Late December.
After the cold wave passed, the temperature in Lin'an began to rise.
The weather cleared up and the sun even came out, and in the evening the Finance Institute's sports stadium became lively again.
The college students who had been staying indoors for some time have taken advantage of the good weather to come out and stretch their bodies.
Su Zelin was running on the playground wearing Anta sportswear.
The guy didn't run fast, he ran easily without even breaking a sweat. While doing the light exercise, he was also thinking about something in his mind.
In the middle of this month, the three branches located at Normal University, University of Science and Technology of China, and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China were successfully completed on schedule.
The official opening is scheduled for New Year's Day, but the trial operation has started in advance. The store is open to the public, and the experience machines inside can be played with at will, but for the time being, they are only for experience and not for sale. The official sales will have to wait until New Year's Day, but orders can be placed in advance.
The level of publicity this time is completely different from the previous two companies.
When the branch of the School of Finance opened, all they could do was post a few soft articles on the campus BBS, organize a marketing campaign, and invite a group of actors to support the event. It seemed very lively, but in fact it was limited to the fun within the campus. Except for the employees and college students of the School of Finance, perhaps no one else in Lin'an had heard of it.
At that time, Su Zelin also wanted to keep a low profile. If reporters really came and found out that it was not a chain store and reported it, it would not be good for New Century. So he decided to make money quietly and live a low-key life.
The situation was similar when the Zhejiang University branch opened, except that there were more people there, and the scene was more popular because of the classic fan marketing campaign, but it was still a campus hobby and did not go beyond the circle. Many college students from other schools may not know that the School of Finance and Zhejiang University have two such large-scale digital stores.
However, there were a few people who paid attention to New Century. For example, that competitor, if nothing unexpected happened, got involved after seeing the success of the Zhejiang University branch and realizing that this model was feasible and profitable.
But in general, New Century’s fame is limited to two universities.
Now that Weizuo has grown enough and has five large branches, there is no need for him to keep such a low profile.
Su Zelin asked Yang Fen to take the initiative to contact many news media in Lin'an. Almost all local daily newspapers were invited, and TV stations would also come to do interviews, striving to make the name of New Century go beyond the scope of universities and become known to the entire Lin'an.
Of course, the money has to be right, otherwise others may not be willing to report on you or may just do a perfunctory job.
During the trial operation period, Xiao Yangge and Kang Baohong reported good news one after another, and orders for the three new stores came in like snowflakes.
When the students from the three universities heard that there were five such digital stores in Lin'an, each of which was so large in scale, with equally good service and after-sales service, and even one in Zhejiang University, and that business was booming, they immediately thought it was awesome and placed orders with confidence.
With these orders alone, sales on the first day of opening are guaranteed, not including other people who were assigned machines on the spot.
"Hi, monitor!"
A female voice interrupted Su Zelin's thoughts.
Then Ding Lina caught up from behind.
Nanako is also a frequent visitor to the evening runners, and I often run into her.
"What are you thinking about? Why are you so absorbed in it?"
"Thinking of Cao Cao!"
Su Zelin smiled.
"Cao Cao?"
Ding Lina was stunned.
"Think of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will appear."
Su Zelin solved the mystery.
"Come on, there are so many beautiful women around you, how can you still think of me?"
Nanako rolled her eyes.
"You can never have too many beautiful women!"
The gangster laughed.
"Hey, you're such a playboy, be careful that the wind will get you your shoes wet one day!"
"That's not true. Why do you think I insist on taking cold showers in winter and running every morning and evening? It's not easy to be a scumbag. It takes perseverance and determination!"
"You are amazing, squad leader, to make such a shameless thing sound so grandiose!"
"… "
The two ran side by side and talked.
When exercising with beautiful women, no matter whether it is light exercise or intense exercise, the mood of the guy is always good.
What's more, Nana is a sporty beauty. She has even practiced yoga and has excellent flexibility. Her movements are also extremely pleasing to the eye.
"Scumbag, let me see how long you can last!"
Ding Lina raised her eyebrows at Su Zelin, spread her long legs, quickened her pace, and walked past Su Zelin with a smile.
Hey, Nana, you are quite confident, right
I will let you know how to write the word "exhaustion" later!
Su Zelin smiled.
No girl has ever dared to compete with me in endurance. You are the first!
I am a famous Arabian horse!
I have to show you how powerful I am!
Su Zelin exerted force and chased after him.
Half an hour passed like this. No matter how hard Ding Lina tried, the gangster always followed her like a shadow.
