2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 669 New Model?
On November 12, Taobao eagerly announced its total sales figures for the first Double Eleven shopping festival.

On Singles' Day, Taobao Mall, comprised of 27 brand stores, achieved a total sales volume of over 5000 million yuan, reaching 5200 million yuan.

The total sales amount of 5200 million yuan generated a total of 26 parcels.

The well-prepared GXG official flagship store won the sales championship with 625 million yuan, followed by Jack & Jones with 500 million yuan.

"Not bad, this preparation was worthwhile. Our family accounts for 12% of the total sales. That's great."

Tan Jincheng was very satisfied with the sales data that Li Jinglan sent over. In 2009, online shopping was not yet a mainstream shopping platform, and the total sales of more than 5000 million yuan were just average. Orange Products also sold more than 5000 million yuan yesterday.

However, unlike Orange Products Fair, which only had 27 brands participating in its first Double Eleven event, Orange Products Fair had nearly 200 participating brands, in addition to having several years of experience in organizing the event.

In today's world where online shopping is not very popular, the fact that a very small number of brands on Taobao Mall have caught up with Orange Products Club's years of accumulation on their very first participation speaks volumes about their strength.

"Yes, the sales volume in one day is equivalent to the annual sales volume of a prime offline store. I really didn't expect that."

"Yes, we must do a good job with the express delivery and logistics, but we use SF Express, so it should be fine."

SF Express already has a daily processing capacity of over one million parcels, so a few million more orders wouldn't be a big problem for them. The parcel volume in 2009 wasn't as severe as Tan Jincheng had imagined.

Shentong Express alone can easily handle the 26 parcels handled by Taobao Mall.

There was no warehouse overload. Here's a little-known fact: it wasn't until October 1st, with the newly revised Postal Law, that the express delivery businesses of companies like SF Express, STO Express, and Yunda Express were officially legalized.

Prior to this, even though these companies had expanded into behemoths, they were actually in a legal gray area.

The situation is similar to that of Taobao. Taobao, which had over 200 million registered users in July 2009 and whose transaction volume is expected to exceed 1 billion yuan this year, has still not obtained a third-party payment license.

The rest, such as Tenpay and Orange Pay, which have a small market share, are all operating without a license.

In business, legal provisions seem to have always been modified in this way, so Tan Jincheng doesn't need to worry about the interpretation of legal clauses for old man's cars at all, as long as you are big enough.

"This is only the first year, it's nothing. We'll get stronger and stronger from now on. Just you wait, next year will be different."

This year, the three major mobile companies all obtained 3G licenses and are vigorously promoting 3G networks. Next year, 3G will enter a fast track. Also, Lei Jun, who has been idle for a year, will probably start a new business soon.

"How else could it be different? Now one of our stores sells more than 600 million a day, which is equivalent to a year's sales. Do you think we can sell the same amount for 10 years next year?"

"Haha, who knows? Be prepared. If you don't understand, be thick-skinned and ask Orange Technology more questions."

What's 6 million on Singles' Day? The day when we break 100 million in a single day won't be far off. Although the first Singles' Day was a pleasant surprise, it was indeed impressive that more than 20 stores generated more than 50 million in sales.

Overall, it wasn't particularly outstanding, especially considering the success of Orange Products Club. However, things might be different next year.

I remember that in my previous life, the sales volume of the second Double Eleven was close to 10 billion yuan. During the transaction process, Taobao's marketing plans were also endless, releasing data every 10 minutes or half an hour and hyping it up.

It's as if not buying it would be a disservice to oneself. Tan Jincheng used this tactic during the first Double Eleven shopping festival at Orange Products Club, and it did have some effect, but it was just so-so.

Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the internet environment, I haven't done any intraday trading for the past two years. For a small website, a little hype is enough; there's no need to compare everything with big websites. Making a fortune quietly is the most important thing.

This year, Taobao used the same tricks for Singles' Day, such as when the first order was placed and the first transaction amount of 100 million yuan, but the effect was just so-so.

These days, far fewer people get up in the middle of the night to shop online than to steal virtual vegetables.

"Okay, I understand. There's nothing much to do after Singles' Day, so I'll go to Orange Technology to audit some classes and learn something there."

Without Singles' Day, GXG's flagship store is lukewarm at best. Usually, just a few customer service staff and people handling shipping and receiving are enough. There's no need for Li Jinglan to keep a close eye on it all the time. Her idea is quite good.

"That's a good idea. GXG's e-commerce division is still in its early stages. It's good for you to learn more from Orange Products Club, but there's no salary for you now."

"Haha, it's not a big deal."

Li Jinglan received praise from her boss and left happily. However, she didn't go back to the company; instead, she went to pick up her car. In fact, Li Jinglan is now qualified to have a car.

However, she seemed to have forgotten, and Zhang Xupeng didn't remember either.

"By the way, boss, may I go see the boss's wife?"

