Video Editor

Chapter 2637 The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Once the general direction was set, Suning didn't give anyone a chance to breathe.

Suning stood directly in front of the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and drew three lines on the map of China next to the projection screen, dividing the entire map into three major sections.

The first line cuts along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway from north to south; the second line draws a horizontal line along the Yangtze River; the third line separates East China and South China in the middle.

Suning assigned the Pearl River Delta and the entire South China region to Ma Huateng, the Yangtze River Delta and East China region to Ma Yun, and the Beijing, Tianjin, Northeast China, North China Plain and Southwest regions in the Jiangbei region to Suning itself.

"The internet cafe business, in essence, is about grabbing territory." Su Ning snapped his pen cap back on, turned to look at Ma Huateng and Ma Yun, and said, "Whoever opens a store first, whoever attracts users first, gains the upper hand. In 1999, the domestic internet cafe industry was still fragmented, with no chain brands and no unified standards. Whoever establishes these standards first will define the industry rules. QQ and Taobao, which you two control, are the core software in the internet cafe ecosystem. You know best what users need... What games they like to play, what websites they like to browse, what music they like to listen to—you have all of that in your backend data. The headquarters will issue a unified guide for internet cafe site selection, decoration standards, equipment configuration, and internet access packages, but you will each manage your respective regions for specific implementation. If you encounter any problems, come to me."

Jack Ma circled his own area on a map of China with his finger, already planning in his mind which city to start with.

Hangzhou is Alibaba's home base, so it must be among the first to open, and in the busiest location, so that everyone in Hangzhou knows that Tianchao Internet Cafe has arrived.

Needless to say, Shanghai, being the highest point in East China, requires flagship stores to be located near Nanjing Road or Huaihai Road, so that white-collar workers from foreign companies can easily walk in and access the internet after work.

Nanjing, Suzhou, Ningbo, Hefei—one by one, Jack Ma had already roughly gone through the priorities for opening stores in his mind.

Then, Jack Ma turned to Suning and said, "Mr. Su, in East China, I plan to start with Shanghai and Hangzhou, one as a flagship and the other as a pilot city. Once they are successful, we will expand to Suzhou and Ningbo simultaneously, covering all major cities in East China within three months."

Ma Huateng is relatively quiet.

He adjusted his glasses, not rushing to express his opinion, but instead took out a palm-sized notebook from his briefcase, opened it to a blank page, and quickly listed the names of several core cities in the Pearl River Delta with a fountain pen...

Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Foshan.

Each city is followed by its projected population size, number of universities, and density of existing internet cafes.

Following the mention of Shenzhen, Ma Huateng wrote, "The location of Tencent's headquarters, with a large user base."

The Guangzhou section states "Priority will be given to locations near university towns".

A question mark was added after Dongguan, indicating that "the main workforce is manufacturing workers, and the package design needs to be considered separately."

Ma Huateng's decision-making style is completely different from Ma Yun's.

Jack Ma is like a wild horse that charges forward as soon as it sees a direction, adjusting its course as it goes.

Ma Huateng doesn't take a step lightly without thoroughly understanding the costs and benefits. While others are still struggling with the first step, he has already listed out the variables for the third step.

“Mr. Su, there are many universities and a high concentration of young users in the Pearl River Delta.” Ma Huateng showed Suning the list on his laptop. “We’ll start by establishing flagship stores in Shenzhen and Guangzhou as model stores. Once the model is proven successful, we can replicate it in lower-tier markets like Dongguan and Foshan. We can also start recruiting franchisees at the same time. Tencent’s team will assist in the qualification review of franchisees, mainly looking at their financial strength and store location. Those who do not meet the standards will not be approved.”

“Leave Jiangbei to me. I’ll keep an eye on the headquarters in Beijing myself, you don’t need to worry about it.” Su Ning tossed his pen into the pen holder on the table, sat back in his chair, and continued to push the next arrangements forward, “The regions are all divided, next is the hardware. Internet cafes need computers, and franchisees need computers too. The Galaxy Computers from China will soon be in mass production.”

