Returning to the Capital, it was already past four in the afternoon on October 17th.
As soon as Wang Yi returned to the company, Jian Ziyan came trotting over:
"Boss, there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
Wang Yi asked, a little curious.
"Is it about the communications experts?"
"No."
Jian Ziyan shook her head.
"It's Song Guangyao, the general agent for HM in Singapore. He's been waiting for you for over a day..."
"Oh, that!"
Only then did Wang Yi remember that Jian Ziyan had previously mentioned that HM's general agent in Singapore had contacted Meiyou, wanting to invite Wang Yi to dinner...
Wang Yi guessed what the other party was thinking and agreed.
Unexpectedly, Song Guangyao came to the Capital yesterday, but Wang Yi went to Taiwan.
After all, acquiring the CDMA patents was more important.
"Boss, Song Guangyao said he'll wait for you anytime. Whenever you're free is fine. What do you think..."
"Alright, let's schedule it for tonight,"
Wang Yi said calmly.
If they successfully cooperate with Song Guangyao, HM's market in Singapore will be completely finished!
It would be like pulling the rug out from under them!
"Okay, Boss, I'll inform Director Song right away."
Jian Ziyan said, walking outside to make a call:
"Director Song, I'm really sorry, our boss just got back. Would tonight work for you?"
Song Guangyao's face lit up:
"Convenient, absolutely convenient, I'll head out right away!"
"Okay, no rush."
Jian Ziyan hung up the phone and returned to the office, her expression somewhat complex:
"Boss, with other brands, it's usually the brand owner humbling themselves to seek out big clients. But with our Meiyou, big clients come directly to us, begging to cooperate."
"What's even more outrageous is that even our competitors' major clients are defecting, abandoning the dark and turning to the light. Our Meiyou is truly amazing!"
Jian Ziyan was filled with emotion.
Currently, whether it's provincial agents, city agents, or franchised stores, all of them are polite and treat Meiyou as the primary party.
For other brands, the marketing department needs to push clients to make payments, and even salespeople bring gifts to clients, begging them to order more.
But Meiyou is different; every time an order is placed, major clients scramble to make payments and order more.
The work of Meiyou's marketing department has also become much smoother.
Wherever they go, clients treat them with good food and wine, begging to join Meiyou!
The secondary party has completely become the primary party!
It's utterly unreasonable.
Wang Yi, however, frowned slightly:
"A strong brand makes business easier, which is good, but it also easily breeds corruption. Supervision needs to be strengthened. If bribery and extortion occur, that would be much more troublesome."
The smile faded from Jian Ziyan's face as she also realized this problem.
In fact, many large brands have similar problems.
Market managers and business supervisors of strong brands engage in bribery and extortion, forcing distributors to pay tribute every year...
They entertain people with lavish meals and activities, then make a single call to have the client pay the bill!
If a client refuses, they use their power to retaliate against them.
Ultimately, this leads to distributors and brand owners transforming from strategic partners into enemies.
It would be strange if they could sell well.
Jian Ziyan frowned:
"Boss, should we ask President Song to establish an inspection department to strictly investigate such incidents?"
This is Meiyou's business, and in principle, Song Sining handles it.
Wang Yi, however, shook his head:
"No, don't use people from Jeju Meiyou; use people from Xingyi Technology!"
If people from Jeju Meiyou investigate, they might all be acquaintances, making it easy for them to cover for each other.
In the end, out of ten problematic cases, perhaps only three would be investigated, and even those would be downplayed...
But using people from Xingyi Technology in the Capital to investigate Jeju Meiyou's business would not be a big problem.
They wouldn't know each other, wouldn't be familiar, and wouldn't risk their future to protect strangers.
Similarly, in the future, Xingyi Technology's marketing department will also be supervised by Jeju Meiyou's inspection department.
Such cross-regional mutual inspections can better ensure efficiency and fairness.
"Ziyan, secretly establish an inspection department to covertly investigate Meiyou's marketing department, finance department, etc. It's best if there are no such parasites, but if there are, show absolutely no leniency."
"Whatever was embezzled, make them spit it all out. For minor cases, dismiss them, blacklist them, and never rehire them."
