2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 332 You've hit the jackpot, I'm ecstatic!
There are no secrets on the internet. Although Kaixin.com has not released specific numbers of registered users recently, its Alexa ranking continues to rise, having already broken into the top 100 and is currently approaching the top 50.

With its rapidly growing number of registered users and extremely high daily active users, Kaixin001 has become a hot topic of discussion in the internet industry, with some organizations already valuing it at 50 million yuan.

However, the internet industry is different from the physical industry, and the media invited today are all official media. Tan Jincheng did not expect that a reporter would bring up this point.

The reporter from Beicang Evening News, then there's nothing wrong with them paying attention to this point.

As the press conference was drawing to a close, Tan Jincheng smiled and said, "This question is irrelevant to today's press conference, but I can answer you: Orange Technology is a business that my girlfriend and I have started together."

The reporter from Beicang Evening News had an "I knew it" look on his face, while the reporter who had chatted with him privately earlier looked surprised.

"It really is his. This is truly remarkable."

A reporter from Ningbo quickly followed up with a question: "Mr. Tan, could you talk about Kaixin001? There aren't many well-known internet companies in Ningbo. Could you tell us about the growth process of Orange Technology?"

Tan Jincheng quickly waved his hand: "There's nothing to say. It's a small website, something I set up for my girlfriend to practice with. It's nothing special. I'm not involved in its operation. If you want to know some details, ask her."

Representatives from Beicang City Investment also attended the press conference today. They initially looked down on Orange Technology, which led Tan Jincheng to remove Orange Technology from the FlashCheer system. We won't provoke them here today.

Come happily, don't let them leave feeling upset.

The representative from the Beicang District government took this matter to heart. Tan Jincheng had previously established Orange Technology, but the district hadn't paid much attention to it at the time. After a few months, apart from providing consulting services to Zhongtai, there had been no further activity.

It was impossible to tell what he was up to, and several months later the district had completely forgotten about it.

"Alright, that concludes today's press conference. Thank you all very much for coming," Zhou Ao, who was temporarily acting as the host, said as Tan Jincheng stood up to leave the venue.

The process actually ended before this issue on Kaixin001; this issue was an accident.

Today's press conference mainly introduced the business, development trend and future plans of Flash Group to the public. At the same time, it also sent some signals to the outside world that Flash has three more factories to build, one of which, the electric vehicle factory, has not yet been located.

Whether it's true that nothing has been decided yet or not, only Tan Jincheng knows for sure.

He had previously visited Changzhou in a low-key manner and talked with the locals. The two sides had reached a basic consensus on cooperation, but they could not agree on some details. Currently, there are hundreds of small and medium-sized electric vehicle factories in Changzhou, making it arguably the largest single-region factory in the country.

With so many small and medium-sized enterprises, the local government cannot simply abandon them. Even if they are transforming, they need to give them some time. Therefore, they still want Flash to make some reservations in terms of price reductions and promotions, giving them a chance to breathe.

They even came up with a reason for Flashpoint: the recent rise in raw material prices is different from the price wars waged by leading companies like Flashpoint, Chiprise, Yadi, and Green Source.

Small businesses lack cost advantages, and some have even raised prices. In Sichuan province, some leading local companies have begun to significantly adjust the prices of electric vehicles sold in the province.

The idea from Changzhou is that if things don't work out, the four of you should go to Sichuan Province and engage in a price war. They can raise prices while you lower them, making it easier to grab market share.

Well, this isn't something that can't be discussed. Nowadays, there are protection policies in various places, which Tan Jincheng can understand.

In other words, the protection is too good. When local companies in Sichuan Province raise prices, Tan Jincheng scoffs. They can't wait to raise prices after the raw material prices have just gone up a little. Do they really think the market situation is still like it was a few years ago?

The market today cannot be protected by local protectionism alone. There are at least 800 to 1000 electric vehicles, ranging from legitimate brands to no-name brands. If you dare to raise prices, consumers will abandon you.

The market economy has entered a stage of fierce competition, and some places have not yet changed their mindset.

Tan Jincheng was unwilling to disclose the factory construction talks with Changzhou because of this: protecting local businesses is not wrong, but it cannot be done in this way.

Flash has its own operating strategy and corporate plan. Its price war is a market behavior, and it only focuses on the discounts and free accessories.

The actual value after the promotion is 1500 yuan, but the money that consumers actually have to pay is more than 1500 yuan, which already leaves room for negotiation.

To actually increase annual sales to 100 million vehicles within three years, in addition to relying on a market boom, one's own efforts are also essential, and seizing market share is the first step.

So other things can be discussed, but a price war is out of the question. Besides, it's not just Flashcore's problem anymore.

Currently, all four of the top-selling companies are involved, so any negotiations would require all four to sit down and discuss the matter together.

After the press conference ended, Tan Jincheng left with the representatives from Beicang District. He still had to go to the district for some discussions, while Zhou Ao stayed behind to handle the aftermath and entertain the reporters. The "uncrowned king" still held considerable prestige in this era. Of course, their professionalism was truly commendable; even at a press conference following established procedures, they didn't treat it perfunctorily, and some even did their homework beforehand.

