“Well, that concludes all the content for this launch event. Thank you all sincerely for coming!”

“Please exit in an orderly manner. Free small gifts are available at the entrance.”

“If you’re interested in this phone, you can place orders on OTTO Technology’s official website. Headwind Logistics staff will deliver it to your door as soon as possible!”

Chang You looked at his watch. The time had been successfully controlled within one hour. He let out a long sigh of relief and prepared to leave the stage.

However, just as he was halfway there, people below began shouting.

“Is it over already?”

“You haven’t explained anything yet!”

“Tell us more details, I want to buy it!”

“Stop shouting and hurry up to the website to place your order. If you’re late, there won’t be any left!”

The audience below was in chaos, with people shouting all sorts of things. Chang You kept Mr. Pei’s instructions firmly in mind, resolutely controlling the launch event’s duration to within one hour. He didn’t respond to some people’s strong demands and still walked off the stage, forcibly ending the launch event proceedings.

Meanwhile, many quick-reacting people below had already taken out their phones to log into OTTO Technology’s website and started placing orders.

Just one thousand units—if you’re late, they’ll be gone!

Remember, they weren’t just competing with people at the launch venue, but also with the twenty to thirty thousand viewers on the livestream platforms!

Those not particularly interested in the phone began to exit in an orderly fashion, heading to the entrance to collect free small gifts.

But judging from the number of people leaving their seats, it seemed to be only about two-thirds of those attending the launch.

Many people had no intention of moving at all!

Most of those attending this launch were loyal Tenda users, with many aspects of their daily lives closely related to Tenda’s industries. Their desire for this phone far exceeded that of ordinary consumers!

So, the proportion of those staying behind to snap up phones was particularly high!

Pei Qian sat in the corner, watching this scene with growing anxiety.

Go away! Why are you all lingering here?

Pei Qian looked at the guy to his left, who was rapidly tapping the screen with his fingers, quickly filling in the shipping address on OTTO Technology’s website, then confirming payment in one smooth process.

After the payment was successful, the guy couldn’t help but clench his fist: “Yes! Got it!”

Looking at others, they seemed to be making the same movements!

It was obvious what these people still in the launch venue were doing—they were all scrambling to make purchases!

Pei Qian wanted to grab them by the hair and shout: “Don’t buy it! None of you buy it!”

However, the situation seemed beyond control…

Pei Qian hurriedly opened his phone, logged into OTTO Technology’s website, clicked into the OTTO E1 phone’s product details page, and saw the remaining inventory number.

327!

Refresh again, 116!

Refresh again, sold out!

As the “sold out” label appeared, Pei Qian heard a chorus of “holy crap” exclamations instantly ring out in the venue.

“It’s over already?”

“Gone in seconds? I had just finished filling in my address!”

“That’s the importance of fast fingers…”

“So happy I got one!”

“Is anyone willing to transfer theirs? I’ll pay extra! Please transfer one to me!”

People were already offering higher prices.

Pei Qian was about to spit blood. What the hell is this!

Crazy, they’ve all gone crazy. Those thousand phones were originally meant to sit in the warehouse until the next settlement period, but they sold out in less than two minutes after going on sale at the launch!

This even included the time it took everyone to type on their screens. If they hadn’t needed to fill in addresses, the sell-out time would have been even faster.

Only then did people reluctantly prepare to leave, cursing under their breath.

“Hunger marketing! Damn it!”

“What good is a stock of just one thousand units? So infuriating!”

“Damn, I should have camped on the website as soon as they announced such limited stock at the beginning of the launch. I didn’t react quickly enough!”

“When will they restock?”

“They’ve gone crazy for money. What’s wrong with phone manufacturers these days? Must they resort to hunger marketing to sell products?”

Pei Qian was swept along with the crowd as they exited, with unspoken bitterness in his heart.

It’s not hunger marketing!

Hunger, yes, but there was no intention to market!

I just planned to produce one thousand units as a token effort, to keep losses small, but you all bought them so eagerly. I didn’t expect this to happen!

Now that you’ve bought all the stock, I haven’t even complained about you, but you’re complaining about me first???

Pei Qian was furious.

So… what to do next?

Pei Qian kept worrying.

Just as he reached the entrance, a staff member spotted Mr. Pei and quickly pulled him aside.

“Mr. Pei, please come quickly, CEO Chang is waiting!”

Pei Qian was pulled in confusion to the preparation room beside the venue. As soon as he entered, he heard a “pop” sound.

Party poppers and streamers flew through the air, along with what seemed to be… champagne corks?

Chang You held a champagne while OTTO Technology employees stood around, applauding enthusiastically.

“Mr. Pei, the phone launch you arranged is an unprecedented classic marketing case in the entire phone industry. It will surely go down in history and be studied repeatedly by major phone brands!”

“By using a technique of initial restraint before promotion, we presented the price and limited stock at the beginning, arousing consumer interest and creating a sense of urgency with the limited inventory. Then we covered all the phone’s advantages within five minutes, instantly igniting the venue and creating a hot topic for online spread. Finally, we extensively discussed the phone’s disadvantages, demonstrating our company’s progressive attitude while firmly capturing the hearts of our target users, greatly enhancing their desire to purchase!”

“We didn’t expect that one thousand phones would sell out as soon as the launch ended, indicating that OTTO Technology’s strategy to enter the high-end market has achieved initial success!”

