The Industrial Giant Reborn

Among the future presidents of the United States. Reagan was a president who was very open to the outside world. During his tenure, many overseas groups successfully acquired large companies in the United States, including oil, automobile and other groups. This was difficult under other presidents. Moreover, it also gave great freedom to economic operations. During his reign, many monopoly laws were abolished. For example, Hollywood film companies were not allowed to participate in distribution and theater regulations. massive expansion.

With such a president in power, it may be much easier for me to invest in the next 8 years. Therefore, it is necessary to build a good relationship. Not to mention that the future President Reagan will come forward to help me, as long as I don’t operate in reverse.

In the next few days, Chen Zhiwen met with the future president twice more. Chen Zhiwen made a big picture of the future of the electronics industry, which made Reagan gradually feel that the person opposite him really had a deep vision, and he was able to predict the future product market structure. Said very clearly.

However, in fact, Chen Zhiwen only picked out some actual conditions in the future, and he didn't say a lot of things that are beneficial to him. Not to mention Reagan, it was Jobs who thought he had the strongest grasp of the product market. After several ups and downs in the shopping malls struggle in the past year, it is impossible to judge the future market structure. For example, when the iPhone was launched in 2007, Jobs’ goal was that Apple could capture 2% of the global mobile phone market, and he never thought that Apple would overthrow it. The entire mobile phone market at that time.

Maybe he didn't get the friendship of President Reagan, but at least he was different from ordinary political donors. In Reagan's eyes, Chen Zhiwen's value must be extraordinary.

After the matter of political donations was settled, Chen Zhiwen went to the second Costco supermarket in Los Angeles.

"The business here seems to be much stronger than our No. 1 branch in Los Angeles a few years ago." On the second floor, Chen Zhiwen looked at the shoppers downstairs, and said, probably recalling.

"Of course, the Costco supermarket in the south has been in business for several years, and it is very well-known in Los Angeles. There are some people in the north side who have already become members. Now we have opened another one here. These people It’s much more convenient, and many nearby people have also been collected by us.” Pierce said with a smile.

"Was the business of the No. 1 branch affected?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"It has a little impact, but it's not a big problem. We can open more members here, and the total sales will still increase a lot. In a big city like this, it is still necessary to have two Costco supermarkets. Otherwise, other Large supermarkets may come to grab the market," Pierce said.

"That's right, big cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco want full coverage. They would rather reduce the average sales after opening a new store, and take over the market. Otherwise, other supermarkets will enter the market, and then follow the If we fight each other, then we may lose even more." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Although Costco is currently the number one in the field of storage supermarkets, it is far behind in the entire field of retail supermarkets. After all, Costco currently only has more than 60 stores, and the number of supermarkets like Celtic has exceeded two. Thousands, in terms of sales, not even a fraction of others.

If you are not in the same city, everyone will not interfere with each other, but first-tier cities are the battlegrounds of the retail industry. When many retail giants are still testing the waters and researching warehouse-style supermarkets, this time difference must be grasped. As long as two or three Costcos are opened in big cities to cover most citizens, it will be difficult for other players. Warehouse supermarkets are membership-based, and it is impossible for one person to get membership cards for two warehouse-style supermarkets.

This industry is very exclusive. Once Costco succeeds, other similar supermarkets within a radius of ten kilometers will not be able to survive. Therefore, a medium-sized city only needs one. But by the same token, other supermarkets have succeeded in other places, so Costco has no chance.

"It is necessary to build more than two large cities. There are at least 20 or 30 large cities in the United States. In addition, other cities also need to expand normally. This requires a lot of funds. Now the bank's interest is too heavy. If you borrow more, I am afraid it will affect the normal operation. ’” Pierce said, frowning.

"Funding is not a problem, I will give you another 300 million US dollars, as long as you think it should be built, build it." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"300 million US dollars?" Pierce said in surprise. Although Costco's annual sales have exceeded 1 billion US dollars, this is a data with extremely high warehouse turnover efficiency. Even if Costco can hold down the payment for two months, the account At the time when it was the most online, the funds were only more than 100 million U.S. dollars.

"But it's not for you all at once. You need to make a reasonable investment plan for me, especially the deployment of personnel, the number of management personnel, etc. If it is suitable, I will approve it." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Supermarkets, in fact, are not difficult in nature. Individuals can do it, but if you want to do it well, there is no one in a million. If you want to achieve the world's top level, you need vision, economic environment, capital, personal ability, and team ability. etc.

The current Costco, needless to say, is suitable for the economic environment. Under inflation, all Americans are looking for cheap goods, which is suitable for Costco. We don't have to worry about funds, the only thing we worry about is the ability of the team, which is the most important.