"For serious cases, send them in (to jail) to make an example of them!"
"Clients are Meiyou's strategic partners; we should be in the same boat, working together for a win-win situation!"
"We cannot let these parasites cause our partners to become alienated from Meiyou and turn into our enemies!"
"Yes, Boss."
Jian Ziyan firmly noted this; the matter was too serious.
It can be said that every enterprise has this kind of problem.
And they all have far-reaching effects.
Indeed, the decline of many brands begins with internal corruption!
Wang Yi sighed:
"Meiyou's rapid development is both good and bad. If accompanying regulations can't keep up, it's easy for various loopholes to appear and corruption to breed. It's time to launch an internal inspection campaign, and anyone found to have problems will be dealt with severely!"
"Okay, Boss."
"Additionally, the market areas handled by market specialists must be randomly rotated every three months. Market managers must be rotated every six months. We cannot let them stay in one area for too long and become local tyrants!"
Wang Yi looked at Jian Ziyan:
"These matters are also for you to arrange. Draw up detailed rules and submit them to President Song for approval!"
Song Sining had too many responsibilities, and Wang Yi intended to train Jian Ziyan to become Song Sining's assistant.
This way, Jian Ziyan could handle anything that came up at Meiyou's Capital branch, and Song Sining could maintain control.
Are there any parasites within Meiyou now?
Certainly!
But perhaps not many.
If they act promptly now to make an example, it can still be effectively contained.
If left unchecked, others would follow suit, leading to more and more corruption.
The broken window theory illustrates this perfectly.
Jian Ziyan knew the matter was serious and immediately went to make arrangements.
However, Wang Yi stopped her:
"Oh, right, how's the progress with the communications experts?"
"Boss, everything's been settled. The five communications experts recommended by the headhunters have all joined Xingyi Technology, and the first batch of LTE patents to be acquired is also being screened. Results are expected tomorrow or the day after."
There are many LTE patents; there's a huge difference between what's core, what's just for show, what's a foundational patent, and what can be circumvented.
Many domestic companies apply for thousands of patents a year, which seems impressive, but in reality, there aren't many truly valuable core patents.
Most are just for show, can be circumvented, or are not very significant.
Core patents and foundational patents, however, are difficult to circumvent and are dozens, even hundreds of times more valuable.
This is the focus of Wang Yi's acquisitions.
With patents, quality matters more than quantity.
One foundational patent that no one can circumvent is worth ten core patents, ten thousand ordinary patents, or a hundred thousand filler patents!
Jian Ziyan continued:
"Academician Pei and the three professors are also screening; we should get the first batch of names tomorrow or the day after."
Wang Yi nodded:
"Very good. We'll compare them then and arrange for people to acquire them!"
"Yes."
Patent layout is the key to opening up the European and American markets.
Without enough patents, selling in Europe and America would only lead Xingyi Mobile to become another HTC.
Afterward, Jian Ziyan received a message from the guard:
"Boss, Director Song is here to pick you up."
"Okay."
Wang Yi nodded and left again.
Now, the relationship between Meiyou and HM has long reached a point of incompatibility.
Therefore, it's even more necessary to win over HM's Singapore agent!
Wang Yi was very clear about Meiyou's development path.
Currently, the online market and the domestic market are Meiyou's main markets.
In the future, offline markets and overseas markets will be Meiyou's continuous growth points!
In mid-October, except for tropical markets, the "pure desire" style dresses were completely unsellable.
Both Meiyou Mall's revenue and single-store revenue for physical stores began to decline.
Even with the growth in "pure desire" style autumn wear and pajamas, the decline could not be stopped.
However, Meiyou's total revenue not only didn't decrease but continued to grow!
The reason is that in the past month, the number of Meiyou physical stores in China has greatly increased.
Overseas physical stores in Singapore, Australia, and other regions also opened frequently.
In addition, Meiyou International Mall's revenue saw substantial growth.
As a result, Meiyou's total revenue not only did not decrease but grew steadily!
A typical case of declining single-store revenue being compensated by an increased number of stores!
Online revenue declines, offline revenue fills the gap!
Domestic revenue declines, overseas revenue surges!
