Chapter 316

October 1st, Sister Chengzi Smart Life Hall officially opened.

Zhou Shouzhi completed the first phase of layout in 32 core business districts, covering major cities such as Yanjing, Jin Ling, Luzhou, Hucheng, and Jiangcheng, radiating a consumer base of over 30 million.

At 8:40 AM, before the flagship stores opened, a long queue had already formed at the entrance, mainly young people, gathering in small groups, chatting and laughing with friends while waiting.

"Sister Ling, there are so many people ahead, let's go take a look."

Zhang Peng held his direct supervisor's small hand, strolling along Jin Ling Road pedestrian street; when he saw the dense crowd ahead, the curiosity deep in the young man's bones could no longer be suppressed.

"Sure."

Chen Fengling smiled gently, feeling the warmth of the other's palm, her heart couldn't help but flutter.

She was ten years older than Zhang Peng, successful in her career, mature and intellectual, and with good maintenance, still plump and charming; how could a fresh-out-of-school young man resist the gentle charm of an older sister?

One thirty like a tiger, the other twenty like a wolf; after watching a movie together, they confusedly slept in the same bed.

But Ping An prohibits office romances, even if they belong to different departments, so usually in the company, the two still have to strive to play the roles of manager and subordinate.

And after returning to the rental house, their superior-subordinate relationship would immediately flip over.

"Sister Ling, it turns out to be Sister Chengzi Technology's offline flagship store; it just opened today, shall we go in and browse?"

Only after approaching did Zhang Peng notice the Sister Chengzi Smart Life Hall at the very front of the queue.

"You like Mo Si smart speakers, don't you? Sister will buy one for you." Chen Fengling nodded slightly and said proactively.

"Actually, I don't like it that much, Sister Ling; I can't always let you spend money." Zhang Peng scratched his head and politely declined.

The sister is indeed fragrant, has many tricks, is considerate, often buys him gaming laptops, sneakers, and clothes; even rent, meals, and travel expenses are mostly borne by her.

"What if sister wants to spend money on you?"

Chen Fengling leaned close to Zhang Peng's ear and asked in a soft, gentle voice.

Zhang Peng's corners of the mouth lifted slightly; being a soft-rice eater in his early twenties didn't seem so bad.

As soon as nine o'clock arrived, the flagship store staff slowly opened the glass doors; passersby entered one after another, and the two also followed the queue, walking into the store together.

On the brand-new display tables, various products of Sister Chengzi Technology were placed; from mobile phones to speakers, headphones, power banks, and digital accessories, although the varieties were few, every color of Sister Chengzi mobile phone was neatly arranged according to model.

Li Yunzhu stood at the repair counter, looking at the swarming customers inside the store, a brilliant smile appearing on his face.

Half a year ago, he worked in Shencheng; after a struggle, he moved to Hucheng; it was still working, but the treatment had undergone earth-shaking changes.

"Mo Si." Zhang Peng leaned close to a Mo Si smart speaker and shouted the welcome phrase.

"Master, I am here! What are your orders?" Mo Si responded immediately.

"Will it rain in Hucheng tomorrow?" Zhang Peng tried it out with great interest.

"Hucheng's weather situation tomorrow is: light rain turning to cloudy, maximum temperature 24 degrees Celsius, minimum temperature 1 degree Celsius, relative humidity 60%, weakest ultraviolet rays, air quality index 24; between 10 AM and 1 PM, there will be a small amount of rainfall; please bring an umbrella when going out."

After receiving the voice command, Mo Si converted it into text information, then used AI algorithms to analyze the Lingxi search results, and finally, through voice synthesis technology and speakers, fed the answer back to the user.

The process seems very long, but in actual operation, this 'thinking' process takes only two or three seconds.

Seeing this, Chen Fengling called over a staff member, asked the other to fetch a brand-new Mo Si smart speaker, and planned to give it to her little boyfriend.

"Sister Chengzi C3 16GB version, price 2899 yuan; order now and get a Bluetooth headset worth 99 yuan as a gift; gifts are limited, first come first served!"

"Green Orange D1S 8GB memory, price 999 yuan; order now and get a phone case and tempered film; limited to today only!"

"Sister Chengzi D1 4GB memory, price 799 yuan; order now and get a phone case!"

"..."

On the display tables, besides products, promotional posters were also pasted; although most gifts were not worth much, at least they gave users a reason to buy on the spot.

"Give me one 64GB version of Sister Chengzi C3; can the Bluetooth headset be exchanged for a power bank?"

"I want one Green Orange D1S!"

"Does the Mo Si smart speaker have a white version?"

Store manager Xu Hao and six sales guides were instantly so busy their feet didn't touch the ground; Green Orange D1S and Sister Chengzi C3 were the best sellers; in just one hour, over a hundred units were sold.

Sister Chengzi C1, released over a year ago with the price dropped to 1399 yuan, and Sister Chengzi C2, released over half a year ago with the price dropped to 2399 yuan, still had people rushing to buy them.

Sister Chengzi Technology's Marketing Department and Brand Department had contacted a batch of bloggers from the digital circle, tech circle, and internet business circle in advance to create hype for the launch of the Smart Life Hall.