"Mr. Su, we'll head back now."

"You can all have a get-together with the headquarters executives tonight, and go back tomorrow."

"Okay! Thank you very much, Mr. Su."

"You're too kind! We're family, after all."

……

The registration procedures for Tianchao Galaxy Computer Company are handled entirely by the legal department of Tianchao Group.

After receiving the registration plan approved by Suning, the general counsel glanced at the registered capital section and raised an eyebrow.

But he didn't say anything, and on the same day he took it back, he arranged for someone to start running the business registration process.

The registered capital is in place from the outset, and the business scope covers the research, development, production, and sales of personal computers and peripheral equipment.

Suning has a very clear vision for Galaxy Computers, which was clearly explained to the team at the company's preparatory meeting.

"We don't make high-end flagship machines, nor do we compete with top international brands on performance specifications. Our target users aren't enthusiasts or game streamers, but ordinary people... ordinary students, ordinary office workers, and ordinary families. They don't need to outperform Dell Alienware in benchmarks; they need a computer that they can turn on to browse the internet, chat, and play games at an affordable price, that runs smoothly, and that can be repaired if it breaks down. Galaxy Computers only makes two types of machines: desktops specifically for internet cafes and mainstream desktops for home use."

The engineer in charge of product planning raised his hand and asked, "Mr. Su, what are the differences in configuration between the computers used in internet cafes and those used at home?"

Suning stated, "The computers for internet cafes need to be robust, the keyboards and mice need to be durable, the cases need to be lockable to prevent parts theft, and the system needs to have one-click restore to prevent users from installing random things. Home computers don't need to be lockable, but the cases need to look nice and not be embarrassing to have at home. The motherboards and core components of both models are interchangeable, and the cost will decrease as volume increases. For key components, anything that can be made by the domestic supply chain will be sourced locally. For those that can't be made domestically, we can seek international suppliers, and the group will also find solutions internally. Costs must be kept significantly lower than any competitor on the market, while quality cannot be compromised. How will the price be set? For the same configuration, it will be 20% cheaper than Lenovo and 30% cheaper than Dell. At this price, distributors will still have a profit margin, and internet cafe franchisees will receive additional discounts for bulk purchases."

"clear."

……

When Siyi Foreign Trade received the order, General Manager Fan spent a long time looking at the parts procurement list.

The list includes CPUs, memory modules, hard drives, motherboards, graphics cards, power supplies, cases, and monitors, with the estimated annual purchase volume and target unit price indicated for each item.

After reading it, he looked up and said to his customs broker, "President Su is trying to steal business from Lenovo in the low-end market."

The customs broker was a young man with a quick mind. He whispered, "Mr. Fan, Mr. Su is probably trying to take more than just Lenovo's business. Look at this purchase volume—internet cafe machines plus home machines, plus the increase after the franchise stores open. This volume will rank among the top five in the domestic computer market."

General Manager Fan didn't respond, but instead handed over the procurement list.

Computer hardware, software ecosystem, offline internet cafes, online e-commerce—Tianchao Group is going to take all the profits, leaving nothing for anyone else.

……

Suning personally oversaw the location of its first flagship internet cafe in Beijing, Tianchao, in Zhongguancun.

What kind of place is Zhongguancun?

The area with the highest concentration of universities in Beijing, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Renmin University, is within a few kilometers. Every day, hundreds of thousands of young people walk around these streets, and these people are the precise users of Tianchao Internet Cafe.

The shop is a three-story commercial building facing the street. The first floor is a catering and leisure area, and the second and third floors are internet access areas, with a total area of ​​nearly 2,000 square meters.

When the renovation team arrived, Suning personally inspected the construction site, wearing a safety helmet and walking around the lobby where construction was underway, checking the details one by one with the project manager against the construction drawings.

Should the network cable be concealed or exposed? Will the air conditioner vent be positioned so that it blows directly onto the user's neck? Is the computer desk deep enough to accommodate the keyboard and mouse pad?