Next, as long as they vigorously develop overseas markets and steadily increase the number of physical stores both domestically and internationally, Meiyou's revenue and profit can maintain stable growth.
All of this can provide Wang Yi with a continuous cash flow.
Although the Singapore market already had general agent Li Zongyang, if they could also secure Song Guangyao and cut off HM's Singapore market, then they would completely win!
Wang Yi arrived at the doorway, and Song Guangyao quickly stepped forward, extending his hand:
"Chairman Wang, hello, I am Song Guangyao. Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Chairman Wang."
"Hello, I had some matters these past two days and went on a business trip, which made you wait,"
Wang Yi said with a smile.
"Chairman Wang, you're too kind. I stayed in the Capital for two extra days and had the chance to experience its cultural enrichment. This is truly a great city,"
Song Guangyao said, filled with emotion.
Learning that Wang Yi was on a business trip, he climbed the Great Wall and visited the Forbidden City yesterday, benefiting greatly.
"I hope you enjoy this city,"
Wang Yi said with a smile.
"Absolutely!"
Song Guangyao said, opening the car door.
"Chairman Wang, please!"
"Okay."
Wang Yi got into the car, and Song Guangyao opened the door on the other side, inviting Wu Shuang to get in.
As a bodyguard, Wu Shuang naturally had to follow when meeting an unfamiliar client from a friendly business.
Subsequently, both parties arrived at a five-star hotel, where Song Guangyao had already reserved a private room.
After a few rounds of drinks, Song Guangyao began to complain:
"Chairman Wang, you don't know, I'm so miserable now, it's so difficult."
"It's all because of that damned HM, they just had to copy Meiyou's 'pure desire' style design! Now look, HM's brand name is ruined, no one buys it anymore. The HM stores I manage barely see any customers in a day."
"It's completely desolate, no business at all. Revenue and profit are worse than before!"
As he spoke, Song Guangyao took a document from his bag:
"Chairman Wang, look!"
"Before copying Meiyou, my 25 HM stores combined still had over 2 million US dollars in revenue per day."
"Although it couldn't compare to Meiyou's thirty stores with a terrifying 10 million US dollars in daily revenue. But at least it could break even and even make a profit."
"But now, look, daily revenue is only tens of thousands of US dollars!"
"It's not tens of thousands per store, it's all 25 HM stores combined, only tens of thousands in revenue!"
"Forget about making money, I can't even cover store rent or employee salaries!"
"I absolutely can't continue this!"
Hearing this, Wang Yi was also stunned.
He expected HM's revenue to worsen, but he never imagined it would become this bad.
To be frank, people are still disgusted by copied brands, unless they are exceptionally cheap.
For example, if Adidas sells for five hundred and Adi King sells for fifty, then Adi King might still sell.
But if Adi King also sells for five hundred, why would consumers not buy Adidas instead?
Furthermore, with the plagiarism incident, HM's brand image was severely damaged, being seen as a copycat brand, and other clothes also stopped selling.
After all, female consumers care about appearances; who would want to spend similar money on a copied brand?
So these past few days, HM stores have been empty, and Song Guangyao has been losing money daily, almost to the point of numbness!
"Director Song, I express my deepest sympathy for your situation."
Wang Yi sighed:
"This is a war between HM and Meiyou, I didn't expect you to be caught in the crossfire."
Song Guangyao waved his hand:
"Chairman Wang, this isn't your fault. It's those idiots at HM; their designs were ugly, and they still copied Meiyou. They deserve their current fate!"
"But, I really can't continue as an HM agent. I'm even thinking of suing HM to completely stop representing them."
"But these stores can't remain empty. Chairman Wang, can you give me a chance and help me out? I definitely won't let you down!"
Song Guangyao said earnestly.
Only Wang Yi could save him now.
Other brands weren't making money and already had their own agents, so acting as an agent for them would be pointless.
Wang Yi frowned slightly:
"The exclusive agency for the Meiyou brand in Singapore was given to Li Zongyang. As for the Zhenyou brand agency, it's still available."
Li Zongyang signed the exclusive Meiyou agency in September, and the Zhenyou brand was launched on October 1st.