High-definition photos of queuing, shopping, and ordering scenes were successively released to platforms such as Weibo, Youku, and Toutiao, creating an atmosphere of booming sales.

Even though the facts were so, good wine also fears deep alleys; increasing exposure is not a bad thing.

On the other side, Lei Yi, who had been busy for most of the year, brought Xiaomi's founding team to Qiong Island for a vacation.

At this moment, he was lying on a beach chair, blowing in the sea breeze.

"President Lei, Sister Chengzi mobile phones have opened offline flagship stores." At this time, Li Wanqiang, wearing floral shorts and a small vest, suddenly spoke up.

"Let them open; they should have opened long ago." Lei Yi replied casually.

Xiaomi had already opened the first batch of Xiaomi Homes in Guanzhou, Xingsha, Youxi, Dongguan, Qizhou, and Ludu back in March.

In terms of making mobile phones, Xiaomi started one year earlier than Sister Chengzi Technology, but Sister Chengzi mobile phones went on sale two weeks earlier than Xiaomi mobile phones; afterwards, relying on DST's investment and supply chain resources, they hard-worked themselves into the number one internet mobile phone brand.

In the domestic market, let alone Xiaomi, OPPO, and Meizu, even Huawei, ZTE, Ku Sect, and Lenovo are not opponents of Sister Chengzi mobile phones.

"President Lei, Sister Chengzi Technology's flagship stores will definitely steal some of our offline orders." Li Wanqiang continued to remind.

"I know, but I can't stop Chen Yansen from opening offline flagship stores." Lei Yi shrugged, saying with a helpless expression.

"That's true!" Li Wanqiang sat down heavily, leaning on the lounge chair in a daze.

Some thuggish tricks can be used on Zhou Hongyi, but cannot be used on Chen Yansen.

After all, within the industry, Chen Yansen is famous for 'revenge for a slight'; when Meituan loudly announced entering the food delivery track and challenging Kuaidao, Chen Yansen chased Wang Xin to fight him to death.

Meituan, which was supposed to achieve profitability in Q3, was passively dragged into a subsidy war and lost over 60 million again.

They even lost the title of number one in the industry!

Under Kuaidao's 'involution', the remaining group-buying websites were eliminated by more than half; now only Dianping, Meituan, Laoshou, and Kuaidao remain; Wowo Tuan is half-dead, and all other competitor websites are in a death countdown.

Li Wanqiang dares to scold Zhou Hongyi, but dares not stick a thorn at Chen Yansen.

"By the way, when can the research report on the Indian mobile phone market be organized?"

Lei Yijun suddenly sat up and asked Li Wanqiang.

Hearing this, Li Wanqiang's expression froze; he awkwardly said, "Five marketing colleagues on a business trip to India all ended up in the hospital—four with acute diarrhea, and the last one with food poisoning. So I've found two new third-party consulting firms, but we'll probably have to wait another week."

Acute diarrhea?

Food poisoning?

Lei Yijun paused for a moment, then quickly realized, "Didn't I tell them to eat and sleep only at the hotel?"

"They don't know what happened either; maybe it was unavoidable," Li Wanqiang shrugged, saying with a bitter smile.

"President Lei, I have a friend working at Micromax, a mobile phone company in India. He introduced me to the general market landscape there, but the data is incomplete and not necessarily accurate," Lin Bing, who had just returned from the beach, heard their conversation and immediately spoke up.

"Tell us about it. I heard the mobile phone market landscape in India is quite similar to ours back home."

Lei Yijun nodded in agreement, signaling Lin Bing to continue.

He had heard of Micromax; this brand is India's largest domestic mobile phone manufacturer, holding a 9.1% market share.

"India has a total population of 1.23 billion, with 840 million mobile phone users. Among them, there are 29 million smartphone users, representing a penetration rate of less than 3%. This is equivalent to the level in our country three years ago—just getting started, with a high market capacity ceiling."

Lin Bing sat on a beach chair, speaking calmly and unhurriedly.

"29 million? That's not even 30 million!" Li Wanqiang was quite surprised.

"The domestic smartphone market went from nothing to something in just two or three years. If we can successfully break into the Indian market, Xiaomi phones might just bloom inside the wall but smell fragrant outside! In the first quarter of 2011, India's smartphone shipments were 2.6 million units, but by the third quarter of this year, they had grown to 4.4 million units."

Lin Bing nodded and said.

India's domestic mobile phone brands include Micromax, Karbonn, and Spice, but their market shares are not high. Over 30% of the market share is in Shanxing's hands, while brands like Nokia and Sony can also claim 5% to 10% of the market share.

In his view, India was like China two years ago, full of potential!

After listening, Lei Yijun couldn't help but show a look of interest. Domestically, he was suffocated by Sister Chengzi, Shanxing, Apple, and Huawei; perhaps opening up overseas markets would be a crucial turning point for Xiaomi's development.

The three of them chatted by the seaside until the sky grew dark and the sea breeze turned cold.

Afterwards, as soon as Lei Yijun returned to the hotel, he hastily organized a video conference to prepare for deploying a batch of personnel from the Marketing, Operations, and Technology departments to India to expand into the overseas market.

