But in fact, young people nowadays rarely know. In fact, in the 1990s in China, the first e-commerce website called "8848" appeared at that time.
And this website has also created a legendary story belonging to that era.
1999 65438+ 10, the founder of Wang 8848 was still a young man. At this time, he recruited four like-minded people and started his dream with more than160,000 funds raised at hand.
Speaking of Wang, in fact, at that time, he belonged to a man through and through.
16 years old, was admitted to the software major of Computer Department of Harbin Institute of Technology, and won the "National Science and Technology Progress Award" at that time for developing Internet application projects.
At the age of 29, he became the youngest senior engineer in the aerospace system.
Later, he joined the federal company and became the sales champion for five consecutive years.
From 65438 to 0998, the sales of federal companies reached 400 million yuan, and "8848" e-commerce company was born in such a huge company.
In fact, the purpose of Wang's e-commerce at that time was only to improve the performance of federal companies.
What shocked many people at that time was that Wang wanted to engage in e-commerce, because it was extremely difficult and unimaginable to do e-commerce at that time, just as people now know something about artificial intelligence in the future, but they are not optimistic.
It's actually quite understandable. Who would have thought that e-commerce in China could develop to this point in 10 years and 20 years? Just like looking at artificial intelligence now, can you imagine that robots will be all over the streets in the future?
However, the world is always short of people with dreams.
1999, the preparatory work was completed, so a group of young people held great expectations and finally established the website "8848", the first home appliance company in China at that time.
Why did you choose this name? Because the height of Mount Everest is exactly 8848 meters, and the intention of choosing this name is obvious. Wang and others just hope that their career can reach its peak in China.
A group of like-minded young people got together and started their entrepreneurial career in China.
It can be said that at that time, it was extremely difficult to establish an e-commerce website in China, because there were no predecessors to learn from it, and it was put in some links that we have become accustomed to now, but it was a huge difficulty at that time.
For example, 1999 has only a few million netizens. For example, the logistics system at that time could not meet the needs of e-commerce. For another example, this mode of paying first and then trading is rarely trusted, including a series of problems such as not many people who own online banking.
However, all these difficulties did not overwhelm them, and no one gave up or retreated, because everyone had the same goal at that time, that is, we must establish the first real e-commerce trading platform in China!
Trading difficulties? The 8848 website cooperated with China Merchants Bank, and took the lead in opening online payment in the national 19 city. At that time, it built the first e-commerce platform in China that fully adapted to dozens of online settlement methods.
Difficulties in trust? 8848 signed an agreement with China Express Company to open door-to-door cargo distribution system and payment collection system in 44 1 cities nationwide.
Logistics is not good? 8848 is also the first information platform to take the lead in developing and adopting a complete logistics management system, business management and customer relationship to realize management integration!
The difficulties were solved by these people, and 8848 became more famous because of them.
Just like chopping bamboo.
The website of 18 was officially opened in May, and the turnover in May directly reached 600,000 yuan.
June 1.2 million yuan.
By July, it was 1.8 million yuan.
Almost doubled month by month.
In September of the same year, Ma Yun's Alibaba was just established.
In June165438+1October of the same year, Barrett, President of Intel Corporation, visited China 8848 Company and affirmed that "8848 is the leader of e-commerce platform in China".
In 65438+February of the same year, 8848 opened a * * * software supermarket, with free e-mail, free e-cards and free gifts, which greatly enriched product introductions and product reviews. The website has also opened an online ticketing system, and launched a "digital movie ticket" in China.
At that time, there were more than 32,000 visits on 8,848 days, while the total number of netizens in China was only a few million.
At this time, Ma Yun is still considering whether to accept the $20 million investment from Son.
Two months later, in June, 2000, 8848 was awarded the first place in China's excellent websites and industrial and commercial categories by the China Internet Competition.
In February of the same year, 8848 even appeared in Time magazine and was regarded as the most popular electronic website in China.
At this time, 8848 finally got the biggest financing since its establishment. After the financing, team Wang's confidence increased greatly, and the company began to gear up and show its talents.
With money, 8848 has developed more rapidly, and the company has absorbed a large number of talents and like-minded people. At that time, in the industry, 8848, like BAT today, was the "proof place" in the minds of Internet people.
In July of the same year, 8848 was listed as "Top Ten Websites in China" by Forbes.
Wang's team is also fully prepared. Employees voluntarily work overtime every day, and almost everyone is fully prepared. At this time, the whole company is preparing for the next thing, which is to seek listing.
The crisis is coming.
With the development of the company, the opportunity of listing is getting closer and closer, but just when everyone has seen a little victory, the first disaster of 8848 came.
The bubble of Internet economy has burst.
