Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 229 There is no difficult business in the world~
"Oh - Mr. Walton, I'm glad to reach a consensus with you. It's a pleasure to cooperate with you."

“Hahahaha – Mr. Jones, thank you for your understanding and generosity. I wish us a pleasant cooperation.”

At noon on December 14, 1978, Ethan Jones and Sam Walton hugged each other tightly in the conference room of the Game of Destiny. Both of them had happy smiles on their faces, and in their hands each held a freshly-made contract that smelled of ink.

That’s right, after three days of discussion, the two people who had the intention to cooperate finally reached a consensus on the terms of cooperation. Although the drafting idea of ​​the entire contract was based on Ethan’s traffic statement, the specific terms were not as harsh as Ethan said, and they took good care of Sam Walton’s emotions.

For example: In formulating the cooperation period, Ethan accepted Walton's proposal and set the cooperation period for both parties to be ten years, and the specific effective date would be calculated based on the release time of Johnson's console.

For example: In order to prevent the Johnson console from being a flash in the pan, Walton required Destiny Games to launch at least one electronic game that can be installed on the home console every year during the period of their cooperation, to ensure that after the popularity of "Starfield" waned, the Johnson home console would not occupy their shelves in vain.

Since "Starry Sky" was the escort in the first year, that year was not counted in the agreed years. Starting from the second year, Destiny games were required to launch new products. Therefore, the total number of games was nine years and nine models.

Destiny Game can extend the release of a single game, but the longest period cannot exceed half a year. If it exceeds the period, Walmart has the right to remove all their products from the shelves as a punishment.

For example, both parties know that a home console cannot be sold for ten years. Therefore, if Destiny Games wants to upgrade its console products within ten years, Walmart will automatically obtain the exclusive franchise rights of the console. The exclusive franchise period is the remaining time of the cooperation between the two parties. Walmart's exclusive rights will not be automatically extended due to the release of new products. At the same time, Walmart must pay a capitation fee for the new console of Destiny Games according to the fee agreement in the contract, which fully guarantees the interests of both parties.

When these mutually beneficial terms appear, win-win cooperation is no longer just a hypocritical rhetoric, and in terms of cost calculation, both parties have also strived for a plan that everyone can accept.

The basic terms of the plan are: during the period of cooperation between the two parties, Walmart will need to pay Destiny a fifty-cent head fee for each Johnson home console sold.

The upgraded terms of the plan are: In order to ensure that the products on a single shelf can attract enough customers, Walmart needs to make sales requirements for Johnson's home consoles and future single game cartridges.

For example, if a Walmart can serve a surrounding population of 50,000 people, then the annual sales volume of the Destiny Game in that Walmart cannot be lower than 8 percent of the service population.

That is, after the Johnson home console and future video games of the Destiny game are launched, their annual sales in this Walmart cannot be less than 4,000 units or 4,000 copies.

If it is lower than this number, the penalty clause will be triggered and Destiny will need to pay Walmart a 3% sales fee based on the selling price of a single console and a single game.

Based on the console's retail price of $199.99, that's close to six dollars.

If it is higher than 8% and breaks through 13%, that is, when Walmart's coverage population is 50,000, and 6,500 people go to Walmart to buy Destiny Game's products, then Walmart will add another 25 cents to the 50-cent customer acquisition cost and settle the marketing expenses of the year with Destiny Game at a price of 75 cents per customer.

The 8% number of consumers within the radiation range is calculated according to the forecast given by the Wall Street Journal. When the Wall Street Journal believes that at least 8 to 10 million people in America are willing to pay for the home console of the Destiny game, 10 million out of a population of 200 million is 5%.

The three points upward represent Walton's desire to make money.

To put it simply, this is actually a gambling contract.

Ethan Jones was very confident in his product and wanted to get more, while Sam Walton felt that Game of Destiny could not cover everything and hoped to spend less marketing costs in a single store.

Since both parties feel that I have the advantage, a win-win situation emerges.

As for who will have the last laugh?
We can only let time slowly witness it.

However, even though the cooperation between Destiny Game and Walmart is a long-term race, Ethan will not forget to ask for the current benefits. After taking a photo with Sam Walton, Ethan made a small request to the other party at the lunch table.

"Sam, I have something I want to trouble you with."

"Oh Ethan—just say it—"

"It's like this. Our Destiny Game's production company is planning to set up a manufacturing branch in Arkansas, which will specialize in producing game consoles and cartridges for the East. Although we know and are familiar with the governor of Arkansas, it's not my territory after all, so -"

Ethan rubbed his hands, and it was very clear that he wanted to take advantage of him.

How could Sam Walton not understand what Ethan meant?
He laughed and nodded, saying, "No problem, I'll say hello to the people in the state when I get back."

"I guarantee that you can select a site within a month, build a factory at the beginning of next year, recruit workers in March, start training in April, and start formal production in May."

"And in June..."

"The least I can do is get a few hundred thousand units, right?"

Sam Walton winked at Ethan.

The old man's playful look made Ethan laugh out loud.

"Yes Sam! We will give you priority in supply!"

Although Walmart at that time was not yet the giant that dominated the American retail industry, it had already occupied Arkansas and was definitely the local tyrant.

The young governor who wanted Ethan to build a factory in Arkansas might have supreme power there, but the Waltons could decide who would exercise that supreme power. In this case, having them help with the factory expansion could really save a lot of unnecessary trouble.

After reaching a consensus with Sam Walton, communicating with superstores in other regions where Walmart could not enter became Ethan's job focus.

