Taobao was very busy. While Li Mu and Liu Shixiong were preparing for Taobao's launch, the domestic MP3 manufacturers were having a heated discussion about Easy Listening and Mango-ME. Mango-ME was obviously a disruptor that was trying to steal everyone's livelihood. This disruptor would not be welcomed by any company in the industry. On the contrary, Mango-ME's appearance had made the major manufacturers, who used to be competing with each other, into an unbreakable alliance. Everyone firmly believed that no matter how they competed before, they should unite and come up with an effective strategy to curb Mango-ME's development.
The MP3 brands in Yanjing held an industry meeting. Early in the morning, the heads of more than a dozen MP3 brands met in the conference center of a star-rated hotel in Yanjing. As soon as everyone arrived, they began to have a heated discussion. First of all, everyone wanted to know who the new Mango brand belonged to.
Mango-ME had just launched its online promotion, and no one in the MP3 industry knew where this brand came from. A few capable people in the industry asked around, but they could not find out anything. However, they knew about Easy Listening. This company was jointly owned by Makino Technology and Baidu. It could be said to be the mother of the MP3 industry.
Before Easy Listening exposed Mango-ME, the entire MP3 industry regarded Easy Listening as the industry's savior and promoter. If it weren't for Easy Listening, the MP3 industry would have to wait for a while longer. Everyone was glad that there was such a dominant MP3 download website on the Internet. It allowed more users to come into contact with digital music, and they gradually gave up on traditional playback devices such as cassette players, Walkman, and CD players. Digital devices were extremely powerful in destroying traditional devices. Once users came into contact with digital devices, they would soon be attracted by the convenience of digital devices, and digital devices would become more and more popular.
However, they did not expect that Easy Listening, the promoter of the industry, would become their biggest competitor. Moreover, they had come up with a product that looked almost perfect, and even the price was so perfect.
At the meeting, the people in the MP3 industry were wondering how the Mango-ME was sold at a price of 368 yuan.
The person in charge of the MP3 brand, who sold more than 200,000 units a month, said, "The cost of customizing a 64MB MP3 player from the factory must be more than 300 yuan, and the final selling price must be more than 500 yuan. To ensure that the distributors can make a profit, our selling price must not be lower than 500 yuan. If it is lower than 500 yuan, either we or the distributors will lose money. But how did Mango achieve a price of 368 yuan?"
"In order to compete with the Korean brands, we've lowered the profits of every step and barely managed to reduce the price of the 64MB terminal to less than 600 RMB. This Mango-ME is even more ruthless than when we're competing with the Korean brands. The price they're selling is probably only thirty to forty RMB higher than the cost price. If we take into account the cost of every step and tax, it's only reasonable that they're making a loss of at least a hundred RMB for every unit they sell. The problem is, who would do that? Isn't he sick in the head? "
"We have to figure out whether the price of 368 yuan was set by Mango or Easy Listening. If it's set by Mango, then they must be sick in the head. But if it's set by Easy Listening, does that mean that Easy Listening is only ordering the product from Mango, and Easy Listening will take care of everything else? Mango only needs to ship the product, and Easy Listening will take care of all the distribution costs."
"Where did Easy Listening get such a large distribution network?" The person in charge of Lenovo's MP3 section said, "Everyone here is a veteran in the industry, and you all know how difficult it is to set up a nationwide distribution network. We're better off as we already have a good distribution network in the PC industry. But for a brand that specializes in MP3, it's too difficult and costly to set up a distribution network."
Someone said, "I don't understand it either. We've been asking around for the past two days, but so far, we haven't heard anything. Mango-ME is going to be released in a few days, but there's still no news from their distribution channels. Our distributors are all over the country, and we have a sales counter in almost every electronic shopping mall. But so far, we haven't seen a single advertisement related to Mango-ME."
The person in charge of Patriots said, "It's meaningless for us to figure out how they're going to sell their products. What we need to do now is to deal with Easy Listening and this Mango-ME. Our terminal sales have been declining for the past two days. Once Mango-ME's advertisement was launched, our sales dropped by almost 60%. This has a huge impact on us."
Although there was competition in the original market, everyone was following the rules of the market, and it could be considered fair and friendly. However, the appearance of Easy Listening and Mango-ME was simply a death sentence. If Mango-ME was really sold at this price, other brands would really have no way out.
