Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 442: Is Mass Production the Only Option, Even If It Hurts?
"Alright, that concludes all the content for this launch event. Once again, thank you all for coming!"
"Please exit in an orderly manner. You can collect a free gift at the entrance."
"If you're interested in this phone, you can visit OTTO Technology's official website to place an order. Staff from Against the Wind Logistics will deliver it to your door as soon as possible!"
Chang You checked the time. The event had been successfully kept within one hour, and he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief as he prepared to step off the stage.
However, before he even made it halfway down, the crowd below had already started shouting.
"That's it?"
"You didn't even explain anything!"
"Tell us more—I want to buy it!"
"Stop shouting and hurry to the website to place your order! If you're late, it'll be out of stock!"
The audience fell into chaos, with all kinds of shouting. Chang You firmly remembered President Pei's instructions—to keep the launch event strictly within one hour—so he ignored the louder demands and stepped off the stage, forcibly ending the event.
Meanwhile, many quick-reacting people in the audience had already taken out their phones, logged into OTTO Technology's website, and started placing orders.
Only one thousand units—miss it and it's gone!
After all, they weren't just competing with people at the venue, but also with tens of thousands of viewers watching the livestream.
Those who weren't particularly interested in the phone began leaving in an orderly fashion, heading to the entrance to collect their free gifts.
But judging by the number of people leaving, it seemed to be only about two-thirds of the attendees.
Many people had no intention of moving at all!
Clearly, most of the attendees were loyal users of Tengda Group. Their daily lives were deeply intertwined with Tengda's businesses, so their desire for this phone far exceeded that of ordinary consumers.
As a result, the proportion of people staying behind to try and grab one was unusually high!
Pei Qian sat in a corner, watching this unfold with growing anxiety.
Leave already! Why are you all still here?!
He glanced at the guy next to him, whose fingers were flying across the screen, rapidly filling in shipping details on the OTTO website before confirming payment in one smooth motion.
After the payment went through, the guy clenched his fist excitedly. "YES! Got one!"
Looking around, others were doing the exact same thing.
It didn't take much thought to realize—what else would the people still here be doing? Of course, they were all scrambling to place orders!
Pei Qian wished he could grab them by the hair and shout, "Don't buy it! Nobody buy it!"
But the situation was already completely out of control…
Pei Qian hurriedly opened his phone, logged into OTTO Technology's website, and navigated to the product page for the OTTO E1.
He looked at the remaining stock count.
327!
Refresh.
116!
Refresh again.
Sold out!
And as the "Sold Out" label appeared, a collective cry of "What the hell?!" erupted across the venue.
"That's it?!"
"Gone in seconds! I just finished entering my address!"
"This is why typing speed matters…"
"I'm so happy I got one!"
"Is anyone willing to resell? I'll pay extra! Please, I need one!"
Some people had already started offering higher prices.
Pei Qian felt like coughing up blood. What on earth was this?!
Everyone's gone crazy! These thousand units were supposed to sit in the warehouse until the next settlement cycle, but they sold out in less than two minutes after launch!
That even included the time it took people to type in their addresses. If that step hadn't been necessary, it probably would've sold out even faster.
Only then did people reluctantly start leaving, grumbling and cursing under their breath.
"It's an artificial scarcity! Damn it!"
"What's the point of stocking just a thousand units? This is infuriating!"
"Damn, I should've camped on the website the moment they announced such low stock at the start. I reacted too slowly!"
"When's the restock?"
"These phone companies have lost their minds, do they have to use hunger marketing to sell anything now?"
Swept along by the crowd as he exited, Pei Qian felt deeply wronged.
This really isn't hunger marketing!
It is scarce—but I never intended to market it that way!
I only planned to produce a thousand units as a token gesture, take a small loss, and stop there. How was I supposed to know you'd all rush to buy it like this?!
Now you've bought everything up, and before I can even complain, you're the ones complaining about me?!
Pei Qian was so angry he felt like exploding.
So… what should he do next?
He kept worrying as he walked. Just as he reached the entrance, a staff member spotted him and quickly pulled him aside.
"President Pei, come quickly—Mr. Chang is waiting for you!"
Still confused, Pei Qian was dragged into a preparation room next to the venue. The moment he stepped in, he heard a loud bang.
Confetti and streamers burst into the air… and was that a champagne cork?
Chang You stood there holding a bottle of champagne, surrounded by OTTO Technology employees who were applauding enthusiastically.
"President Pei, the phone launch event you arranged is an unprecedented classic marketing case in the entire mobile phone industry! It's bound to go down in history and be studied repeatedly by major brands!"
"You first raised the price and limited stock at the beginning to spark interest through contrast; then created tension with the scarcity of supply; followed by summarizing all the phone's advantages within five minutes to instantly ignite the audience and create viral buzz online; and finally, by openly discussing the phone's shortcomings, you not only demonstrated the company's drive for improvement but also firmly captured the hearts of target users, greatly boosting their desire to purchase!"
"Honestly, we never expected all one thousand units to sell out immediately after the launch. This proves that OTTO Technology's strategy to enter the high-end market has achieved initial success!"
