2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 430 Future Rivals

From spring and autumn to summer, time slips away unnoticed.

After its high-profile performance in May, Flash Group has kept a low profile since June, with its main business of electric vehicles achieving high sales, setting new records for the group.

In addition to the Shanghai Auto Show, there is also a large-scale export trade fair organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Guangxi Province in May.

Two major exhibitions, with Flash Cars almost acting as a co-organizer at the latter, and a massive marketing campaign in May. Even without counting the 38,000 vehicles traded in, Flash Cars achieved a record-breaking sales volume of 191,800 units in May 2007.

With the addition of trade-in customers generated by large-scale marketing campaigns, the monthly sales volume of the Flash reached 22.35 vehicles. Although the trade-in customers did not receive much money, they are still considered new Flash customers. Even if they were given away for free, they are still considered new customers.

Overall, out of the 3.8 vehicles sold in the first year, only more than 6000 customers did not complete the trade-in program. This number was somewhat unexpected by Tan Jincheng. Less than 20% of the customers lost their invoices, which seems to be a very low percentage.

Perhaps in 2005, buying an electric car was a significant event for an individual or family? Or perhaps it was because Flash Motors required invoices for all its electric car services, which instilled in users the habit of keeping their invoices.

For Flash Motors, the message has been made, and the expectation of 3.8 vehicles has been prepared. Naturally, the fewer people who lose their invoices, the better. Every new customer brings profits, not just from the initial purchase price, but also from subsequent battery replacements and repairs.

Just like mobile phone users, when the operator gives you a free phone, do you really think they're doing it for your own good? Little do they know that what's free is always the most expensive.

With its aggressive marketing strategy, FlashCheer undoubtedly became the top-selling electric vehicle in May. Other manufacturers also achieved impressive sales figures in May. Given this extreme marketing approach, it was inevitable that other manufacturers would also launch their own promotional activities.

Flash Group, which has always played the role of a disruptor, has not only brought pressure to its competitors. There is a celebrity entrepreneur in the electric vehicle market who has increased his exposure, which has also driven the industry's rapid prosperity.

Tan Jincheng contributed to the increased sales of manufacturers. As for the accelerated elimination of small workshops, this is an inevitable trend in the industry's development. Eliminating them before 2008 is not necessarily a bad thing.

With the rapid rise in electric vehicle sales, regulations governing electric vehicles have gradually become more standardized in various regions. Even Changzhou, which has the most small manufacturers, has established an electric vehicle association under pressure to regulate the industry.

Changzhou has consistently ranked among the top cities in electric vehicle sales nationwide, but it is also one of the most loosely managed cities, having never established an association to regulate the industry. Now, this situation necessitates the formation of such an association.

Faced with this trend, small and medium-sized enterprises in Changzhou have no choice but to accelerate reforms, either by joining forces, closing down small workshops to switch to other businesses, or even starting to sell spare parts.

Starting in May, many cities have required electric vehicle purchases to be registered, and some cities have already required license plates. In June, Xinri also acquired more than 1100 acres of land in Xishan District.

With a total investment of over 20 billion yuan, the electric vehicle industrial park clearly shows that Xinri has realized the rapid expansion of its production capacity and has begun to accelerate its expansion. Compared with the expansion of Shanchi and Yadi, Xinri's expansion is relatively slow.

Yadi has already built several factory areas, while Xinri currently has the fewest. Apart from the initial factory area in Beijing, only the Tianjin factory area is relatively large. The factory area in Xishan District was relocated rather hastily.

It was sufficient a few years ago, but it's not enough during the period of explosive growth in production capacity. A few years from now, the existing production capacity will definitely not be enough. The factory expansion was a step behind, which may be one of the reasons why ChipRest was surpassed by Yadi and Aima in its previous life.

One step at a time, one step at a time.

Tan Jincheng also attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Chip Day. He wasn't too busy with work after May, and besides, the other party had come to support him last time, so Tan Jincheng felt he had to return the favor.

However, Tan Jincheng's presence this time made the scene a little awkward. All of his colleagues present were older than him, but they had recently been beaten so badly by him that they couldn't even lift their heads. Dong Jinggui, in particular, felt even more uncomfortable looking at him.

"You little brat, you really have no sportsmanship. When I went to Beicang, you told me there wouldn't be any action this year. You're telling me that spending 6000 million is nothing?"

"We really didn't do anything. This is our anniversary celebration, what kind of action is this?" Tan Jincheng argued.

You could say it's not just making excuses, but it was all part of the two-year anniversary celebration plan. It's just that this anniversary celebration was much bigger than everyone imagined, and Flash Motors did an excellent job of keeping the two-year anniversary event a secret.

