Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 683 Samsung's Decision

The aftermath of the Qingjiang County incident quickly spread through Samsung's nationwide distribution network.

Samsung's statement of sacrificing a pawn to save the king, while temporarily preserving the reputation of the Samsung brand, thoroughly chilled the hearts of its distributors across the country.

In the past, agents were willing to charge forward for the rebates and preferential policies from headquarters. But now, the price of charging forward is likely to be utter destruction, and once a problem arises, headquarters will not hesitate to cut ties.

As a result, an atmosphere of "it's better to avoid trouble" permeated all Samsung stores.

The posters for XP Speed ​​Edition were still bright and shiny, but the sales staff's sales pitches had become more conservative and cautious.

Some shop assistants would even subconsciously gesture with their eyes to the red stall outside the door when customers hesitated.

Microsoft's massive advertising campaign, while generating a significant market response, ultimately found that the massive traffic was quickly diverted and leaked when it reached Samsung stores, thus benefiting the Momo OS system.

Yanjing, the headquarters of Microsoft Asia Group.

Waters dialed Lee Jae-yong's number with a grim expression and said in a deep voice, "Lee Jae-yong, is this the result of our cooperation? We've burned through nearly a billion Chinese yuan in the advertising market, and this is the pitiful conversion rate we got in return? Has your distribution channel been paralyzed?"

Lee Jae-yong's expression was equally grave on the other end of the phone.

He understood Waters' anger, but he knew even better the root of the problem.

But now, neither the heavens nor the earth are on their side, making this matter extremely difficult.

Li Zairong thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Waters, the incident in Qingjiang County has had a great impact. It's not that we didn't try our best, but we almost got caught in the vortex of public opinion. Momo Group's close-range tactics are too difficult to deal with. Their influence in the local area is already stronger than ours."

Waters said in a deep voice, "Are you really out of ideas?"

Lee Jae-yong had been waiting for Waters to say this, and couldn't help but laugh and say, "Mr. Waters, since the offline store's access has been blocked by the other party in such a shameless way, then we won't take this route, we'll go around it."

"Go around it?"

“Yes, we offer on-site installation service.” Li Zairong smiled and said, “This is something I’ve always wanted to do. Users don’t need to come to the store; we’ll come to their door, making convenience a new selling point. Isn’t Momo OS free? But we offer a hassle-free on-site service! We still charge 20 yuan, which is a huge value for many families who don’t know much about computers and are afraid of trouble. Moreover, on-site service can perfectly avoid direct interference from the other party’s stall.”

Waters paused for a moment, quickly weighing his options.

Door-to-door service can indeed avoid the current predicament, but the investment is also very large.

This is somewhat inconsistent with Microsoft's long-standing agile strategy.

He frowned and said, "Your plan requires a lot of manpower, and your current store staff is simply not enough!"

“So we’re recruiting together,” Li Zairong said with a smile, having already prepared his answer. “Our two companies will take the lead in establishing a dedicated ‘reliable door-to-door service team.’ We’ll share the funding and jointly recruit and train the staff. As long as we have a large, professional team that we directly control, we’ll be able to achieve twice the results with half the effort, no matter what we sell. This isn’t just about installing systems; we can also deliver the products we carry to your door within hours.”

Lee Jae-yong's words made Waters fall into deep thought.

He understood Lee Jae-young's purpose perfectly. Samsung had been promoting the concept of 'hourly delivery' and had been very successful in South Korea.

Their "Samsung Delivery in South Korea" service can deliver mobile phones and other electronic products to the customer's door in as little as 28 minutes, starting from when the customer places an order by phone.

Lee Jae-young also made several attempts in the Chinese and Asian markets, but apart from success in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, he did not succeed in other countries and regions.

The reason is simple: the investment is too huge, and there are too many people to support. If you want to do this in mainland China, you simply can't do it without investing tens of billions.

First, we need to recruit a lot of delivery drivers. Each area needs at least one person. A district or county has more than a dozen streets, and each street needs to hire 2-3 people. That means a district or county needs to hire at least 50 people. In some first-tier cities, the number of people needed is several times higher.

If the business were to expand nationwide, it would require supporting nearly 50,000 people.