"All of this is inseparable from President Pei's brilliant guidance!"
Amid the thunderous applause, Pei Qian felt dizzy—even before drinking any champagne, he already felt drunk.
What do you mean this is all thanks to my "brilliant guidance"? So this is my fault now?!
"Look! Mr. Chang's speech video has gone viral! It's spreading everywhere online—lots of people are even imitating it!"
"Our phone is trending too! There's a lot of discussion in tech circles!"
"The first batch of tech media all received units. Their review videos should be out in three or four days."
"Damn, someone's already reselling on second-hand sites? That was fast! Did scalpers sneak into our launch event?"
"Probably not. Tickets were randomly distributed to customers of Tengda Group's other businesses. Maybe some scalpers just got lucky."
"Don't forget about the livestream audience, some scalpers could've come from there."
While celebrating, the team also noticed some less pleasant developments.
As expected, whenever something is limited, scalpers swarm like flies—impossible to get rid of, utterly disgusting.
Less than ten minutes after the launch ended, people were already reselling at high prices on second-hand platforms. Even OTTO's employees were caught off guard by how fast it happened.
Pouring champagne, Chang You sighed, "This is the duality of fans and scalpers."
"Some fans probably intended to keep it at first. But when they realize they can resell it for an extra 300, 500, or even 1,000 without any effort, it's only natural they'd be tempted."
"There's not much we can do. With such limited stock, if some people are willing to pay more and others are willing to sell, we can't really stop it."
"In any case, let's not worry about it for now. Everyone, raise your glasses and celebrate!"
Champagne had already been handed out to everyone, including Pei Qian.
"Cheers!"
In the lively atmosphere, Pei Qian silently raised his glass and downed it in one gulp, speechless.
"Then we'll stop the scalpers at all costs!" Pei Qian said coldly and firmly.
The phones selling out immediately after launch had already made him unhappy.
Hearing about scalpers made it even worse.
Pei Qian hated scalpers more than anything—parasitic leeches. He would rather not lose money himself than let those scalpers profit!
Previously, when Ocean Fortress sold limited-edition weapons, Pei Qian had already been disgusted by scalpers once. Back then, he had gritted his teeth and would rather earn more money than allow scalpers to resell them.
Facts proved that watching scalpers suffer losses was even more satisfying than losing money himself!
Chang You had just taken a sip of champagne when he saw President Pei's gloomy expression and was instantly startled.
Oh no—he must have said something wrong just now!
Given President Pei's strong sense of justice and hatred for wrongdoing, how could he possibly ignore scalpers?
Saying "let's not worry about it for now" must have angered him. Otherwise, why would President Pei be staring at him with such a dark, dissatisfied expression?
And that expression even seemed a bit complicated…
Which only made things seem more serious!
Chang You hurriedly said, "President Pei is absolutely right! We must stop scalpers at all costs! …Uh, but how exactly should we do that?"
"I've got it, President Pei! You mean we should immediately begin large-scale mass production and ensure sufficient stock, so scalpers can't drive up prices and end up stuck with unsold inventory!"
Pei Qian: "…"
Mass production? Seriously?
Are you trying to make me earn even more money?!
That said, Chang You's thinking was perfectly logical. The launch had been a huge success, and the phones sold out instantly—of course they should ramp up production and restock immediately.
Who in the world would pass up easy money?
Pei Qian found himself speechless. Indeed, now that the phones were sold out, they had to restock—otherwise, even the system wouldn't allow it.
And once they restock, they'll have to sell; and once they sell, they'll make money. If they produce too little, scalpers swoop in, which is infuriating. But if they produce too much… doesn't that just mean making even more money???
Pei Qian was completely at a loss.
How did things end up like this?!
"Uh, President Pei?" Seeing him lost in thought, Chang You felt a bit puzzled.
The phone was such a success—shouldn't they just pour money into mass production? What was there to hesitate about?
Could it be… President Pei had once again entered his "thinking in favorable conditions" mode?
Pei Qian felt deeply troubled. He could only choose the lesser of two evils.
The phone going viral was already a done deal. Now the only option was damage control—minimize losses while reducing the impact of scalpers and, if possible, sell fewer units.
Maybe he could adopt the same model as Ocean Fortress: assign each customer a credit score, use it to determine purchase priority, and release limited batches weekly or monthly…
But on second thought—no!
That model had a huge hidden risk. It had already backfired on him in Ocean Fortress!
Back then, players couldn't get the limited weapons, so many of them crazily bought Fire Kirin weapons just to farm credit points—resulting in a massive surge in revenue for Ocean Fortress anyway!
The same logic applied here. If they used that method to sell phones, consumers would just spend money across other Tengda Group businesses to boost their credit scores by any means possible.
They'd still make a ton of money—maybe even more, with greater hidden risks!
Even now, Ocean Fortress showed no signs of declining in popularity. Player retention remained extremely high, largely because of that consumption model.
Pei Qian felt despair.
This is a dead end!
Just to avoid benefiting those scalpers… was he really left with no choice but to mass-produce the phones, even if it brought him to tears?
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