Chapter 298: My Lord, the Times Have Changed

The domestic popularity of the Silver Mink optical mouse and the Shenzhou USB flash drive was something all mainland computer manufacturers could have roughly predicted. After all, these computer manufacturers had placed quite a few orders with Dongling High-Tech to cooperate with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and the Ministry of Electronics Industry, which had all personally stepped into the fray. However, the subsequent developments somewhat exceeded the expectations of these computer manufacturers.

With the domestic media machine in full swing, Dongling High-Tech had become the representative company for domestic high-tech. The emergence of the Shenzhou USB flash drive and the USB Alliance was not about how advanced the technology of this product was, or how much binding power the USB Alliance had over global computer manufacturers; the key was that it established the "prestige" of Dongling High-Tech!

It is hard to say how much this prestige is worth; it might not even be convertible into a single cent. But its appearance at least gave domestic users a certain feeling, and in the hearts of many users, Dongling High-Tech vaguely gained a sense of qualification to be mentioned in the same breath as overseas veteran tech giants like Toshiba, Sony, Dai Er, HP, and IBM!

Even if it was only to a small degree, overseas users also gained a few new impressions of Dongling High-Tech!

A high-end brand, a brand with high prestige, is built up bit by bit, slowly accumulated. When the right time comes, this kind of brand will have a premium, and there will be users willing to pay for it.

Previously, Dongling High-Tech's electronic pet machines and Shenzhou digital cordless phones also had decent sales overseas, but that was basically because the products sold well due to their creativity and price, not because foreign users recognized the Dongling High-Tech brand.

Placed in the domestic market, the emergence of the USB Alliance, promoted by Dongling High-Tech, raised Dongling High-Tech's fame, prestige, and the level of technology in the hearts of the Chinese people by more than a large margin. From then on, Dongling High-Tech would also become a company with the same status as Sony, Toshiba, IBM, Dai Er, and others in the hearts of domestic users!

After the state media reported on the Department of High and New Technology and the Ministry of Science and Technology expressed their stance, major domestic computer brands announced one after another that they would join the USB Alliance. Subsequently, the scene of people purchasing Silver Mink mice and Shenzhou USB flash drives appeared in countless computer malls and computer sales outlets in domestic cities.

Even whether or not these two products were bundled became proof of whether a computer had advanced performance. This scene had appeared before with the first generation of Silver Mink mice, and this time, it appeared again!

Although senior technical personnel and sales staff stood up to popularize science, saying that whether a computer's performance is advanced or good to use does not depend on what mouse is used or whether a Shenzhou USB flash drive can be plugged in—and that ordinary home computers don't have much use for USB flash drives anyway—

these people still wanted to correct the "wrong" ideas of computer buyers, but... the users simply wouldn't listen. Who gets to decide what is good to use and what is advanced? Could it be that things certified by state media and the Ministry of Science and Technology are not as good as the words of you lousy salespeople?

At the beginning, foreign brand computers like Toshiba, IBM, Compaq, HP, Dai Er, Sony, and Epson, which were represented by domestic agents, were dismissive of this idea. The salespeople for these foreign brand computers were unwilling to sell computers bundled with Silver Mink optical mice and Shenzhou USB flash drives, believing that by relying on the foreign brand of the computer, they would definitely be able to sell them even without these.

You have to know that foreign goods have a premium and a halo in China. With the same configuration, as long as it is a foreign brand, it sells for half, or even double, the price of a domestic brand computer, and even so, demand exceeds supply.

This time, the dealers and agents of these foreign brand computers still had the same idea and were unwilling to purchase Silver Mink optical mice and Shenzhou USB flash drives from Dongling High-Tech.

Inside an electronics mall in Yanjing, this was currently the largest electronics sales center in Yanjing.

Originally, there were various electronics and electrical product sales and after-sales repair shops here. Coupled with a food street nearby, in addition to various snacks, there were domestic and foreign restaurants, eateries, and hot pot restaurants such as Quanjude, Jindingxuan, McDonald's, Daqinghua, Tanyutou, and Xiaofeiyang. This made this five-story electronics mall crowded with people on weekdays, and on Sundays, there was no place to stand, making it a mall that was truly worth its weight in gold!

The rent for this mall is currently the highest in Yanjing. It is divided into different storefronts, but even if the rent is frighteningly expensive, it is still hard to find a shop. Because for the shops inside, as long as you are not a pure layman and have found a good source of goods, it is possible to earn tens, or even hundreds of thousands, a year!

Major computer brands, whether domestic or foreign, all have storefronts in this electronics mall, and various computer parts and supporting facilities can also be bought here. Those who know how to assemble computers only need to walk around here, and basically, they can buy all the parts and then assemble one on the spot.

Don't underestimate the ability to assemble computers. In the nineties, this was considered a technical job. As long as the assembled computer could be used and the cost was cheaper than what was sold in computer stores, then charging a few hundred yuan in assembly fees for a computer worth ten thousand yuan was not a problem. Earning several thousand yuan a month was doable.

The most core and largest storefronts in this electronics mall were occupied by the wealthy Dai Er, IBM, DEC, Compaq, Toshiba, Epson, and other brands. Next to them were domestic and Baodao computer brands such as Lenovo, Acer, Great Wall, and Inspur.

