“Fitness Showdown” had been planned in three versions so far: the mobile game version, the professional version with the smart fitness clothes rack, and the VR version.
The mobile game version’s goal was to expand the player base and increase the game’s popularity while providing players with the most basic gaming experience. After trying it, players would be guided to purchase the professional version.
The professional version’s goal was to provide players with a fitness experience comparable to having a personal trainer at a gym, allowing them to exercise scientifically and using the game’s stickiness to keep players persisting for long periods.
The VR version’s goal was to show players the display effects of brand-new VR technology, comprehensively enhancing the game’s immersion and engagement, giving players more compelling reasons to make in-game purchases in “Fitness Showdown” or to buy the smart fitness clothes rack and VR glasses.
In other words, even if players bought VR glasses, they wouldn’t need to wear them constantly while exercising. For daily fitness check-ins, using a phone or tablet would be sufficient. Only when they wanted to see characters’ outfit changes in the game or occasionally when they were in a good mood would they need to experience it in VR.
Some players valued actual fitness effects and comfort more, while others cared more about game immersion and wanted to observe the female characters up close. Different players would naturally have different preferences.
The VR version of “Fitness Showdown” essentially provided an additional option for players who weren’t too concerned about comfort.
The so-called “opportunity behind the risk” actually meant that VR games were just getting started. If developers abandoned creating similar games because of wearability issues, such games would never appear.
Then “Fitness Showdown” would be the only VR game on all VR gaming platforms that combined fitness and character development functions.
This would give many players a necessary reason to buy it.
As designers, they couldn’t keep waiting until equipment technology developed perfectly to meet all their requirements before developing games. By then, it would be too late.
After adding the ventilation system, the internal heat dissipation problem could be improved to some extent, ensuring players’ gaming experience.
Moreover, there were already VR games that required intense movement, such as “Beat Saber” in Pei Qian’s memory. At high difficulty levels, its exercise intensity was comparable to some aerobic exercises, making players sweat profusely within ten minutes. Yet it didn’t prevent many players from enjoying it tirelessly. These people could completely tolerate the heat and inconvenience of VR headsets because the good gaming experience made them temporarily ignore these defects.
The group quickly finalized more details.
Porting “Fitness Showdown” to VR devices wouldn’t be difficult because, barring any unexpected issues, this latest VR device would use Shenhua’s customized operating system, which was essentially no different from a smartphone.
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin’s goal was to install “Fitness Showdown” directly onto the VR glasses, trying to ensure that even without computer streaming, players could still get a good gaming experience. This point was extremely important as it could greatly lower the barrier to entry for players.
After that, they would continue to produce more items, continuously providing players with motivation for ongoing fitness or spending money, forming a virtuous cycle.
…
…
May 25, Friday.
At 11 AM, Pei Qian was at Slackin’ Internet Café, having just finished lunch.
Just thinking about the changes that would soon happen to Slackin’ Internet Café made Pei Qian feel excited and expectant.
This afternoon, he planned to take Tian Mo to Tenda’s experience store to check on the decoration progress and address any problems early on.
If everything was in order, he would have the sales team move in quickly and start burning money!
At this moment, Pei Qian’s phone rang.
“Hmm? Lü Mingliang?”
Pei Qian was a bit surprised.
Because Lü Mingliang hadn’t actively contacted him for a very long time.
How long exactly? Pei Qian couldn’t remember clearly himself, but it must have been more than a year.
Since receiving the Best Employee award and leaving Tenda’s gaming department, Lü Mingliang had taken over Headwind Logistics, which Pei Qian valued most highly. He had worked diligently, allowing Headwind Logistics to continue expanding and losing money, making remarkable contributions.
It could be said that if there were a merit book, Lü Mingliang would undoubtedly rank first.
Originally, Old Ma had been a strong contender for this position, but after Old Ma repeatedly caused troubles and made quite a bit of money, the scales in Pei Qian’s heart had heavily tilted toward Lü Mingliang.
Why was he calling?
Could something have happened at Headwind Logistics?
Pei Qian was very nervous—this money-burning tree of Headwind Logistics absolutely couldn’t have any issues!
Pei Qian immediately answered the phone.
“Mr. Pei, I’d like to report to you about work in person, but I found you’re not in the office. When do you have time for us to talk face-to-face?”
Pei Qian thought for a moment: “I’m near the company. Wait a bit, and I’ll be there soon.”
After hanging up, Pei Qian immediately went to the company and met Lü Mingliang in the reception room.
It had been a long time since they’d seen each other, so Pei Qian chatted casually with Lü Mingliang for a while, asking if he had encountered any problems in life, and quickly received a negative response.
This was within expectations. After all, Tenda’s benefits were very good, and these managers were paid well. Jingzhou’s current housing prices hadn’t risen yet either. With their salaries, commissions, and various benefits, buying a house and car within a year or two wasn’t a problem.
