The Jiangsu Group headquarters estimated that 100,000 units of the Tianxing 5 could last for about a month in the US. Their reasoning was sound: the actual acquisition cost of one phone was over $2800, while the average consumer price for a phone in the US was $700. The Tianxing 5 was four times the average price, making it unaffordable for the general public. Moreover, even the best-selling phones in the US only sold around 300,000 units a month, so selling a third of that would be very optimistic. The Tianxing phones had also been subject to malicious rumors, and although they were eventually cleared, their reputation had been affected, which would further impact sales. Thus, the headquarters' most optimistic estimate was a month.
The BLM company, however, felt the situation could be more dire and were more confident, believing they could sell the phones in three weeks, especially with the generous promotions they offered. This report reached Mr. Huang, who was displeased. He directly noted that the headquarters lacked a sense of urgency, stating that 100,000 units would not last three weeks, but would be sold out in two at most. "Don't they know who planned this marketing strategy? Three weeks or a month? Are they looking down on me!" it was rumored that Mr. Huang exclaimed, feeling his pride was hurt.
Then, Mr. Huang discovered he was the one looking down on himself. In less than a week, all 100,000 Tianxing 5 phones in the US were snapped up, leaving nothing behind. This result stunned Mr. Huang. Upon meeting Hao Jianguo, he couldn't help but ask, "Do all you Americans like phones like the Tianxing 5 so much?"
"Probably!" Hao Jianguo scratched his head. Mr. Huang nodded helplessly. Huang He himself hadn't anticipated the immense impact of the Easter egg collaboration between Iron Man and the Tianxing 5. He had also forgotten the tremendous selling power of the blind box sales model.
Although a phone required a minimum of $2800 to acquire, many felt that if they were lucky enough, they could get a Tianxing 5 for just $2. What was $2? It was less than the cost of a cigarette. Thus, it naturally led to the first $2, then the second. By the time they had spent a few hundred dollars, if they didn't actually get a Tianxing 5, wouldn't their investment of several hundred dollars be wasted? Anyway, with the fallback redemption option, they just needed to accumulate 16,000 Jiangnan Coins. So, many braced themselves and spent $2800 to finally take home a Tianxing 5 phone.
There were always lucky individuals who got the phones for a few hundred dollars, or even a few dozen dollars. Their boasting in stores or among friends would inevitably attract a large number of customers who believed they would be just as lucky. This was the most direct sales effect. As a result, in just over a week, the 100,000 Tianxing 5 phones, with 50,000 of them as blind box sales, were almost all drawn, leaving only a few thousand phones. The Tianxing 5 phones available for redemption in the mall were completely redeemed, leaving none. After all, many users had accumulated quite a few Jiangnan Coins, so the redemption speed was much faster, causing all BLM company outlets to crash.
"Boss, should we call the headquarters and ask them to expedite another shipment? Many people are still crowding our stores wanting to draw blind boxes. Even more critical is that many have already accumulated 16,000 Jiangnan Coins and are demanding immediate redemption!"
"You know, the atmosphere here in the US is quite different from China. The 'martial virtue' is very abundant, and some radical elements have emerged, forcing us to redeem with guns. Our employees are very scared!"
"Thus!" Mr. Huang's face also showed a look of concern. He was contemplating what to do if the employees were too scared to come to work when Hao Jianguo continued, "So many employees have proposed that they hope employees who carry guns can bring their guns to work, or that the stores should simply be equipped with guns. This way, dangerous individuals can be directly eliminated, upholding the law!"
"..." Mr. Huang was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, let them all carry guns!"
"Uh... Boss, aren't you afraid that this might actually lead to some incident? These people are different from Chinese people; they actually dare to shoot!" Hao Jianguo said in a low voice.
"Jian Guo, it seems you still don't understand America enough!" Mr. Huang sighed, "In the US, those who shoot are heroes, and black people who shoot are even more so. Do you understand?"
"Yes!" Hao Jianguo looked at Mr. Huang with shock. Does their chairman truly understand America, or not?
"However, just having guns won't solve the problem. How about this: stop selling all Tianxing phone blind boxes and provide all the phones to the redemption platform. I will directly air freight 30,000 units from the Chinese market. That should be enough to redeem those points!"