The project manager was an experienced construction worker, but he was still sweating profusely from Su Ning's questions, and he followed behind him, taking notes that filled two pages.

……

Soon, the first batch of Galaxy computers rolled off the production line, and Suning personally went to the factory.

At the end of the production line, rows of brand-new desktop computers came off the conveyor belt, with the Tianchao Group logo and the three silver characters "Galaxy" printed on the side of the chassis, reflecting the light under the workshop lights.

The monitor is a 15-inch CRT with a simple and elegant appearance, and the base is also printed with the logo of Tianchao Group.

Before being packed, each computer undergoes automatic testing—power-on self-test, system loading, and all pre-installed software are run through to ensure there are no problems before the box is sealed and labeled.

Suning stood next to the testing station for a while, then casually picked up a machine that had already been tested from the conveyor belt. He looked at the interfaces on the back of the chassis, touched the workmanship of the chassis shell, put it down, and said, "Okay, let's mass-produce them like this."

The computers were packed into special shipping boxes bearing the logo of Tianchao Group and shipped to various parts of the country via three routes.

Trucks heading south to Shenzhen and Guangzhou travel on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway. A dozen large trucks lined up and departed from the logistics center of the Shunyi factory, each truck fully loaded.

The convoy heading east to Shanghai and Hangzhou traveled along the Beijing-Shanghai line, passing through Tianjin, Jinan, and Nanjing, unloading a batch of goods at each stop.

The flagship internet cafes directly operated in Beijing are delivered directly to the door by the Shunyi factory's own transportation fleet, so the machines that come off the production line in the morning can be placed on the internet cafe's table in the afternoon.

On the day the sign was hung up, the construction team used a crane to lift the huge acrylic sign above the main entrance.

The signboard has a dark blue background with four large white characters printed on it...

The sign read "Tianchao Internet Cafe," with a smaller line of text next to it: "Internet Access, Dining, and Leisure." Passersby and students from nearby universities gathered around to look.

Several boys in school uniforms looked up and read the words on the sign. One of the chubby boys pointed to the opening notice board at the entrance and said, "Look at these computer specs, they're much better than those crappy machines in our school's computer lab."

Another boy wearing glasses was already looking at the price list: "It's three yuan an hour, which is one yuan more expensive than that shady internet cafe near the school gate, but the environment looks much better."

A tall, thin man next to him nudged his companion's shoulder and said, "Look at the words at the bottom: Free trial for the first three days after opening."

"I can't wait any longer."

"Yes! I wonder when it will open?"

A small commotion immediately arose among the surrounding crowd, with some already asking when the store would open.

……

On Monday morning, a weekly market intelligence briefing was held.

The conference room was filled with heads of various departments.

Director Fang of the market has a background in market research, and the industry reports he handles each year could fill a filing cabinet.

Director Fang stood in front of the projection screen, holding a remote control, and projected a newly compiled industry news briefing onto the screen.

As I flipped through the briefing page by page, the first few items were all routine information—a brand launched a new model, a distributor adjusted its agency policy, and the price of a certain accessory fluctuated slightly.

Mr. Liu sat at the head of the conference table, holding a teacup in his hand, listening to the information with a blank expression on his face.

When they turned to the last page, Director Fang's tone changed slightly.

Several lines of text appeared on the screen: "Tianchao Group has newly registered 'Tianchao Galaxy Computer Company', with the brand name 'Galaxy'. The first batch of products has been produced and delivered directly to 'Tianchao Internet Cafe' chain stores without going through traditional retail channels."

Tianchao Internet Cafe's first batch of stores opened simultaneously in six cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Chengdu. They all featured a unified decoration style and equipment configuration, with each store typically ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 square meters in size, far exceeding the scale of traditional internet cafes.

Mr. Liu stopped holding his teacup and placed it on the table. "Director Fang, could you enlarge that line of text?"

Director Fang immediately enlarged the text about Tianchao Internet Cafe.

Several numbers were clearly listed on the screen: six cities in the first phase, single store size, uniform configuration of Galaxy computers, and free trial play on the opening day.