At this time, Nanako's sports T-shirt was already wet with sweat. A few strands of hair playfully broke free from the hairband and stuck to her snow-white neck. Her originally even breathing became rapid, and the amplitude and frequency of her chest heaving greatly accelerated.
"Oh, I, I can't do it anymore."
She finally stopped, holding her slender waist with one hand, breathing heavily.
I thought that after practicing yoga, my physical strength wouldn't be much worse than that of the squad leader, but I didn't expect that the two were still not in the same league.
Even his hands and feet were shaking, but the squad leader was still like nothing happened. He was sweating a little, but it was obvious that he still had a lot of strength left.
"Nanako, you can't do it so soon?"
The bastard said jokingly, "Do you want some help?"
"Yes, that's what you said!"
Nanako unceremoniously stretched out her arms and hooked them around his neck.
"Oh my god, I was just saying that!"
"No joke, help me go over there and take a rest. Who told you to be a scumbag and not be a gentleman? Can't you let the girl go? I'm almost exhausted!"
Ding Lina rolled her eyes at him, seeming a little angry.
"OK, it's my fault!"
Su Zelin raised his hands in surrender.
Helping Ding Lina walk out of the field, Hunzi felt a little nervous.
Looking into the distance, you can see the undulating mountains, majestic and spectacular.
After resting for a while outside the court, Ding Lina's breathing finally calmed down a little, but her whole body was still a little weak.
The sprint in the second half was a bit intense and I was physically exhausted.
According to experience, after intense exercise, you should supplement it with some light exercise appropriately. You cannot let your body return to a calm state all of a sudden, otherwise your hands and feet will be more sore tomorrow.
So Nanazi stood up, slowly raised her right foot, raised it above her head, straight as a compass, and placed it in a straight line with her left foot, and then she placed it on the horizontal bar in front of her.
This is just the basic yoga skills, but it made the boys nearby stare at it.
If I had a girlfriend like this, I would easily die young!
Nanako had rested enough, so the two of them left separately.
I have something important tonight.
The competitor also officially opened on New Year's Day.
There are only a few days left until the New Year, and we can already create some things on the Polytechnic University BBS.
…
When I returned to the dormitory, everyone else had already eaten dinner and went to study. Only Zeng Kaiping was playing Legend. This kid had been obsessed with killing people in the game recently, and his mind was full of thoughts about being the boss.
The spirited young man is a typical fat otaku, a repressed and reserved person. In fact, he also likes to be in the limelight, but his presence is not strong in real life, so he wants to be powerful on the Internet. Therefore, after becoming a rich man in Liede in later life, he established a guild and became the boss himself, and spent a lot of money to buy a Dragon Slaying Sword.
"Third brother, you're back. I just received a call from you. He called me several times!"
Zeng Kaiping transformed into Kato Ping and operated quickly. He glanced and found that it was Su Zelin, and then turned his gaze back to the computer screen.
"Oh, I see!"
When he goes jogging in the morning and evening, Su Zelin always leaves his cell phone in the dormitory.
It should be Brother Xiao Yang or Kang Baohong who called. After all, something is going to happen later, so it is normal for him to report to me.
Without rushing to return the call, Su Zelin first walked into the back balcony, took off his shirt and threw it into the iron bucket, then took the towel hanging on the clothesline and wiped his body to avoid catching a cold due to sweating after exercise, and then returned to the dormitory.
He opened the drawer, took out his cell phone, turned on the screen and saw that in addition to Kang Baohong, there was another caller - Editor Wu Songyan.
This is the personal number of the publisher's editor.
Su Zelin was shocked.
It seems that there is good news from the publishing house, so I quickly replied to the number.
Not long after, a middle-aged male voice came from the microphone: "Hello, hello!"
"Hello, Editor Wu, I'm sorry, I just went out to exercise and forgot to bring my phone."
"Haha, it's okay, Mr. Su. I just want to tell you that the book published under your company's name and at your own expense has been scheduled for release on New Year's Day."
The editor of the publishing house came straight to the point.
As expected, Su Zelin was overjoyed.
"Haha, thank you, Editor Wu, your publishing house publishes the magazine so quickly!"
"The main reason is that our president is also very optimistic about this book, so it was scheduled quickly!"
Wu Songyan responded with a smile.
It is one thing that the president is optimistic about him, but what is more important is that Mr. Su is sensible.
Otherwise, it is possible that the film may take a year or two to be released, and the scheduled date may not be that good.
This is what the saying "money makes the world go round" means.
Since the sponsor is generous, the publishing house naturally has to show some appreciation, otherwise the sponsor’s money would be wasted.
