In the IT industry, Steve Jobs is a person that Chen Zhiwen admires. From the initial personal computer to the subsequent iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc., they are all very contemporary inventions. In the field of product art, Steve Jobs is considered a very important person. Awesome genius.
What is not well known is that Jobs had a very simple way of testing his products, which was to find a group of children to see if they liked it.
Children's thinking is relatively simple. If you like it, you like it. If you don't like it, you don't like it. They will not deceive Jobs. At the same time, children's thinking is not active. They can only play with simple products. The simpler the product, the easier it is for them to get started. This is also what Jobs pursued. Let fools play with their own products.
Chen Zhiwen still agrees with this concept. Any game that can be liked by primary school students and junior high school students will definitely become popular. The so-called social people in later generations look down on such "retarded" games, which are often hits.
Chen Zhiwen continued: "Woz, you don't need to spend too much time on game testing during this period. Midea has a new air conditioner here, and you need to optimize the control system."
"Air conditioning? I haven't researched it." Woz said with some embarrassment.
"It doesn't matter, you just need to optimize the software. I believe you can do it." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. If in 20 years, all kinds of software have developed for decades, each industry will have its own characteristics. No one can give guidance across industries, but now, the software industry has just begun, there is not much difference between them, and because they are relatively primitive and simple, software designers have enough time to study different types.
Just like hundreds of years ago, many scientists were physicists, chemists, astronomers, and mathematicians at the same time. This is almost impossible today. A small classification major can be studied for a lifetime, but At that time, there were many people who had very high achievements in different fields.
Lei Shengli also said in English: "Mr. Watts, our technical staff, very much hopes to get your advice."
"Discuss, let's discuss together." Woz has a rather nerdy personality. When he is praised, he immediately becomes humble, which is very similar to the traditional Chinese character.
"One more thing, Lao Lei." Chen Zhiwen said: "The research and development of inverter air conditioners may still take a long time. I plan to send our other models of air conditioners to the US market this year, which can be considered to be carried out in a small area. Test it.”
Although tests were conducted in the Middle East last year, and the climate environment in the Middle East is much worse than that in the United States, the people in the two places are different. For ordinary people in the Middle East who have just become rich, a small problem is not a problem, but for ordinary people in the Middle East, For the United States, which has become accustomed to a high-quality life, it is completely different and may not be able to tolerate the slightest problem.
If you want to enter the US market, you must first practice it. It just so happens that Costco's control scope is relatively small and can be used for testing.
"Okay, then I will first produce a batch of high-quality samples and send them to some young people in the United States who can speak English and can endure hardships. They go to the United States to install air conditioners. Food and accommodation are not a problem, and salary is not a problem, but it may be a little harder. "Chen Zhiwen continued.
"An air conditioner who speaks English? This is a bit difficult." Lei Shengli thought for a while and said with a sad face.
"It's a bit difficult, so you need to find one. It's impossible to learn English in a short time. But for those who know English, it shouldn't be a problem to learn how to install air conditioners in a short time, as long as the money is available." Chen Zhiwen said.
"That's true." Lei Shengli nodded and asked: "Chen Sheng wants to send people from Hong Kong to the United States to install our own air conditioners to reduce costs?"
"Yes, reduce the installation cost in the United States. You may not know that in the United States, the price of installing an air conditioner is more expensive than the air conditioner itself. Especially in high-rise apartments, the price is ridiculously high. This is the only breakthrough I can think of. Otherwise, Our products don’t have many advantages,” Chen Zhiwen said with a shrug.
While Boss Su is still here, workers in Europe and the United States live a very comfortable life, and the cost to society naturally involves labor services, which are ridiculously expensive. For example, the income of a plumber is higher than the income of an average white-collar worker. It's much higher. If you ask them to repair a pipeline, the starting price in big cities may be US$200.
This is also the reason why hardware tools are sold very well in Europe and the United States. Some small jobs need to be done by yourself. Furthermore, household appliances are basically thrown away when they break. You can buy a new one for the cost of hiring someone to repair it. , and if they are buying large furniture, many people also move it themselves or ask friends to help, because the cost of hiring outsiders is higher than the furniture.
However, some electrical appliances cannot be done by oneself, such as drilling holes for air conditioners, installing copper pipes, debugging, etc., which require professionals to operate. This is a necessity. Chen Zhiwen plans to start here to improve the competitive advantage of his products.
The cost of sending Hong Kong workers to the United States will be much lower, and Hong Kong workers can also make more money, killing two birds with one stone.
And this advantage is unique to Chen Zhiwen, because the premise of sending people to the United States to install air conditioners is that Midea can sell its limited products in a small number of cities or similar cities. In other words, the scope of one person's responsibility , one or two cities at most.
This is impossible for other brands, even European and American local brands. For example, when a Japanese brand enters the American market, its first choice is naturally to cooperate with American supermarkets. However, ordinary American supermarket chains are all over the United States. Spread across several states, under this sales model, the end customers in the market are very scattered. It is impossible to train installation or after-sales workers by ourselves. We can only rely on third parties to entrust services. As a result, the price of terminal services is completely It's beyond the control of the electrical appliance company.
Of course, if the brand becomes big enough and becomes one of the top ones in the United States, the total sales volume in a city can support itself to build a follow-up and after-sales team, and the cost will be greatly reduced. However, this is a contradiction between the chicken and the egg. It is impossible to perform such an operation without being top-notch, which is also the cost advantage of the giants.
As for Midea, its first market naturally relies on Costco, and Costco's characteristics are different from other scattered supermarkets. Its characteristic is concentration. Costco supermarkets are not large in number, but they have a high density of coverage for surrounding users. Far more than ordinary supermarkets. In this way, Midea can build its own after-sales and installation team. In its spare time, it can also help Costco handle other brands of electrical appliances, killing two birds with one stone.
(End of chapter)