Director Fang turned to the next page, which showed photos of the opening ceremony of Tianchao Internet Cafe.

The photo was taken from a newspaper, so the resolution isn't very clear, but you can tell the scene was extremely lively.

There was a long queue in front of that store in Zhongguancun. Young people lined up from the sidewalk onto the bike lane. There were students with backpacks, young office workers in work clothes, and others holding free trial vouchers they had just received and greeting each other.

Mr. Liu frowned slightly as he looked at the photo.

Having worked in the computer industry for so many years, he is more sensitive to the word "channel" than anyone else here.

There are essentially three paths for a computer to go from the factory to the user: retail stores sell to individual consumers, enterprises purchase in bulk for their employees, and system integrators bundle computers and software together and sell them to large clients.

Mr. Liu's company has a market share in all three areas, especially in retail and corporate procurement, where it holds the top market share in China.

But Suning didn't choose any of those paths.

He actually opened his own internet cafe, manufactured his own computers, installed his own software in his internet cafe, and ran his own ecosystem on his own software.

The computer isn't sold to consumers; it's placed somewhere consumers will definitely come and use it.

Putting aside whether the hardware is profitable or not, the sheer number of young people sitting there every day using Chinese computers and accessing Chinese software is already quite valuable.

The advertising effect and user conversion rate are more valuable than spending tens of millions on television advertising.

When these young people who are used to using Galaxy computers in internet cafes buy their own computers in the future, will they still choose other brands?

No, because all their social relationships, game levels, shopping collections, and music playlists are all in Chinese-made software. If they switch to a different brand of computer, they won't bother to verify the possibility of data incompatibility.

"Hmph! Su Ning was playing coy with me at the dinner the other day, saying that Tianchao Group was still in the growth stage and too busy. Turns out he had been sharpening his knife behind my back all along, ready to stab me."

"..." Director Fang stood beside the curtain, holding the remote control in his hand, unsure whether he should continue flipping through the pages.

The meeting room fell silent; no one dared to speak.

Mr. Liu took a deep breath and waved his hand to signal Director Fang to continue.

Manager Fang carefully turned to the next page of the briefing.

This page lists the pre-installed software on the Galaxy Computer. The list is a long string of names…

QQ, Taobao, Xinghe Music, Tianmu Video, QQ Games Hall, Tianchao Input Method, Tianchao Browser.

Each name is followed by a line of small print: "Pre-installed at the factory, ready to use upon startup, cannot be uninstalled."

When Mr. Liu saw this page, his expression was no longer one of annoyance, but of shock.

Realizing that his plan had encountered serious trouble and might actually be defeated by Suning, he thought he was in deep trouble.

Actually, he was aware of these software programs.

QQ is now the largest instant messaging software in the country, Taobao is rapidly rising in the e-commerce field, and he has heard of Xinghe Music and Tianmu Video but has not paid much attention to them.

The problem is that all of these software programs were developed by companies invested in or controlled by the Tianchao Group itself.

Suning doesn't just manufacture computers; it also controls the software ecosystem.

Once a computer capable of operating in the Milky Way is sold, every piece of software that the user opens will belong to China.

Mr. Liu had never seen this kind of tactic in his more than ten years in the computer business.

Suddenly, I realized that the way I invited Su Ning to join the Five Mountains Club that day, holding a wine glass, might have seemed a bit ridiculous.

They never intended to be my friend; they're here to steal my job.

"Suning is ruthless! He either doesn't do it at all, or he takes down the entire supply chain."

Mr. Liu looked at the photo on the screen showing the opening day of the Tianchao Internet Cafe flagship store.

In the photo, young people are queuing up at the entrance, all with eager expressions on their faces, and some are even making a V-sign at the camera.

Mr. Liu asked Director Fang to enlarge the photo and look at it from beginning to end—the same decoration style, the same computer equipment, the same software interface, and the same pricing standards.

A young man turned around from the counter, holding his newly issued membership card, and smiled as if he had won the lottery.

Looking at this photo, Mr. Liu understood...

This model is indeed impressive.

...(End of this chapter)