Since Ethan would not grant these stores exclusive terms, he would not mention the reverse commission thing again. However, when game users all over the world were looking forward to the arrival of Johnson's home console and the "Starfield" game, and the excellent response made "Ms. Pac-Man" break the record with her eyes closed, Ethan, who took the initiative, also got the commission contract that other merchants envied.

Those large stores that cover at least one state take six points off the selling price;

The margin for a small shopping mall in a single city is five points of the selling price;
As for our own people...

It is four or five points.

Yes, in addition to large shopping malls such as Walmart, video stores across the country like Universal, Fox, and Disney will also sell home consoles of the Destiny game.

Since their store costs are not as outrageous as those of superstores, and the price of Johnson consoles is much higher than the videotapes they normally sell, they can still make a lot even if they take the least.

This multi-faceted cooperation also makes Ethan very satisfied.

Last year, when setting up a separate marketing department, Ethan was actually a little scared.

Having never run a physical business in his two lives, he only knows that establishing sales channels requires a large number of people to carry out field promotion and maintenance, and to find ways to put his products on the shelves of major merchants.

But now...

"Fame is a good thing, isn't it?"

Ethan looked at the calendar in front of him. Almost every day was marked with a red circle.

Those red circles extended outward like hedgehogs, with a string of English words written at the end of each tentacle. These things were not only the visiting schedules of the owners of major businesses, but also handfuls of green US dollars.

Gazing at the madness of the past week, Ethan pursed his lips and laughed, "When you are famous enough that everyone knows you...there will be no business that is difficult to do in this world!"

"Hehe~"

Ethan closed the calendar, put his head in his hands, and leaned back leisurely.

Although Ethan and the owners of the major shopping malls had a great time talking and even reached a consensus on the most important sales commission, this did not mean that the construction of sales channels would be over. They still needed to conduct on-site inspections and finalize with the mall owners the shelf locations for the products when they were launched, the number of display racks for the products when they were launched, the production plan for offline promotional materials such as roll-up banners, and so on.

These things that are related to the actual interests of Destiny Games will be written into the contract, and all the busy work related to the details is the work of the marketing department.

If nothing goes wrong, they will be open for Christmas and New Year this year.

Because only after the baptism of these major festivals will the optimal location of a shopping mall be revealed.

This is actually the reason why Ethan is willing to give out bonuses.

It's New Year's Day, and you want your employees to run all over the United States without spending a penny?

Even Grandet couldn't do such a thing!

After arranging the detailed tasks, Ethan became busy with other things. In addition to the production and sales of arcade machines and the establishment of sales channels for home consoles, there were two other things waiting for him to deal with.

The first is related to video game competitions.

Since Ethan announced that he was going to hold a competition and use it to raise people's expectations for home consoles and sales of electronic arcade products, then the competition must be done, and it must be done well.

It cannot disappoint those guys who are really willing to pay, and it cannot be a rebellious son like the future Apple, adding a C port, a smart island across the entire series, making decisions that go against their ancestors, and changing the mute button as the highlights of its new products, because compared with Nokia's traditional art of changing the shell that they use, these actions are simply not gimmicks at all.

However, Ethan had never done such a thing as a competition. He had never understood how to determine the competition venue, how to determine the competition sponsors, how to register, how to select, how to compete, and how to promote.

therefore--

After thinking hard and realizing that he couldn't copy anything, he called Steve Ballmer.

Then he looked at him kindly and said, "Steve, you have been in the company for a year."

"Although you are my secretary, I have always trained you as my successor."

"So, here is a difficult task that needs to test you."

"Please write me a complete plan for the video game competition I conceived. I know you don't have experience in this area, but it doesn't matter. You can learn from the excellent plans of other competitions, eliminate those that are not suitable for us, and select those that we can use. That's all."

"This thing is urgent, you'd better give it to me before the New Year."

"that's it."

Ethan waved his hand, indicating that his Lord Bao could leave.

Ballmer's eyes widened, looking confused.

When he learned that Ethan was training him as his successor, the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously! There was no other way, because everyone in the United States knew that Destiny Game was the best company at the moment? Being able to become the successor to the president of this company? This was simply a great honor for him!

But when he found out that if he wanted to be the successor, he had to turn the empty folder created by his boss into reality and write a plan for the video game competition...

He immediately became depressed!

Now, who in America doesn’t know that those game players are looking forward to the arrival of the game competition like hungry calves?
When their events have already attracted much attention before they even started...

This kind of thing is not easy to make!

Well written, it is truly a God Blessing!

Poorly written...

Ah--

Then he will definitely be scolded to death by the players!
And the boss who proposed the competition himself is unwilling to write this thing?
"Are you trying to put all the blame on me?"

Steve Ballmer just felt he had discovered a blind spot.

The next second, he raised his head and wanted to refuse.

But before he could say anything, Ethan smiled and said, "Oh, by the way, did you tell me before that you wanted to be a screenwriter? Well, I'll introduce Steven to you when I'm done."

"You can tell him about your ideas."

"If he thinks it's okay, then you can go to Destiny Pictures."

“I’ll film your story.”

"!" Steve Ballmer raised his eyebrows.

A look of great surprise blossomed on his face.

"Good boss!"

"thank you boss!"

"I'll get busy now—"

Looking at the hurriedly departing figure, Ethan was very satisfied.

"Small fire sauce——"

'Too young, too simple!'

Hehe ~
Unfortunately, before Ethan could smile for a while, a serious look appeared on his face again.

After handing over the difficult task of game planning to Ballmer, he flipped through another document at hand. When he saw the golden arches on the white cover...

His eyes were suddenly filled with complexity.

"McDonald's..."

He shook the documents in his hand and sighed with emotion.

(End of this chapter)