Directly targeting suppliers and employees demanding overdue payments: Tuangou finds "lifesaving money": not abandoning group buying.
Key points: According to relevant officials of Tuanbao.com, after paying the salaries of its employees and the outstanding payments to cooperating merchants, Tuanbao will continue to focus on group buying.
Reported by Tang Xunfang in Beijing.
On February 7, Tuanbao.com, a group-buying website that experienced a cash flow crisis, welcomed its first day back to work. Early in the morning, the headquarters located on the 19th floor of United Building in Chaoyang District, Beijing, was crowded with former employees and cooperating merchants who came to reclaim their salaries and goods payments.
They knew that Tuanbao had already found the "lifesaving money." On February 6, Ren Chunlei, CEO of Tuanbao (Weibo), stated on Sina Weibo, "With the joint efforts of all shareholders, various payments are arriving one after another. Starting from today, we will begin verifying and distributing them." However, throughout the entire day, these people did not see Ren Chunlei show up, Hangzhou network company.
The good news is that Tuanbao began issuing salaries to current employees. According to relevant officials of Tuanbao, after paying employee salaries and the outstanding payments to cooperating merchants, Tuanbao will continue to focus on group buying.
Issuing 1 month's basic salary
"If we don't refund the merchants, we wouldn't be able to open for business today." On February 7, when the reporter arrived at Tuanbao's Beijing headquarters, Li Wei, Director of Domestic Business Department at Tuanbao, was patiently explaining to the merchants who came to demand repayment. He told the reporter that after the employee salaries are issued, they will gradually pay the merchants their due amounts.
On February 7, more than 30 merchants from Tianjin, Nanjing, Beijing, and other places demanded payment from Tuanbao. According to the registered merchant debt list, Tuanbao owes varying amounts to cooperating merchants, mostly several thousand yuan, with over ten merchants having debts exceeding 10,000 yuan. On January 29, some merchants also registered their debt lists at Tuanbao's headquarters. Based on the two merchant debt registration forms seen by the reporter, currently, the registered merchant debts amount to nearly 1 million yuan.
According to Li Wei, this round of financing for Tuanbao mainly came from overseas, requiring approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange to enter the domestic market, which takes some time. Currently, Tuanbao is using the domestic funds that have arrived to maintain the company's operations, and according to the corresponding standards, they will settle accounts with over ten merchants daily. For merchants coming to Tuanbao, Tuanbao promises that the payment will definitely arrive within three days.
However, this promise did not impress the cooperating merchants. A cooperating merchant from Tianjin told the reporter that from May to December last year, he cooperated with Tuanbao every month, but each cooperation left an unsettled debt. "No one's promise to settle the debt on time counts; only if Mr. Ren (Ren Chunlei) shows up and commits to transferring the payment does it count." A clothing merchant told the reporter.
Without seeing Ren Chunlei, some merchants reported the case to the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce. Later, the reporting merchants and Li Wei, Director of the Domestic Business Department at Tuanbao, were called in for questioning. That afternoon, the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce conducted an on-site investigation and evidence collection at Tuanbao.
At noon on February 7, the salaries of current employees began to be distributed. It is understood that they only issued the basic salary of December last year, averaging over 2,000 yuan per person. But neither the bonus of December last year nor the salary and bonus of January this year were paid, Hangzhou web design.
"Nobody knows how much has been raised, why even the few thousand yuan of employees' salaries have to be delayed?" A current business manager complained to the reporter, saying his bonus was gone, and he was worried that there might be no settlement for the January salary.
According to an employee, currently, the current employees of Tuanbao have no heart for work. Most employees want to help their cooperating merchants settle their debts, take their salaries, and then leave. Only a few employees choose to share the fate with Tuanbao.
That day, most of the laid-off employees who came to demand wages returned empty-handed, with only a part receiving their salaries.
Since the second half of 2011, Tuanbao has started laying off employees in phases. Among these laid-off employees, after talks with the personnel department, 90% of the employees proposed voluntary resignation, and the rest who did not voluntarily resign were eventually "dismissed." These "dismissed" employees have already initiated labor arbitration. Regarding the large-scale layoffs, Tuanbao provided no compensation. According to a laid-off employee, he signed a three-year agreement and resigned in January 2012, which falls under "dismissal," but until now, he has not received any compensation.
According to relevant officials of Tuanbao, there are currently about 100 current employees at Tuanbao. However, during its peak, Tuanbao had over 2,000 people. Before the layoffs, there were 30 stations nationwide, with each sub-station having dozens to 100 people or more, some sub-stations even having 200-300 people, with around 800 people in Beijing.
Not giving up on group buying
"After Tuanbao clears all the employees' salaries and cooperating merchants' debts, it will continue to conduct business," said a relevant official of Tuanbao.
Currently, the Tuanbao webpage is still running normally. From January 20th to now, many users have been participating in group buying on it every day. On February 7, at Tuanbao's headquarters in Beijing, Ren Chunlei and his wife He Xiaoling (in charge of finance and administration) did not appear, but most senior executives, including Li Wei, Director of Domestic Business Department, Li Yong, Director of Beijing Region, Dong Xiao, HR Director, Li Rui Bao, Legal Director, and the Finance Director, were present in the company.
On February 7, Tuanbao had already returned part of the office area in the United Building to the property management, leaving only the necessary office areas, aiming to save costs and reduce expenses.
After the merchant debt incident, "reputation damaged" Tuanbao will undergo transformation. According to relevant personnel of Tuanbao, in the future, Tuanbao will continue to focus on group buying, Hangzhou website construction, just changing the business model, possibly becoming a merchant information display platform, where users place orders and directly pay the merchants when consuming. On February 6, Ren Chunlei also indicated on Sina Weibo, "Tuanbao will provide consumers and merchants with a series of new group-buying services."
Regarding this, Hu Chen, co-founder of Group 800, expressed that the coupon method makes merchants feel more secure, and this change in business model causes the least loss for Tuanbao. Tuanbao can use the browsing habits of existing users, the retained business team, and the group-buying confirmation system to conduct business. However, there are issues, as coupons have a certain validity period, and consumers only use them when needed, Baidu optimization, leading to the disappearance of the frenzied group-buying phenomenon.
But many merchants told reporters that Tuanbao's debt has greatly affected cooperating merchants, and they would hesitate before cooperating with Tuanbao in the future. "After this incident, the trust of cooperating merchants in group buying will significantly decrease, affecting the entire industry," Hu Chen also pointed out.
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