“Amazon isn’t entirely inactive either; they’re now looking for original factories and independent retailers,” Lin Zhiyuan said.
In the late 1990s, traditional manufacturing industries began to gradually withdraw from the market due to labor and material costs, and slowly shifted their production focus overseas.
Europe and North America are Amazon's two main markets, but it is precisely in Europe and North America that their manufacturing industries are nearing a downturn, making it extremely difficult to find source factories within Amazon's coverage area.
Traditional retailers, on the other hand, have the largest number of retail distributors and the most retail products, as Walmart owns the largest chain of supermarkets in the United States.
Walmart controls the largest retail resources and has become a retail brand with an excellent reputation.
Brands with superior products are often more eager to utilize Walmart's comprehensive distribution channels to distribute their goods.
This has led to a situation where any excellent brand has been brought under Walmart's wing through various forms of cooperation, or, as in this case, Walmart has simply acquired excellent brands by leveraging its financial strength.
If Amazon wants to bypass Walmart and find independent retailers, it can only find third-rate retail products on the market.
This is not a good direction, but Amazon has no other choice.
Originally, Chen Dong had hoped that Amazon could weather this period, but with the two-month agreement about to expire, he couldn't wait any longer.
“You guys should get in touch with the people at Amazon,” Chen Dong said to Annie. “See what they’re really thinking. The best-case scenario is to try and prevent Amazon from giving in so quickly.”
"clear."
After Annie left, Lin Zhiyuan looked at Amazon's latest financial report and asked, "Why? Neither Amazon nor Walmart will suffer losses from the partnership?"
“Brother-in-law!” Chen Dong sighed, “You haven’t seen the true nature of this matter yet.”
Lin Zhiyuan was even more puzzled, "What essence?"
"Do you think it's a competition between Amazon and Walmart right now?" Chen Dong asked.
Lin Zhiyuan shook his head, and Chen Dong continued to explain, "Actually, Walmart and Amazon are just appearances. One of these companies represents the online e-commerce model, and the other represents the offline retail model."
“This isn’t a competition between two companies; it’s a competition between a traditional sales model and a new one.” Wang An, with his engineering background, quickly grasped this point.
"I see." Lin Zhiyuan turned his head and looked at Chen Dong again, his eyes still filled with doubt. "But even so, wouldn't it be more beneficial for our products to be distributed in the European and American markets if the two companies cooperated and created a harmonious market environment?"
Lin Zhiyuan is a peace-loving person, but this philosophy will be a disadvantage in the internet field.
"When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits," Chen Dong gently tapped the table, reminding Lin Zhiyuan, "If the snipe and the clam don't fight, where will the fisherman get any meat to eat?"
Lin Zhiyuan nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.
At that moment, the secretary outside came in and said that the person in charge of Amazon had arrived.
"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," Wang An exclaimed.
Chen Dong gave Wang An a look, and Wang An quickly went out.
"Hello, Mr. Chen." A man and a woman entered the office and greeted Chen Dong very politely.
"Please sit down."
"Mr. Chen, we are the heads of Amazon Asia." The woman introduced herself in fluent English. "I am Alice, the business manager, and this is Lai Wanpeng, the product channel manager."
Upon hearing the pronunciation of the name, Chen Dong became interested and asked in Chinese, "Are you Chinese?"
Lai Wanpeng nodded and replied in Chinese, "Yes."
"Mr. Chen, we've come here mainly to discuss with you the issue of selling iPods on Amazon's online marketplace."
Seeing that these two were still inexperienced young people, Chen Dong intentionally tried to show them a good attitude.
"What's wrong with our iPod?"
Lai Wanpeng sighed and continued, "I think you've seen the boycott of your company's products on the internet recently. Amazon is just a sales platform. While netizens are boycotting iPods, they are also classifying Amazon as an untrustworthy product."
"We hope that you will remove your company's products from Amazon."
"Taken off the shelves again?!" Lin Zhiyuan blurted out.
Chen Dong glared at him, and Lin Zhiyuan impatiently withdrew his surprised expression.
Amazon had previously tricked them during the pre-sale phase of the iPod.
At the time, they removed the iPod from the shelves without a word. If it weren't for the netizens later criticizing Amazon to the point of despair, Amazon wouldn't have given Longteng Electronics a chance to speak.
This time, the familiar story returned, and Chen Dong only felt helpless.
After at least these past few months, Longteng Electronics' efforts in Europe and North America have made overseas netizens aware of Longteng's advantages, and Amazon no longer dares to underestimate Longteng.
Both instances involved product removal, but the last one was done silently; this time, at least they've learned to negotiate.
That's why Chen Dong and Lin Zhiyuan couldn't understand why Amazon would bring up the issue of removing the iPod from the shelves again.
“Mr. Lai, I think Amazon’s current predicament is not with the iPod,” Chen Dong pointed out their pain point incisively.
For the past month and a half, Amazon has been relentlessly pursued and blocked by Walmart, leaving it exhausted.
Their online activity is now declining sharply. Due to copyright disputes, the iPod has lost its reputation among netizens and has become a target of attacks in the eyes of celebrities, shareholders, and fans.
They wanted to win over netizens and preserve their last remaining market share by jointly attacking the iPod.
However, their mistake was that they targeted Longteng Electronics instead.
“Amazon’s current predicament is not caused by the iPod. The iPod just happened to coincide with the window of opportunity for competition between Walmart and Amazon,” Chen Dong said to Lai Wanpeng. “Amazon should focus its attention on its most powerful enemy.”
That's what they say, but these two are just the heads of the Asia region; Lai Wanpeng and Alice are just cannon fodder pushed out.
Lai Wanpeng knew his position very well. He looked at Chen Dong and said, "Mr. Chen, Amazon is in trouble right now, and the iPod is a controversial product. If we don't take it off the shelves, it will put us in a very difficult position."
It turns out that Amazon's actions were because it felt it was being dragged down by the iPod.
Sigh! Looks like I've run into a stubborn fool.
"Have you ever thought about what would happen if Amazon rejected iPod, and then Walmart proposed to cooperate with iPod in the future? Wouldn't Amazon lose a good source manufacturer then?" Chen Dong patiently explained.
Lai Wanpeng and Alice blinked, clearly not understanding.
......
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