Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 566: Public Opinion in the Automobile Industry

Chapter 566: Chapter 566: Public Opinion in the Automobile Industry

"Dispatch technical personnel to help local teams produce short dramas. Initially, support these teams through investment, and once they’ve grown, we can just sit and collect dividends."

"But how can we ensure that the short drama teams we support won’t start their own independent projects?" Chen Yiyang asked Xu Yun, "Once these foreign teams learn all the filming methods and techniques, they can easily establish a new team to avoid sharing dividends with us."

"Even for short dramas, both filming techniques and content require constant iteration.

The content of short videos and dramas in Huaxia evolves the fastest due to specific market reasons.

For the foreign short drama teams we collaborate with, we can continuously provide them with proven formulaic scripts and content from our domestic market.

If they decide to start independently and stop sharing dividends with us, without our assistance, they’ll be outcompeted by others."

Xu Yun had considered all aspects thoroughly.

Chen Yiyang pondered for a moment and found no issues with Xu Yun’s reasoning.

Given this, we can allocate some funds to let Xu Yun try it out.

After talking with Xu Yun, Chen Yiyang called in several managers from Yiyang Automobile to inquire about any recent developments in the new energy sector.

"Recently, the industry has been contemplating various ways to intercept Rice Auto’s orders. Should we also take some action?" A senior executive at Yiyang Automobile said to Chen Yiyang.

"Everyone’s intercepting Rice Auto’s orders, what’s going on?" Chen Yiyang asked curiously.

He hadn’t been following the automotive sector lately and was unaware of this situation.

"Rice Auto recently launched a mid-to-high-end model priced around half a million, securing orders for several hundred thousand units."

Liu Xiaoyue explained to Chen Yiyang, "This achievement truly shocked the entire automotive circle, but it also brought about a few issues.

The issue is Rice’s limited production capacity, meaning most customers who ordered are facing a wait for their cars, with the longest wait possibly over six months.

This is something unprecedented in the history of domestic cars in Huaxia.

A deposit of five thousand, and a waiting period of up to six months.

What does this imply?

It implies that customers willing to put down this five thousand deposit are genuinely interested in purchasing a new car.

Under normal circumstances, an automaker would likely spend thousands in advertising to secure a customer with purchase intent.

Now, Rice has practically done the work for other automakers by identifying customers with purchasing intent.

And given that deliveries are delayed up to half a year, these customers have ample opportunity to be wooed by other automakers during this period.

In that case, why should other automakers hold back?

Many are offering marketing strategies targeted at those who ordered Rice’s cars.

For instance, if they are willing to buy from them instead, these automakers will cover the customer’s five thousand deposit loss paid to Rice and even offer additional discounts.

Moreover, considering the industry’s current cutthroat competition.

In six months, other automakers could launch competitive and enticing new models to lure these customers.

"Mr. Chen, these customers who pre-ordered Rice’s new cars can be considered premium customers, after all, they are willing to buy a mid-to-high-end model worth several tens of thousands.

If we can win over these customers, it would greatly benefit Yiyang Automobile’s future development."

"Let me think about it."

Chen Yiyang hesitated a bit.

Although many automakers are involved in the hunt for these Rice customers, Yiyang’s strategy focuses on low-end models, winning by volume.

Those interested in buying a car worth hundreds of thousands may not be interested in a Yiyang car priced only in the tens of thousands.

Moreover, surprising this batch of Rice’s customers will certainly not stay under wraps.

After all, Chen Yiyang doesn’t have their information to reach out directly and individually.

The only option would be to publicly announce that Rice’s pre-order customers can show their pre-order screenshot at Yiyang Auto to enjoy a discounted purchase price.

Such a public announcement would inevitably create a conflict between Yiyang and Rice Auto, disrupting the originally conflict-free relationship, both corporately and between Chen Yiyang and Lei Jun personally.

After careful thought, Chen Yiyang decided to pass it over.

"Let’s wait and see." Chen Yiyang said, "With automakers acting so overtly, Rice is sure to respond. For a mature company like Rice, their countermeasures are unlikely to be simple."

"Okay, Mr. Chen." The other executives, seeing that Chen Yiyang had made his decision, dared not say more.

As predicted by Chen Yiyang,

Rice indeed responded to the poaching attempts by other automakers.

Some competitors had indeed gone too overt.

But the counter-strategy surprised Chen Yiyang.

Faced with competitor poaching, Rice decided to have their delivery staff ascertain the actual intent of their customers.

For those not strongly inclined to pay the final payment, they required them to do so in advance to mitigate Rice’s own risks.

After all, some customers might back out when Rice Auto is nearly ready for delivery, abandoning the deposit to buy from another company.

Then Rice’s car could end up unsellable.

Now, asking for the final payment upfront—if they are genuinely intent on purchasing, everyone’s happy.

But if they’re not, Rice can cancel the order and stop production, thus managing their risk.

Of course, this approach was entirely from the automaker’s perspective.

For customers, I haven’t even seen the car, and I have to wait six months, yet you want me to pay the final balance?!

This money could accrue quite a bit of interest in the bank over six months, why should I hand it over now?

Thus, the conflict and issues emerged.

News about Rice asking customers to pay the balance upfront quickly surfaced online, creating a public opinion wave.

After understanding the full circumstances, Chen Yiyang called the Yiyang Auto executives for a meeting.

"For big-ticket items like cars, communication with customers must be handled with extreme care."

Chen Yiyang said, "Even if the company incurs some loss, major public relations issues must be avoided.

The mistake made by Rice Company offers us a great cautionary tale."

"So, Mr. Chen, how would we handle this from Rice’s perspective?" one executive asked.

"There’s no particularly good solution."

Chen Yiyang had considered this issue extensively.

But he could only reluctantly conclude.

Rice’s pre-order sales approach, while quickly revealing how many committed customers there are,

also inevitably subjects those customers to predation by other companies.