Life at The Top novel Chapter 979

“Mr. Laine, 8861 caters to SMEs. When it comes to Sena or Terizone, their users are ordinary netizens. They are simply not the same target audience,” Wayne spoke.

Jasper chuckled and targeted Wayne’s straw man without hesitation.

“If your members know of 8861 and have gone online to use your website for business, Mr. Wayne, then who’s to say that these enterprise owners or senior executives are not also Terizone’s email subscribers, KK users, or Sena’s gamers?”

Wayne’s expression turned stern and he gestured as he spoke, “8861 is advantageous because it is irreplaceable.

“That is merely the result of being early movers in a market in which you are still gathering users. In reality, these so-called advantages are merely a facade.”

Jasper leaned back against his chair and looked at Wayne. “I heard that you’re a fan of fairytales, and that you like referring to each other as sirs and knights within the company.”

“Therefore, I’m sure that you’re no stranger to the battles between knights and dragons. It’s only a battle of skills when its a fight between people of similar strengths. Am I wrong?”

“Mr. Laine,” Jose cut Wayne off and spoke, looking at Jasper seriously. “You also said that there’s problem with 8861. Could I ask what this might be, other than the fact that it’s easily replaceable?”

“Its business model,” Jasper replied straightforwardly.

“Enterprise to enterprise, or the b2b model in e-commerce terms. This model isn’t horrible, but there’s an innate problem with it. This model makes your website a platform instead of a channel, in which there’s no clear boundaries for the suppliers and their customers.

“Say, for example, that my enterprise is focused on selling lathes, and I paid your company’s membership fee so that I can partner with a machining company. Two years later, that company and I will already have experience partnering together, yes? So pray tell, why I would want to continue paying for my membership?

“At the moment, your only source of income comes for membership fees. But after paying you once, your members will be able to find their own groups of suppliers or customers. Your members won’t need your website anymore once they’ve used it to source their own channels.”