After a few pleasantries, Wu Yansong said, "By the way, didn't your company order a hundred sample books? Do you want to mail these books to a certain address or send them separately?"
Now that the book has been published, Su Zelin must of course get a few copies for himself to show off.
In addition, every digital store must also display a few sets, after all, this is part of the brand culture of New Century.
"Well, no need to mail it. Everyone is in Lin'an anyway. I'll ask someone to drive over and pick it up when the time comes!"
With the speed of postal service, it would take several days even for delivery within the same city, and Su Zelin doesn't have the patience to wait.
"That's fine, then I'll trouble you, Mr. Su!"
Wu Songyan naturally would not object. If the other party picked it up in person, it would save the publishing house trouble and also save postage.
After chatting with the editor for a few words and hanging up the phone, Su Zelin raised a smile.
The release of this book comes at the perfect time!
It happens to be the same day as the official opening of the three branches, which can add icing on the cake and even be used as a gimmick to promote the new stores.
If that follower has the nerve to use those sentences for marketing, it will be a good show when the book comes out, haha.
However, logically speaking, that person shouldn't be so stupid.
If it were me, I would never do such a thing.
If you just copy the shell and operation model of New Century, you can still wash it off as reference, but if you even copy those sentences, you will be labeled as a plagiarist and a copycat, and you will never be able to wash it off.
Many cases in later generations have shown that consumers will not buy into such companies that produce almost 100% high-quality imitations, because they think the products are too low-end and it is not prestigious for them to use products from this brand.
For example, when it comes to American fast food restaurants, why did Wallace emerge as the new star instead of KFC, Kentucky, KFC, AFG, BFG, CFG, or any other restaurant on the alphabet
First, Wallace started early, and second, its store name is not a high-end imitation.
Although everyone sells fried chicken, French fries and hamburgers, many consumers think that this one is relatively less low-end and has become more recognizable. Over time, it has stood out from tens of millions of similar stores across the country.
Unfortunately, that competitor followed the same path as AFG and others.
According to Brother Yang's inquiries, its name is New World Digital Flagship Experience Center, just missing one word.
In fact, there is no need to imitate the three words "New Century" because it is meaningless. The essence of the store name lies in the word "experience". Just name it around it. The prefix should avoid the original one, otherwise you will always live under the shadow of the original.
If Su Zelin had borrowed someone else's model, he would have named it something like Times Digital Experience Plaza, which sounds nice and has a lot of class. In short, he has to try to reduce the copycat flavor and increase recognition, and maybe he can even compete with the original.
However, that competitor was too eager for quick success and instant benefits, and his mind was full of copying everything, without even thinking about what should be borrowed and what should not be borrowed.
He had already lost when he chose the name of the store.
The fact that he was interested in the New Century model shows that he has some vision.
However, a series of subsequent operations showed that this person had a limited vision and was just a speculator.
It is impossible to perform any tricks against such an opponent, let alone surpass the original.
I can only say that I met an opponent who was not really my rival.
…
7:30 in the evening.
Staff dormitory in a unit compound in Lin'an.
"Dad, Mom, I'm back!"
A tall and thin young man of about twenty-four or twenty-five walked into the living room. He looked a little tired, but his brows were filled with undisguised excitement.
Zhang Yuanhang is the boss behind the New World Digital Flagship Experience Center.
The store will open in less than half a month. People who start a business for the first time will have an inexplicable joy and sense of accomplishment. He has been in a state of extreme excitement in recent times and feels that he has endless energy.
A middle-aged woman wearing an apron brought the dishes out of the kitchen and placed them on the dining table: "Yuanhang, why are you back so late?"
"The digital store is about to open, there's a lot to do!" Zhang Yuanhang sat down on the soft sofa, lying like Ge You, with his legs crossed: "Mom, I won't tell you and Dad not to wait for me."
"It's okay. Your dad and I aren't hungry. We'll just wait a little longer. We've been busy at the store all day. You must be hungry, right?"
After taking a look at her son, Wei Hongling felt a little distressed: "Yuanhang, you have lost weight recently. Your career is important, but don't overwork yourself!"
"It's okay. I'm starting a business. Every boss has to try hard. I'm still young and in good health. I can't slack off at the store. Mom, just wait and see. I will definitely be successful and have more potential than the other kids in the compound!"
Zhang Yuanhang clenched his fists, full of confidence.
Just two or three years after graduation, he started his own business and became a boss. Although he relied on his family background, he was still so bold.
"Okay, okay, I know our family has made great progress!"
Wei Hongling was in high spirits.
