In the afternoon, Liang Qingfan arrived outside Mr. Pei’s office and knocked gently.
Recently, he had been busy with the design work for the Food Market, supervising the on-site construction.
The preliminary design work had already been completed. Following Bao Xu’s suggestions, many game-like elements had been incorporated, so Liang Qingfan’s work was essentially finished. All he needed to do now was supervise the construction to ensure there were no problems and that his design plan would be perfectly implemented.
This time, Liang Qingfan had only heard that Mr. Pei wanted to design a store, but he hadn’t specified what kind of store it would be.
Liang Qingfan thought it would most likely be a relatively simple small job. A store, at most, would be something like the Slackin’ Internet Café level, which could be designed with minimal effort.
“Mr. Pei,” Liang Qingfan entered the office and saw Mr. Pei with a slightly furrowed brow and a serious expression, staring at his computer screen, seemingly troubled about something.
Pei Qian, seeing that Liang Qingfan had arrived, closed the webpage about “Mission and Choice” on his computer and said, “You’re here? Have a seat.”
After briefly chatting about the recent situation at Sloth Apartments, they quickly got to the point.
Pei Qian carefully considered his wording and then said, “I plan to open a Tenda store in Jingzhou to showcase Tenda’s products and also provide customers with a channel to communicate with our sales team.”
Liang Qingfan nodded. “I understand, something like a ‘Tenda Home’ type of store, right?”
“Mr. Pei, how large do you estimate this store will be? And where will it be located?”
Pei Qian thought for a moment. “Several thousand square meters, maybe even over ten thousand? The bigger, the better. Design it on a large scale.”
Liang Qingfan: “…”
He had originally thought it would be like the stores that Shenhua Group or Pineapple Phones opened in shopping malls, which were at most a few hundred square meters. But if it was going to be several thousand or over ten thousand square meters as Mr. Pei said, then it would be similar to many home furnishing markets, possibly occupying several floors of an entire building with various products, making it much larger in scale.
Liang Qingfan thought about it and found it reasonable. After all, those phone manufacturers’ stores in shopping malls only needed to display phones and various smart products, while the store Mr. Pei was planning would obviously showcase all of Tenda Group’s products.
This would include not just digital products like phones, but also their own game demos, furniture from Sloth Apartments, food items from Slackin’ Takeout, smart home products from Outu Technology, and more, which would definitely take up a lot of space.
Liang Qingfan said, “I understand now. So essentially, it’s like an experience store for all of Tenda Group’s products, right?”
“Mr. Pei, you just mentioned providing customers with a channel to communicate with sales staff. Does that mean there will be salespeople in the store?”
Pei Qian nodded. “Yes, there will be a group of salespeople. However, they’re different from traditional salespeople.”
“Salespeople from other brands stand in stores all day, constantly ready to introduce products to customers. But our salespeople will spend most of their time enjoying and experiencing the products in the store, only introducing them to customers when asked.”
Liang Qingfan was stunned. “Huh? These are salespeople?”
Pei Qian nodded. “That’s right, these are Tenda’s salespeople. Tenda’s salespeople won’t use eloquence to win over customers, but instead will use practical actions to let customers feel how fun and useful Tenda’s products are!”
“Or you can think of them as… experience ambassadors? They guide customers through product experiences.”
“So just treat this store as a ‘Salesperson’s Home,’ ensuring that the salespeople feel comfortable playing in this store. Don’t skimp on any space—make it as large as possible. It must be spacious, bright, high-end, and impressive!”
Pei Qian’s idea was simple: turn this store into a paradise for salespeople, letting them eat well and dress well, spending their days enjoying food, drinks, and entertainment, while continuously spending money to maintain the store.
Once the store was open, Pei Qian would observe for a while to confirm that the store’s salespeople had lost their fighting spirit and couldn’t drive any sales. Then, he would start opening more stores to burn even more money.
As for customers browsing the store and buying things, Pei Qian felt this was unavoidable. As long as Tian Mo and his sales team always remembered what was written on the little note, the few items sold would definitely not be able to make up for the store’s enormous daily expenses.
Liang Qingfan nodded. “Alright, Mr. Pei, I understand.”
“Let me first briefly plan which Tenda enterprises should be arranged in this store.”
“First, definitely Tenda’s game and film departments, including Tenda Games, Shangyang Games, and Fei Huang Studio.”
“We can have a dedicated game experience area in the store, along with a viewing area where customers can experience Tenda’s latest games at any time.”
