From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 4 tells a story

Outside a small factory on Gongye Road in Hangzhou, Li Zhi hurried out to greet him, his face full of eagerness and joy: "Brother Lin, I've been waiting for you like the stars and the moon, and I'm so glad you've finally arrived!"

Lin Mu glanced at the factory in front of him. It was only about 100 square meters in size. There were small stalls in the street spaces on both sides of the factory, with stacks of silk underwear piled up on them, neatly arranged in four colors: white, black, blue, and red. He frowned—underwear is a private item, and who would want to buy it if it was displayed so openly on a street stall?

"Are these stalls on both sides yours too?" Lin Mu asked.

"Yes!" Li Zhi nodded, his tone bitter. "I was really anxious and wanted to try every possible channel to sell the goods, but after several days, I haven't sold many orders."

"Take down the stall immediately," Lin Mu said. "Leaving it like this makes it look cheap and lowers the brand's image."

"Okay, I'll listen to you!" Li Zhi's greatest strength was that he listened to advice. As soon as he finished speaking, he hurriedly ran to tidy up his underwear.

Lin Mu let out a soft exclamation and looked around: "You don't even have any employees here?"

"Sigh, we won't even be able to pay next month's wages, so we'll have to lay off everyone. Now we have to do all the work ourselves," Li Zhi sighed.

Lin Mu thought to himself: If orders explode next, we definitely won't have enough manpower. But Taobao has a short payment period, so if orders really surge, we can hire people in time, and pay them a month later, which is plenty of time.

Stepping inside the factory, dozens of looms were neatly arranged, with the area behind them converted into a warehouse, piled high with boxes of underwear. Lin Mu casually opened a box and took out a pair of white silk underwear. The fabric felt thin and breathable to the touch, definitely not the kind of cheap stuff that would tear at the slightest touch—he knew this from his previous life, it was just a formality.

"Brother Lin, I'm not lying to you, the quality of this batch of goods is absolutely top-notch!" Li Zhi added hastily as he came in after tidying up his stall. "The cost of each piece is only five or six yuan, and we're using all good materials. But customs keeps giving us trouble, either saying the materials are substandard or finding other faults. After finally gathering all the materials, my partner said that this batch of goods did not meet European standards, and then he ran off with the money in the account."

He scratched his head in distress: "I still don't know if he was really lying to me or if he was really in trouble."

Even later, Li Zhi still didn't understand it. But that's life; not everything has an answer.

Lin Mu clapped his hands: "The material is indeed fine, and the key points for the promotion are easy to find."

In his past life, leveraging his familiarity with Taobao's rules, he helped Li Zhi refine the main image, product details page, and title. Utilizing the platform's additional traffic support, he single-handedly transformed the store into a best-selling product with monthly sales exceeding ten thousand units. In 2008, monthly sales of ten thousand units for a single item were already considered a blockbuster achievement. In this life, Lin Mu aims for an even greater challenge—to increase sales tenfold and elevate this case study from an internal company example to a textbook example of e-commerce excellence.

There is only one way to create such a miracle: storytelling.

"Li Zhi, tell me everything that has happened to you since you were a child, in every detail," Lin Mu said.

"It's possible, but Brother Lin, what does this have to do with selling goods?" Li Zhi asked, looking puzzled.

Lin Mu held up one finger and waved it, his tone confident: "Third-rate manufacturers sell products, second-rate manufacturers sell standards, and first-rate manufacturers tell stories. I'm going to help you tell a story that will move people."

Li Zhi felt a little guilty—he felt that his life was unremarkable, just the ordinary experience of a loser, what was there to talk about? But since Lin Mu had spoken, he still tried his best to recall and told him everything he could remember about his past.

A few hours later, Li Zhi, parched, grabbed a bottle of mineral water and gulped down several mouthfuls. Panting, he asked, "Brother Lin, isn't my life pretty boring? Can you use this material?"

In fact, Lin Mu already knew most of Li Zhi's life story from his previous life, and had already come up with a marketing strategy in the past few days. He nodded with a smile: "These are all excellent story materials. By the way, do you know Baidu Tieba?"

"I know!" Li Zhi's eyes lit up. "I'm a heavy user of Baidu Tieba!"

2008 was the golden age of Baidu Tieba, with daily active users reaching tens of millions. Unfortunately, Baidu, holding such a huge goldmine of traffic, later managed it terribly.

Lin Mu said, "You should focus on World of Warcraft first, and I'll edit the post for you."

"Hey, Lin, what a coincidence!" Li Zhi exclaimed, even more excited. "I'm a level nine member of the World of Warcraft forum! Bro, you play World of Warcraft too?"

"I don't play it." Lin Mu shook his head. "We're using the popularity of the World of Warcraft forum to tell your story."

In 2008, World of Warcraft was incredibly popular. In July of that year, the classic "Your mom is calling you home for dinner" marketing campaign originated in the World of Warcraft forum. Although no one can definitively say who initiated this marketing campaign, that's not important—what's important is that the World of Warcraft forum had the potential to ignite trending topics and go viral.

The underlying culture of Baidu Tieba is precisely the literature of the "loser" and "low-class literature," which perfectly matches Li Zhi's bumpy life experience.

Lin Mu sat in front of the computer and began editing the post:

**Title: Fellow World of Warcraft forum members, let me tell you my story.**

**Subject Content:**

Sigh, I just turned twenty-five, and I've accomplished nothing and am still in debt for over 20 yuan. My life is truly miserable!

Feeling incredibly distressed, I came here to chat with everyone and share my story.

I hope everyone will learn from my mistake and not end up like me—study hard and strive for excellence every day.

After the post was published, Lin Mu immediately grabbed the first comment:

[Feeding bears on the first floor!]

[Hello everyone in the World of Warcraft forum!]

Seeing how lively things are on the forum makes me so happy for you all!

It feels like everyone else is running forward, while I've been left far behind.

[Would anyone like to hear my story?]

Just seconds after the post was sent, a reply quickly followed up from below:

"sofa!"

"Bench!"

"Touching the poster~ -- This is just a little ending; by the time you finish reading, I've already used up all my experience points~"

[Speaking of which, the poster's birth is quite interesting.]

There was a fortune teller

When I was a child, she told my fortune, saying that my destiny was one of hardship followed by happiness, and that I would have benefactors to help me.

My mother-in-law really knows how to say nice things to comfort people.

It's a pity; it seems like people who are good to me don't have much luck.

Later, for reasons unknown, the mother-in-law committed suicide by drinking pesticide.