269: Chapter 269 Offline Battle: Lei Jun Meets a "Benefactor"

Site selection, renovation, and recruitment were proceeding simultaneously, with the goal of having everything open within a month.

On the other side, Samsung was not falling behind either; they increased the rebate for distributors by 5 percentage points, allowed them to adjust prices offline, and also promised to cover half of the marketing expenses.

The condition was that the distributors had to open exclusive stores!

Transsion's offline layout felt the pressure for the first time.

"Mr. Shen, the situation is not looking good." Li Qing, the head of the marketing department, walked into the office holding a list.

"This time, Apple claims there are 100 spots, but in reality, they need more. There are 27 spots in the East China region, and many of the agents there have already signed agreements for authorized Apple stores. South China is better, but 5 have already signed."

Shen Fei took the list and looked it over...

The quotas were all "one-to-three," meaning one quota allowed for three stores, but no other stores were allowed under that name, especially Transsion. Once discovered, the authorized quota would be immediately revoked.

"What about Samsung?"

"Even more ruthless. They issued an ultimatum directly to the distributors: if they distribute for Transsion, they will be cut off from Samsung supplies. Some distributors rely on Samsung for their livelihood and have no choice but to compromise."

Shen Fei was also a bit worried. He had finally managed to drive Lei Jun to the India market, only for Samsung and Apple to start up again.

Should he drive them to the India market as well...

Shen Fei carefully recalled these two companies from his past life; they really were inseparable from the India market.

For instance, when Samsung went to invest in the India market, they got scammed for a huge amount.

Although Apple did not actively invest in the India market, Foxconn went! Curry-flavored Apple phones were indeed quite something.

As for the current competition in the offline market, it wasn't a big deal. After all, Transsion's offline channels relied mainly on self-operated stores... Franchisees were just a supplementary link.

"What is the current ratio of our offline stores?"

"We have been implementing an 8:2 policy. 80% are self-operated stores, and 20% are franchise stores. The franchise stores are mainly located in third and fourth-tier cities; there are about 1,200 franchisees, and around 2,000 stores."

"Increase the ratio of self-operated stores from 80% to 90%. We have money on hand anyway. Convert some franchise stores to self-operated ones. For those willing to convert, the company will pay to acquire them. For those unwilling, or those who voluntarily give up, look for other suitable locations in the area."

Li Qing nodded; she didn't mention the issue of money. After all, the Motorola S2 had already made Transsion a fortune.

...

Meanwhile, Apple Inc. was also stepping up its efforts. They not only added 200 more authorized dealer spots but also launched a regional agency policy.

The condition was that regional agents could not represent other brands, and other platforms could only sell Apple products.

The terms Cook offered these distributors were very tempting: a three-year guaranteed contract, full coverage of renovation costs, free staff training, and sales rebates.

For Apple Inc., this was practically an impossible operation, but Cook did it anyway. After all, to open up the Chinese market, everything was worth it.

Once these plans were released, 80% of the distributors chose Apple. Although their rebates were lower, they were, after all, Apple, and the terms offered were impossible to refuse.

"Mr. Huang, transfer the funds. Apple's layout in East China is quite large; we need to increase our investment in store resources."

After speaking, Li Qing and Wang Hua handed over a check, signaling him to sign it, and then submit it for review.

Huang Tianya didn't even look and signed it directly.

In the last two days, the depth of the discussions in the United States had continued to intensify, and many investment banks had even started to kick them while they were down, offering to acquire the assets held by Huaxin Investment at a 50% or 60% discount.

Some people even offered 30%, and even clamored that if it really went through, they wouldn't even get 30%...

But Huang Tianya ignored these people.

The competition among offline stores was far fiercer than imagined. As of July 1st, 35 offline distributors had disappeared, but 125 new self-operated stores had been added.

Apple and Samsung also added dozens of stores.

In first-tier cities, such as Nanjing Road in Shanghai, on these bustling commercial streets, the signs for Transsion, Apple, as well as a "Brother Wang's BBQ," and Samsung were lit up side by side.

"Brothers, look, the world's four top mobile phone companies are lined up together."

"If you want to experience the lag of Android, you can choose Samsung; for the smoothness of iOS, you can choose Apple; if you want to experience a joke from Mount Tai, you can choose Transsion. If you're in a bit of a rush, then you can choose Brother Wang's BBQ!"

Although many people were making memes, the sales volume and the foot traffic in offline stores did not form a three-way standoff as expected.

Apple's price reduction strategy worked. Although it was said to be a price cut from the iPhone 5, the iphone 4s also saw a 10% reduction, with the price coming down to 4,499. Combined with the newly added offline stores, sales increased quite a bit instantly.

Motorola also benefited.

Apple's price cut raised the heat of the entire high-end market. This was the first price cut for the Motorola S2, starting at 3,699 domestically, and sales also increased by 20%.

As the main brand, Transsion also benefited...

As for Samsung, sales fell by 25%.

First, the products weren't good, and second, Apple and Transsion were fighting a price war, squeezing Samsung in the middle.

Although they also lowered their prices, Motorola's product power was stronger.

Many people who liked foreign brands chose either Apple or Motorola, and as for Samsung...

"The number one is fighting the number two, and they've killed the number three." Huang Tianya said with a smile in Shen Fei's office.

Shen Fei looked at the sales report, but he wasn't that excited.

The market heat had already picked up; should he launch the S3 directly?

"If Apple wants to fight a price war, then we will fight a product war. The performance of the S3 is the strongest in its history; this time, we will completely establish our dominance in the high-end market."

That afternoon, Transsion's official Weibo posted an update.

The image attached was a poster: "The S3 family is coming soon, stronger than strong."

It was accompanied by several posters, with all three phones of the S3 series fully unveiled.

"The offline channel battle just finished, and now they are releasing a new model."

"The S2 can finally retire; I've been buying these two phones for over a year... I can finally buy a new one."

"Heh, can Transsion beat the price-reduced iphone 4s..."

"The guy above should let Apple beat Motorola in its home base of the United States first."

Meanwhile, Huawei also quickly followed up and officially announced the Mate7 series.

Although according to regular iteration, this phone should have been called the Mate3, he still respected Big Mouth Yu's wishes...

After all, this was Kirin's first battle; it really needed to be a bit grand. Changing the name was also the simplest way to attract traffic.

The official announcements from the two companies also made Lei Jun glad that his choice was not wrong.

At this moment, he was in New Delhi meeting with the boss of Reliance Communications, the second-largest local telecom operator in India.

Their parent company was the Indian ADA Group, which was split from the Indian richest man's Reliance Group.

The person he was meeting today was Anil, the head of this behemoth enterprise. In front of outsiders, he was high-profile and ambitious, but today the other party was very polite. Lei Jun was very clear that the other party was coveting Xiaomi's resources.

"Mr. Lei, would you like to consider this cooperation proposal?"