Chapter 51 Door-to-Door Sales

“I want to do internet gift cards.”

Andres Ihahn was a little excited when he expressed his idea.

Yang Huan knew that gift cards were the kind of shopping cards or vouchers that were very popular in China, but this industry was no longer new. There were already many websites that sold gift cards, especially in the United States, where they were numerous.

It is said that the gift card market in the United States this year may reach 50 billion US dollars, and is expected to exceed 100 billion US dollars by 2012. So this market is indeed very large, but the problem is that the competition is too fierce.

"I don't want to do gift card sales or transactions." Andres Ihahn shook his head vigorously.

Yang Huan was surprised, "So what do you want to do?"

"Give a gift."

"Gift?" Yang Huan was a little confused.

"Social networks are so developed now. Whether it's Facebook or Twitter, there are hundreds of millions of users, and the connections between users are getting closer and closer. But I don't know if you have noticed a problem: there are almost no online gift-giving services."

Andres Ihaan said this with a hint of excitement, "We all know that giving gifts is more exciting than buying gifts, so my idea is not to do a gift card transaction, or consumption, but to give."

Yang Huan remembered that in China, giving shopping cards and gift cards was indeed very popular. Especially in real life, it was an important channel for accepting bribes that the government was determined to crack down on.

Can be sent online, this...

"According to the analytical data I obtained, gift cards are the first and third most desired gifts for women in the United States, and in Europe, gift cards are also the most desired gift for everyone, which is why gift card trading websites have been so popular in recent years."

Although Yang Huan didn't quite understand the details here, it sounded like it made sense.

This person has put a lot of effort into this aspect.

"My idea is to get friends' birthdays and other important or celebratory information through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and then choose the right gift card to give to friends and write a message on it."

Yang Huan listened calmly, "This is a bit like the concept of Internet greeting cards."

"Yes, that's right. But the interesting thing is that after this gift card is given away, it will be temporarily stored and kept confidential. The recipient of the gift card will not see the specific information on the gift card until a pre-set memorable day, when he will receive a reminder and learn the details of the gift card."

Quite interesting!

It's a bit like giving the recipient an unexpected surprise.

"However, other people besides the recipient can see the details of the gift card, and if they also want to give a gift to the recipient, everyone can add an amount to it, and the available spending amount on the gift card received by the recipient is the sum of the amounts added by all friends."

After listening to this, Yang Huan felt that this concept was a bit like group buying, except that this time it was group buying for gifts.

"Then what?" Yang Huan felt that it was not enough.

What Andres Ihahn said only refers to the user and recipient side, so what about the gift card channel side?

"You know, many brands are reluctant to offer discounts now because they think it will damage their brand reputation. But everyone knows that the lower the price, the more competitive advantage they have. So we use gift cards as a disguised form of discounts. When consumers walk into a physical store with a gift card, they don't think it's a discount, but rather a gift carefully prepared for them by a friend."

"For brands, they can sell their products cheaper without affecting their brand reputation, so I believe that many brands will be willing to provide some free or low-priced gift cards for this purpose."

Yang Huan felt that this idea sounded really good. At first glance, it seemed like a group purchase, but in fact it was more interesting than a group purchase.

In his previous life, he had seen some reports that the biggest problem with group buying websites was the lack of user stickiness.

Merchants post discount information on group buying websites, and users flock to them. However, after enjoying the low discounts, they never come back. Users have no stickiness at all, so the group buying model makes it difficult to create a win-win situation between group buying websites, merchants and users.

But Andres Ihahn's idea can effectively solve this problem.

At the very least, this gift-giving gimmick is a good one.

There is a saying that goes, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Giving gifts to others brings a greater sense of accomplishment and pride than receiving gifts from others.

In addition, the gift card market is indeed quite large, and over the years, countless people have been exploring and looking for ways to break down the barriers between online and offline.

Now it seems that this is an opportunity worth trying.

Seeing Yang Huan lost in thought, Andres Ihahn smiled awkwardly, "This is a relatively primitive idea of ​​mine, but I think this model has great development prospects, especially for your WeChat. All users are users in the phone contact book, and the connection between them is closer than Facebook and Twitter."

Generally, people who give gifts are those who are close to each other, and the friends in the mobile phone address book are basically close people, so there is a very large overlap between these two types of users.

I guess this is the reason why he approached Yang Huan.

"Very interesting!" Yang Huan praised with a smile after hearing it.

He has always felt that free is the ultimate killer on the Internet. Once something is free, it will become popular immediately.

But free is also a double-edged sword. If used well, it is a win-win situation, but if used poorly, it is a disaster.

From the current perspective, Andres Ihahn's entire idea is relatively complete.

He also believes that with this application, he will be able to attract as many users as possible from Facebook and Twitter to WeChat.

"I can promise you now that I am willing to invest in this project!" Yang Huan made the decision on the spot.

This kind of project does not require a lot of investment, and it is not a big deal for him.

