Pei Qian let out a long, silent sigh.
Damn scalpers, why can’t they ever be eliminated?
So infuriating!
Firstly, he hated that these scalpers had bought out the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack inventory, preventing genuine players from purchasing them; secondly, he hated that the scalpers had accelerated the depletion of inventory, inexplicably providing Tenda with a large sum of additional funds…
After thinking for a long time, Pei Qian finally said helplessly: “Let’s handle it according to our previous approach. Ramp up inventory production. In short, we absolutely cannot let scalpers profit!”
Chang You immediately nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei, I’ll arrange it right away. However… producing Smart Fitness Clothes Racks also takes time. Being out of stock for a week or two seems unavoidable. Should we pacify the players somehow?”
Pei Qian thought for a moment: “Let’s do this—open up pre-orders on the website. Offer discounts based on how long players have to wait after placing their orders. As long as players believe they can eventually get the product, they won’t buy from scalpers.”
“Not anticipating scalpers was our work oversight. Giving customers some compensation is reasonable, isn’t it?”
Pei Qian’s last sentence was clearly probing the system’s attitude.
Logically, the current pricing of the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack was already quite low, with little profit margin. To lower the price further, he would need a reason that could convince the system.
Pei Qian was using the excuse of “fighting scalpers and compensating customers” to offer another disguised discount, thereby further reducing the profit margin.
It was a blessing in disguise.
…
After hanging up, Chang You immediately urged his subordinates to contact the manufacturing plants to expedite inventory production.
He never imagined that after leaving the mobile phone department, he still couldn’t escape the fate of “stringing customers along.”
Just as he finished arranging the work, a subordinate approached him.
“Mr. Chang! Mr. Chang, we’ve identified the people behind those two large orders. They’re not scalpers!”
Chang You was taken aback: “Oh? Not scalpers? Then who are they?”
He was somewhat surprised.
If not scalpers, what was the meaning behind buying two thousand Smart Fitness Clothes Racks at once?
The employee reported: “They’re Mr. Yao from Jinding Technology and Mr. Pei’s rich second-generation friend, Xue Zhebin. Mr. Yao said they bought the Smart Fitness Clothes Racks purely because they heard Tenda was facing financial pressure recently, so they wanted to help out.”
“Those devices don’t need to be shipped. Jinding Group has sports apparel and sports drink businesses, so they’re planning to organize a lottery event to randomly give away Smart Fitness Clothes Racks, which also serves as advertising for their own brands.”
“Is that acceptable?”
Chang You raised his eyebrows slightly: “Oh? Something like this happened!”
“That’s great, of course!”
“I didn’t expect that instead of scalpers, it was Mr. Pei’s friends extending a helping hand!”
“Is this Mr. Pei’s personal charm?”
“They did it in such a roundabout way, probably to avoid Mr. Pei refusing. How thoughtful.”
The employee continued: “Those orders where individuals bought dozens of units have already been shipped, and they’re very likely scalpers.”
“However, most of these orders came after Mr. Yao and Mr. Xue’s large orders.”
“It seems they noticed our Smart Fitness Clothes Rack inventory was running low while demand was high, so they decided to hoard stock.”
Chang You nodded slightly, sharing the same judgment.
Clearly, scalpers initially hadn’t planned to speculate on the Smart Fitness Clothes Racks, given their bulky size and the sufficient inventory.
But after Yao Bo and Xue Zhebin bought four thousand units at once, the previously abundant inventory suddenly became tight, creating the illusion that “Smart Fitness Clothes Racks are in extremely high demand.”
Consequently, many scalpers couldn’t sit still any longer!
After all, this was one of the few Tenda digital products without purchase restrictions, and inventory was now tight. These scalpers all jumped in, hoping to hoard some units to resell for profit.
This further exacerbated the shortage of Smart Fitness Clothes Racks, causing them to sell out ahead of schedule.
Chang You said: “The original plan remains unchanged. We still need to expedite inventory production.”
“As for those scalpers… they won’t be able to cause trouble for much longer!”
…
Meanwhile, in a warehouse somewhere in Jingzhou, several “scalpers” were watching Headwind Logistics workers unload goods.
“Just put them here. No need to assemble them.”
“Thanks for your hard work!”
It must be said that in Jingzhou, Headwind Logistics was truly fast—no matter how late an order was placed, they could deliver it the next day.
Dozens of Smart Fitness Clothes Racks were delivered consecutively, all piled up in the scalpers’ warehouse.
The Headwind Logistics workers had already figured out these people’s identity. After all, who would buy so many units at once without unpacking or installing them, if not scalpers looking to resell?
However, the logistics workers didn’t say much. Their job responsibility was simply to deliver goods. As for how to restrict scalpers, that was for company leadership to consider. Without specific regulations, they could only treat them as normal consumers.
After great effort to unload all the Smart Fitness Clothes Racks, the logistics workers departed.
The scalpers looked at the small mountain of Smart Fitness Clothes Racks as though they were looking at a mountain of gold.
As professional scalpers, their regular work involved flipping various products, including tickets and digital products, then reselling them for profit.
During concerts, they were the ones standing at the entrance collecting and selling tickets.