“Next is Slackin’ Takeout. We can set up a dining area like in Yijia Mall, so that customers who get tired from browsing can experience Slackin’ Takeout and ‘Food Harmony’ cuisine in the dining area.”
“Then there’s the home living area, which can also reference Yijia Mall’s design, showcasing our decorating style from Sloth Apartments, arranging various cooperative furniture, and adding some smart home products that Outu Technology will develop in the future.”
“As for other physical stores like Slackin’ Internet Café and Tuoguan Fitness, etc., since they already have physical stores, is it necessary to include them in this store? It seems redundant.”
Pei Qian immediately shook his head. “That won’t work! How could it be redundant?”
“You need to consider this situation: what if there are customers who have never been to Slackin’ Internet Café or Tuoguan Fitness, and their first experience is coming to our store?”
“Wouldn’t we lose the opportunity to introduce them to our physical businesses?”
“Add them all, they must all be included! Create special areas for Slackin’ Internet Café and Tuoguan Fitness, and even Headwind Logistics!”
“Of course, they don’t need to be operational. They should still focus on the experience.”
“This way, even customers who have never experienced our physical stores can see how excellent our physical businesses are on their first visit to this experience store!”
Pei Qian didn’t plan to nest a Slackin’ Internet Café branch inside this store because that might actually make money.
Taking advantage of opening this store, he could create a Slackin’ Internet Café that doesn’t charge fees—wouldn’t that burn even more money?
Liang Qingfan couldn’t help but feel deep respect.
Indeed, Mr. Pei always approached problems from such unique perspectives.
But the question was, were there really customers in Jingzhou who had never been to Slackin’ Internet Café, Slackin’ Takeout, or any of Tenda’s physical stores?
Hmm… there probably were some, so Mr. Pei’s point made sense.
He quickly thought it through and summarized: “I understand now. Mr. Pei, the store you want to open is more like an experience store in nature. It’s not just a place to display and sell goods, but also a window to showcase our products to all customers.”
“In that case, this experience store can roughly have these sections:”
“First, a game experience area, which can include Slackin’ Internet Café, ROF PC builds, and all games.”
“Second, a viewing area, where we can play some of Fei Huang Studio’s films, including movies, documentaries, etc.”
“Then a home living area, which can be decorated in the style of Sloth Apartments, with sofas and cabinets all arranged in a minimalist style, and a full set of smart home products.”
“Next, a digital area. The difference between this and the home living area is that the home living area only displays our latest smart home products, including TVs, speakers, etc., with only a limited number of models. The digital area, however, will display all our phones, computers, and other digital products for sale, just like many phone manufacturers’ stores.”
“Then a merchandise area for Tenda-related items, such as game-related figurines, pillows, and various trinkets sold at Thrilling Lodge, which can all be sold here.”
“Finally, a dining area with Slackin’ Takeout’s food items, where customers can eat when they get tired from browsing. We can also arrange some of the future Food Market’s cuisine here.”
“That’s six major areas in total. These six areas must be made very spacious, covering a large area, and designed with a vibrant living atmosphere.”
“Moreover, the layout of these six areas also needs to be well-planned, making it difficult for customers to get lost while browsing, and allowing them to quickly find the section they want to visit.”
“Mr. Pei, is that what you had in mind?”
Pei Qian nodded. “Yes, that’s very close.”
“But let me add one more thing. When you’re designing, don’t think of it as an experience store, but as a normal living space. The salespeople should be able to have fun by themselves even when there are no customers, understand?”
Liang Qingfan immediately nodded. “I understand. You mean we should make it as close to daily life as possible, not creating a sense of separation for customers, especially not letting them feel the gap between ‘buyer’s show’ and ‘seller’s show.'”
“Our salespeople, strictly speaking, are not ‘selling’ but ‘demonstrating.’ They should naturally present the best side of our products for players to see, rather than using glib talk to deceive players.”
Pei Qian: “…More or less.”
Although Pei Qian’s original meaning had clearly gone off track, he couldn’t be bothered to correct it.
Liang Qingfan silently noted down all the requirements and then said, “Alright, Mr. Pei. I’ll first choose a location. The complete design might indeed take up several thousand square meters. If the place is too small, we won’t be able to fully realize the vision, and it will look cheap and ineffective.”
“Once I find a suitable location, I’ll quickly produce a specific design plan. As soon as the plan is ready, I’ll report to you immediately!”
Pei Qian nodded. “Good, go ahead!”
“When selecting a location, try to go for larger spaces. Don’t worry about the budget at all!”