December 31st.
Zhang Yuan arrived at the Handong University branch of Slackin’ Internet Café early in the morning. He ordered a cup of coffee, leisurely sipping it while browsing forums to see if internet users had posted any interesting new threads recently.
Yesterday, he had already arranged for his employees to return or send for repair all the problematic components, and used all the remaining funds in the account to purchase components with higher failure rates, especially memory sticks.
Although stockpiling inventory like this carried some risk, Zhang Yuan was more concerned about the reputation of the ROF brand.
When this brand was first established, Boss Pei invested so much money in the 1024 Digital Festival to build its reputation.
If this reputation was ruined because of quality issues with the assembled computers, wouldn’t that mean all of Boss Pei’s efforts were in vain?
So, quality had to be guaranteed!
He strived to ensure that every assembled computer would work flawlessly, to provide customers with the best after-sales service, and to maintain sufficient inventory so that customers in Jingzhou could place orders at any time and receive same-day delivery.
After taking care of all these matters, Zhang Yuan could finally relax a bit.
Tomorrow would be the first day of the 2011 New Year holiday. With three days off for the holiday, he should be able to get some good rest.
Zhang Yuan sipped his coffee leisurely while browsing the forums.
Suddenly, a forum post caught his attention.
“MSC’s Factory Caught Fire Again???”
“Damn! Memory prices are going to rise again, right?”
“Profiteers!”
“Shit, it seems they’ve already increased the prices!”
“I was planning to wait for New Year promotions on shopping websites before building a PC! Now I’m screwed!!!”
“It’s over, the profiteers are already making their moves!”
“What’s the deal? How do they catch fire every couple of days? It’s like they’ve been burning non-stop from last year’s Double Eleven to this year’s 618!”
“Is it a fire? Those in the know understand—it’s probably set by the manufacturers themselves.”
“Indeed, these manufacturers take turns catching fire, and it’s not just fires but also floods, power outages… Why don’t they just say they’re cutting production and raising prices?”
“This fire seems quite serious. Wafer production capacity has been greatly affected. It’s not just memory but flash storage that’s likely to rise in price…”
Seeing the users’ discussions, Zhang Yuan was first confused, then filled with unexpected joy.
He quickly opened a shopping website to check the prices of the memory sticks he had previously purchased—they had already increased by more than thirty yuan!
Moreover, this was likely just the beginning. In the coming week, prices would probably continue to rise…
Having spent years on forums, Zhang Yuan was very familiar with these tactics. Whenever memory prices were at a low point, these manufacturers would suddenly have fires or power outages. Then news reports would claim these manufacturers had lost billions, and various profiteers would start making moves and frantically speculating on memory prices…
But despite saying this, no one knew when such “accidents” would occur.
If they did know, they could stock up on memory sticks in advance and make a fortune.
This news would normally be bad for Zhang Yuan.
Because ROF’s assembly business had a pricing strategy similar to branded computers. Following Boss Pei’s guidelines, the initial pricing already fully considered brand premium and after-sales value, and prices couldn’t fluctuate frequently.
To raise prices, they would need to update configurations, and promotional discounts couldn’t be offered too often.
This strategy was mainly to eliminate customers’ concerns and give all consumers the impression that “this brand is conscientious, reliable, and retains its value.”
If memory prices rose and computer prices rose accordingly, it would make them seem like profiteers, which would be detrimental to ROF’s brand.
So, ordinarily, rising memory prices would be bad news for Zhang Yuan, as increased procurement costs without corresponding increases in retail prices would greatly compress profits.
But now it was different.
Zhang Yuan had already purchased a batch of components earlier, especially memory sticks, stockpiling a large quantity based on the standard of four sticks per high-end machine priced at over 10,000 yuan!
This way, these high-end models offered explosive value for consumers, much cheaper than if they assembled the computers themselves!
As for Zhang Yuan, continuing to sell the current inventory at the original price would still yield a substantial profit.
Of course, he could also consider raising prices.
But price increases didn’t align with the Tenda spirit and wouldn’t help further expand the market.
So, after consideration, Zhang Yuan decided to keep selling this batch of inventory at the previous prices!
Considering factors like memory price increases, the configuration of the next batch of computers would need some adjustments—higher configurations, higher prices, with new prices based on the new cost.
Of course, that was an issue to consider later.
Because this stockpile was truly substantial…
Thinking of this, Zhang Yuan couldn’t sit still.
He immediately called his employees, instructing them to design a batch of new posters to display at each Slackin’ Internet Café entrance, while also updating the online store’s promotional page.
The promotional content was very simple: no discount promotions, but absolutely no price increases!
…
January 1st, 2011, Saturday.
The three-day New Year holiday ran from the 1st to the 3rd, and Pei Qian was happy to take a break and rest well.
Just thinking about Li Yada, Lin Wan, and the others returning from the US on the 4th gave Pei Qian a headache.
How did a week pass by so quickly?
Ah, happy times were always fleeting.
Pei Qian strolled out, planning to visit the Handong University branch of Slackin’ Internet Café, have a coffee, play some games, and relax properly.
But as soon as he reached the entrance of the internet café, he realized something was wrong.