"Also, have the company issue an announcement stating that redemption will reopen in five days, will only last for three days, and will be limited to 30,000 units. At the same time, prohibit the use of points generated after today for Tianxing 5 redemption until the next batch of goods arrives!" Mr. Huang said.
"Chairman, doing this is fine, but it only addresses the immediate need and cannot truly meet future demand. I think we should order the headquarters to have the Tianxing phone production ramp up to full capacity and supply a large number of phones as soon as possible!" Hao Jianguo said excitedly. "At $2800 per phone, we make at least $1800 profit per unit. These 100,000 units represent $180 million in profit. It's like picking up money!"
"Do you think if we sold them freely, we could still sell them at $2800?" Mr. Huang rolled his eyes. "The headquarters will not increase production capacity. The next batch of 100,000 phones will not be delivered for another three months. That's it!"
"Yes..." Although Hao Jianguo wanted to persuade him further, under Mr. Huang's warning glare, he obediently closed his mouth.
"Oh, and Boss, there's one more thing. The president of Tomato Network contacted us, saying they hope to obtain detailed sales data for the Tianxing 5!" Hao Jianguo suddenly added.
"Tomato Network? Isn't that an American preferential enterprise? What are they looking for from us?" Mr. Huang frowned, appearing to dislike this website.
"It's like this!" Hao Jianguo looked at Huang He and said, "Didn't we cooperate with them before for the Iron Man promotion?"
"So, Tomato Network contacted us, saying they hope for our cooperation to get our phone sales data. At the same time, they will try to obtain sales data from other companies' phones and then create a phone sales ranking." Hao Jianguo said.
"It's really strange. How did a movie review website start making phone sales rankings!" Mr. Huang looked surprised.
"I'm not very clear, but according to some information, Tomato Network seems to be unwilling to remain just a simple cultural rating website. They want to become a comprehensive rating website. In the future, besides movies, they will establish rating websites for various other categories, eventually becoming the world's only professional evaluation website. Their website slogan seems to have been changed to 'Everything in the world can be rated.'" Hao Jianguo said.
"Interesting, but this is too offensive. I would absolutely not create such a website. Isn't that woman, Versailles, afraid of being tripped up by this website later?" Mr. Huang grinned. After thinking for a while, he said, "Versailles's role is still very significant, and we also need her reputation. This relationship must not be severed."
"Since Tomato Network wants it, let's give it to them. It doesn't affect us anyway!" Mr. Huang said. Hao Jianguo nodded and went to arrange the work.
"My acting was good, wasn't it!" Mr. Huang said with a smile to Hu Jing after Hao Jianguo left.
"Yes, my boss. Hao Jianguo would never have thought that the website that offends everyone so foolishly was created by you, the boss who would absolutely not do such a thing!" Hu Jing said dryly.
"Hey, I say, little Jingjing, your temper has been getting a bit big lately. You dare to talk back to your boss at the drop of a hat. This isn't normal!" Mr. Huang said, quite unhappy. Although being talked back to by Hu Jing was a daily occurrence, it seemed to be happening more frequently lately.
"I can't help it, I've reached menopause, and someone dumps all the work on me. I feel happier when I talk back a bit!" Hu Jing said.
"No way, you're not even as old as me. You're only 26 this year, in the prime of your youth. How could you be menopausal?" Mr. Huang asked thoughtlessly, while Hu Jing rolled her eyes at Huang He and then said nothing more.
What could Hu Jing say?
Should she say that since following Mr. Huang, she had not only remained pure but also had to see Mr. Huang with her younger sister or other women every few days? And sometimes, perhaps because Huang He felt too familiar, he didn't even try to hide it from her. Several times, she had accidentally seen some scenes she shouldn't have, and then couldn't sleep all night, suffering from hormonal imbalance daily?
And then, for some reason, a blonde man had been pursuing her recently. He was handsome and muscular, and several times he had appeared in front of her with his upper body exposed, either intentionally or unintentionally, making himself seem very attractive and constantly signaling her.
This fool, she didn't know that she detested men who were all muscle and no substance the most.
Damn it, among these Americans, she couldn't find many with substance. Even if you don't need to be profoundly knowledgeable, at least your substance should be more than Huang He's...
Chinese men are so much better.