Internal planning, contacting advertisers, and producing materials are all kept confidential. Not only are the manufacturers unaware, but very few people in the company know about it either; it's all handled personally by a few core personnel.

When the marketing campaign was launched, many company employees were taken aback, especially the top-performing car buyers, some of whom already owned the Zhongtai 2008 they received as awards at the annual meeting. But who would refuse a free new electric car?

People who buy electric vehicles may not necessarily own a car, but most car owners will also own an electric vehicle, both for convenience and to save money.

Mr. Tan will also be traveling on business in June, but it will be much easier than in the first half of the year. The longest he will be traveling is to inspect the progress of the projects at the Tianjin factory and the Wangjiang Industrial Park.

The construction progress of the Tianjin factory is quite good. As the largest industrial base for bicycles and electric vehicles in the country, various regions in Tianjin have done a lot of work to introduce electric vehicle brands.

Currently, the top three electric vehicle brands in terms of national sales all have factories in Tianjin, and the local brands in Tianjin are also quite strong. In summary, Tianjin's economy during this period still has a significant impact on electric vehicle assembly and manufacturing.

The electric vehicle industry chain is also the most important business for Tianjin at present. The economy of the north is generally weaker than that of the south, so it is not easy to become the national leader in an industry.

The FlashCheer Tianjin factory is quite close to the Yadi factory, except that it is a bit far from the ChipRiz factory. However, the closest factory is the Aima factory in the next town, and Aima's progress is also very fast.

Besides poaching Xinri's marketing director, Aima, with its strong financial resources, launched two factories at once, one in Tianjin and the other in Zhoukou, the hometown of Aima's boss, Zhang Jian.

If he could travel back in time, Tan Jincheng would find that the butterfly effect he brought about was quite significant. The large-scale development of Aima in his previous life should have started in 2008, and it should have truly appeared on television and in the eyes of users in 2009.

2009 can be described as the Year of the Horse for electric vehicles. They hired Jay Chou as their spokesperson, and their advertisements covered the whole country. Their marketing methods were also very strong. In addition, they also poached the marketing director of Xinri.

The boss is from Henan Province, and his family is a long-established bicycle manufacturer in Henan Province. They have considerable connections in the local area. In addition, they snatched Xinri's marketing director, and from Henan Province, which has the largest population, they have almost taken over Xinri's most important channels in Henan Province.

2009 was a breakout year for Aima, but a disastrous year for ChipSun. They lost a significant portion of their market share that year. If the industry hadn't been so booming and the market so large, the "Dragon Brother Effect" would have truly come true.

This may also be one of the reasons why ChipSun later shifted its focus to exports.

I just don't know how I can break through in this lifetime. I've already exhausted all my marketing tactics. My marketing director has been poached by Xinri ahead of time and is on guard. I'm looking at the construction site next door, which is just as bustling as my own.

Tan Jincheng was also somewhat wary. Aima, which was able to rise to the second place in the electric vehicle industry in his previous life, had a solid foundation, capital, and was willing to spend money. It also had many years of business management experience. It quickly seized the market with low-end models. It looked like Pinduoduo in the electric vehicle industry.

Such a powerful company, even if it faces greater difficulties in this life than in the previous one, is by no means an unknown entity. Flash's market was opened up from Henan Province and northern Anhui.

In the beginning, they all relied on low-end products to dominate the market. In these two regions, not only Chip Japan should pay attention to this potential competitor, but Flash can also not let its guard down.

Tan Jincheng has always taken his opponents very seriously. In his previous life, he had experience in doing business. Although his business wasn't very large, he had accumulated some experience, and he learned about the user-centric mindset from the internet.

However, it is also very important to pay attention to competitors. If Flashpoint had not benchmarked against large companies like ChipRiya, defined them as its targets to catch up with, and developed targeted marketing plans in its strategy, it would not have been able to achieve such a rapid development speed.

Strategically valuing competitors is essential for any company, even if they are not as strong as itself. If Zhang Congxun hadn't been so overconfident when Tan Jincheng visited Chip Day, he wouldn't have revealed his superstar plans.

Tan Jincheng wouldn't have reacted so quickly. The simplest way was to quickly deal with Fatty Zhou and use one superstar to fight another.

In June, the peak season officially began, and Flash's sales, still boosted by May, continued to lead the market. Although it wasn't as explosive as it was during the trade show in May, every store owner was all smiles.

Especially for the first batch of first-tier stores like Zhao Chuanbing's, which were assigned to the exchange program, customer traffic increased significantly after entering the peak season.

From a consumer psychology perspective, authorized first-level stores generally have a higher level of credibility.

When business is good, you'll feel great.

(End of this chapter)