Reinventing the Millennium

Yike Technology’s teams in the United States have returned to New York from various states and cities one after another.

Fang Zhuo rented two offices near Chinatown and listed them as a location for future visitors to the company.

Counting himself, Pan Ben, who is not on the list, and Kong Yu, who has not yet been removed from the company and transferred to another job, the 21 people of Yike's US team held a plenary meeting for the first time.

Because the end of February is the Lunar New Year, this meeting can also be regarded as a business summary before returning to China.

The conference room was decorated with two small red lanterns by Finance Guan, who was the first to return, and a little festooning was added. When everyone arrived on the 5th, it seemed to have a pre-holiday atmosphere.

Before Fang Zhuo walked into the conference room, this group of people who were not familiar with each other had a very intimate chat in a foreign country. They exchanged many questions that they had never imagined they would encounter, and they were amazed and laughed again and again.

"Everyone is here, please sit down. The meeting is about to begin."

As Fang Zhuo sat down, the conference room gradually became quiet.

"First of all, everyone has worked hard. Coming to the United States from China, flying from New York to various states, seeing different skin colors, hearing different languages, and conflicting thinking and logic, it is not easy for everyone."

Fang Zhuo outlined the daily life of the Yike team in just a few words, and everyone present looked a little complicated.

The president changed the subject, picked up the report compiled by Guan Jin, and smiled slightly: "Fortunately, this hard work and difficulty has paid off. As of February, our M1 shipments were 15W units, and P1 was last Monthly shipments are 6.3W units.”

He paused and said affirmatively: "This is a huge success for Yike. I am proud of you."

Fang Zhuo took the lead in applauding, followed by warm applause in the conference room.

When everything was quiet again, everyone had beaming smiles on their faces. This was also the first time that it was clear that the total shipment volume from the United States exceeded many people's expectations.

"According to the company's plan, we will launch the music management software iMusic after the Spring Festival. This will learn from our competitor Ipod, and it is also a financing requirement for the next step to expand our scale."

"What we want to do is not just hardware products, but also software and hardware integration."

Fang Zhuo said seriously: "Everyone here is here because of your ability and your luck. To be honest, some of you have just joined the company not long ago. Our domestic team has many more capable people because of language barriers. Some are stuck, some because of visas.”

"So, you should not just stop at mechanical work, but also think more about the company, business, and products, so that you can achieve better development in the future."

"The integration of software and hardware I just mentioned is a way of thinking. Don't just separate hardware as a product and software. They are one and the same, and they are the overall perception of the brand by consumers at the terminal."

Fang Zhuo emphasized again: “We must have this concept.”

Everyone in the conference room nodded, sensing the CEO's high expectations.

Fang Zhuo made a digression, then turned around and said: "The sales of our products are good, but our current sales channel system is very unhealthy. The backbone is the Kroger supermarket, and the branches are the various electronic products and audio-visual music developed by us. The terminal point, so to speak, has very low ability to withstand risks.”

The president took a sip of water from his teacup and motioned to Pan Ben next to him to talk about the risks the company faced.

Pan Ben picked up his speech, made a face and talked about various situations he might face in the future.

This is not without purpose. Although Kroger Supermarket has signed a contract, if an American industry association breaks up the company and resorts to an injunction, Kroger Supermarket will definitely remove the products from the shelves.

Without a Kroger channel, the entire Yike sales in the United States will collapse.

Of course, this is the most extreme situation. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) once lost a lawsuit demanding that similar products not be sold.

Fang Zhuo waited until Pan Ben finished speaking and knocked on the conference table: "If we want to further increase sales of our products, we need to open more channels. Let's brainstorm and brainstorm how to solve this problem."

There was silence in the conference room. I was not used to this kind of scene.

After a while, seeing that the president really wanted to listen to his opinion, Guan Jin broke the silence first and suggested that she go see the senior management of Wal-Mart to express her sincere opinion.

How to show sincerity? Just like the former NBA president went to China and waited for hours to turn on CCTV channels, Mr. Fang can also go to the top of Wal-Mart.

Fang Zhuo was noncommittal.

A burst of discussions quickly filled the conference room, some of which were unreliable, and some of which were a little more reliable.

Fang Zhuo was slightly disappointed.

Just when he was about to wrap up the meeting, Qi He, one of the first batch of people from the marketing department to come to the United States but a new member of the company, made a speech.

"Mr. Fang, I don't think we need to stick to big channels like Wal-Mart if we really want to make a lot of profits."

"I don't know if what I saw is correct, but in the two cities I visited, there are quite a lot of audio-visual and music stores. These stores have many targeted customer groups."

"Kroger is very good, and so is Wal-Mart. There are many supermarket chains of this type in the United States. They are very large, but there are also many terminal stores in various cities. Many of our colleagues can only do this, but It takes very little profit away from itself.”

Qi He described his observations at work.

Fang Zhuo thought. Kroger, Wal-Mart, Aldi, and Metro all have large scales and are giants. Those small terminal stores are scattered in various locations in the city, and some are in sinking markets.

Yike's M1 and P1 have been proven by actual situations to be feasible in supermarkets and save time and effort once connected. Therefore, Fang Zhuo's consideration has always been focused on this aspect, but what if resources are allocated to other directions?

Use more manpower and material resources to connect more terminal stores, and let the countryside surround the city?

This manpower...

Fang Zhuo fell into thinking. This was a choice of resource tilt and channel strategy.

In terms of manpower, we can be more relaxed and more radical. Well, what is the first part-time job for a young international student in the United States?

"Everyone's discussion was very enthusiastic, and their opinions were very reasonable." Fang Zhuo did not make an immediate decision, pointing to Guan Jin's meeting minutes, and said with a smile, "Sign up when the meeting is over and see if anyone is willing to stay here during the Spring Festival. On the other side, don’t stay with the first batch of people who came to the United States. They should all be homesick, right?"

"Those who stay can also experience the Chinese New Year scene here in the local Chinatown. I heard that some Chinatowns have a stronger Chinese New Year flavor than those in China, which is an eye-opener."

The atmosphere in the conference room relaxed. After all, it is the most traditional festival. It is not bad whether you go back to your country for a reunion or you pay to watch the lion dance in the United States.

There is one more chapter to be coded.