That afternoon, a segment of FoxTao users who had previously browsed cross-border B2C websites received pop-up ads and in-site messages.
The content briefly introduced the launch and usage of the new cross-border shopping assistant function.
For users who had long wanted to shop on overseas e-commerce sites but were stymied by language barriers, confusing size charts, and the headache of international shipping—this news was a godsend.
Zhang Peng was one of them. He loved collecting sneakers. Sites like Amazon's overseas store, Eastbay, and Sneakersnstuff often had incredible deals.
But he didn't have a dual-currency credit card. He didn't understand customs procedures. He didn't speak English. In the past, all he could do was window-shop.
Today was different.
After reading the in-site message, he immediately clicked into the mall's rebate section, found the Eastbay entrance, and jumped to the product page.
He typed in the sneaker model he wanted. When the product page loaded, Zhang Peng noticed a new button in the upper right corner: One-Click Purchase.
He clicked it.
A new page opened. The layout mirrored Eastbay's product details, but the text had been translated into Chinese by a built-in plugin. The translations were a bit literal—clunky in places—but perfectly understandable.
The size chart had been expanded. Users could now select the right fit based on foot length and width.
Zhang Peng was thrilled. He picked his size and color, then moved to the next step: the order submission page.
He filled in his shipping info and paid via Alipay.
Total cost: 580 yuan. That included the product price, base shipping, and an extra 70 yuan for purchasing and forwarding services—covering consolidation, splitting, reinforced packaging, and storage fees.
If customs inspected the package, he'd owe duties separately.
The whole process was seamless. No different from ordering on Taobao or JD.com.
Zhang Peng poked around a bit more. The one-click service cost a bit extra, but if he only used the overseas transit warehouse, he could save 10 yuan.
Awesome. I'm telling the guys back in the dorm about this.
He grabbed his laptop and headed back from the teaching building.
"Brother Sen, the pop-up ad was displayed 390,000 times. Following the new user guide, 2,700 people completed their first overseas order. Seventy-two percent used the one-click purchasing agent."
Hu Yun held his laptop and reported to Chen Yansen.
"Conversion rate among test users?" Chen Yansen looked up.
"One point seven percent. The main drop-off was between the pop-up ad and the mall's rebate program—sixty percent lost there."
"Much better than the old zero-point-two or zero-point-three." Chen Yansen nodded. "You and Zhuang Rui monitor the data for another day. If nothing goes wrong, full launch the day after tomorrow."
"Understood." Hu Yun turned to confer with Zhuang Rui.
The overseas shopping market might only be worth a few hundred billion on paper, but the real demand hadn't even been tapped yet.
Once Alibaba, JD.com, and NetEase entered the fray, it would balloon to hundreds of billions.
Chen Yansen didn't have delusions of grandeur. He just wanted to squeeze a billion in sales from cross-border e-commerce—enough to boost FoxTao's valuation.
A few days later, in faraway Beijing, Sui Liangdong noticed something troubling.
Traffic to his site, What's Worth Buying, was up. But overall conversion rates were plummeting.
He couldn't track user behavior on third-party platforms, so he resorted to a blunt method: exporting user contact info from the database and making follow-up calls.
"Your product recs are solid, but I don't understand English. I can't tell which sites offer direct shipping. I ended up ordering through FoxTao."
"FoxTao's cross-border shopping assistant is a lifesaver. Yeah, there are fees, but the rebates cover half. Super cost-effective."
"What's Worth Buying is just a product discovery site for me now. I still buy through FoxTao. You don't offer the service or the rebates—why would I use you?"
Several calls like this nearly made Sui Liangdong pop a blood vessel.
"You bastards! You're all my users! How could you do this to me?!"
But he also caught a crucial detail: FoxTao had launched something called the "Overseas Shopping Assistant." It was designed to help users with zero language skills shop overseas effortlessly.
Back then, overseas shipping companies in China were few and far between. Most were newly established, with pitifully small volumes.
Sui Liangdong had no idea overseas shopping rebates could work like this. After trying FoxTao's feature himself, he deflated completely.
He had one option: partner with a third-party shipping company and copy FoxTao's model—before his users migrated en masse.
After weighing his options, he approached Zebra Logistics.
This multinational logistics company, founded less than two years ago, specialized in "collection and forwarding" services. They'd been starving for orders.
Meeting Sui Liangdong was like finding a kindred spirit.
A few days later, they launched their own overseas shopping transit service, hoping to retain users.
Meilishuo, Mogujie, and Taofenba followed suit, rolling out similar features to grab a slice of the overseas rebate pie.
Chen Yansen caught wind of it and just smiled.
In the e-commerce platform game, these copycats were forever destined to trail behind. Users had eyes. They knew who delivered.
A week after FoxTao's overseas shopping assistant went live, conversion rates climbed from 0.3% to 3.7%.
Still far behind the 15-20% of domestic business, but it generated an extra 40 million in sales.
That was 100-200 million a month. It significantly boosted the odds of hitting the year-end target of 10 billion in revenue.
Around the same time, Chen Yansen secured the payment license he'd applied for under Senhai Technology.
Not long after, he transferred it to Senlian Capital.
IDG, Sequoia, and Tencent called to inquire. The license was company assets. In 2011, payment licenses were easy enough to get if you met the requirements, but Chen Yansen's shell-game maneuver raised eyebrows.
Chen Yansen didn't dance around it. He cited last year's Administrative Measures for Payment Services of Non-Financial Institutions, pointing out that IDG was a foreign-invested company. Holding the license under Senhai Tech might invite policy risks.
The three investment firms found the argument plausible, but they also knew Chen Yansen had used company resources.
Then Chen Yansen casually mentioned April's revenue.
The room went quiet.
Compared to a payment license, FoxTao's April sales of 760 million were far more astonishing. And e-commerce's peak season was still months away—the second half of the year.
If Chen Yansen hit the 10 billion target by year-end, the company's valuation would soar past 6 billion. They'd all make a killing.
A payment license?
Only a few hundred were issued annually. Let Chen Yansen have it.
Before anyone knew it, the May Day holiday arrived.
Because of the holiday, FoxTao deposited salaries into employee accounts on April 29th.
Chen Yansen had just finished washing up when his "Flames of Humanity" ticked up by 393 strands. With the Aurora R&D team growing, the monthly increase was accelerating.
By May, B2C commissions from February and March would hit—bringing an estimated 500 more strands.
Chen Yansen had already tasted the benefits of boosting his spirit. This time, he didn't hesitate.
But to his surprise, the effect was noticeably weaker this round.
When everything settled, he checked the system panel.
Spirit: 10.
Remaining Flames: 236.
A new talent had appeared in his talent bar:
[Photographic Memory] : Absorb vast amounts of knowledge at a single glance.
Chen Yansen didn't pause to marvel. He returned to his bedroom, grabbed an unopened copy of Concrete Mathematics, and opened it.
The moment his eyes scanned the page, a strange sensation washed over him. Lines of dense, obscure text flowed in.
Over a thousand words on that page. One glance was enough. He could close his eyes and recite the entire passage from memory.
Photographic memory.
Chen Yansen's lips curled into a smile.
His learning efficiency had just skyrocketed. 8.43 to 10 was only a hair's breadth difference numerically—but that one talent bonus? It changed everything.