After graduation, their son was arrogant and would not come to his father's unit to get a stable job. He clamored to make a name for himself. After repeated persuasions failed, the two elders were helpless and could only support him. No matter what, it is a good thing that young people are willing to take risks.
"Yuanhang, the digital store will be opening soon, how is the preparation going?"
A middle-aged man in a suit and tie sitting on the sofa in the living room put down the Lin'an Daily in his hand, put out the remaining cigarette butt in his hand and threw it into an antique pure copper electroplated ashtray.
Zhang Baisheng, leader of a unit in Lin'an City.
He had his hair combed back, his face was gaunt, and he was serious, but his eyes were bright and he looked very majestic.
Zhang Yuanhang still had awe for his father, and this time he was able to start his own business mainly because of his father's money and connections. He quickly responded seriously: "Dad, don't worry, everything is ready, we just need the east wind! I have already learned everything about New Century. Our New World is the same in terms of name, layout, decoration, staff, work clothes, and marketing strategy. Since New Century can do it, I can do it too!"
Compared to Zhang Yuanhang's blind optimism, Zhang Baisheng was more cautious and conservative. He took out another cigarette, lit it, and blew out a smoke ring: "Don't take things so lightly. This digital store can break the dilemma of computer stores on university campuses not making money. It has become a unique store that fills the gap in the digital field of colleges and universities. In just one year, it has opened five branches. I'm afraid it has done far more than you think!"
Perhaps because of his smoking habit of two packs a day, Zhang Baisheng's voice is a little hoarse, but his unhurried and rhythmic tone is full of leadership style.
"It is not enough to just get the form but not the spirit. Yuanhang, you should learn from New Century not only the shell, but also its service, its team, and its style and means of doing things. These are the more essential inner qualities. Yuanhang, it is not shameful to learn from others at the beginning of entrepreneurship, but you cannot just follow others. You must have your own ideas, otherwise you will be in a very passive position and even be manipulated by the other party at will!"
Zhang Yuanhang was proud and arrogant, and he became dissatisfied when he heard it.
"Dad, the service and after-sales service provided by New World are also very good, not inferior to New Century. Our team is strictly trained every day and strives to be the most professional! How can we not compare with the other party? Besides, I have my own ideas. I will learn more from them at the beginning. It's mainly because we are just starting out. Slowly, I will catch up and even surpass them!"
There was a gleam in Master Zhang's eyes. Many ambitious young people who have just started their own business feel that they can defeat any opponent.
Zhang Baisheng shook his head. He thought his son was smart, otherwise he would not have supported Zhang Yuanhang in starting his own business. But he was too arrogant and did not see his own abilities clearly.
I'm not belittling my son. Compared to the founder of New Century, he can't be a match for anyone!
He has explained this to Zhang Yuanhang more than once, but his son would not listen to the honest advice, and as a father, he can do nothing about it.
"I have no objection to you borrowing other things, but there is one thing you must be careful about, that is, borrowing those sentences for marketing. You can imitate the name, layout and decoration, but if you also copy these sentences and use them, I think it is not appropriate, and it is easy to be caught!"
Zhang Yuanhang frowned.
"Dad, you probably don't know how good New Century's marketing strategy is. When the Zhejiang University branch opened, the college students lined up in a long queue to receive the small fans with sentences printed on them as gifts. Later, it set off a craze on the BBS that lasted for several days before fading away, making the New Century branch popular all of a sudden. How could I give up such an important thing! Besides, I have already customized the mouse pads for the gifts, 10,000 of them, so wouldn't that money be wasted!"
If Su Zelin were present, he would definitely complain about Master Zhang's stupid move.
The weather was getting cold, so he replaced the fan gift with a mouse pad. It seemed like he was being smart, generous, and practical, but it was actually very stupid.
First of all, the cost has increased. A mouse pad is definitely more expensive than a fan, there is no doubt about that.
Secondly, when the computer is shipped, a mouse pad will definitely be given away, which is redundant.
Again, as for fans, some people will carry them in their school bags when the weather is hot. They will carry them not only in dormitories, classrooms, canteens, and school roads, but they may even take them out and shake them when on the bus or shopping in the city. People can see them everywhere, so the publicity effect is naturally better than that of a mouse pad. College students will not carry a mouse pad around with them for no reason.
The mouse pad of New Century is also customized, and the gift of a small fan adds an additional promotional prop, which is much better than New World.
In fact, he still plans to give away fans when the three branches open. Just because they are not used in winter does not mean that college students cannot use them in summer. They will still come to get them and keep them. There is no need to change this strategy.