After all, he had just blackmailed his dad for 30 million pounds.

"Now, I solemnly invite you to join my company and work for me. The annual salary is 200,000 pounds, and there is no stock. But I will give you room to play freely, equip you with a research and development team, and provide you with 2 million pounds of research and development funds. And as long as you do a good job, I will definitely give you a raise."

"Two hundred thousand pounds?" Andres Ihahn was a little dumbfounded.

This is more than five times his salary at Swedish company SoundCloud, and even at Google, which is known for its best salary packages, senior technicians earn about the same.

He didn't expect that Yang Huan would make such a big move at the first try.

Two million pounds of research and development funds would be enough to stun him.

In fact, Yang Huan searched for Sound Power on his mobile phone. This company is quite large, and being able to serve as the chief technology officer of a company like Sound Power at least proves that Andres Ihahn is very capable.

"Think about it." Yang Huan was not in a hurry.

They have come to you on their own initiative, why are you still in a hurry?

Are you afraid that he will run away?

Even if he ran away, Yang Huan could immediately organize people and do it himself according to this idea.

"Don't think about it, I'll follow you!" Andres Ihaan nodded without hesitation.

People go to high places and water flows to low places. He certainly wouldn't be so stupid as to give up the high salary and go back to Stockholm.

Yang Huan nodded and praised, "You won't regret your decision today!"

Sweden's innovative Internet companies have always been quite outstanding. For example, Skype was later acquired by eBay at a high price. In Yang Huan's previous life, it was acquired by Microsoft for a sky-high price of US$8.5 billion in 2011.

And Sound Power's current performance is also quite good and has been favored by many investors.

Sweden also has a lot of game development and software development talents, and what Yang Huan needs most now is talent.

So his plan was to retain the employee first, and then find opportunities to attract more Swedish talents to join his team through him. After all, talents are the primary productive force.

…………

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Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Clemens Theunis was sitting in his office. On the desk in front of him was a financial statement that had just been handed to him. Opposite the desk sat the team's newly appointed general manager, Peter Petters.

Since the retirement of board chairman Joseph Schnusenberg this summer, Theunis has become the sole person in charge of Schalke 04 as the chairman of the supervisory board, but at the same time, he has also taken over Schalke 04's huge debts from his predecessor.

"We are currently in debt of 270 million euros, and the interest we need to pay each year is nearly 15 million euros. If we cannot solve these problems as soon as possible and reduce the team's debt burden, even if we successfully enter the Champions League this season, in the end, we will be crushed by debt and even go bankrupt."

Peter Peters was once the sports editor-in-chief of WAZ magazine. This time he was invited to take over Schalke 04 to help Theunis improve the team's management. However, after taking over, he found that the situation was much worse than he had expected.

It can be said that what Joseph Schnusenberg left them was more than just a mess.

"The team's total salary expenditure is now more than 70 million euros, only slightly less than Bayern Munich, but our revenue is nearly 150 million euros less than Bayern Munich. We simply cannot afford such a heavy salary burden."

Peter Petters was a little excited. "On the other hand, the interest on the money we owed for the stadium renovation is enough to give us a headache. The British Shecott Investment Bank has asked us to use the ticket revenue as collateral to raise funds from the public to repay the debt."

When he said this, Peter Petters stared at Clemens Theunis and spoke word by word.

“We have no choice!”

This summer, in order to save salary expenses, Schalke 04 has let go of key stars such as Westermann, Rafinha, Kuranyi, Asamoah, etc., and the superstar Raul, who was introduced for free, was able to join the team because Real Madrid helped to advance his salary.

But this can only achieve cost-saving. However, this season the team has entered the Champions League. If they want to make a difference, get more Champions League bonuses and ease the team's financial pressure, they must recruit players to strengthen the team's overall strength.

The prerequisite for recruiting players is to sell them!

"Neuer?" The only thing Theunis could think of was the team's most valuable player at the moment.

Manuel Neuer.

Petters nodded. "We need to sell him to get cash flow."

"But you should know that Bayern Munich also knows our needs. They are unwilling to offer a reasonable price, and Manchester United's price has been hovering around 15 million euros, which is not a high price."

Theunis is not a pedantic person. He knows very well that what the team needs most urgently is money. If selling Neuer can bring in a considerable amount of money, he will agree without hesitation.

But the problem is that the two teams that are interested in Neuer, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, are not in a hurry. They are all waiting for Schalke 04 to break down and come to them so that they can take the opportunity to lower the price.

Therefore, selling Neuer at this time is undoubtedly a very disadvantageous deal.

“In fact, we have another potential customer.”

"Who?" Theunis asked curiously.

"Southampton!"

"The English First Division team?"

Petters nodded. "I received news that they want a goalkeeper now, and they brought in the 18-year-old Courtois from the Belgian Genk team for 1.5 million euros, but this player lacks match experience."

When Tenis heard this, he immediately understood what Petters meant.

"You mean, we take the initiative to promote Neuer?"

Football Giants