Although Li Zongyang was currently also selling Zhenyou, he indeed did not have the exclusive agency rights for Zhenyou.
On the contrary, the agency signed by Shopkeeper Wang in Taiwan included both Meiyou and Zhenyou.
After all, having exchanged a baseband business and CDMA worth 510 million RMB for three years of agency rights, Wang Yi would be embarrassed to only give one brand endorsement.
The annual agency fees of 170 million and 50 million differ by more than three times.
"Representing Zhenyou works too!"
Song Guangyao's face lit up, thinking there was a chance, but then he heard Wang Yi change his tone:
"However, Singapore already has five Meiyou flagship stores and thirty Meiyou specialty stores. If you open another 25 specialty stores, that's a total of 60. Wouldn't that be overly saturated?"
"This..."
Song Guangyao fell silent, then took out his phone, searched for a moment, and his face lit up:
"Chairman Wang, it won't be saturated. Look, Adidas has opened over sixty specialty stores in Singapore, and Nike has opened over forty. These highly homogenized brands can open over a hundred stores combined. Meiyou's 'pure desire' style is unique, and adding Zhenyou, with only 60 stores for both brands, it's really not many!"
Fearing that Wang Yi still wouldn't agree, Song Guangyao continued:
"Chairman Wang, Singapore is a tourist country. Don't look at its mere five million residents; there are also a large number of foreign tourists and resident aliens who haven't obtained green cards, and these aren't accounted for!"
Just like the Capital, only a portion of the population has household registration; there are also a large number of undocumented Beijing drifters, tourists, and foreigners.
Singapore is the same; the number of tourist visits per year exceeds tens of millions, more than the resident population of Singapore.
"Chairman Wang, there are nearly a hundred shopping malls in Singapore. For us to open sixty stores isn't a lot. Many malls aren't even covered yet."
Wang Yi fell into contemplation:
"This matter can be considered, but the Zhenyou agency fee will be one hundred million."
"No problem!"
Song Guangyao's face lit up, and he decisively agreed.
"As for the agency method, there are two options. The first is to strictly separate Meiyou and Zhenyou. In the future, you can only represent Zhenyou and may not sell Meiyou products. Li Zongyang will only represent Meiyou and may not sell Zhenyou products."
"The second is a tiered system. You would be a first-tier agent for Zhenyou, with Zhenyou's wholesale price at 50% of the retail price. At the same time, you would also serve as a second-tier agent for Meiyou, but the wholesale price would be 60%."
"Similarly, Li Zongyang would be a first-tier agent for Meiyou, with Meiyou at 50% off. He would also serve as a second-tier agent for Zhenyou, with Zhenyou's wholesale price at 60%."
"As for the specifics, we'll decide later once you've handled things on your end,"
Wang Yi said meaningfully.
For now, it was just a verbal commitment; whether a contract would actually be signed depended on Song Guangyao's subsequent performance.
If he performs well, he gets the agency, and Wang Yi helps him make money.
If not, he can go starve!
As for representing Xingyi Mobile, there was no need.
Phones and clothing are different; with five million people in Singapore, not many phones can be sold in a year.
By then, Xingyi Mobile opening five flagship stores plus after-sales service outlets in Singapore would be sufficient.
Even Apple only has six or seven specialty stores in Singapore, and that's it.
"Okay, both options work for me, Boss, you make the call!"
Song Guangyao decisively replied, understanding Wang Yi's meaning:
"Boss, rest assured, I've prepared all the lawsuit documents. I'll sue HM and terminate the agency when I get back."
"That's your business,"
Wang Yi smiled faintly.
Agents defecting, such things are too common.
But with Song Guangyao delivering such a critical blow to HM, HM wouldn't have it easy.
As for the agency methods for both parties, Wang Yi still preferred Meiyou and Zhenyou to be completely separate.
After all, Meiyou's unit price in Singapore is 100-300 US dollars, while Zhenyou's unit price is 600-1000 US dollars.
The two are not in the same league at all; selling them continuously in the same store would actually be detrimental to Zhenyou.
Over time, it could easily lower Zhenyou's brand positioning and hinder Zhenyou's push into the high-end market!
It would be better to separate them completely!