Meanwhile.

In Oslo, the northernmost city in the Northern Hemisphere, it was still noon, twelve o'clock.

In an executive suite on the top floor of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Chen Yansen sat on the sofa, gazing at the Oslo Royal Palace and the National Gallery not far away, mentally planning his afternoon itinerary.

From Shanghai to Copenhagen, then transferring to Oslo, it had taken a full day.

He felt nothing, but Song Yuncheng touched the bed and fell asleep immediately.

The autumn outside the window was in full swing; maple leaves and ginkgo leaves along the roadside intertwined, filling the view with gold and fiery red.

The scenery in this broken place is nice, but there are really very few people.

Even though the Radisson Blu Hotel is located in the city center of Oslo, the passersby are few and far between.

"Buzz buzz buzz—!"

The mobile phone on the coffee table suddenly rang.

Chen Yansen picked it up to look; it was Liu Zhiping from Tencent.

"Martin, what's up?" Chen Yansen asked proactively.

As their wealth, status, and industry influence changed, privately, his address for Liu Zhiping shifted from the initial "President Liu" and "Brother Martin" to simply "Martin."

"WeChat is about to start developing payment functions and may borrow from Chengzi Pay in terms of function design and operational promotion."

Liu Zhiping said extremely euphemistically.

Given the good cooperative relationship between Tencent and Senlian Capital, Ma Wenteng decided to give Chen Yansen a heads-up before starting to copy.

For other companies, Ma Wenteng wouldn't be polite; he would just copy first and ask questions later.

"It doesn't matter; after all, I'm also borrowing from Ma Liyun."

Chen Yansen said indifferently.

"I knew President Chen wouldn't mind," Liu Zhiping sighed in relief, smiling and flattering him.

I do mind, but would you stop copying?

Chen Yansen sneered; everyone is an adult. Tencent didn't want to tear up the relationship, so they chose a more dignified way of competition, and there was no need for him to expose it.

Otherwise, it would be awkward for both sides later.

After all, the Series C financing for Kuaidi Dache and the Series B financing plan for Kuai Pao all rely on Tencent's financial support.

After exchanging pleasantries, when Liu Zhiping learned that Chen Yansen intended to visit Spotify's headquarters, he immediately patted his chest, saying that he had a good relationship with CEO Daniel Ek and wanted to introduce Chen Yansen to him.

Chen Yansen smiled and did not refuse the other party's kindness.

In fact, the cooperation between Chengzi Technology and Spotify was no less than that between Tencent Music and Spotify.

Alexa smart speakers sold nearly 3 million units in the European and American markets, equivalent to adding 3 million paying users for Spotify, which undoubtedly provided huge help to Spotify's financing.

After receiving news of Chen Yansen's visit, Daniel Ek immediately rushed back from the Land of the Tower to the Stockholm headquarters.

The Nordic market is too small; to enter the music streaming market in the Land of the Tower, Daniel Ek had already shifted his market focus to Europe and America two years ago, usually residing permanently in Manhattan, New York.

This shows the importance of Alexa smart speakers to Spotify.

And at this time, it had been eight months since Spotify last accepted financing.

Daniel Ek urgently needed capital replenishment to purchase music company copyrights and compete for market share with iTunes and Pandora.

Therefore, the ecological licensing cooperation with Chengzi Technology was particularly important; once a long-term contract was signed, Daniel Ek could use this opportunity to raise Spotify's valuation and obtain more funds from investors.

Ten minutes later, Chen Yansen hung up the phone.

"Chen Yansen, be good, call me Mom!"

Song Yuncheng, lying in bed, suddenly mumbled a line in her sleep, her voice very soft.

An ordinary person wouldn't hear it clearly at all, but Chen Yansen's hearing was too good; he missed not a single word.

His face darkened, and he thought to himself, "What on earth is this guy dreaming about?"

On the first day of their arrival in Norway, Chen Yansen read books to pass the time, while Song Yuncheng slept soundly in bed.

Not until 7:30 in the evening did Song Yuncheng open his eyes, still half-asleep.

"Did you have a dream?" Chen Yansen asked, sitting by the bed with a smile.

"How did you know?" Song Yuncheng asked in surprise.

"You talked in your sleep all afternoon and called me 'Dad' seventeen times," Chen Yansen said with a serious face, making things up on the spot.

"Hehe, you just love to talk nonsense; clearly it was you who called me..." Song Yuncheng realized instantly and quickly shut his mouth.

"What did I call you?" Chen Yansen asked with a half-smile.

"Nothing, I've forgotten! I remembered it just now, but as soon as you spoke, I couldn't recall it," Song Yuncheng stammered, his earlobes slightly red.

Chen Yansen smiled and did not press further.

After having dinner at the hotel, the two drove to the nearby Sognsvann Lake to watch the aurora.

At the same time, after receiving the 400 million USD investment from OTPP, Liu Qiangdong began actively preparing for JD. com's Double Eleven Grand Promotion, wanting to reclaim the position of the second-largest e-commerce player!

(End of this chapter)