"In the past few years, I have been spending a lot of money to train a large number of managers. I thought the number was enough, but if the boss gives me 300 million US dollars to expand, I will double the number of Costco. , and many supermarkets are poaching people from our side, so there is indeed a problem with personnel." Pierce said helplessly.

"To become the leader of an industry, you will inevitably be poached by other companies, which is normal." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "We can also poach people from other places. The management of supermarkets is similar, as long as the business model uses experienced people People are enough, don’t worry about funds, just put all your energy into poaching people.”

The success of Midea Group in the arcade field has also made countless electronics colleagues envious. They are also looking for engineers from Midea everywhere, not only from the US branch, but also from Hong Kong. However, Chen Zhiwen doesn't care. The most important thing about games is Creativity, there are so many engineers in Midea, just to design and test according to the requirements, especially Hong Kong engineers, if they are poached by the United States, their salaries will be poached dozens of times immediately, and Chen Zhiwen will bless these lucky ones in his heart.

"That's okay, I'll try to research it." Pierce nodded and said, with the expansion of funds, he was a little happy. After all, he is also old. Before retirement, if Costco can become the largest supermarket in the world One, it is also a supreme honor, even if the shareholding rate of the entire team including him has plummeted due to the boss's continuous capital injection, it doesn't matter, anyway, they have no management rights, and Chen Zhiwen has never After intervening in specific management, the better the company develops, even if the shareholding ratio drops, the wealth will still increase. In this way, the partners who have followed him for decades can be regarded as a rich return.

"One more thing, I need you to select a group of relatively good teams for me. I need to build a chain supermarket in the United States specializing in electronic goods. I need this team to run it for me." Chen Zhiwen said again.

"Electronic goods? Is it similar to a game console?" Pierce asked. He also knew that his boss's main business was electronic products, but the core arcade machine was not a commodity for civilian use. The only suitable one was the handheld one, which he had played before. It's fun to play with occasionally.

"Game consoles are just one kind, and Apple's personal computer is also a kind, but they are just a drop in the bucket of electronic goods." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "What I want to build is not a large supermarket like a decoration material supermarket, such as Home Depot. kind."

"So big? Can large home appliances be sold in it?" Pierce asked. He originally thought that the small-scale supermarket was dedicated to small electronic products such as game consoles. Such supermarkets already exist in the United States, such as radios, Electronic watches, calculators, etc.

"Yes, in large electronic supermarkets, large home appliances can naturally be put in, including air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, TVs and even kitchen appliances, but these are incidental, mainly for consumer electronics. According to my guess, with the semiconductor With the development of technology, consumer electronics products will soon usher in a big explosion, and I need to prepare in advance." Chen Zhiwen said lightly.

I made so much money in the United States, not to mention all of it, but some of it must be spent in the United States, and buying stocks is fine, but it’s not yet the right time to buy suitable stocks, so according to the development speed of the electronic age, the 1980s will be very fast Exponential growth will be ushered in, so this time just hit it off.

"Won't that compete with Costco?" Pierce asked.

"There will be a little bit, but the main energy of Costco is not in the consumer electronics market after all, and electronic products are only part of your business, and most importantly, the expansion of Costco is limited by the urban population, so it can only exist and big cities.” Chen Zhiwen paused and said, “Midea’s home appliances are not good in terms of branding. I have to build a complete after-sales system in the United States to have the capital to fight against the home appliance giants. But building a separate Such a system is impossible, it’s too bad, and it’s impossible for me to build another supermarket similar to Wal-Mart, and I don’t have this opportunity now, and this electronic supermarket chain can help me accomplish this goal.”

Any large-scale commercial action must be profitable in itself, such as building an after-sales system that can cover most of the United States. The premise of doing this is that your products have covered most of the areas and are profitable, so spend a lot of money It is profitable to set up such an after-sales system, because it can further improve its own after-sales service to avoid the huge cost of inviting a local third party. Of course, even for these giants, it is impossible to operate all the after-sales services by themselves, at most they can find part-time jobs.

And like Midea, if you want to find a way out in a market that has been controlled by giants, you must either have advanced technology, or fight for cost and after-sales service. In terms of technology, there is basically no way. It has some advantages. After all, it is produced in Hong Kong and will go to the mainland in the future, but after-sales is a deadlock.

Within the scope of Costco's control, the sales of their own home appliances are pretty good. Once they are sold out, except for the fan, everything else is not so good, because after-sales installation only needs to rely on third parties.

"Then I understand. If there are thousands of such electronic supermarkets, it will not only solve the problem, but also make other electronic giants rely on us." Pierce said with a smile, knowing the retail market well.

"Yes, that's what I want too. As long as I can control the terminal market, all brands will be limited to me to a certain extent." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

Small home appliance companies like Midea rely on third parties to a large extent. Whether it is terminal sales services or future after-sales services, only very cheap products can be replaced, and expensive ones must be repaired.

