In an industrial city in the north, the home of Xiao Tao, a sophomore in high school.
On weekend evening, Xiao Tao was watching Hunan Satellite TV's "Happy Camp" with his parents.
During the GG period, Jay Chou's familiar prelude sounded, and the camera quickly switched to show Jay Chou holding a beautiful sky-blue mobile phone, dancing to a dynamic rhythm. "My music, my A1. Xingchen A1, cool to the end!"
"Wow! Jay Chou!" Xiao Tao jumped up from the sofa in an instant, eyes fixed on the screen, "This phone! Xingchen A1?! So handsome! Mom! I want this! I improved ten places in the monthly exam this time!"
He pointed at the TV, excited and incoherent.
His mother looked at GG, then at her son, and smiled helplessly: "We will discuss it when your father comes back..."
Xiaoxue, a freshman in a female dormitory of a university in Shanghai.
Xiaoxue is a die-hard fan of Jay Chou, and her bedside is covered with posters.
She was hanging out on the school Internet, and the video GG that suddenly popped up was the complete version of Jay Chou’s endorsement of the Star A1.
"Ahhhh——!"
She screamed in the dormitory, "Jaylen is endorsing a new mobile phone! Xingchen A1! It looks great! I want to buy it! I must buy it!"
She immediately opened the Xingchen community page, frantically searching for all the information about A1, and joined the school's "Xingchen A1 anticipation group."
A certain digital city in Chengdu.
Several high school students who had made an appointment to visit a mobile phone store went straight to the counter as soon as they entered the store and asked in unison: "Boss, do you have the Xingchen A1? Jay Chou endorses that one!"
The boss replied with a wry smile: "It hasn't officially arrived yet. There have been too many people asking in the past few days. Leave a phone number and I will notify you when it arrives."
At this point, Li Yan's three-dimensional marketing matrix planned for the Xingchen A1 has been fully formed.
Coupled with the GG investment budget of up to 18 million yuan covering the country's mainstream satellite TV, terrestrial channels in key cities, and all mainstream video websites, it forms a high-density information bombing with nowhere to escape.
The enthusiasm on the market side is instantly transmitted to the channels and production side.
Sales Director Sister Li rushed into Li Yan's office with uncontrollable excitement: "Mr. Li! It's exploded! It's completely exploded! Agents across the country are almost buzzing with phone calls! Just from the confirmed prepaid deposit orders, A1's pre-orders have exceeded 450,000 units! This is just the beginning of distribution, and many channels are still waiting and hesitating!"
Production pressure has increased sharply.
Located in the new factory building in Xin'an Community, eight new automated production lines are already operating at full speed.
Workers wearing uniform anti-static clothing work in three shifts, like precision gears, assembling components one by one into the brand new A1 mobile phone.
The machines in the factory are roaring, the lights are bright, and there is a sense of urgency in the air to "rush to work". The third uncle's hoarse voice never stopped playing on the intercom. He wanted to ensure both speed and quality.
In order to meet this explosive demand, the Human Resources Department has launched a new round of large-scale recruitment, mainly for production line operators and quality inspectors.
The total number of employees of Xingchen Technology has rapidly expanded to close to 2,000 people. It has grown from a small rural factory to an influential private enterprise in Dongguan.
Li Yan’s strategic intention is terrifyingly clear: use the approximately seven-month window from May to December to use A1, a “trendy product” that is extremely cost-effective and well-designed, to forcibly tear open the young consumer market with thunderous momentum, and quickly accumulate a huge young user base with high brand loyalty.
As soon as MTK’s smartphone solution is available in September, Xingchen Technology can immediately start the research and development of smartphones.
Leveraging on the market popularity, channel foundation and brand recognition created by A1, he is very confident that he can launch Xingchen’s first smartphone before the New Year, completing the seamless and smooth transition from a feature phone to a smartphone.
At the product level, Xingchen A1’s cost control demonstrates strong supply chain management capabilities.
Even though it uses a larger TFT screen with better display than the S2, and a more expensive plastic alloy composite casing with a subtle matte texture that can imitate metallic luster.
However, due to the purchase volume reaching one million levels and the improved negotiating position with suppliers, the material cost of a single unit is firmly controlled at 388 yuan.
Li Yan made a bold decision. He took the initiative to reduce the profit of a single unit and set the wholesale price to channel dealers at 518 yuan, while the retail guide price was set at 618 yuan.
What he pursues is ultimate sales volume and market share, not short-term huge profits.
However, the most revolutionary and asset-heavy step in this “Youth Storm” lies in the complete transformation of channels.
Facing a young target group that is completely different from those in the sinking market, the past model of relying on agents at all levels and penetrating into rural mobile phone stores seems to be inadequate in terms of brand image unity, user experience control and marketing accuracy.
Li Yan defied public opinion and launched a grand plan for the offline direct store "Star Space".
He asked the Finance Department and the Marketing Department to work overtime together all night long to select the first list of 20 core cities, which included BJ, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, the four first-line fortresses that must be occupied, as well as Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an, Qingdao, Dalian, Xiamen and other secondary central cities with active economies, dense universities, and strong young consumption power.
These directly-operated stores named "Star Space", from location selection, design to decoration standards, are completely decided by Li Yan himself.
Its design style unabashedly draws on the global retail store paradigm pioneered by Apple’s Apple Store.
· The huge, fully transparent floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall gives an unobstructed view of the store and is full of invitation;
· The interior space adopts a minimalist white tone, paired with display stands and floors with light-colored log elements, creating a bright, open, technological and yet warm atmosphere;
· The products are mainly A1, with a small amount of S2 classic models also on display, arranged in an "experience island" manner, encouraging customers to pick them up and operate them at will;
· The professional track spotlight system ensures that each product is in the best lighting environment;
· Even the cashier is designed to be extremely low-key and blend into the overall environment.
In China in 2008, this style of consumer electronics retail store was subversive. It conveyed a display of brand confidence and lifestyle, rather than just selling goods.
And behind this is a terrifying investment.
In the core business districts of first-tier cities, such as Wangfujing in Beijing, Xujiahui in Shanghai, Teemall in Guangzhou, and Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen, the monthly rent for a street-facing store of about 150 square meters easily exceeds 200,000 yuan, and some prime locations even reach 300,000 yuan.
With 20 stores, the average monthly rental cost is 220,000 yuan per month, and the total monthly rental cost is as high as 4.4 million yuan.
This is just rent.