The Industrial Giant Reborn

Outside a large retail store in the western suburbs of Los Angeles, an extended Lincoln stopped at the gate, which attracted curious eyes from a group of people around, because ordinary people are not allowed to park here.

Three Caucasians and an Asian came out of the car, and the Lincoln drove away after a while.

"Eric, your Best Buy is really big, isn't it smaller than Costco?" the middle-aged Caucasian man asked after looking around. It's nondescript, but there's nothing you can do about it, a hat is better than a bald head.

"The area is indeed not smaller than Costco, and it has three floors." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "Ron, this will be the flagship store of Best Buy in the United States and even the world, so the area will be relatively large, and this is Los Angeles, the United States. The core area of ​​the semiconductor industry, the demand for electronic products will also be the largest city in the world, it is worth visiting such a flagship store, and the interior decoration is very good, this will also be the location of our future advertising."

At the beginning of the year, Chen Zhiwen decided to take advantage of the exponential growth of electronic products in the future to build a large chain supermarket of electronic products, which is Best Buy.

The current electronic product market mainly relies on some small franchise stores and some large supermarkets, such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Sears, Celtic and other large supermarkets also have electronic products, but the exponential growth model of electronic products, It will gradually make the existing sales system unbearable. In addition, electronic products are very professional, requiring salesmen who understand technology and professional after-sales service. Therefore, a centralized large-scale electronic supermarket will inevitably appear.

Although Best Buy is also a supermarket, its operating logic is different from that of Costco or Wal-Mart. Daily necessities retail supermarkets focus on cheap, high-quality products at low prices, while electronics supermarkets do not need to be the cheapest, but to have good Excellent quality and stable after-sales service.

As long as the service is done well, the profit will naturally be high. Electronic products themselves are huge profits, and retail stores that can control the terminal are naturally the same. In the case of high profits, the appearance of the terminal naturally cannot adopt the minimalist model like Costco. Appropriate luxury is still needed, and a luxurious shopping environment can also increase consumers' interest in shopping.

"It looks very grand from the outside." Ron nodded and said.

"It will be more luxurious inside." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

In just a few words, several white men came from not far away, and Pierce beside him said with a smile: "Boss, Mr. Ron, this is John, the person in charge of Best Buy's Los Angeles store. The most powerful management team in the world."

"Thank you, Mr. Pierce, for your compliment. Hello, Mr. Chen." John said with a smile.

"Hello, this is Mr. Ron, Vice President of Citibank." Chen Zhiwen also introduced.

"Hello." John said with a smile and shook hands, and after introducing each other to the people around him, they walked into the supermarket.

Inside Best Buy, the lights are all light orange, giving people a very bright feeling, but not dazzling. Los Angeles is not very hot in May, but the internal air conditioner has been turned on, and the cool breeze makes people feel refreshed , Comfortable temperature and humidity will always make people feel better.

The first thing you see when you enter the door is Apple's new computer, the Apple 3. The high price of 2,899 US dollars discourages ordinary people, but there are also cheap personal computers. A simple computer produced by a small American company is only 699 US dollars, although the function is poor. A little bit, but the price/performance ratio is still very high.

On the other side is a small shop that sells Midea's handheld game boys. After all, they are just small things, only a little bigger than later generations of mobile phones, so they don't need a lot of space. Next to it are various small radios, music players, and Atari game consoles are also available here.

Going further inside, there are some electrical appliances for kitchen supplies. There are various brands and models. Because the area is large enough, it is much more comprehensive than ordinary supermarkets. At the same time, because summer is coming, all kinds of electric fans are also available. The location The most conspicuous nature is still beautiful.

The second floor is a place for various large household appliances, such as color TVs, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, washing machines, water heaters, radiators, etc., and there are many brands.

The third floor is currently half empty, and the other small part is used for offices.

After a few people arrived in a conference room, Ron asked, "Eric, does this Best Buy focus on home appliances?"

"For now, that's the case." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "But in the future, the main thing will be various electronic products. Apple, which was just listed on Nasdaq a few days ago, should Ron know about it?"

Electronic products are indeed the future, but in 1980, there were still too few product lines. Chen Zhiwen hoped that Best Buy could deploy them earlier. It's a little too late, and now, the more commonly used household appliances can only occupy the place.

