From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 113 Easily Running a Bestselling Store

Chapter 113 Easily Running a Bestselling Store

Yang Guofu said, "Young man, I have a business deal I'd like to discuss with you."

Lin Mu listened attentively and said, "Please speak."

"Do you know Yang Guofu Malatang? I am Yang Guofu."

Lin Mu feigned surprise and said, "I actually knew that. There must be over a thousand chain stores nationwide, right?"

Yang Guofu nodded with a hint of pride and said, "I've set my sights on a new market. Many of my customers want to buy our soup base after eating mala tang at the restaurant so they can cook it at home, which is cheaper. I was thinking, could we sell these pre-made meal kits to meet this customer demand?"

He paused, then continued, "Then I thought about it again. If I do this, I won't just be selling the Yang Guofu brand; I'll be doing branded operations, which will broaden my business empire considerably. Everyone's talking about the internet and information technology these days. I know you're very good at e-commerce; could you help me with online operations and set up a marketing framework?"

*Smack!* Yang Guofu slammed a car key on the table, pushed it in front of Lin Mu, and said, "I trust your abilities. You've already made quite a few brands popular. Consider this Land Rover a gift from me to you as we meet."

Before Lin Mu could even respond, Sheng Youwei couldn't hold back any longer and said, "Old Yang, are you trying to smear Lin Mu by bringing a used Land Rover?"

Lin Mu pushed the car keys back and said, "Uncle, I happen to have a business opportunity recently. I need to get big brands to participate in Double Eleven on Tmall."

""

"What is Singles' Day?" Yang Guofu asked in confusion.

Lin Mu gave a brief explanation.

After listening to Lin Mu's explanation, Yang Guofu slowly said, "The brand image is quite suitable. Let professionals handle professional matters. Since you think my brand should participate in Double Eleven, then we will. I said I'd leave all operations to you, and I'll definitely listen to you completely."

Lin Mu thought for a moment and decided that it would be better to turn this operation into a classic case study and post it live on the forum to attract more traditional manufacturers. He shared his idea with Yang Guofu.

Yang Guofu said, "Sure, I have no objection. By the way, if you want to find traditional manufacturers to join Tmall, you can contact me. I know a lot of old friends here."

Regarding the collaboration, with the help of his father-in-law, Yang Guofu opened a new company specifically to operate pre-made mala tang (spicy hot pot) meal kits, in which Lin Mu held a 2% stake.

Some time later, Lin Mu went to Yang Guofu Malatang's warehouse to check on the goods.

Goods were stored in icehouses, and shipped via cold chain transportation. The pre-made mala tang (a type of spicy hot pot) was all frozen, just like hot pot base in later generations, frozen into blocks, so you could take it home, soak it, and eat it.

Lin Mu tried it himself, and there were three flavors: clear broth, spicy, and sesame sauce. The taste was actually just average, probably because the process wasn't quite mature yet and it couldn't be made particularly delicious, but it smelled very good.

Lin Mu took many pictures at the scene and posted them on the Taobao seller forum. He started a long-term updated thread on the forum titled "Building a Bestselling Store from Scratch - Yang Guofu Malatang".

At the beginning of the post, Lin Mu clearly stated that he would be live-streaming the entire process from scratch, sharing how he built a best-selling store.

The entire process of using various marketing tools. After editing the post, he clicked send, and almost instantly, dozens of replies appeared on the forum.

"I'm marking this up! I can't believe it's being streamed live!"

"Hey boss, I'm the regional distributor for Silly Sunflower Seeds. Interested in discussing a collaboration?"

Lin Mu's eyes lit up. Look, the customer has come to him on his own.

Next, Lin Mu had Yang Guofu register and open a Tmall store. Then, instead of immediately listing products, he first used a tool that comes with the Taobao merchant platform, Wanxiang Cloud Platform.

Wanxiang Cloud Platform can view recent search keywords on the Taobao platform to find trending terms and new market demands.

Lin Mu focused his keywords on the Mala Tang (spicy hot pot) industry, and several trending search terms quickly emerged: Mala Tang that you can make at home, Mala Tang cooking kits, super spicy Mala Tang, clear broth Mala Tang, Mala Tang that you can eat in your dorm, and cheap Mala Tang.

These keywords reveal a clear market demand for pre-made mala tang (a type of spicy hot pot), with two core application scenarios: family-sized and dormitory-sized. In terms of flavor, clear broth and spicy are the most popular, and affordable pricing is preferred.

Lin Mu instructed Yang Guofu's operations team to list two products: a family pack and a clear soup pack.

These two products, once listed, generated a total of 20 orders throughout the entire day without any marketing or keyword purchases, solely through organic traffic.

Lin Mu posted his first day's results on the Taobao seller forum. His post, already generating buzz from the first day, had over a hundred replies. The results immediately caused a sensation.

"Wow! 20 orders from organic traffic in one day, is that what a pro does?"

"But the Universal Gimbal costs money, isn't this just a way to sell the Universal Gimbal?"

"Idiot! You're used to getting things for free? This is a tool to make money, and you can't bear to spend a single penny."

In the forum, those with slow minds were still arguing, while those with quick minds had already opened Wanxiang Cloud Platform to look for business opportunities.

A few more days passed, and during these days, Lin Mu had Yang Guofu appear in a short video.

The short film follows the same logic as "Xiaoyue's Cuisine": it shows Yang Guofu cooking mala tang (a type of spicy hot pot), then shares the mala tang with his neighbors, capturing the vibrant, everyday life of the neighborhood.

In the video, the neighbors are enjoying their food, and that's actually true. Yang Guofu's spicy hot pot business started with him cooking it at home and selling it from a shoulder pole at a street stall; his skills are quite good.

However, videos are videos, while the goods sold online are mass-produced.

But that's not important.

Although this short video did not become as popular as "Xiaoyue's Cuisine", it has still accumulated over 100,000 views.

Thanks to Tu Linmu himself, Tudou.com had already started a live-streaming sales partnership with Taobao, and the connection went very smoothly.

Driven by this video, Yang Guofu Malatang's sales surged tenfold, reaching 200 orders per day. Lin Mu then posted his achievements on the Taobao seller forum, which this time sparked a lot of criticism.

"Dude, this operation is way too difficult! We don't know how to make videos, and even if we did, there's no guarantee they'd go viral!"

"To produce this kind of quality, it must require a professional team, and the cost is too high; small sellers like us simply cannot afford it."

However, some people have raised different opinions: "This operation is not meant for ordinary small sellers; it is aimed at established and powerful manufacturers."

At this moment, a week has passed since Lin Mu posted the message.

This week, more than ten established manufacturers have joined forces with Lin Mu to open Tmall flagship stores with his help. The biggest name among them is the manufacturer of White Rabbit candy, who also wants to open an online flagship store to get closer to young people.