Chapter 194: Chapter 178: Explosive Popularity in East Africa, the Investment World’s Guiding Light to Ruin

After handling the customer complaint incident, Pinbei’s daily active users didn’t fall. Instead, they experienced a massive surge.

At the same time.

Far away in Yasbeba, Zhou Jinling and his team finally received the second shipment of Orange F1 phones from the Shencheng Factory. The inventory was as high as 100,000 units.

In addition, there were 30,000 units of the Orange F2 phone, an improved version of the Orange C1, priced at 299 US Dollars.

Cao Dahua had said that the price for distributors could be lowered to yield another 10 to 20 US Dollars in profit, depending on the partner’s sales volume.

The Orange F2’s chip was swapped from the Snapdragon MSM8260 dual-core processor to the cheaper, slightly lower-performance MSM7225, and the screen was also downgraded accordingly.

However, its speaker volume, number of card slots, and battery capacity were enhanced, making its design more suitable for the African Market.

"Brother Zhou, are we going on sale tomorrow?" Jin Xu asked with a smile as he moved the goods into the warehouse.

Their station was allocated 5,000 Orange F1s and 1,500 Orange F2s. At their previous sales rate, this was enough to last them for at least a month and a half.

"No rush. I’ve scheduled a meeting with a dozen or so local digital store owners at Kategna Restaurant to discuss partnerships."

Zhou Jinling changed into a suit, regaining a bit of his former impressive air.

Kategna Restaurant was a restaurant in the nearby business district that specialized in local cuisine. The menu primarily featured dishes like shiro (chickpea stew), tibs (sautéed meat), and injera (flatbread).

Jin Xu and Qi Liang exchanged a look, a wry smile appearing on their faces.

Because the local food was cheap, the three of them ate this stuff often and were long sick of it.

"The company’s reimbursing us, so eat up at lunch," Zhou Jinling said teasingly with a smile as he straightened his tie and patted their shoulders.

He didn’t want to eat local food either, but all the owners he had invited were locals. It would be completely inappropriate to go to a Chinese restaurant.

Besides, the prices on the menus at Chinese restaurants in Yasbeba were comparable to French or Italian restaurants—unimaginably expensive.

"Brother Zhou, why don’t we switch to a Chinese restaurant? Let this bunch of big Black guys experience our culinary culture," Jin Xu said with a grin.

Qi Liang nodded in agreement. Although the Chinese restaurants in Yasbeba had adapted their flavors, as long as the customers were Chinese, the chefs would cook according to the domestic taste.

The food wasn’t bad at all!

"Cut the crap. You two are the only ones who like mao xue wang, stir-fried pork intestines, and braised beltfish. Which of these local owners could stomach that?"

Zhou Jinling rolled his eyes and said irritably.

"Hehe, that’s true," Qi Liang sighed, replying with a dry laugh.

"It’s getting late. Grab two samples, and let’s go!"

Zhou Jinling ordered the two, then led the way out.

The three of them walked along Old Anbo Road for about fifteen minutes before they saw the sign for Kategna Restaurant.

The moment Zhou Jinling stepped inside, he was surrounded by three dark-skinned local owners who escorted him to a table.

After all, Zhou Jinling was the one who had been communicating with them all along.

Although Jin Xu and Qi Liang were also wearing shirts, their presence was clearly a notch below Zhou Jinling’s, and they were mistaken for his assistants.

At this point, about a dozen people were already seated at the table. Most were Black, with the exception of one woman in a long dress whose skin was slightly lighter, making her look more like she was from Southeast Asia.

Zhou Jinling knew she was of mixed Black and white heritage and ran a digital specialty store near the Sheraton Hotel on Bolai Road.

It was quite large and specialized in selling phones from brands like Apple, Samsung, and Nokia.

The population of Abysinnian was over 90 million. Although most could only afford 34 US Dollar feature phones, there were still over 10 million people with immense spending power.

Never mind the 299 US Dollar Orange F2; even the 799 US Dollar Apple 4 was a bestseller locally, which showed the spending power of the local nouveau riche.

"Mr. Zhou, can you let us see the product first?" Elita asked.

She was the only female boss among this group of distributors, and also the most powerful one in the nearby business district.

"Of course, no problem."

Zhou Jinling smiled and pulled out a chair to sit down.

Beside him, Jin Xu placed the bag in his hands on the table and took out a palm-sized phone box.