"Of course I know. Mr. Chen is also one of Apple's major shareholders. I have to say that Mr. Chen's investment vision is really strong." Ron said with a smile.

Citibank is also quite aware of Chen Zhiwen's several major investments in the United States. Wal-Mart's investment is made through Citigroup, and Nike's investment is also known to Citigroup. Nike has also developed rapidly in the United States in recent years, and it is quite possible to dominate the sports shoe market. However, Citigroup did not know about Apple until it announced the list of shareholders when Apple went public.

With the success of multiple investments, plus other fields, Citigroup naturally attaches great importance to Chen Zhiwen. This time, he was sent as a vice president to Los Angeles because there may be greater cooperation.

"Apple's turnover last year was actually only about 100 million U.S. dollars, and its net profit was a little over 20 million U.S. dollars. If it was a general industry, it would be unbelievable that such a company could have a market value of 300 million U.S. dollars when it goes public, but Apple's market value It has exceeded 2 billion US dollars, and it is still rising. The reason for this is because of the future trend. Many people believe that one day in the future, everyone in the United States will have one or even several computers in their homes. All clerical jobs will also be assisted by computers. This market is huge, and the current terminal channel business model simply cannot meet the massive consumer demand in the future. That's why I plan to build Best Buy in major cities across the United States. Big cities or a few, small cities build small ones, so that everyone in the United States can buy the computers they need or other new electronic products at Best Buy.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"So, Best Buy is the future channel for electronic products?" Ron understood a little.

"Yes, whether the investment of companies such as Apple can be selected depends entirely on luck, but no matter what technology companies, as long as they make civilian products, they need terminal retail. As long as they control part of the terminal retail, they will make services Well, if we form a certain monopoly advantage, we can share some of the achievements in the high-tech field, even if they are far inferior to these companies themselves, but the advantage is that there is no risk, and each company can cooperate, and we will support whichever is stronger." Chen Zhiwen continued.

Although throughout the 1970s, he did not participate much in the development of American technology companies. In theory, even if American technology companies will change due to the butterfly effect, those giants should not be affected, but this is not absolute. The big changes in the industry, the golden finger of the prophet is useless, but now that he has enough capital, it is a good choice to control terminal retail, whether it is computers, game consoles, music consoles, etc. If you need to rely on supermarkets to sell, Best Buy doesn't care which brand is bigger.

Besides, the Best Buy business itself is a good investment.

"Mr. Chen's idea is indeed very clever. Others are thinking about investing in technology companies, but you are thinking about doing terminal retail first. I admire it. This reminds me of a story I read when I was a child. A hundred years ago, mining was popular in the United States. At that time, most people went to mine in the mountains, but the really smart ones were building roads, because the mines also had to be transported out." Ron said with a smile.

"This is equivalent to the highway of the electronics industry, so I need to open Best Buy supermarkets to all parts of the United States in the shortest possible time, which requires a lot of money. Therefore, I need to cooperate with Citigroup to carry out the Big Buy store together. Expansion." Chen Zhiwen continued.

Although I have a lot of money in my hands, there are still many places to use it. There is no need to invest too much in Best Buy. The main source of funds is loans, and the funds involved are quite a lot. After all, Best Buy needs to open a store in a good location. , which leads to a cost that will exceed Costco.

The bank’s money is useless, not only Citigroup, but other banks in the United States will also cooperate in the future. Only when the money owed to the bank is more, the risk will be more stable. Of course, this kind of enterprise that is purely in the United States, Investors and listings will also be introduced in the future.

"If that's the case, I need the financial status of this Best Buy. Our bank will use this information to determine the future loan amount." Ron said after thinking about it.

"Okay, then I'll wait for the good news from Citibank. However, Ron, for the sake of years of cooperation, I can tell you that Citigroup is not the only bank we communicate with. I hope you can make a decision as soon as possible." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

"No problem, I will push this matter as quickly as possible. If you need funds urgently, I can authorize the mobilization of 100 million US dollars to Best Buy. Anyway, it is impossible for you to build hundreds of stores at once, right?" Ron said with a smile.

"It's not enough to have hundreds of companies at once, but dozens of companies are still possible." Chen Zhiwen said.

PS: It's the end of the month, ask for a monthly pass