Chapter 166 An Unexpected Surprise

Afternoon.

Pei Qian woke up from his nap as usual, watched an episode of anime, and looked up to see that it was only a little after three in the afternoon.

Although it was still early, it seemed like there was nothing to do at the company.

All the projects were still in development. After Chang You's report in the morning, no one should be coming to report on their work in the near future, so President Pei was a bit idle.

"Should I... go back to school to study?"

"The exam week is just around the corner. I haven't even borrowed notes, let alone reviewed them."

"Yeah, I'll have Ma Yang make a copy of his notes for me sometime."

Pei Qian shut down his computer and left work!

He would go back to school, find a study room, and study for a bit to make himself feel less empty.

Walking out of the office, he saw everyone staring intently at their screens, looking like they were working hard.

As for whether they were actually working hard... he couldn't tell.

He could only say that this was the downside of being a boss; the employees he saw were never their truest selves.

Tang Yishu had just finished taking care of her Yintang and was quietly reading and studying at her desk.

Pei Qian couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.

Look at how much his junior schoolmate loved studying!

I must take her as an example!

With the determination to "go to study," Pei Qian left the company.

Suddenly, he remembered something again, turned back, and said to everyone, "Everyone has worked hard. Go home early if you have nothing to do!"

No one paid attention to him; they still looked like they were busy with work.

Pei Qian sighed silently. Alas, how he wished there was a brave soul who could stand up and leave early with President Pei!

With a hint of regret, Pei Qian took the elevator downstairs, walked out of Shenhua Haojing, and headed towards Handong University.

As he walked, he unconsciously turned into the Moyu Internet Cafe Handong University branch.

Finding an empty seat, turning on the computer, it was all a subconscious act.

"Huh? What's going on? How did I get here?"

"Wasn't I going to study?"

"..."

"Oh well, since I'm already here, I'll see if there are any new games recently."

"After all, I'm a game designer. Collecting material outside of work is just as important as studying."

There were many game icons on the desktop, all of which were popular games at the moment.

And the gog test version and the "Unlimited Play Version" (which was the "President Ma Special Edition" modified according to Dream Chasing Ventures) were among this pile of popular games.

However, as Pei Qian's gaze swept across the icons of all these games, before he could see what they were, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

This strange feeling didn't come from the computer desktop, but from...

The display board at the entrance of the store!

A strong sense of crisis suddenly surged in Pei Qian's heart. He quickly stood up and took another look at the content of the display board at the entrance.

There was a beautifully printed poster on it, with the title:

Christmas Eve: Come Play Games Together! ROF PC Assembly Extravaganza!

The main image on the poster was a fully assembled PC, which looked very cool, especially the shiny ROF logo on it, which looked tempting.

Below were different PC assembly tiers, namely 8599, 12599, and 16599!

There were still three tiers, but the prices...

Pei Qian rubbed his eyes and found that these prices were different from what he had set before!

They were cheaper!

Pei Qian took a closer look at the configurations below and found that they were roughly the same as before, except that some accessories had been slightly upgraded.

In addition, they gave away some small gifts, the most valuable of which was a USB drive, and some smaller items, such as cable ties, mouse pads, and keyboard cleaning mud.

And they made a package, grandly calling it the "Christmas Eve Upgrade Gift Pack."

Pei Qian was speechless.

Too forced!

Look at this advertising slogan, Christmas Eve: Come Play Games Together?

The aura of single dogs was overwhelming!

Although Pei Qian wasn't very interested in foreign holidays, the only people who would probably play games on Christmas Eve were single dogs, right?

This was obviously a forced marketing campaign to take advantage of the holiday.

But... it seemed to be very effective!

There was an eye-catching line of artistic characters on the poster: Limited to 500 sets in this store, which roughly meant that this store had a quota of 500 sets.

Now, there was a number stuck in front of it: 428!

This showed that more than 400 sets had already been sold around the Handong University branch alone!

Moyu Internet Cafe wasn't the only one; most of the other Moyu Internet Cafes were probably doing the same event...

The three tiers that Pei Qian had set before were at or slightly higher than the prices of various accessories available on the market. After bulk purchases, the prices would drop, and the profit margin wouldn't be very large.

With the random upgrade policy, this promotion was definitely a loss-making business.

After the 1024 Digital Festival, the prices had risen to 8999, 12999, and 16999.

This price seemed less conscientious to many consumers.

Although it was still worth buying considering the door-to-door delivery and after-sales maintenance policies, the previous promotion had already pre-empted many consumers' desire to buy, so the sales in the short term were lukewarm, and there was no big news that caught Pei Qian's attention.

But now, Zhang Yuan had cleverly raised the configuration slightly, then attached some small gifts, and slightly lowered the price...

Creating the effect that this package was quite worth it!

For buyers, the cost performance was still very high, even more so than before, because the small gifts they were giving away were all useful things, and bulk purchases would significantly reduce the price, making it much cheaper than buying them themselves.

And for the ROF PC assembly business, there were still very considerable profits.

In this way, the reputation accumulated over the past two months was likely to be ignited by this Christmas Eve event!

Pei Qian was a little flustered. Could it be that they had already sold a lot?

He was just about to go back to the internet cafe to ask the staff when he heard a surprised voice behind him, "President Pei?"