Just before leaving, Li Jinglan turned back and asked, "I've also heard about Gu Qingqing's pregnancy. I couldn't bring it up while I was reporting to work."

"She's at home, you can ask her yourself, I have no objection." Today is Thursday. Although Tan Jincheng promised Gu Qingqing that she could continue studying, he decided to let her rest at home for a few days this week. Quite a few people are planning to visit her this week.

Tan Jincheng's grandparents and maternal grandparents live in the countryside where transportation is not very convenient, but Gu Qingqing's grandparents insisted on coming to visit and forced Gu Yanning's father to drive them over.

Other relatives and friends also wanted to come and visit after hearing the news, so I'll be busy these next few days.

Fortunately, Boss Tan is relatively free recently. Zhang Yong is preparing for the Guangzhou Auto Show, which won't start until the end of the month, so he has about ten days to relax.

On November 17, the 30th day of the official pre-sale of the Yuechi A1, Weilai Auto released its sales data.

6729 vehicles!
Despite the CRV's aggressive promotional campaign, the Yuechi A1 has achieved remarkable results in the month since its launch.

With only pre-sales underway, 400 4S stores are able to sell an average of 224.3 Yuechi A1s per day, which has attracted much attention in the market.

"Wow, that's amazing! It's already climbed to 20th place in the annual SUV sales rankings after only one month on the market. That's incredible!"

"No, what's so great about this car? It looks pretty mediocre. The hype is completely original, but it also borrows from other designs. The interior looks a lot like the CRV."

"Haha, that's right. If you had to spend 30 yuan to buy a CRV or spend 10 yuan to buy a similar product, which would you choose?"

The Yuechi A1, which has seen a huge investment in marketing, has generated a lot of buzz on professional car forums, with both hype and pure car enthusiast discussions reaching an absurd level.

Many car enthusiasts from the surrounding areas of Guangzhou also said that they must go to the Guangzhou Auto Show to test drive the cars.

Controversy and buzz are good things. Flash's online trolls have even joined in and stirred up trouble. It can't all be praise; there has to be some criticism too.

The CEO of Zhongtai was extremely envious of the popularity of Yuechi. Both of them had launched new cars, including their MPV, but it was not yet on the list and would only be available much later.

The best-selling models are still the same few that generate sales volume but not profit in RMB.

With November more than halfway through, the year-end sales figures for a car model can be roughly calculated. The best-selling model under the Zhongtai brand is the Zhongtai 5008, but it is highly unlikely that it will be able to surpass 5 units in sales this year.

The sales of another model, the Zhongtai 2008, have declined even more sharply. It would be good if the total sales for the whole year could break through 1.6 units, which is even less than the sales in the first year after its launch.

"We need to launch a new model, otherwise this can't go on."

Ying Jianren sighed and said that the only competitive model is actually the 5008. The 2008 model will probably be obsolete next year. Sales are declining year by year, and its life cycle is probably only this long.

"Should we copy directly or continue to create something original, following Yuechi's approach?"

The failure of the MPV and the success of the F3 made Ying Jianren feel that it was better to just copy directly. For this reason, he even sat next to Xia Bing at the Yuechi launch event, and the two had a private conversation.

However, Yuechi's success has left him somewhat conflicted.

Meanwhile, Tan Jincheng, who was accompanying district leaders on an inspection of the Weilai Beicang factory at Weilai Auto, was also asked when the new model would be launched.

"We don't have any plans to launch new models yet, but we will prioritize developing new energy vehicles in the future."

In 2009, BYD hyped up new energy vehicles for a while, but market acceptance was only average. However, the hype was high, and Weilai Auto followed in BYD's footsteps in the field of new energy vehicles.

It's impossible for Yuechi A1 hybrid model to be launched so early; that would be shooting themselves in the foot. But Baiwei Auto can take a different approach.

That is Huanghai Automobile, which has already been acquired. Weilai Automobile's plan for next year could be to develop hybrid or pure electric buses. Starting from the commercial new energy bus sector should be a good direction.

Furthermore, there is no shortage of buyers. Compared to getting consumers to accept new energy vehicles now, it is easier to persuade bus companies to use hybrid or pure electric buses, which is also in line with environmental protection policies.

As for gasoline-powered vehicles, we can actually learn from Volkswagen. To put it bluntly, Volkswagen only has one model, which can be stretched, flattened, or rounded to create various styles.

The two-box version is the Golf, and the three-box version is the Lavida. We can learn from each other in terms of car models.

In a couple of years, we can enlarge the A1 and make it a large SUV, which could also be positioned as a high-end model, to see if it continues to sell well.

"New energy vehicles? Are you referring to passenger cars?"

With over 6000 vehicles sold in a month, Weilai Auto is undoubtedly a prized asset in the district. The district is genuinely concerned about Weilai's new developments, and this inspection was of the highest caliber, with the questions asked being highly professional.

(End of this chapter)