What is this concept?
If each person earns 1,000 yuan a month, the monthly salary expenditure alone would be 50 to 60 million yuan.

Moreover, it's not just about wages; if we were to equip each person with a delivery truck, that would cost hundreds of millions more.

In addition, there's branch management, employee management, employee training, call center...

This whole setup alone cost over a billion yuan.

It would take at least three to five billion to make it work in a year.

Moreover, once this company is established, Samsung will be the biggest beneficiary. It's as if Samsung got Microsoft to help them fund their dream.

With Samsung service centers working in conjunction with the "Samsung Hourly Delivery" team, they're practically unstoppable.

However, Waters is also considering the feasibility of this plan.

Although the investment is substantial, compared to the current enormous waste of advertising funds, this may be the only chance to break the deadlock.

Moreover, if this business is turned into an independent company, and if that company makes money, they can also profit from it.

“Okay!” Waters finally made up his mind and said, “Let’s do it your way, Lee Jae-yong. I hope you won’t disappoint me this time.”

"Rest assured, Mr. Waters, this time we will directly reach users, and Momo Group's booth will no longer be an obstacle to our influence." Lee Jae-yong was overjoyed to see Waters agree.

Waters's ability to act is astonishing.

After agreeing, he quickly compiled Lee Jae-yong's suggestion into a project proposal and sent it directly to Microsoft headquarters.

In less than a day, a huge sum of $5 million was deposited into the account of Microsoft China United Group.

Samsung and Microsoft each invested $5 million to jointly establish Samsung Express Service Co., Ltd.

The company had barely been established when job postings were already flooding the market.

Installing a system is not a technical job; an average young person can start working immediately after half a day of training.

After rigorous standardized training at Samsung's service center, a door-to-door service team dressed in uniform was quickly formed.

They set up a call center in each county, and their advertising slogan became: "One call, and a professional engineer will come to your door and give your computer a new lease on life."

Samsung, on the other hand, also started its own promotional campaign, labeling all Samsung products as "same-city express delivery" and using this new company to suppress competitors in the digital industry.

This tactic indeed had an immediate and effective result.

Users attracted by the advertisements but too lazy to go to the computer mall called the service hotline. Engineers arrived on time, dressed professionally, followed standard service procedures, and even performed simple optimizations and explanations after installing the system.

Although a service fee of 20 yuan is charged, many users feel that the money is well spent.

Saves time and effort, and is worry-free.

The daily installation volume of the free booth set up by Momo Group opposite the Samsung store has also begun to decline slightly.

"President Cheng, Samsung's door-to-door service has been a bit of a problem for us," Shi Lei reported to Cheng Yi, his voice tinged with worry. "I think we'll have to close our stall."

Cheng Yi looked at the data report, but his face did not show much surprise. He smiled and said, "It's normal. Waters and Lee Jae-young are both rare elites in the business world, especially Lee Jae-young. He has been trained by us twice and has led Samsung for more than two years. He has become a qualified leader."

He paused for a moment and then asked, "How are our results this month?"

"More than 15000 stalls across the country have installed more than 500 million sets of the system," Shi Lei said with a smile.

Cheng Yi laughed and said, "That's right. Thanks to Microsoft, we have so many more customers. Has the subsidy plan you prepared been completed yet?"

“They’re out.” Shi Lei immediately said, “We, together with Honor Computer and Hasee Computer, have dispatched a total of 21000 employees and more than 23000 college student volunteers. The 21000 employees will receive an additional 1000 yuan bonus on top of their original salaries, and the volunteers will receive an additional 800 yuan bonus.”

"Let's double it," Cheng Yi said. "After distributing the subsidies, let's remove all the stalls."

"Remove it?" Shi Lei was taken aback and said, "Actually, there are still some customers."

"No need. With Microsoft's ads coming out this time, hardly anyone is willing to go offline to install the system anymore," Cheng Yi said with a smile. "Let them take a break too."

"Okay." Although Shi Lei didn't understand why Cheng Yi did this, he still obeyed the order.

After hanging up the phone, Cheng Yi's eyes lit up with an excited smile.

At this moment, inside Samsung headquarters.