“All of this is inseparable from Mr. Pei’s wise guidance!”

Amid enthusiastic applause, Pei Qian felt a bit drunk before even drinking the champagne.

What do you mean all of this is inseparable from my wise guidance? You mean this is all my fault?

“Everyone, look! CEO Chang’s rapid-fire speech video has gone viral! It’s spreading like wildfire online, and many people are trying to imitate it!”

“Our phone is also popular, with many people in the digital circle discussing it!”

“We sent phones to all the first-batch tech media outlets. Their review videos should be out in three or four days.”

“Damn, people are already reselling on second-hand websites? That’s too fast! Just bought it and already reselling? Did scalpers infiltrate our launch?”

“That can’t be right. The launch tickets were randomly given to customers of other Tenda businesses. Maybe they just happened to encounter scalpers.”

“Don’t forget the livestream viewers. Maybe scalpers mixed in among them.”

Amid their excitement, they also discovered some not-so-pleasant things.

Indeed, whenever there’s a limited edition item, scalpers are like flies that can’t be driven away, making people sick.

Less than ten minutes after the launch ended, people had already started reselling at high prices on second-hand websites. This speed caught OTTO Technology employees off guard.

Chang You poured champagne while sighing: “This is the duality of fan-scalpers.”

“Perhaps fans initially intended to buy for themselves, but when they realize they can resell for an extra three hundred, five hundred, or even a thousand without any cost, they naturally think about reselling.”

“There’s no way around it. This kind of thing is hard to avoid. We have limited stock, some people are willing to pay more, and those who got the phones are willing to sell for more. We can’t stop them.”

“Anyway, let’s not worry about it for now. Everyone, raise your glasses in celebration!”

Staff had already helped distribute champagne to everyone, and Pei Qian, of course, had a glass too.

“Come on, cheers!”

In the lively atmosphere, Pei Qian silently raised his glass and drank it in one go, speechless with emotion.

“We must stop scalpers from reselling at all costs!” Pei Qian said with a stern face and determination.

He was already very unhappy that the phones sold out right after the launch event.

Now hearing about scalpers, he was even more displeased!

What Pei Qian hated most were scalpers, a bunch of bloodsucking parasites. He would rather not lose money than let these scalpers make money!

Previously, when Sea Fortress was selling limited-edition weapons, Pei Qian had been disgusted by scalpers once. That time, Pei Qian had gritted his teeth and would rather make more money than allow scalpers to resell.

Experience proved that seeing scalpers suffer was even more satisfying than losing money!

Chang You, who had just taken a sip of champagne, was instantly alarmed when he saw Mr. Pei’s gloomy face.

This is bad, I must have said something wrong!

With Mr. Pei’s character that abhors evil, how could he turn a blind eye to scalpers?

Saying “let’s not worry about it for now” must have angered Mr. Pei. Otherwise, why would Mr. Pei look at him with such a gloomy face, appearing very dissatisfied?

And this expression seemed somewhat complex?

This further indicated the seriousness of the situation!

Chang You hurriedly said, “Mr. Pei is right! We must stop scalpers from reselling at all costs!… Um, how exactly should we do that?”

“I know, Mr. Pei, you hope to immediately mass-produce on a large scale, directly ensuring stock availability, preventing scalpers from driving up prices, leaving them with inventory they can’t sell!”

Pei Qian: “…”

Mass production? Really?

You think I’m not making enough money?

But I have to admit, Chang You’s thinking is the normal approach. The phone launch was a huge success, selling out right at the launch venue. They should immediately supply more and begin mass production, right?

Who in this world would turn down money when it’s there for the taking?

Pei Qian was momentarily speechless. Yes, when phones sell out, naturally you need to restock, otherwise the system wouldn’t accept that either.

Since restocking means selling, and selling means making money, having too little stock would let scalpers grab them which is disgusting, but having too much stock would mean making more and more profit???

Pei Qian was completely speechless.

How did things turn out like this?

“Um, Mr. Pei?” Seeing Mr. Pei lost in thought, Chang You felt somewhat surprised.

With the phone being so successful, shouldn’t they just pour money into mass production? What was there to hesitate about?

Could it be… Mr. Pei had entered his “contemplation in success” state again?

Pei Qian was very worried and could only choose the lesser of two evils.

The phone becoming popular was already an established fact. Now he could only think of ways to minimize losses. Under the premise of eliminating the influence of scalpers as much as possible, he needed to sell fewer of these phones.

Perhaps they could adopt the model used previously by Sea Fortress, determining a credit value for each customer, using this value to decide purchase priority, and then limiting sales monthly or weekly…

But on second thought, no!

This model also had huge risks. Sea Fortress had been trapped by its system back then!

At that time, when players couldn’t get the limited weapons, many people frantically purchased Fire Kylin to increase their credit value, resulting in a surge in Sea Fortress’s income!

And this time, the principle was the same. If they sold phones this way, consumers would spend money on other Tenda businesses, trying everything to increase their credit value.

They would still make a lot of money, and the hidden danger would be even greater!

Even now, Sea Fortress’s popularity shows no signs of decreasing. Players were extremely loyal, and a large part of the reason was this consumption model.

Pei Qian was in despair. This is a dead end!

To avoid benefiting these scalpers, must we mass produce with tears?