Wei Hongling came out holding the last dish of food, put it on the table, and said while taking off her scarf, "It's okay, it's just a few words. If New Century can use it, why can't we use it?"
Zhang Baisheng shook his head. "You can't say that. I asked our clerk Xiao Li to check. These sentences are all original. They first appeared in the marketing campaign of the New Century Zhejiang University branch, and then spread on the Zhejiang University BBS. These sentences are not just one or two, but hundreds of them. The model can be used as a reference, but if hundreds of sentences are used on a large scale, it will be suspected of plagiarism. Once spread, it will be detrimental to the image of your own store!"
"Dad, you're worrying too much!" Zhang Yuanhang disagreed: "Consumers don't care so much. Only people at Zhejiang University know that it's New Century's original product, and people at University of Science and Technology don't know!"
"Yes, can that digital store sue us for this? Parkson, with us watching, there is nothing that cannot be dealt with in Lin'an. Yuanhang finally built this store, and it is about to open. Can you not pour cold water on it now?"
Wei Hongling glared at her husband, she was very confident.
After all, her husband is the second-in-command of the unit and has extensive connections, and her parents' family can always provide some help.
"Son, don't be afraid, just go for it, mom will support you unconditionally!"
"Thank you, mom. You are the best to me!"
Zhang Yuanhang finally smiled.
Zhang Baisheng stopped talking.
This can only be used to remind my son appropriately, but it is not advisable to discourage his enthusiasm too much.
However, he actually did not agree with his lover's words.
Xinshiji has opened five branches, each of which is of considerable size. The smallest branch, Caiyuan, has a floor space of more than 200 square meters, which is considered a fairly large enterprise in Lin'an.
More importantly, its development momentum is extremely strong, the boss behind the scenes is ambitious and expanding rapidly, I'm afraid even the city's top leader will have to give it some face.
And if it continues to grow at this rate, even the more powerful leaders in the provincial capital will notice it.
It will be very troublesome if it really wants to find something to hold against the New World.
It's no problem for me to settle a dispute in a small shop by myself.
But there is no way for me to control this kind of enterprise that has grown, gained strength, and has unlimited potential. The energy of my lover's family combined is not enough!
What's more, New Century forced its way into the market in Lin'an University, while the other four companies didn't rent old shops but directly built new shops on the land. Who would believe you if you say it doesn't have any impressive connections
So when Zhang Yuanhang first said he wanted to open a similar digital store, Zhang Baisheng was against it, but his son insisted on doing it. Later, Zhang Baisheng could only check through his own connections and confirmed that his background was not some leader in Lin'an who had more power than himself. Only then did he agree and let his son open the same store.
Then again, the boss behind the scenes is quite mysterious.
The current legal representative is a young man named Yang Fen, who originally opened a shop in a computer city and ran it for many years. However, he was not the founder of New Century, but joined in the middle. When the Finance Institute branch opened, he was not there yet.
In addition, there is another very important person, but what is strange is that this person is an 18-year-old college student from the School of Finance.
Generally speaking, even if the real boss behind the scenes is not convenient to show up, he will not find a young boy to act as his agent. This is not very reasonable.
Just like New World, it cannot use the name of its son Zhang Yuanhang, but at least it will find a distant relative who is around 30 years old and has certain communication skills to be the official manager.
What's more, the college student's hometown is a small city like Jianglan. Even if he is the top leader, he doesn't have much power in Lin'an.
This question is very puzzling, and Zhang Baisheng has never been able to figure it out.
The family was about to have dinner when Zhang Yuanhang's Samsung AnyCall rang. The caller was the legal representative and general manager of New World, their distant relative Zhou Rui.
If it wasn't something important, Zhou Rui wouldn't have called during dinner.
So Zhang Yuanhang put down his chopsticks, walked aside, pressed the answer button on his mobile phone, and after listening to a few words, his face changed.
"Well, don't panic, I'll find a way to deal with it, that's it!"
After hanging up the phone and returning to the dinner table, even though Zhang Yuanhang tried to remain calm, his expression still looked a little ugly.
"Son, what's wrong? Did you encounter any problems at the digital store?"
Wei Hongling noticed something was wrong and asked quickly.
"Someone posted a few posts on the Polytechnic University BBS related to those sentences, and they soon became a hot topic on the campus forum!"
There was a hint of anger in Zhang Yuanhang's voice.
"It must have been done by someone from New Century!"
Zhang Baisheng felt awe-inspiring.
New Century finally took the initiative.
The University of Science and Technology BBS is a battlefield without the smoke of gunpowder!
…