Then, high-end consumers would go to Zhenyou, and low-end consumers would go to Meiyou.
One would pursue profit, the other volume.
Including Taiwan, although both Meiyou and Zhenyou agencies were given to Shopkeeper Wang, the stores are also completely separate.
Meiyou specialty stores are Meiyou specialty stores, and Zhenyou specialty stores are Zhenyou specialty stores.
The domestic market will also be completely separated subsequently.
Once Zhenyou flagship stores and specialty stores are opened, all Zhenyou products in Meiyou flagship stores and specialty stores will be moved out.
This way, the two brands will operate independently and be clearly distinct.
After dinner, Wang Yi returned to his apartment in Xingyi Technology Park.
Just as he finished washing up, he saw Song Sining's missed call.
Wang Yi called back:
"What's wrong, Sining?"
"Boss, 'Protect the Pomelo' has exploded! Users have surpassed fifty million!"
"???"
Wang Yi was a little surprised:
"That fast?"
"Protect the Pomelo" launched at 8 PM on the 14th, promoted only within the Meiyou APP.
It surpassed ten million users in 20 hours, with a total of over 13 million users on the first day.
Today is the 17th, so with only three days, having over thirty million users would be normal.
But to suddenly hit fifty million, Wang Yi was very surprised.
After all, the Meiyou APP only has over fifty million users; it's impossible for all of them to be playing "Protect the Pomelo."
"Sining, we haven't promoted it externally, so how are users growing so fast? Is it all word-of-mouth?"
Wang Yi was very curious:
"No, it must have made it onto the app store download charts!"
"Bingo!"
Song Sining laughed:
"To prevent user growth from being too fast and servers from not keeping up, we haven't promoted it externally for now, as per your instructions. But even with just internal Meiyou APP promotion, over thirty million users downloaded it.
This morning, it directly surged into the top three on the iOS App Store download chart. Now it's number one. On the Android side, it's similar; fourth this morning, and now number one."
"Coupled with impressive revenue, it even surged into the top few spots on both sales charts, so it completely took off."
Wang Yi let out a speechless laugh; once it hits the download and sales charts, that's the best publicity.
Especially since it directly surged into the top three, and even number one!
A game at the top of the charts, needless to say, anyone who sees it will click to check it out, then get hooked and download it.
"Oh, and on the Nokia side, our 'Protect the Pomelo' became number one yesterday!"
Song Sining laughed.
Wang Yi: "..."
When traffic comes, it's unstoppable.
In his previous life, "Protect the Pomelo" started from scratch and still managed to gain over 100 million users.
This time, with Meiyou's tens of millions of users as a base, "Protect the Pomelo" exploded even without Wang Yi's external promotion.
No wonder, if this game was released in 2011, it would definitely be a massive hit!
After all, smartphones of this era couldn't handle large mobile games like Genshin Impact!
Puzzle casual games like "Protect the Pomelo" are the absolute overlords of the current market.
"Prepare more servers, make sure it doesn't crash,"
Wang Yi instructed.
"Don't worry, I've already made arrangements, no problem."
Song Sining was full of confidence, but Wang Yi was still worried:
"Keep adding them. I estimate it won't take three days to reach eighty million users, even over a hundred million!"
"That terrifying?"
Song Sining was startled.
Wang Yi nodded:
"It definitely can. Add more servers; it's probably going to hit the trending topics soon."
In his previous life, "Protect the Radish 1" only had over 100 million users, mostly domestic, and only on iOS and Android, with no Symbian version.
But this time, "Protect the Pomelo"'s target users are not limited to China's 1.4 billion, but the global 7 billion users.
Not only Apple and Android users, but also over 200 million Nokia smartphone users!
Currently, there are over 3 billion Nokia users, but only over 200 million Nokia smartphone users can download "Protect the Pomelo."
That's terrifying enough!
Most new Nokia phones produced after 2005 are smartphones and can play these casual games.
It's imaginable that once it hits trending topics, the number of "Protect the Pomelo" users will rapidly surge.
If it hits international trending topics, it might rapidly grow to a terrifying extent!
However, what he thought of, happened.