It had a pure white design and looked extremely exquisite.

The front was printed with the words ’Orange F2’.

Elita picked it up without hesitation and tore open the plastic seal. A phone with an ultra-narrow bezel and an ultra-thin body was revealed to everyone.

Elita booted up the phone, connected to the restaurant’s Wi-Fi, and started trying it out as if no one else was there.

In Abysinnian in 2011, the internet infrastructure was still relatively underdeveloped. However, as the capital, Yasbeba’s more upscale restaurants, cafes, hotels, and business centers usually offered Wi-Fi service.

Zhou Jinling didn’t mind and leisurely sipped his tea.

Although the Orange F2’s specs had been scaled back, its speakers, card slots, and camera algorithms had been optimized. Moreover, at a price of just 299 US Dollars, it would definitely be a hot commodity locally once the marketing was done right.

CLICK!

Elita tried the camera function. Although the imaging quality couldn’t compare to Apple’s, her face in the photo was noticeably brightened and optimized.

This showed that Orange Technology paid more attention to the user experience of Abyssinian people than the likes of Apple and Samsung.

"Mr. Zhou, I want 100 units of this model," Elita said, quite satisfied. She asked for 100 units right off the bat.

"No problem." Zhou Jinling hadn’t expected to lock down the most capable distributor before the meal had even started.

"Miss Elita, please let me have a look." A digital store owner on the side, seeing how highly Elita thought of the product, immediately made a request.

Elita passed the phone over.

Seeing this, Zhou Jinling was in a great mood and called over a waiter to start ordering.

The group ate and talked. An hour later, all of the dozen or so digital store owners who had come to the meeting had ordered a batch of products, some more than others.

In any case, Zhou Jinling had promised that if they couldn’t sell them, they could return them at any time.

After they had their fill of food and drink, Zhou Jinling led the group back to the Orange Mobile Phone specialty store.

Both sides completed the transaction: one hand paid the money, the other handed over the goods.

In just over ten minutes, Zhou Jinling had pre-sold 1,700 Orange F1s and 480 Orange F2s.

This achievement was the result of him going from one business to another to negotiate over the past half-month.

While waiting for the factory shipment, Zhou Jinling had been working on wall advertisements while also exploring marketing methods suitable for the local area.

In Abysinnian, where e-commerce was underdeveloped, the method of expanding offline channels, like the one Ouhan originally used, was actually more suitable.

"Brother Zhou, you’re really something else! In just a short while, you’ve sold a month’s worth of our stock," Qi Liang said, flattering him.

"It’s just a pre-sale. Whether we can sell them all still depends on how hard these people work and whether our previous wall ads are effective."

Zhou Jinling didn’t appear overly optimistic.

"I think it’ll be fine. The prototype for the Orange F1 sold 10 million units in the country."

Jin Xu used the domestic sales figures to boost their morale.

"Open the doors! Welcome our customers!"

Zhou Jinling nodded slightly, forced a smile, and shouted loudly.

A dozen or so buyers were already lined up outside. As early as when Elita and her group were picking up their goods and leaving, these people had seen through the crack in the door that the shelves were fully stocked with phones.

After a month of brewing, the Orange F1 had already gained some fame locally.

Priced at just 99 US Dollars, you could get a smartphone with a 3.7-inch large screen, quad-SIM standby, two batteries, and a huge 8GB of memory. It instantly became a fashion statement for the youth.

But for half a month straight, a "Sold Out" sign had been hanging on the shop door, leaving people sorely disappointed.

This unintentional scarcity marketing had secretly built up a large number of potential buyers.

Jin Xu and Qi Liang glanced outside. The line of customers was getting longer and longer.

The two of them quickly pulled the doors open, stood behind the counter, and reopened for business.

In one afternoon, they sold 47 Orange F1s and 12 Orange F2s. After all, their prices differed by a factor of three, so it was inevitable that the F2’s sales would be a bit lower.

The other Orange Mobile Phone market teams also had high sales figures, and there were quite a few people like Zhou Jinling who had established a primary distribution network.

In just three days, Abysinnian had absorbed 27,000 Orange F1s and 6,000 Orange F2s.

Sales gradually began to explode!

Compared to October and November, Orange Mobile Phone had finally established a firm foothold in East Africa, winning over users with its excellent camera functions, superior battery life, and multi-card slot design.

