March 9th, Wednesday.
OTTO E1 smartphone’s second release!
Pei Qian deliberately traveled to OTTO Technology’s office to oversee the battle.
The phones would go on sale at 10 AM, and Pei Qian arrived at 9:30 AM, giving himself a bit of a head start.
After careful consideration, he decided to propose a suggestion to Chang You.
“President Chang, I think starting today, we should implement a deposit payment reservation feature. A deposit of 100 yuan, and for pre-orders, customers pay the deposit first, then we produce according to the number of deposits received.”
Chang You looked troubled: “Mr. Pei, I certainly understand the method you’re suggesting.”
“Many smartphone manufacturers do this when supplies are limited, but we currently don’t have that much money. If customers were to order ten thousand units, we wouldn’t have enough funds…”
Pei Qian waved his hand: “No problem. If we run short, just ask me. Using some of Tenda’s funds for cash flow isn’t an issue, we’re all part of the same enterprise.”
“In any case, we must ensure supply, so that every Tenda fan can get their phones!”
Pei Qian spoke righteously, deeply moving Chang You.
However… Pei Qian was thinking about something else entirely.
The reason he proposed this pre-order plan was mainly based on three considerations.
First, to continue frustrating scalpers, increasing the cost of buying in bulk, weeding out those who were buying phones to resell them, and ensuring the phones truly reached those who needed them.
Second, to roughly gauge how many people still had the desire to rush-purchase this phone.
If there were five thousand people, and Pei Qian produced eight thousand units, with three thousand units sitting in the warehouse, wouldn’t that money be spent?
Finally, based on current online discussions and feedback, Pei Qian judged that the number of people actually pre-ordering this phone wouldn’t be very high.
After all, this phone was too expensive, even higher priced than the flagship phones from Shenhua and Pineapple. Although those benefits looked good, most could only be enjoyed locally in Jingzhou, so most people were still in a wait-and-see state.
The initial few thousand buyers were mostly Tenda fans living in Jingzhou. Pei Qian judged that once this group’s demand was satisfied, phone sales would plummet!
As for whether Mr. Pei’s judgment was accurate…
That would be seen from today’s performance.
Chang You had already arranged for his staff to implement this reservation and rush-purchase function.
As soon as it hit ten o’clock, Pei Qian immediately took out his phone to monitor the OTTO phone sales situation.
The imagined scenario of refreshing once and seeing stock available, then refreshing again to see it sold out, didn’t materialize. The remaining inventory number decreased quite quickly at first, but then slowed down.
Currently, many scalpers have given up on speculating on this phone because now it is bound to Tenda game accounts and ID cards. If resold at a premium, buyers wouldn’t be able to enjoy those special VIP benefits, so there was no point in speculating on it.
Of course, some scalpers might still employ tactics like “order placement services” or “purchase assistance services,” but the situation was much better than having no restrictions at all.
An hour later, there were still 1,100 phones left.
Pei Qian simply ate lunch at OTTO Technology, and the remaining phones continued selling steadily until around 2 PM, when they were finally sold out!
Seeing the “Sold Out” label appear, both Chang You and Pei Qian wiped sweat from their foreheads simultaneously.
Chang You was sweating because they had finally sold out!
Mr. Pei was supervising today, and if they couldn’t sell all 2,000 phones and no one wanted them anymore, wouldn’t that be embarrassing? How would he explain that to Mr. Pei?
While Pei Qian was sweating because, thankfully, it had lasted until after 2 PM!
If they had sold out instantly after the release, that would have been a major problem.
Pei Qian felt slightly more at ease.
Facts proved his judgment was correct. Although the phone currently had quite a high level of interest, many people weren’t buying into it.
Even among local Jingzhou consumers, most were limited by the speed of information dissemination and distrust of this new brand, so they wouldn’t purchase this early.
Next would be seeing how many people had pre-ordered the phone for Sunday.
As long as the numbers matched Pei Qian’s expectations, he could decisively grit his teeth, restock, rush to spend money, and complete the losses before settlement!
…
…
March 10th, Thursday.
Noon.
Pei Qian took out his phone and checked the OTTO E1 pre-order situation.
Yesterday, the programmers at OTTO Technology had worked overtime to complete the website’s reservation function, and of course, Chang You had given them ample overtime pay.
Up to now, more than 1,800 people had reserved this phone. Although the number was still growing, it had slowed down.
And Sunday’s stock preparation was 4,000 units.
Pei Qian considered that from now until Sunday, exceeding four thousand pre-orders was almost certain, but exceeding five thousand seemed difficult.
In other words, as long as they produced more than five thousand units, any excess phones would only accumulate in the warehouse.
And if all the money from sold phones was exchanged for even more phones, all stacked in the warehouse…
Wouldn’t that solve all of OTTO Technology’s excess funds?
Sounds good.
Next was just hoping that everything would go smoothly…
As Pei Qian was considering this, his phone vibrated.
Looking at it, it was a call from He Desheng.
Pei Qian’s brow instantly furrowed.
What’s going on? Could something have happened with the Scholar Express app?
That can’t be right. It was just bought back a few days ago; even if something were to go wrong, it couldn’t happen this quickly, could it?
He hurriedly answered.
“What’s wrong with the Scholar Express project?” Pei Qian asked, as if facing a great enemy.
He Desheng was momentarily stunned: “Uh, Mr. Pei, nothing’s wrong with Scholar Express. It’s Zhang Wang who has something to report to you. He came to Dream Realization Investment. When do you have time to meet him? Or if you don’t have time, a phone call would also work.”
Pei Qian frowned.
Zhang Wang?
Wasn’t he the “Sharing Fanatic” and “Grassroots Inventor” who created the shared phone booths?
Just hearing this name made Pei Qian angry.