Investors in 8848 are in a hurry. Investors who originally wanted to make a fortune by going public invited famous analysts directly from Wall Street to help them recover their losses.
And these professional analysts also gave a suggestion, that is, let 8848 divest B2C business and focus on B2B business that Wall Street investors are more optimistic about at present.
B2C is a business-to-person business model (Tmall belongs to B2C today), while B2B is a business-to-business business model.
The reason given by analysts is also very simple, because in today's United States, Amazon, the representative of B2C, is in a very bad situation under the Internet bubble, and analysts think that China's Internet will follow the old path of the United States, so they have the foresight to give this suggestion.
But Wang, the founder of the company, can't accept this suggestion.
In Wang's view, B2C is actually the core competition of 8848, and Wang really wants to tell each other that the situation in China is different from that in the United States. B2B and B2C models are completely compatible in China and will be mutually beneficial. Facts have proved that there is no problem with Wang's vision, because that's how Ali developed later.
But at that time, investors didn't believe Wang's vision at all.
So the two sides have been arguing, but the capitalists have no patience to wait. Seeing Wang's persistent insistence, underwriters and analysts finally used their magic weapon.
If you don't listen, I will withdraw.
Under the threat of divestment and cancellation of listing, there is no choice but to compromise.
At the end of June 2000, 1 1, 8848 split B2B and B2C in order to vote for Wall Street.
After the two businesses are decomposed, the road ahead is different. B2B was established and packaged for listing, but the separated B2C was bought by another investor of Wang and operated by himself, which was later MY8848.
In fact, from this name, we can see Wang's resentment at that time and his ambition to build an 8848 that belongs to him completely.
Wang said with a smile: Everyone is very optimistic, but I'm not sure whether B2C can succeed abroad.
Having said that, Wang adjusted his glasses and said confidently, But in China, if there is e-commerce, it must be B2C! Because China's commercial base is underdeveloped and its territory is vast, the growth rate of netizens in China is the fastest. And 8848 is undoubtedly the first B2C. If this market just needs a B2C, then 8848 will be the most promising.
This is also the case. After the separation of 8848, the remaining B2B companies of the old company only made marˉketplace and ASP. According to statistics, there were only more than 600 users at that time, while the original 6.5438+0.5 million users were concerned about Wang.
And this result also confirms Wang's sentence: "In fact, 8848 is B2C in front of the public."
Fade gradually
However, the split company will never return to the past.
The original 8848 packaging B2B for listing is doomed to failure, but the separated MY8848 has basically lost its original competitiveness because it has lost its popularity, poor market and difficult listing.
At the beginning of 2000, ST Hongye got in touch with my8848 through Wanquan River. This junk stock, which has lost money for more than two years, is looking for valuable business injection. The two parties agreed to purchase the B2C business of 8848 for 8.848 million yuan and inject it into my8848 Company. However, the funds promised by the main investor Wanquanhe are not fully in place, and the company has to pay a lot of expenses to continue its operation, which makes the operation of my8848 more and more difficult and causes its financial situation to deteriorate.
At the same time, the old 8848 began to turn in an all-round way: at the end of 2000, 8848 launched the market trading system and turned to B2B solution services in an all-round way; In September 2006, 5438+0,8848 merged with E-commerce Data Company to form 8848 E-commerce Data Company. However, in just one year, they tried B2B, e-commerce solutions, system integration and other businesses, but they all failed.
Moreover, due to the intensification of contradictions at the capital level, both 8848s have encountered great difficulties.
The two shareholders of my8848 began to argue, and even went to the arbitration commission. Wang, who is also the chairman of 8848 and my8848, was in a dilemma and simply resigned from both positions.
In the following years, although 8848 was constantly changing, it was gradually eroded by rising stars Ali and Yi Bei.
At the beginning of 2004, the shareholders of the old 8848 reached an agreement: to withdraw one after another. The remaining $20 million in Lao 8848' s account will be divided and taken away according to everyone's equity ratio.
Later, MY8848 Company was heavily in debt, and all its employees basically left, in name only.
At this point, Everest collapsed and a generation of legends declined.
In fact, today, the most important reason for the failure of 8848 is that it failed to adhere to its core business.
In fact, if there was no such choice and division at that time, perhaps the winner of e-commerce today is not Ali, but 8848. Of course, after all, it is history, and history is written by winners. Who can say for sure?
Just like a joke that once circulated on the Internet, someone asked Ma Yun, Wang and you started an e-commerce business at the same time in 8848. Why did you succeed and Wang failed? Ma Yun's answer is, "Both Wang and I like to brag, but all my brothers can appreciate the cows I brag about outside. And Wang, when really finished, really finished. "