"Our terminal sales have dropped by 70% for the past two days!" The person in charge said bitterly, "Whether it's the price of 368 yuan or the stunning appearance, Mango-ME has successfully attracted the attention of all potential MP3 users. This can be seen from the number of reservations they have. I took a look this morning, and the number of reservations has already exceeded 3 million. It should be because all the potential MP3 users in the country are paying attention to Mango-ME, and they hope to be able to buy it on the 6th. Fortunately, Mango-ME only has 100,000 units in its first batch. After these 100,000 units are digested by the market, the other users will have to settle for our product."
The person in charge of Lenovo's eyes suddenly lit up. He said, "Does anyone know what Mango's production model is? Do they have their own production line? If not, which company did they find to produce for them? Right now, the OEM factories in China, Taiwan, and even Korea are working with everyone, especially the OEM production lines in China and Taiwan. Basically 80% of the production is given to everyone here, including Lenovo. If we can find Mango's OEM factory, we can use our combined influence to pressure the manufacturers, and we will definitely be able to choke them. "
That sentence woke up everyone from their dreams.
The person in charge of Lenovo's words immediately made everyone realize that there was a turning point. As long as they could control Mango's production, they could sell it at any price. This was because the market demand was there, and the demand was increasing. No matter how high Mango's price was, if it did not have enough production, most of the users would still have to buy their products from other brands.
The person in charge of Lenovo continued, "Based on the general situation, Mango should not have its own production. As long as we find their OEM factory, we can put pressure on them to cut off their supply completely. That way, they will not have a chance to grow again. If they start to prepare their own production line, they will probably only be able to enter the market next year or the year after."
Everyone immediately got excited. Everyone had been disrupted by Mango-ME recently, and they thought that they and the entire industry were facing a fierce invader. However, after everyone sat down and discussed, they realized that even though Mango-ME had such a low price and strong competitiveness, it still had a huge weakness. Once the production could not keep up, it would be like an armored vehicle without fuel. No matter how strong it was, it would not be able to move.
… … r
At the same time, the two Mango OEM factories in China and Taiwan were also very worried.
When they signed the contract, they were only in charge of the on-demand production. They did not know about their customers' future business strategies. After Mango-ME's advertisement was published on Easy Listening website, the manufacturers realized that the company they were working with had the ambition of disrupting the industry. Mango-ME's pricing would undoubtedly make them the industry's enemy. Most of their orders and profits came from other brands. They also realized that if Mango-ME got listed, the profits of other brands would be affected. If they knew that they were the OEM factories of Mango-ME, they would definitely come to question them.
Unexpectedly, this idea became a reality very soon.
Dozens of MP3 manufacturers worked together to find clues. In just one morning, the two companies in China and Taiwan who were the OEM factories of Mango were found out. After that, all the companies that were working with them started to send letters to accuse these two companies of helping Mango. They even gave them a very tough solution. If they did not stop their OEM contracts with Mango immediately, other companies would terminate their contracts with them.
The two OEM factories were extremely depressed. What did Mango's price war have to do with them? Why did so many manufacturers come together to pressure them?
Not only were these OEM customers questioning them, but even their MP3 OEM peers were also questioning them. They were asking why they were working with Mango, a disruptor in the industry. If Mango really destroyed the industry, or lowered the profits of the industry to an extremely low level, not only would the MP3 brands suffer, but the OEMs would suffer as well.
The two OEM factories finally realized that they had become the industry's public enemy when the industry found out that they were the OEM factories of Mango.
They could ignore the clamor and protests of their peers, but these allied manufacturers basically took up all of their orders except for Mango. If they really ended their collaboration, then their next step would really be screwed. At this time, the two OEMs only had one thought in their minds. They hoped to cut ties with Mango as soon as possible. No one wanted to become the industry's public enemy because of Mango.
Working for Mango didn't earn much more than working for other brands. On top of that, they were being attacked by other brands. These two OEMs felt like they had been cheated by Mango, or they had been implicated by Mango. To them, the best solution was to stop working with Mango after they completed the shipment. However, it was then that they realized that they still had contracts with Muye Technology to produce more than a million units of Mango-ME.
The reason why Lin Qingya had set up this trap for these two factories was to prevent them from going back on their word. Mu Ye Technology had already paid a deposit of over 20 million yuan per unit. If the two factories wanted to go back on their word, they would have to pay ten times the deposit as a penalty. That would add up to almost 300 million yuan. Even if they were beaten to death, they would not be able to afford that much money …
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