「Meanwhile.」

After finalizing the partnerships with Sunning and Vancl, Chen Yansen decided to hold Pinbei’s first-ever Investment Attraction Conference on December 28th.

The goal was to build on the foundation of existing merchants by bringing in more brands and source factories, thereby enhancing Pinbei’s influence within the industry and seeking new partnership opportunities and business models.

Although Pinbei had only been online for just over a month, its outstanding sales performance still attracted a large wave of merchants to attend.

Upon learning of this, the Xucheng official in charge of commerce immediately arranged for two teams of inspection personnel to provide security and support for the conference.

One must understand that in 2011, Xucheng was still just a major agricultural city, with its pillar industries relying entirely on forestry, coal power, and light textile and food industries.

As for the industries of a decade later—automotive parts, photovoltaic energy, cloud computing and big data, and new materials—apart from cloud computing, which was just beginning to be developed, there wasn’t even a shadow of the others.

This showed just how much importance the higher-ups placed on Orange Technology and Pinbei Technology.

The day before December 28th, people began arriving in Xucheng one after another.

What Chen Yansen hadn’t expected was that Sunning’s Zhang Jindong would personally visit with his team.

Don’t be fooled by Sunning in 2011. Its annual online sales were less than 10 billion, but Sunning’s real strength was all offline. With 1,500 chain stores nationwide, it firmly held the top spot in Hua Country’s home appliance retail chain industry.

With a net worth of thirty to forty billion, he was in the top ten of the Forbes Rich List and at the height of his success.

Chen Yansen was well aware of the power of this "Sitting Tiger of Jinling." While he wasn’t afraid, he certainly wouldn’t turn away business that came knocking on his door.

In the business world, having one more friend is far better than having one more enemy.

Besides, bringing in Sunning would also give Pinbei another option before its merchant system was fully developed.

"President Chen, so young and so accomplished. A pleasure to meet you!"

Zhang Jindong took the initiative to extend his hand when they met, appearing extremely enthusiastic.

Nearing fifty, Zhang Jindong was dressed in a royal blue bespoke suit, with a streak of white hair on his forehead and a ruddy complexion. He stepped out from the back of a Bentley with the license plate "66999".

Followed by assistants and bodyguards, he had an imposing presence.

The development path he had set for his own son was quite similar to Chen Yansen’s. If it weren’t for the fact that Kang Yang was still attending university in Pennsylvania, Zhang Jindong would have really wanted to bring his son to meet Chen Yansen.

"President Zhang, you’re too kind. Please, come in."

Chen Yansen stepped forward with a smile to shake his hand and exchange pleasantries.

’Once a businessman fails to keep up with the times, it’s difficult to hold on to the wealth in his hands,’ he looked at Zhang Jindong and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Zhang Jindong made two consecutive missteps. First, he failed to successfully transition, and Sunning’s online business lost to Jingdong. Second, he invested recklessly, acquiring Inter Milan, Wanda Department Store, and Carrefour, and also investing in Jia Yueting and Evergrande, losing forty to fifty billion in one fell swoop.

’He could be called the guiding light to damnation in the investment world!’

Zhang Jindong looked at Chen Yansen with satisfaction. Logically, for an investment conference of this level, a man of his status had no need to attend, but he just wanted to meet Chen Yansen.

Not yet twenty, he was making waves in the e-commerce and mobile phone industries with a net worth in the tens of billions.

At that moment, Zhang Jindong had the same thought as Ma Wenteng and Ma Liyun: even though he knew it was impossible, he still wanted to recruit Chen Yansen.

The two chatted as they walked toward the lobby of Building 6.

Inside and outside the building, in addition to the security guards on patrol, there was also a team of inspection personnel.

The ground-level parking spaces were filled with luxury cars. After all, the merchants invited to the conference were at least B-list brands or owned a processing plant with significant production capacity. BMWs, Benzes, and Audis were common, and there were also a dozen or so Maybachs, Bentleys, Porsches, and Land Rovers parked there.

Chen Yansen led Zhang Jindong to the front row of the conference hall on the 8th floor and sat down.

However, no sooner had Zhang Jindong sat down than his expression turned cold, because three seats away sat the Sect Leader of Jingdong.

The two were from the same hometown but fought fiercely due to their competition in the digital and home appliance sectors.

"President Zhang, I didn’t expect to run into you at an industry exchange of this level."

Liu Qiangdong spoke with a smile, his words laced with a hint of mockery.