He has the nerve to come see me!
We agreed to invest in your shared phone booths, but what did you end up creating?
Yes, if you insist on saying that having a phone inside makes it a phone booth, that seems somewhat reasonable, but did you have to make so much money?!
After being jointly backstabbed by Zhang Wang and Ruan Guangjian, Pei Qian had completely lost confidence in both Zhang Wang as a person and the shared phone booth project, basically leaving it to fend for itself.
Pei Qian had told Zhang Wang to use the earned money to produce more shared phone booths, and then hadn’t paid attention anymore.
Previously preoccupied with the movie issues, he didn’t know how the phone booths were doing now.
Pei Qian calmed his emotions and asked, “Is he right next to you now?”
He Desheng: “Yes, Mr. Pei.”
“Good, then let him take the phone. I want to ask him about the shared phone booth situation.” Pei Qian said.
“Certainly.”
A moment later, Zhang Wang’s voice came through the phone, sounding quite excited: “Mr. Pei!”
Hearing this voice, Pei Qian couldn’t help but lament.
Someone who seemed so reliable, with such a reliable project, how did it end up making money?
Ah, what a pity!
“Hmm, what’s the matter?” Pei Qian said.
Zhang Wang: “Mr. Pei, my work focus will no longer be on the shared phone booths! This project will just maintain a minimal operational staff and be allowed to develop freely.”
Hearing this, Pei Qian’s eyes lit up.
“Oh? What happened, poor management?”
Pei Qian’s tone revealed three parts joy.
Zhang Wang chuckled: “Not exactly. It’s just that the phone booths have already spread throughout Jingzhou’s shopping malls, and placing them elsewhere wouldn’t be profitable. The business has reached its bottleneck in Jingzhou, so I plan to take a break and look for other interests.”
Hearing this, Pei Qian became even more enthusiastic.
Good, taking a break is good, a wise choice!
Indeed, my previous judgment was correct!
Shared phone booths can only make money in high-traffic areas like large shopping malls, and Jingzhou only has so many malls. With one or two shared phone booths in each mall, they quickly reached saturation.
And once saturated, along with many people losing interest in the entertainment facilities inside the phone booths, this project’s business in Jingzhou had essentially reached its end.
Of course, Pei Qian wanted to ask why they didn’t continue this business in Luzhou, Lin City, or even the Imperial Capital or Magic City? Wasn’t there still a market there?
But he decisively held back.
In any case, Zhang Wang turning back in time was a welcome development!
Pei Qian nodded with great satisfaction: “Mm, very good.”
Zhang Wang asked: “So, Mr. Pei, if I have other dreams to realize in the future, can I come to you for investment again?”
Pei Qian: “…”
“Yes, but I will thoroughly evaluate the project.”
Pei Qian initially wanted to refuse directly, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do so, so he just gave some polite phrases.
Of course, considering Zhang Wang’s brilliant track record, Pei Qian felt he would never invest in his projects again in this lifetime.
—Unless there was some god-tier project that looked certain to lose a fortune, only then would Pei Qian consider it a little bit.
“Alright, then I won’t disturb your work anymore. Goodbye, Mr. Pei!”
Zhang Wang handed the phone back to He Desheng.
“Nothing else?” Pei Qian asked.
He Desheng: “Nothing else, Mr. Pei. However… I have something to remind you about: how should we spend the twenty million in our account? Have you thought about it?”
Pei Qian remembered that he had indeed instructed He Desheng to remind him periodically about the money in Dream Realization Investment’s account.
This money absolutely couldn’t be forgotten. If it remained unspent by settlement time, the problem would be very serious.
Where should these twenty million be spent…
Hm?
Twenty million???
Pei Qian suddenly realized this number seemed incorrect!
Dream Realization Investment had spent five million to buy back the Scholar Express project, so there should be less than ten million left in the account, right?
What’s this twenty million about?
“Wait a minute, where did the twenty million come from?” Pei Qian immediately sensed something was amiss.
He Desheng matter-of-factly said: “From the shared phone booth project’s earnings.”
A question mark instantly appeared above Pei Qian’s head.
What?
Wasn’t it agreed that the shared phone booth project had reached its ceiling in Jingzhou?
Hadn’t Zhang Wang himself planned to temporarily exit the shared phone booth project to take a break?
How could they have earned ten million in such a short time???
Pei Qian was completely baffled, forcibly stabilizing his emotions: “The shared phone booths, relying solely on Jingzhou’s business, earned ten million???”
He Desheng smiled: “Ah, Mr. Pei, you don’t know yet?”
“Relying solely on Jingzhou’s limited business certainly couldn’t earn ten million. Indeed, as you said, each phone booth doesn’t earn much daily, and the initial investment was large. Earnings were reinvested in production and expansion, without saving much money.”
“But after the Jingzhou market became saturated, Zhang Wang had already considered the future development, so he thought of another way to make money—finding agency franchises!”
“We no longer personally oversee shared phone booths in other cities. Instead, we directly contact various shopping malls online and show them our business model.”
“If these malls think shared phone booths can make money, we sell them the complete phone booth package. They are responsible for maintenance and upkeep, while we just put our brand on it, earn money from the phone booths, and take a share of the profits.”
“This way, our costs are minimized, we don’t need to find specialists for maintenance, and we don’t need to worry whether the phone booths are profitable or not. We just wait to sell phone booths and receive our share! From the current outlook, this model is a sure profit!”
“So now this project only needs a few people to maintain it, receive orders, and keep the company running normally. Naturally, Zhang Wang no longer needs to devote effort to managing it.”
“With this method of selling phone booths, we earned another ten million, which was submitted immediately.”
“So, Mr. Pei, how should we spend these twenty million?”
“Mr. Pei?”
“Mr. Pei?”