Why were there so many people?!
A long queue had formed outside the café, stretching to the roadside!
Of course, it was noticeably smaller than the queues at property sales offices or train stations—it looked like only a dozen or so people.
But this phenomenon was very rare at Slackin’ Internet Café!
Because Slackin’ Internet Café itself was very spacious, and although Slackin’ Internet Café 1.0 didn’t have many computer stations, people waiting for seats could rest in the coffee area, movie-watching area, or library area, without having to queue out on the street.
Moreover, the regular flow of customers who came to use the internet should have been stable. Even though today was the New Year holiday, there shouldn’t be so many people rushing over to use the internet!
Looking further inside, Pei Qian keenly noticed that the problem seemed even more serious than he had imagined!
The coffee area of Slackin’ Internet Café wasn’t full, and there were empty seats in the internet area.
The long queue was just from the counter to outside, and a space had been deliberately left to allow other customers to freely enter and exit.
The few people at the front of the queue just filled out a form at the counter, paid, and left without going online!
Pei Qian found this increasingly puzzling. What was going on?
At this moment, a service staff member maintained order while loudly announcing: “Everyone, please don’t rush, queue in an orderly manner. Ordering through our online store is equally effective! The online store address is on the poster outside the door!”
Pei Qian glanced at the poster outside, somewhat confused.
Indeed, it had the address of the ROF assembly online store and various price-point configuration lists.
But the problem was, these were just the regular prices!
The configurations hadn’t changed, and neither had the prices.
So why were all these people coming to queue up early in the morning, filling out forms and buying ROF computers?
Pei Qian vaguely felt that something wasn’t right; there was probably some inside information he wasn’t aware of!
The service staff continued loudly: “I’d like to remind everyone again that ROF computers offer on-site warranty service and on-site configuration update service. The fee standards are all listed on the flyers.”
“But please pay special attention to the special terms on the flyer. If you want to replace your computer’s configuration, be sure to keep the original components and don’t resell them, otherwise you will no longer be eligible for our after-sales service…”
Pei Qian felt even more confused—why was this point specifically emphasized?
Full of suspicion, he entered the Slackin’ Internet Café and immediately spotted Zhang Yuan drinking coffee with pride written all over his face.
“What’s going on?” Pei Qian was completely bewildered.
Zhang Yuan smiled and said, “Boss Pei, MSC’s factory caught fire, and memory prices have gone up!”
“Huh?” Pei Qian was instantly baffled, unable to immediately grasp the implications behind this.
Zhang Yuan said, “Memory sticks that were originally a little over 200 yuan have now risen to over 300 yuan!”
“In the future, they will likely continue to rise!”
“Our high-end computers originally had all four memory slots filled. Now, each memory stick has increased by over 100 yuan, and with hard drive prices also fluctuating, the pure component cost of each computer has increased by at least 500 yuan!”
“Now, not only do our pre-built computers offer exceptional value for those who don’t know how to build computers, but even those who can build their own find them extremely worthwhile!”
“Combined with the ROF brand advantages that you’ve been working hard to establish, our computers are selling like crazy!”
“Rest assured, Boss Pei, I’ve always kept your requirements in mind and absolutely won’t raise prices like those profiteers!”
“After I announced yesterday that ROF computer prices would remain unchanged, many people from all over Jingzhou have come to order computers today, and the online store has already sold several dozen units!”
“Conservatively estimated, selling over a thousand units during the New Year holiday shouldn’t be a problem!”
Pei Qian’s face instantly turned pale as he instinctively tried to think of countermeasures but couldn’t come up with any.
Raise prices?
That wouldn’t work. He had just said they should maintain stable prices. Wouldn’t raising prices now be slapping his face? Besides, even with increased prices, people would still buy the computers, and the profit per unit would be even higher!
Lower prices?
That was even less feasible. People were already buying like crazy. If they lowered prices further, even if profits decreased, ROF’s reputation would grow even more. What would they do then?
Pei Qian felt dizzy, realizing he was helpless at the moment—this problem was simply unsolvable!
Zhang Yuan looked relieved: “When it comes down to it, this has turned into a blessing in disguise!”
“Boss Pei, you previously instructed us to rent warehouses and stockpile inventory, which has now come in handy!”
“If we didn’t have sufficient stock, we might have sold out in just one day, and by the time we purchased more components, prices would have risen significantly, greatly reducing our profits!”
“Moreover, a batch of problematic hardware appeared the day before yesterday, which has now all been returned or sent for repair. I was worried about more problems with the remaining components, so I purchased another batch in advance, especially memory sticks—bought a lot of them.”
“Based on the current situation, our inventory of memory sticks can sustain us for a long time. The next goal is to completely dominate Jingzhou’s desktop computer market with the ROF computer brand!”
“We can now start competing for customers of DIY computers and branded computers!”
Sitting in a chair in the coffee area, Pei Qian felt a bit oxygen-deprived.
“Something’s not right, something’s gone wrong…”
Pei Qian began questioning his existence.
Today was January 1st, 2011 had just begun!
He never imagined that the first heavy blow of the new year would come so quickly!