Lee Jae-yong looked at the latest data report and let out a long sigh of relief.

Half a month has passed since Speedata officially started operating, and the number of XP Speed ​​Edition installations has begun to increase dramatically.

In just half a month, the number of installations reached more than 400 million.

This number is already very impressive; on average, each Express installer can install 5 systems per day.

If it continues to be promoted for a long time, the market share of XP Speed ​​Edition will definitely gradually increase.

If it can go toe-to-toe with the Momo OS system, then the real show is about to begin.

Having delivered a satisfactory result to Microsoft, Li Zairong felt it was time to have a serious talk with Momo Group.

A $30 billion deposit is a heavy burden even for a giant like Samsung.

He felt that now that he held the trump card of door-to-door service, he had regained the initiative and should be able to force Momo Group to the negotiating table.

Therefore, he decided to make a high-profile visit to demonstrate his strength and intimidate the other party with his imposing presence.

Soon, news of Samsung Group President Lee Jae-young's official visit to Gyeongju spread through both official and unofficial channels.

This visit was of extremely high caliber; the main leaders of Handong Province, government officials of Jingzhou City, and many prominent entrepreneurs all received relevant notifications or rumors.

The airport was carpeted with red carpet and welcome banners were hung high.

When Lee Jae-young's private jet's flat deck door opened, and he, dressed in a sharp suit, stepped off the gangway surrounded by assistants and bodyguards, the scene was immediately filled with enthusiastic applause and a flurry of camera flashes.

Provincial and municipal leaders personally greeted them, shaking hands, exchanging pleasantries, and taking photos together, with every step meticulously executed.

On the roads leading to the city, traffic police even arranged motorcycles to clear the way.

This scene resembled a state visit more than a business visit.

That evening, a welcome banquet, spearheaded by the Handong Provincial Chamber of Commerce, was held in the banquet hall of the most luxurious five-star hotel in Jingzhou.

Political and business elites gathered, clinking glasses and engaging in lively conversation.

Lee Jae-yong undoubtedly became the focus of the entire event. Speaking broken but well-meaning Mandarin, he moved among the leaders and entrepreneurs, radiating an aura of great influence.

At this welcome banquet, Du Yusheng attended as the executive vice president of the Handong Provincial Chamber of Commerce and delivered a passionate welcome speech.

However, many people noticed that it seemed that only Du Yusheng from Momo Group came, and he was representing the Handong Provincial Chamber of Commerce.

Apart from Du Yusheng, the chairman of Momo Group, none of the other senior executives of Momo Group came, and Cheng Yi, a key figure, also did not show up.

This added a subtle touch to the welcoming banquet.

Everyone knew why Lee Jae-yong had come.

Li Zairong was surrounded by people from all sides like a star being the moon, but his eyes never left Du Yusheng, who was talking with a provincial leader.

After the leader left, Li Zairong immediately picked up his wine glass and walked over with a smile on his face.

"Chairman Du, thank you again for your warm hospitality." Li Zairong took the initiative to clink glasses with Du Yusheng and said in a friendly tone, "Under Chairman Du's leadership, Momo Group is truly a flagship enterprise for the national internet industry."

"No, no, we're just an internet cafe owner, you can't flatter us like that," Du Yusheng said with a modest smile.

After a few pleasantries, Lee Jae-yong felt the time was right. He subtly changed the subject, lowering his voice slightly as he said, "Chairman Du, there may have been some misunderstandings between Samsung and your group before. In addition, competition is inevitable, which has led to some unpleasantness. I think it's time for us to sit down and talk calmly to see if we can find a more harmonious way to coexist."

He stared intently into Du Yusheng's eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of a change in his expression.

Unfortunately, Du Yusheng's reaction was beyond his expectations.

Du Yusheng still wore that harmless, gentle smile, gently swirling the wine in his glass. His tone carried a hint of helplessness as he said, "Chairman Li, I understand what you're saying very well. However, I'm truly sorry, although I hold the title of Chairman, my main focus is on the group's strategic direction and external image. I'm not directly responsible for specific matters, especially those involving such major business negotiations and competitive strategies, nor am I very familiar with the specific details."

(End of this chapter)