As they walked off the field, Tan Jincheng spotted Tan Lihua and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Dad, what brings you here?"

When I asked him this morning if he was coming, he said he was busy and needed to stay home and get along well with Xiao Jinyue.

Tan Lihua blushed and said, "I came out to get familiar with the surroundings. Your mother asked me to buy groceries, so I switched to RT-Mart."

The Tiangang Hotel is near RT-Mart, so the reason is acceptable. Tan Jincheng didn't think much of it: "I have something to do, so I'll leave first. If you need anything, find Zhou Ao, the person in charge of our company here. He knows you."

"Okay, go ahead."

Besides reporting on the situation here, the main purpose of the trip to the district was to discuss GXG's plan to build a factory in Beicang. Whether it's buying a factory directly or acquiring land to build one, the area will not be small, and the location is a problem.

Zhang Xupeng has already gone there ahead of time. Beicang District already has a leading textile enterprise. Would adding another clothing brand seem crowded, or would it squeeze the development space of both parties?

How resources are allocated—these are things that need to be agreed upon.

Although Shenzhou is different from GXG, Tan Jincheng knows exactly what it will look like in a dozen years. It is known as the Foxconn of the textile industry, and all the orange-red houses in Beicang belong to him.

Last year, Shenzhou earned US$2.85 million in foreign exchange, which is more than RMB 23 billion at last year's exchange rate. By 2023, the company will have more than 10 employees and its Ningbo factory will cover more than 68 hectares. The company's competitiveness is quite remarkable.

If the current Shanchi Beicang District is treated like a favored son, then Shenzhou should be considered the crown prince.

In other words, Tan Jincheng chose the electric vehicle industry as a breakthrough point. If he had originally transformed from a pure foreign trade company into a clothing manufacturing enterprise, he would not have the treatment he enjoys today.
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While print media are still writing their articles, news of Flash Group's press conference has already spread online—that's the advantage of the internet.

The news first came from Kaixin.com. The official account of FlashTech on Kaixin.com uploaded photos and brief text of the press conference, and then the official accounts on QQ Space, blog, and other platforms also reposted it.

The corporate account doesn't have many followers and its popularity is relatively low. It's a pity that you can't buy trending topics these days, otherwise, Gao Di Tan Jincheng would have done it. However, it still got a little hype from the paid trolls.

Selling 40 electric vehicles in a year and ranking among the top three in the electric vehicle industry is an achievement worth celebrating.

In addition, Tan Jincheng also contacted the three spokespeople to forward today's event updates. Chun Ge was the most proactive, forwarding the post shortly after making the phone call.

The account, of course, is on Kaixin001.

The Kaixin.com project team has been struggling to find a good way to retain the fans who voted in the previous event; there's no way around it, since individuals are just there for the fun, and it's inevitable that they'll leave once the fun is over.

So Gu Qingqing decided to learn from the blog's approach of bringing in celebrities. Since she was a fan of the three spokespeople, she figured that having the three spokespeople open an account on Kaixin.com, get it verified, and post a few updates would surely attract a group of fans to stay.

It was Tan Jincheng who negotiated with Chun Ge and Jay Chou. As soon as Chun Ge heard that Kaixin.com was also Tan Jincheng's business, he didn't hesitate and successfully opened the account after paying a symbolic fee.

Jay Chou, on the other hand, seemed a bit hesitant. In his previous life, he didn't have a personal social media account in mainland China. He later created an account on Kuaishou, but it didn't gain much traction after Kuaishou's decline.

Tan Jincheng had been trying to fool them for a long time. Initially, the other party was only willing to open an account in the form of a company, but Lao Zhou and Lao Wu are still together, and they will be terminating their contract soon. What use is a company account?

If persuasion doesn't work, then money is the only option. There's nothing money can't buy. The account activation fee started at 20 yuan and kept rising until it reached 80 yuan. Finally, the agent couldn't resist and agreed!

All you need to do is open an account and post two or three updates a month to earn 80 yuan. It's like finding money on the street!

The agent felt he had made a huge profit, while Tan Jincheng knew he had won big. Not only had he changed the fact that Lao Zhou had no personal social media platform in China, but also his influence, the user base that his fans retained after the exponential growth alone was worth the price.

It's quite interesting, actually. This is the largest investment Kaixin.com has made so far in promoting itself, apart from its collaboration with MSN.

As for Liu Yifei, she had already set up a personal account under Tan Jincheng's persuasion. Gu Qingqing was also present at the time. After personally talking with Liu Yifei, Gu Qingqing, like Chun Ge, symbolically paid a fee and completed the verification of her account, thus officially joining the platform.

The three brand ambassadors joined Kaixin001 and opened their personal social media accounts, which can be considered as contributing to the take-off of Kaixin001.

This is called industry integration!
(End of this chapter)