Pei Qian turned around and saw that it was indeed Zhang Yuan!

Zhang Yuan looked a little busy, but his busyness revealed a joy from the bottom of his heart.

"President Pei, I was originally planning to give you a surprise, but I didn't expect you to find out first."

"How is it, this Christmas Eve promotion! This event has been quietly prepared for a long time!"

Pei Qian felt a little tired.

These people, one by one, wanted to give him surprises.

They were too troublesome!

Fortunately, he discovered it early. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and there should still be time to salvage the situation...

Pei Qian asked casually, "So... how are the sales for this event? How much stock do we have left?"

Zhang Yuan smiled and said, "Stock? There's no stock left. It's all sold out!"

As he spoke, he didn't know where he pulled out a "Sold Out" label and stuck it on the poster at the door, covering the number 428.

Pei Qian felt his vision go dark.

All the stock was sold out?

Didn't they have so many stocking points and a huge warehouse in the suburbs of Jingzhou???

At the rate of making three or four hundred yuan per computer, they must have sold at least several thousand sets...

Although the money wasn't much, it was still a heavy blow to President Pei!

Pei Qian was a little incredulous. "How could... it sell so fast?"

Even if the warehouse had a lot of stock, how could it sell so fast?

Zhang Yuan smiled. "President Pei, of course it wasn't just sold in the past few days. Don't forget, there was also Singles' Day!"

"This is all thanks to the 1024 Digital Festival that you held before, which gave the ROF brand a certain degree of popularity. Without that promotion, it wouldn't have been easy to open up the market!"

"After the 1024 Digital Festival, I had been thinking about making ROF an online brand as well. Although we don't have the advantage of Reverse Logistics delivering to your door and whole-machine warranty in other cities, our hosts are solid and honest compared to those suicide PC builds, and have still gained some customers."

"Of course, our sales can't compare to those suicide PC builds. A certain assembled PC brand's sales exceeded 10 million in 40 minutes during Singles' Day. We can't even catch up with their change."

"But President Pei, don't worry, I definitely don't envy them at all. I will always remember your teachings and ensure that the ROF brand is always consistent and honest!"

"In short, our reputation has gradually fermented during this period, and our sales have also steadily increased. We took advantage of this Christmas Eve event to clear a wave of inventory."

"We sold a batch online during Singles' Day, a batch during Double Twelve, and another batch during this event."

"Now our warehouse is basically running out, and I am contacting to replenish urgently!"

"Looking back, I was too conservative at the time and didn't stock up so much. If I could have stocked up more at that time..."

Pei Qian's face instantly darkened, and he felt terrible.

So that's how it was, the side effects of the 1024 Digital Festival had arrived!

The aftereffects were too great!

After that promotion, Pei Qian was wary for a while, but he didn't see much improvement in the ROF PC assembly business, so he forgot about it while he was busy.

He never expected that something like this would happen when he wasn't paying attention!

Pei Qian asked, "Then... what are your plans next..."

Zhang Yuan thought for a while. "Leave some money to replenish stock, and then spend the rest on promotion! I plan to brush up the store's reviews and ratings to try to steal some of the suicide PC build business."

"Of course, I also plan to hand in some of the profits this time. After all, the ROF brand has been receiving subsidies from the headquarters since its inception. Now that it has finally turned a profit, I must hand in some profits to show my appreciation..."

Pei Qian quickly raised his hand. "Absolutely not!"

Zhang Yuan: "?"

Pei Qian coughed lightly and said, "Tengda is not short of money, so don't worry about that."

"Brushing reviews and ratings is also not acceptable!"

"Although this is an unspoken rule of online stores, it is ultimately fraud, and we cannot do such things!"

"In my opinion, use all the money you earn to replenish stock! Isn't that big warehouse not full yet?"

"Earn as much as you stock up, spend it all, don't be stingy!"

"Also, this kind of promotion overdraws our sales potential very much, so don't do it frequently in the future, understand?"

"In the future, only the 1024 Digital Festival can have price reductions and promotions, and the usual prices must not be changed randomly again!"

Pei Qian was also helpless.

ROF had already made money, what should he do?

Whether it was advertising or handing in profits, it was unacceptable to Pei Qian.

So, continue to replenish stock!

After this promotion, basically everyone who wanted to buy it had already bought it.

At this time, not advertising, not lowering prices, but frantically stocking up, exchanging all the money for PC parts and accumulating them in the warehouse, would naturally depreciate slowly.

At the same time, the prices were not as good as before, and the consumers who were willing to pay would definitely decrease significantly.

Sell one set, then stock up on one more set. As long as you stock up enough, you can ensure that you don't have any idle money on hand!

Pei Qian didn't expect ROF to lose much money anymore, as long as you find a way to spend all the money you earn, I won't pursue it!

Zhang Yuan was a little confused. "President Pei, stocking up so much will put a lot of pressure on sales... and we can't do promotions anymore. What if we can't sell it?"

Pei Qian raised his hand. "It's okay, just do it! If the warehouse is not enough, rent a new one. The secret to making the industry bigger is not to keep idle money on hand, understand?"

Zhang Yuan opened his mouth, hesitated, and nodded after a long time. "I... understand."