But if you act as a third party yourself, you can solve this problem. When many cities have their own terminal electronic retail supermarkets, then a supermarket similar to the later Suning will naturally have its own after-sales service and maintenance personnel, which can not only guarantee For your own benefit, you can also make money from other brands.

As long as one's own electronics supermarket is big enough, large enough and good enough, home appliance giants such as Sony, RCA, and General Electric have to rely on themselves to a certain extent. Especially when you can attract a lot of traffic, other small businesses may have to change careers. Similar to Wal-Mart appearing in a town, basically local retail is over.

Unless a certain brand is as strong as the later Apple mobile phones, it is impossible to get around the branded supermarket chains that control terminal sales, but in the 1980s and 1990s, the only one with such influence was probably Microsoft.

"Okay, I need a little time to pick such a team." Pierce nodded and said.

"Okay, I found someone, and arranged for him to meet me in Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen said, "How to operate this electronic supermarket needs further discussion."

"Then why don't we try it in Los Angeles first, find a place to build the supermarket first, plus decoration, it will take a few months, this time is enough for us to think clearly." Pierce suggested.

"Yes, but one is not enough. Build a few more, three or five floors up and down. We can also analyze a little more data when it opens. In addition, you can also discuss with some electronic brands about admission. It’s more cost-effective for us to purchase directly, or it’s more cost-effective to rent a place to the brand.” Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said, money is self-willed, the most important thing now is not money, but time, it’s okay to spend more money on trial and error, and it’s not It is possible to lose money. After the house is built, you will not lose much if you open a shopping mall. In the era of the explosion of the electronic market, what is lacking is channels. At most, it is a question of earning more or less.

"Okay, but this kind of supermarket is not suitable for places that are too remote in the suburbs?" Pierce asked.

"Don't choose something that is too biased, and it doesn't need to be in the city center. What is better, just take this opportunity to test it." Chen Zhiwen said.

No one knows what to do with a new type of retail supermarket. The rent or land price in the urban area is too high, and the popularity in the suburbs is not enough. After all, it is not a retail supermarket with high-frequency consumption. far away.

This is also because the current US real estate market is very stable. Except for the core big cities, the rise in real estate prices in other places is not obvious. In the Mainland, it is right to choose the city center with your eyes closed, regardless of any investment, except for polluting factories.

"Alright." Pierce nodded.

"This is a gift from me to you." Suddenly, Chen Zhiwen handed Pierce a key, and said with a smile: "I bought a few mobile villas in Beverly Hills, and I will give you one of them, thank you Your many years of service to Costco."

With so much money in the United States, it is impossible to put it in the bank to earn interest. It is still possible to buy a house. The real estate market in the United States has not changed significantly, but the growth of scarce resources is still very impressive, such as apartments in the center of New York. , Mid-Levels luxury houses in Los Angeles, etc., Chen Zhiwen also arranged for people to buy some by the way.

"This won't work, it's too expensive." Pierce shook his head hastily.

"Actually, it's not much, it's just a few million dollars. This is what you deserve. It can be regarded as a special reward for the past few years. You also know that this is nothing to me. If you do this, you will delay me. The time, maybe the loss to me will be even greater." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"But Costco, I'm not the only one who contributed." Pierce said with a frown.

"Don't worry about it. I also bought luxury houses in other places in Los Angeles. I will distribute them to people who have contributed to Costco. Don't worry about that. Everyone has it." At the level of 10,000 US dollars, it is just a drop in the bucket to reward a group of teams who have built a huge retail empire for themselves.

In particular, Xinghe Trading in Hong Kong started off relying on orders from Costco. Today, it has become a supplier of many retail supermarkets around the world, and it is also one of the most ignorant companies in all Asian countries. After all, even if it is an auto giant like Toyota, it needs to meet many conditions when it invests or purchases. Once the choice is made, it will not change it casually, so it is not very attractive to the government. With the exception of Japan, a developed country with high labor costs, who in Asia does not pay attention to daily necessities orders in units of 100 million US dollars?

Not only the team of Costco, but also several other companies. The rewards and punishments are clear, so that more people can work hard and attract more high-quality talents.

"Okay." Pierce said, taking the key.

PS: In the last chapter, some readers gave feedback on the British car problem? There are plans in this regard, but before the time comes, I checked the information before, and the current car brands in the UK are still all state-owned enterprises, controlled by the government, and Mrs. Thatcher just became the prime minister a few months ago, and she also has the ability to save the UK. The idea of ​​the automobile industry should be that it was not until 1982, when the British government could not recover itself, that it began to sell British car brands on a large scale, including Rolls-Royce, mini, Jaguar, Land Rover, etc.