Pei Qian happily handed over this business operation.
Of course, considering that Lü Mingliang was his trusted subordinate, to prevent him from developing any misconceptions about Upwind Logistics’ positioning, certain things needed to be said upfront.
“Upwind Logistics is part of a long-term strategic layout, so it’s temporarily loss-making.”
“But you don’t need to worry about this. Even if it loses more in the future, even if it loses money for several months or even years, it doesn’t matter.”
“Making money is the last goal for Upwind Logistics. You must remember this point.”
After hearing Pei Qian’s words, Lü Mingliang was momentarily stunned.
Making money is the last goal?
Then what were the goals that came before it?
Lü Mingliang thought for a moment: “Mr. Pei, do you mean the main goal is to expand the customer base, using money-burning methods to achieve rapid expansion in the early stages?”
Pei Qian took a sip of coffee: “That’s only one aspect. There are many other goals.”
“For example: creating convenience for everyone.”
Lü Mingliang was surprised; he truly hadn’t thought of this.
Pei Qian continued with a profound tone: “The current courier industry mostly pursues profit excessively, resulting in a terrible experience. One important goal of our Upwind Logistics is to provide the best courier service to everyone.”
“Other couriers don’t deliver to your door, we do.”
“Other couriers don’t help unpack boxes and dispose of garbage; we do.”
“Other couriers ignore complaints, but when we receive complaints, we can neither wrongfully accuse our employees nor let customers suffer grievances. We must find a proper solution, not muddle through or just go with the flow.”
“In short, what we need is not just customer volume and money, but also a good reputation—in fact, reputation should come first!”
“The task I’m giving you is to build the best possible reputation for Upwind Logistics, and I even encourage you to burn money to buy reputation.”
“Remember, you are a Tenda employee. Don’t be afraid to spend money, understand?”
Lü Mingliang nodded vigorously: “I understand, Mr. Pei!”
After hearing Mr. Pei’s speech, Lü Mingliang increasingly felt that his choice was correct.
To wholeheartedly create a business that provides convenience for everyone, even if it doesn’t make money, was very meaningful and valuable!
Seeing Lü Mingliang’s reaction, Pei Qian was also very happy.
Indeed, he had found the right person!
What Pei Qian appreciated most about Lü Mingliang was his obedience—he did exactly what Pei Qian said, never acting on his initiative.
And now, Lü Mingliang had clearly accepted Pei Qian’s idea of “burning money to build reputation,” which meant that Upwind Logistics would definitely have no possibility of making any profit for a long time to come.
Putting Lü Mingliang in Tenda Games might not necessarily result in losses, but putting him in Upwind Logistics was completely different!
As long as Lü Mingliang followed Pei Qian’s ideas completely, it would be impossible not to lose money!
…
…
After arranging matters with Lü Mingliang, Pei Qian played some games at Slackin’ Internet Café for a while.
He could feel that the traffic at the Mingyun Villa branch of Slackin’ Internet Café had noticeably decreased recently, with quite a few people being diverted to newly opened stores nearby.
Especially, the number of people using the Internet café area had become ridiculously low.
While he was playing, Ma Yang arrived.
“Brother Qian, bad news!”
“A new chain Internet café brand called Star Joy Internet Café just opened in Jingzhou City, and they’re also going for the high-end route.”
“What’s more, they’ve received investment from Fuhui Capital, and they seem to be coming on strong!”
Pei Qian was taken aback: “I remember a new Internet café opened nearby…”
Ma Yang anxiously said, “That’s Star Joy Internet Café’s branch that opened here!”
“I’ve also gathered some intelligence. Star Joy Internet Café’s environment is slightly inferior to ours, and their computer configurations can’t compare to ours either, but they’re much cheaper, so they’re quite popular!”
“I went to take a look, and they have many more customers than we do!”
Pei Qian remained silent, quickly considering the causes and effects of this matter.
Star Joy Internet Café’s model was essentially a lower-spec version of Slackin’ Internet Café. Although their machine configurations were lower, the environment was slightly worse, and the space was more crowded, they had reduced costs and could set lower prices.
This way, for customers accustomed to traditional Internet cafés, the transition would be easier, without being immediately deterred by the price.
And this chain of Internet cafés had received investment from Fuhui Capital…
Indeed, Mr. Li was behind this again…
Pei Qian knew that Mr. Li wouldn’t give up so willingly. He had been keeping an eye on him; otherwise, why would he be crazy enough to invest money in such a remote location to set up an Internet café, bar, and card room?
Pei Qian was almost moved to tears.
This Mr. Li was truly his soulmate, no doubt about it!
Mr. Li had always been helpful, wholeheartedly every time. He was such a good person!
“What should we do, Brother Qian? Are we going to handle it like before?” Ma Yang was a bit anxious.
This kind of situation had happened once before, when the flagship store of Slackin’ Internet Café was targeted.
But this time, the enemy was a chain Internet café brand, and all of Slackin’ Internet Café was being targeted!
Moreover, the extreme comeback last time relied on Chen Lei, a secret chess piece that Pei Qian had placed in advance.
But now, what could they rely on for a comeback? Pei Qian might not have a second Chen Lei up his sleeve.
Pei Qian forcibly suppressed his smile: “Don’t worry, I have my way.”
After reassuring Ma Yang, Pei Qian planned to go home with a contented heart.
His phone rang; it was Huang Sibo calling.
Pei Qian was startled, then immediately became vigilant.
What did he want by calling?
Since making the documentary “Breaking Through the Cocoon to Become a Butterfly,” Fei Huang Studio had been rather confused.
The documentary had lost money. Although Mr. Pei hadn’t said anything, both Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai felt somewhat remorseful and didn’t dare to impulsively make documentaries as they had before.
The time for the system to determine “negative slacking” was still far off, so naturally, Pei Qian wouldn’t urge them.
But this call likely meant they had already planned what to do next.
Pei Qian calmed himself and answered the phone.
Huang Sibo’s excited voice came through the phone: “Mr. Pei, we’ve determined Fei Huang Studio’s next stage goal. We plan to combine digital product reviews with short videos to create a new type of review, short drama!”
Pei Qian: “??”
He couldn’t make sense of it.
Combining digital product reviews with short videos? Who came up with this strange idea?
Pei Qian asked puzzledly: “Why do you plan to do this?”
Huang Sibo said excitedly: “We were inspired by a content creator called ‘Hardcore Reviews’ on AiLiDao!”
“Reviewing digital products has always been a promising industry, but we hadn’t considered this direction before, mainly because we felt our professional qualifications weren’t up to par, with no competitiveness compared to other professional review media.”
“But after watching ‘Hardcore Reviews,’ we were inspired. To create similar programs, we don’t necessarily need that much professional knowledge!”
“We can start from the daily experiences of ordinary consumers, introducing products to viewers in the form of short dramas. This approach would be more down-to-earth and interesting.”
“Moreover, the digital field should be easier to monetize, avoiding the large losses we experienced last time.”
“What’s more, we started with short videos, which gives us a significant advantage in this area, and we already have a fixed audience base!”
Pei Qian listened with a completely bewildered expression.
How did I get involved in this???
I made that video for other purposes, not to provide you with creative ideas!!!