"The wide variety of products on the platform can indeed be overwhelming for consumers, but it also attracts consumers with more diverse needs," Chen Dong said.
As Anne handed Amazon's financial report to Chen Dong, she said, "I just think we can build our own platform."
Why let Amazon benefit?
In Annie's eyes, the iPod brought Amazon a huge boost in traffic, which was an opportunity for Amazon to ride the wave of success. To a certain extent, the iPod could be said to have paved the way for Amazon's success.
"You can't judge the relationship between companies by who takes advantage of whom," Chen Dong admonished. "In the internet age, everyone doing business is actually helping each other succeed."
"You think that the iPod brought traffic to Amazon, but in my opinion, as more merchants join the Amazon platform, it will inevitably attract more consumers."
Chen Dong looked at her and said, "This has also made us who we are, hasn't it?"
Chen Dong particularly understands Annie's desire to maintain the platform's purity, simplicity, and integrated philosophy.
However, this idea is completely incompatible with internet thinking.
The internet mindset is one-to-many, where a single platform serves all intermediaries, manufacturers, and end consumers simultaneously.
Only when everyone puts their goods on the same platform and makes comparisons can we better promote the differentiation of different products in the market and the upgrading of different products.
Shortly afterward, Chen Dong, together with Asia Travel Capital, invested in Amazon.
After the partnership was established, Amazon created a separate section for the iPod, and from then on, all of Longteng Electronics' product accessories could be found and ordered on Amazon.
An electronics room in China.
"Boss, the iPod has already released its second generation, why is yours still the first generation?" a customer asked.
The shop owner, Ji Qing, smiled broadly and said, "The second-generation iPod is $599. You're so rich, why don't you give me one for free?"
"I was just asking..." The customer thought for a moment and then said, "I do have the money, but it seems that the second-generation iPod is not available in China. Don't you have a source for it, boss?"
The shopkeeper's eyes lit up. "You have money? I can buy it for you."
"Really?" The customer asked doubtfully, just about to reach into his pocket, when he clicked his tongue and asked, "What if you run off with my money?"
The shop owner rolled his eyes, turned around and glanced at his own store. "I can run away by myself, but I can't possibly take the store with me!"
"Let me think about it again, let me think about it again!" The customer put the money back in his pocket, and the shop owner's eyes dimmed.
To be honest, of all the electronic products his store sells, the iPod is currently the most popular, and he really wants to see what the second-generation iPod looks like.
The second generation is priced too high, and it hasn't been released in the Chinese market yet.
There are quite a few distributors in Southeast Asia, but if you have to ask a friend to buy it for you, the price will be more than $599.
"We have to buy things from overseas agents whenever we want. Why don't we have something like Amazon?" the boss couldn't help but complain.
The customer asked the shop owner to turn on a computer. While waiting for it to boot up, he said, "Can our country compare to small European countries? They only need one distributor per country."
"The domestic environment is complex. There are large areas of wasteland in the north where roads are impassable, and the south is covered with dense forests. The climate changes drastically."
"To establish an e-commerce company in China, you first need good road conditions, secondly you need warehouses all over the country, and thirdly you need large-scale manufacturing factories with a full range of products."
The boss interrupted him, "We have factories! Picking up warehouses is even easier, and we don't lack roads! Didn't you come by bike?"
He pointed to the neon bicycles parked outside by customers.
The customer glanced at the bicycle and sighed, "I mean, we need a well-developed transportation network. Of course, our city has a well-developed road network, but what about the countryside? What about the highways connecting cities?"
"Besides, in addition to roads, we also need vehicles—not bicycles, but cars! Cars that can transport large quantities of goods! And trains too!"
China has more than 9.6 million square kilometers of land. Building warehouses involves costs, and transporting products from warehouses to consumers involves transportation costs.
"These days, people still ride bicycles when they go to the countryside. Do you think we ordered an iPod online and then rode a bicycle all the way from Beijing to Shanghai?"
The boss fell silent, quietly counting the money in his hand, convinced that he would have everything he needed.
While the sales volume of iPods in China is so low, it's negligible compared to Europe and the Americas, but a new trend has emerged in China.
iPods, VCD players, electronic products, computer game consoles, game cartridges, etc., are all available in one place for short-term rentals.
These places are called "electronic rooms".
The largest "electronics room" in Yanjing is called "Core Electronics," which covers almost all the latest electronic products launched in China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Annie reported this change to Chen Dong.
Chen Dong quickly realized that this so-called electronics room was actually the prototype of a computer room.
Computer rooms sprang up all over the country, forming a trend, and were later called "internet cafes," becoming a place for computer entertainment and leisure.
The computer room will gradually expand in scale and form a new business model in the future.
A computer costs eight or nine thousand RMB, and very few people in China can afford such a price. Even people who run internet cafes have to check their wallets before deciding to buy a computer.
As internet cafes gradually became more widespread, online dating gradually became a trend.
This has led to the emergence of a considerable number of online dating apps.
QQ was launched during this period.
After receiving investment, Amazon expanded rapidly, establishing a dense network of stores in Europe and North America.
The booming online e-commerce sector has dealt a blow to the physical economy in Europe and the United States, with many small retail stores closing down or shifting their operations online.
"The ICQ project you had us develop is nearing completion," the engineering department called.
"Now we just need to go through the beta version, and then we can launch it after making some minor improvements."
This is really good news!
Chen Dong suggested that the engineering department place the test board on the iPod online community.
These are all young people with modern ideas; they are better able to grasp the latest communication trends, and Longteng Electronics also needs to implement this project in terms of user experience.
“This group of young people are our target users,” Chen Dong said to the person on the phone.
Chris repeatedly confirmed on the phone, "ICQ still has many details that need to be perfected. Do we really want to launch it now?"
"Isn't there a beta version?" Chen Dong smiled. "The internet is changing so fast these days, we must seize the initiative."
"There's a big difference between being online all day in the morning and being online all day in the evening."
......
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