From the locations of these storefronts, one could see the status of different computer brands in China at this moment. Dai Er, IBM, Compaq, and others were still in the first camp, while domestic and Baodao computer brands were chasers. Among them, Lenovo was already the most capable among domestic computer brands...

In the past, as long as people entered this mall to buy computers, the first places they would go to were definitely IBM and other storefronts, and then they would go to other storefronts for comparison. These foreign brand computer storefronts always had the most people, from the moment the electronics mall opened until it closed.

But today, the situation was somewhat subtle. The IBM storefront, which was usually crowded with people, was somewhat "desolate" today. This is not to say there were no people, but compared to usual, the flow of people had decreased by more than 30% to 50%. On the contrary, the domestic computer brand storefronts were crowded with customers.

As one of the Japanese electronics giants, Epson's limelight at this time was not much worse than giants like Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, and Panasonic. It had achievements in products such as televisions, computers, printers, and scanners. In addition, Epson was also one of the world's major players in LCD panels.

But now, the manager of the Japanese Epson storefront in this mall had a straight face, blowing his beard and staring, losing his temper, and shouting at the several salespeople under him, "What do you mean, not a single computer or printer has been sold today? Do you not want to work anymore?"

"You really can't blame us. It's very strange today. Customers who come in, after looking at the computers and experiencing them, when they were about to pay, suddenly asked what brand the mouse was. When they heard it wasn't a Silver Mink optical mouse, the customers just turned around and left. Even if we offered a discount, they didn't want it. What can we do?"

A shop assistant, who was also full of anger, couldn't help but say. Their wages mainly depended on commissions. If they didn't sell computers, they were basically working for nothing.

Once someone started, the other shop assistants also complained one after another, "Manager, why don't we stock a batch of Silver Mink mice and sell them bundled with the computers? Otherwise, we really can't sell anything these days!"

"Shut up!"

When the manager heard this, he was even more annoyed. He didn't know that from the Dongling press conference until now, Silver Mink mice and Shenzhou USB flash drives had been selling like crazy. But their store belonged to Japanese Epson; how could they be allowed to sell products of other brands?

"Our store is a veteran brand with half a century of history. We only sell Epson products. How can we sell things of other brands?"

"If the headquarters finds out, we will all be fired!" the Epson manager warned the shop assistants.

"Welcome to Japanese Epson. What product do you need? I can introduce it to you..."

Inside the store, a man wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with a bag tucked under his arm walked in. Upon seeing this customer, the Epson shop assistant immediately went to greet him. Originally, the Epson assistant definitely wouldn't have had such a good service attitude; salespeople for foreign brands were usually arrogant at this time. But now that the store manager was furious and they hadn't been able to sell any stock for the past few days, their attitude naturally improved.

"Do you have Silver Mink mice here? Our unit needs to purchase a batch!" After the man came in, he didn't talk about anything else and asked directly.

Hearing this, the Epson shop assistant's smile stiffened there. He looked back at the manager and saw that the Epson manager's face was already livid.

"We are a Japanese Epson specialty store here and do not sell products of other brands. You can take a look at this computer of ours. It works with our Epson printer, and the effect is very outstanding..."

"Out of stock again. How many stores have I been to? None of them have Silver Mink mice. What kind of lousy computers are you selling!" The man muttered a sentence and ran to the next storefront.

After the man left, the entire Epson storefront was even quieter, without even a cough.

"Do you have Shenzhou USB flash drives?!"

"Our company wants to pre-order a batch of Shenzhou USB flash drives... What, out of stock?!"

Several more groups of people came later, and basically, it was the same. It was hard to find a customer who didn't ask about Silver Mink and USB flash drives as soon as they came in, but when it came time to pay, they would also inadvertently ask. When they heard that the mouse was not a Silver Mink optical mouse that met the USB Alliance standard, which had been reported by major domestic TV stations, newspapers, and radio stations in the past few days, they couldn't help but look at the Epson shop assistant with surprised and suspicious eyes, looking like they had been cheated, and then turned around and left.

Sales volume and sales figures don't lie. When major domestic computer brands and computer dealers discovered that bundling Silver Mink mice and Shenzhou USB flash drives for sale significantly increased sales, then what to do didn't need to be taught by anyone!

"Silver Mink mice and Shenzhou USB flash drives continue to heat up in China. Many domestic computer manufacturers announce that these two products will become standard equipment for their brand computers!"

"Domestic computer brands are sought after, IBM and other foreign computer brands encounter cold reception in the mainland market for the first time!"

"Computer industry insiders revealed to our reporter that domestic computer brands bundled with Silver Mink mice and Shenzhou phones have significantly increased sales. Some brand computer daily sales surged by 154%, while foreign brands, because they are not sold bundled with Silver Mink mice, generally saw daily sales in the mainland decline by more than 40%!"

"The 120-yuan Silver Mink mouse is sought after in many places such as Yanjing, Shanghai, and Yangcheng. Some computer parts stores claim that the inventory of USB flash drives and Silver Mink mice is already tight and may face the risk of being out of stock!"

"Shenzhou USB flash drives are sought after by major trade, design, printing, and other industries in China, as well as major universities. Daily sales hit a new historical high again, with daily sales reaching 36,000 units, and daily sales exceeding 17 million!"

"Sources revealed that Shenzhou USB flash drives have been officially shipped to Hong Kong, America, Europe, and other markets and will start overseas sales in a few days!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 299 =====