbers, order numbers, and GMV makes them feel at ease. Data surges make them feel the effort is fierce, valued, and gives them confidence and morale. Little do they know that data without foundation and without guidance from laws is like flowers in a mirror or the moon in water—it's like taking drugs to self-hypnotize, deceiving only oneself. Isn't it fierce to do research day and night? Isn't it fierce to quickly deploy different content according to different laws and development stages? The concept of fierceness is to continuously and strongly exert effort on a certain matter, not specifically to boost one-sided data. Those who use one-sided data as a placebo to gain team morale and treat it as achievements will inevitably become cannon fodder in this war. Source: Product No Return Road (ID: yiguojiren), Author: Chen Weilong Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.