But flipping such large items was a first for them.
“Can we really make money on these? If we’re going to resell them, we’ll have to pay for shipping again, and installation will also cost us.” One of the scalpers was clearly concerned about this “investment.”
The lead scalper smiled: “Don’t worry, I’ve got this all figured out. This product absolutely has the potential to become the investment product of the year!”
“Look how popular ‘Fitness Showdown’ has become—so many streamers are recommending it. And these Smart Fitness Clothes Racks are selling incredibly well. They said they stocked ten thousand units, but I watched them sell over four thousand in just two or three hours!”
“Think about it—how big is that demand gap!”
“Even if Tenda rushes to restock, can they fill such a huge gap? Definitely not!”
“Plus, the profit margin on these isn’t high. Their actual value is definitely higher than 5,000 yuan, and those who can afford it won’t mind paying an extra one or two thousand. With these dozen units, if we make just a thousand per unit, that’s still tens of thousands in profit!”
“If we price them higher, we could make even more!”
“The key point is that Tenda slipped up this time. They thought ten thousand units would be enough, so they didn’t set purchase limits. We never had a chance to speculate on Tenda’s phones before, but now that we’ve finally caught an opportunity, shouldn’t we make the most of it?”
Another scalper scrolled through his phone and laughed: “Online, people who couldn’t buy the Smart Fitness Clothes Racks are cursing us again.”
The lead scalper laughed heartily: “Isn’t that their own fault? Previously, nobody wanted the Smart Fitness Clothes Racks—they could have bought them anytime but didn’t. Now that it’s popular and they want to buy but can’t, can they blame us?”
The scalpers all laughed, clearly unmoved by the online criticism.
However, at that moment, the scalper looking at his phone suddenly changed expression: “What… what’s going on?!”
“Boss, look at this! It’s bad!”
The lead scalper was stunned for a moment. Taking the phone, he saw an announcement just released by Outu Technology.
Smart Fitness Clothes Racks were now available for pre-order, with rebates based on the difference between the pre-order date and actual delivery date, with a maximum discount of 200 yuan!
Chang You had mentioned this 200 yuan discount at the press conference. Since the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack’s profit margin was already quite low, 200 yuan was the maximum possible discount.
With pre-orders now open, players had no reason to pay extra through other channels. They could simply pre-order through the official website and wait for delivery.
The longer they waited, the cheaper it would be—who would still buy at a premium from scalpers?
The lead scalper’s face also changed drastically.
They had just placed orders to start speculating yesterday, and Tenda’s policy was already out today?
It was too fast!
But he quickly composed himself: “It’s fine, not a big problem. A 200 yuan discount isn’t much, and at Tenda’s speed, even if they rush production, the next batch of products won’t be ready for at least a week or two.”
“Moreover, when the next batch comes out, there will still be people who can’t get them.”
“If we hurry and sell all these dozens of units within two weeks, we can still make a small profit!”
“Given the current market demand, absorbing our few dozen units won’t be a problem. We won’t lose money!”
But before he could finish speaking, the scalper beside him let out another cry of alarm.
“Boss, look at this too!”
The lead scalper took the phone and saw an activity announcement from Jinding Group.
This time, he couldn’t remain calm.
“Starting today, purchasing fitness drinks or sports apparel from Jinding Group gives you a chance to win a Smart Fitness Clothes Rack?!”
“Quantity: 500 units!”
“Cumulative spending of 8,000 yuan gets you a Smart Fitness Clothes Rack, total quantity: 1,000 units!”
“You can also directly purchase a fitness gift pack—a box of drinks, a set of fitted sportswear, plus a Smart Fitness Clothes Rack, priced at… 5,199 yuan?!”
“Quantity: 2,500 units, first come, first served?!”
All the scalpers froze in place.
Jinding Group had essentially provided three options: the lucky could get one by simply purchasing drinks or sportswear; the wealthy could get one by spending a cumulative 8,000 yuan.
If you weren’t lucky and couldn’t afford to spend 8,000 yuan on their products, there was still a third option—pay 5,199 yuan directly.
The original price of the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack was 4,999 yuan, but Jinding Group was also including a fitness gift pack with a box of drinks and a set of sportswear, which at original price was worth far more than 200 yuan.
Most crucially, adding up all these quantities, there was a total inventory of 4,000 Smart Fitness Clothes Racks!
This activity with 4,000 clothes racks could last for one or two weeks.
By then, Tenda’s next batch would have already arrived.
With Tenda’s official pre-orders and Jinding Group’s activity, who would be stupid enough to buy Smart Fitness Clothes Racks at a premium from scalpers?
They would definitely be stuck with unsold inventory!
Even if these scalpers could sell at 5,199 yuan, they would still lose money because they would also have to bear logistics and storage costs. Moreover, selling at 5,199 yuan was impossible!
Losing two to three hundred yuan per unit, with dozens of units, meant a loss of at least ten to twenty thousand yuan!
They had just received the delivery, and within minutes they were already certain to lose money—they didn’t even have to wait overnight!
The scalpers looked at each other, all with ashen faces.
Tenda’s wool was impossible to fleece!!