"Boss, I just checked, 'Protect the Pomelo' really made it onto the domestic trending topics!"
Song Sining exclaimed:
"No, I can't talk now, I'm going to add more servers right away!"
"Haha, go ahead!"
Wang Yi laughed.
Then he opened Weibo, and a news item surged to seventh place on the trending topics list:
["Protect the Pomelo" Downloads Exceed Fifty Million in Three Days, Another Masterpiece from Meiyou Technology!]
Wang Yi let out a speechless laugh:
"Don't tell me, the data from those research agencies is quite accurate."
Currently, "Protect the Pomelo"'s user count had just surpassed 53 million!
This trending topic caused a sensation across the entire internet, quickly stirring up a huge commotion, and the comments below became lively:
"Produced by Meiyou, it must be a masterpiece. I'm going to download it now."
"Already played it, it's not good, it's so damn addictive, once you start playing, you can't stop!"
"That's right, it's a good game, but it's quite draining. It's been out for three days, I've pulled three all-nighters, and now I have dark circles. But I've already reached the jungle theme's hidden level!"
"I'm just starting the jungle!"
"Haven't passed the Sky hidden level yet, haven't collected enough monsters."
"You guys are amazing, I can't beat the HM Copy Beast!"
"Yeah, I can't beat it either, looking for a master to guide me!"
"The Copy Beast can replicate, it's disgusting just like HM, how do you get past it?! I'm about to cry!"
"Girl upstairs, add me as a friend, I'll recharge gems for you, guaranteed to pass!"
"Thank you, Big brother, my account is 781*****."
"Done recharging. Let's follow each other on Meiyou, so we can chat easily, heh heh heh."
"What Meiyou? I'm a guy, what would I use that for?"
"Damn, you're a guy? I just recharged 3000 gems for a guy? Bah! Seriously bad luck. I hope you can never defeat the Copy Beast!"
"Why are you talking so viciously?"
"Hahahaha, the user upstairs flirting and failing, I'm dying of laughter!"
"So many people are playing 'Protect the Pomelo'? I'm out of touch, I'm going to download it now."
"Ever since Meiyou's 'pure desire' style was copied by HM, Meiyou launched 'Protect the Pomelo,' calling on everyone to support genuine products and protect Meiyou's 'pure desire' style."
"Yes, Meiyou even created a monster that looks very similar to the 'HM' logo, named 'Copy Beast,' and its skill is replication!"
"Hahahaha, isn't this clearly implying HM is a habitual plagiarist? I'm dying of laughter."
"Meiyou really knows how to stir things up. Just for this, I have to download 'Protect the Pomelo'."
"Whether it's a game or not isn't important; I mainly want to beat the 'Copy Beast'!"
"Exactly, I heard the 'Copy Beast' is hard to beat, I'm downloading it now!"
...
Soon, this trending topic surged to the top of the trending topics list.
The number of "Protect the Pomelo" users also rapidly surged.
Wang Yi pulled up the backend data and looked at "Protect the Pomelo"'s revenue.
In three days, "Protect the Pomelo"'s user count surpassed 53 million, with around 20 million paying users, a payment ratio of just under 40%.
Revenue surpassed 200 million, with an average recharge amount of about 10 yuan.
The payment ratio for mobile games is still quite high, generally reaching 60%.
Like "Honor of Kings" and Genshin Impact in his previous life, paying users were around 60%.
"Protect the Pomelo" launched three days ago, and its payment ratio of nearly 40% is still very good, with room for future improvement.
Just the 'Copy Beast' alone would motivate many players to make their first recharge.
Most players would choose ten yuan for their first recharge, with some opting for five yuan or fifteen yuan.
Following this ratio, as long as "Protect the Pomelo" scales up to hundreds of millions of users, it can become a cash cow, continuously generating profits.
The future is promising!
Games are still very profitable.
Thinking of this, Wang Yi quickly sent an email to the game department, asking them to prepare for the "Protect the Pomelo" version 1.1 upgrade.
Once 10% of users have passed all modes, a version upgrade must be rolled out, introducing new themes and maps to encourage players to continue paying and playing.
Only continuous replayability can ensure continuous profitability.
(End of chapter)