Lü Mingliang could sense that although Mr. Pei hadn’t inquired about Headwind Logistics for a long time, he clearly valued—really valued—him!
Even more than Tenda Games and other core departments.
It was evident from Mr. Pei’s eyes and every move.
So, Lü Mingliang was deeply moved and then took out the report materials he had prepared long ago.
“Mr. Pei, let me briefly introduce the current development situation of Headwind Logistics.”
“In recent months, following your previous strategy, Headwind Logistics has expanded to top-tier cities like the Capital, Magic City, and Yangcheng, as well as their surrounding areas.”
“Probably because Tenda has already established a good reputation nationwide, development in these regions has been much faster than in Jingzhou, and the number of our stores has grown very rapidly!”
“Currently, we have the most stores in Jingzhou, reaching nearly 300. In the dozen or so other cities in Handong Province, the number of stores fluctuates between 70 and 100. In the Capital, Magic City, and Yangcheng, the number of stores is basically around 120 to 150. And in the cities surrounding the Capital, Magic City, and Yangcheng regions, Headwind Stations are continuously being opened.”
“Adding up all Headwind Stations, the number of stores has reached over 4,000…”
Listening to Lü Mingliang’s report, Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling shocked.
Headwind Stations had already reached over 4,000?!
The speed was truly astonishing.
Of course, in Pei Qian’s memory, Cainiao Stations had opened more than 40,000 nationwide, so Headwind Stations’ coverage was still very far from that level.
But if only considering Jingzhou, the Capital, Magic City, and Yangcheng, these four key cities, the coverage rate was actually already quite high.
Especially in Jingzhou, almost all “last mile” deliveries were chosen to be delivered through Headwind Stations.
Then, Lü Mingliang continued to introduce Headwind Logistics’ loss situation.
Headwind Stations needed to bear rental costs and staff salaries, and normal operations also had additional expenses. Originally, each Headwind Station had a net loss of seven to eight thousand yuan per month, but now it had greatly improved, losing only three to four thousand yuan.
This was mainly due to two points: First, as Headwind Stations expanded their operations and improved promotion, the customer base they served grew larger, so the previously insignificant additional income saw some growth. Second, Lü Mingliang had also thought of some ways to increase revenue and reduce losses.
For example, the most basic service was the package sending business.
Originally, few people chose this service, but with the hosting of the 1024 Digital Festival and people’s gradually increasing recognition of Headwind Logistics, more and more customers chose to have Headwind Logistics help them send packages, earning Headwind Logistics a few cents on each order.
This money wasn’t earned from customers but mainly from other courier companies.
Because Headwind Stations consolidated all nearby outgoing packages and handed them over to courier companies together, saving these courier companies the cost of door-to-door collection, they naturally charged a certain fee.
This business seemed insignificant at first, but once the volume increased, it became a very considerable income.
In addition, Lü Mingliang had also thought of some other methods, such as sectioning off a small area in Headwind Logistics stores to sell some products, or accepting some advertisements on Headwind Logistics packaging.
Of course, they couldn’t accept just any advertisements; they primarily featured Tenda’s own products. Individual merchants with good reputations and credibility could also be considered for cooperation.
In this way, each Headwind Station’s net loss dropped from the initial seven to eight thousand per month to three to four thousand per month.
But they were still losing money.
These 4,000 Headwind Stations meant a net monthly loss of over 10 million yuan.
And most of this loss was being supplemented by Tenda’s other related businesses, such as Slackin’ Internet Café, ROF Computer Assembly, and Outu Technology.
ROF Computer Assembly and Outu Technology’s new phones and products were all shipped using Headwind Logistics, paying corresponding delivery fees.
Some of Tenda Group’s idle excess funds were also continuously allocated by Pei Qian to Headwind Logistics, after all, it could steadily consume money.
In this way, although Headwind Stations were constantly losing money, they also constantly received financial support. Lü Mingliang kept in mind the task Mr. Pei had assigned him: controlling losses was just one aspect; the key was to expand rapidly and open more stores.
During this period, he had focused on opening stores, expanding the initial 200 Headwind Stations to more than 4,000.
After hearing the report, Pei Qian nodded slightly.
Although he wasn’t very satisfied with Lü Mingliang’s efforts to reduce losses, this was after all human nature. Even though the average loss per store had decreased, the total loss was increasing, which was also good!
“Very good, excellent, keep it up,” Pei Qian was very satisfied.
Seeing Mr. Pei’s expression full of appreciation, Lü Mingliang was completely reassured.
Although Mr. Pei had said from the beginning that Headwind Stations were for strategic positioning and not to worry about short-term profits and losses, they had been continuously losing money for almost two years, and the money lost was already countless.
Would Mr. Pei lose patience and change his mind?
Now it seemed his worries were unnecessary.
This made Lü Mingliang feel much more secure, and he took the opportunity to propose his suggestion.
“Mr. Pei, I think the timing is about right. We can start undertaking regular courier business and start making profits.”