Chapter 627 - 448: Pinbei International, Cross-Border E-commerce; The World’s First Chip to Use Orange Z1

At 4:30 PM, Chen Yansen saw Wu Hongxin, the master of fleecing his customers, to his car and waved goodbye.

Among all of Orange Technology’s partners, none was more ruthless to their users than Wu Hongxin.

From their brief conversation, he learned that Wu Hongxin’s minimum requirement for the Meitu Mobile Phone’s gross margin was 50%, with a net profit of 30%.

"I’m not selling a mobile phone; I’m selling a smart camera that can make calls," Wu Hongxin said with a straight face.

Chen Yansen was speechless for a moment, then laughed. But between the users and Meitu, one was willing to dish it out, and the other was willing to take it. He couldn’t interfere.

Besides, he, Orange Mobile Phone, and the Orange Phone Factory were also beneficiaries.

"It’s so easy to make money off women! Among the advertisers on our short video app, besides the gaming industry, the ones most willing to throw money around are the beauty brands," Liang Bo remarked quietly from the side.

"Times are changing. Don’t underestimate men’s spending power."

Chen Yansen said, patting Liang Bo on the shoulder.

For the past decade or so, with the rise of "My Sassy Girl" and the "simp economy," the retail industry had ranked the spending power of various consumer groups: women were at the top, men were at the bottom, and ranked even above men were cats and dogs.

"That’s true. What men spend on digital products, fishing gear, and collectibles is certainly no less than what women spend on cosmetics and clothes," Liang Bo replied with a nod.

As the project lead for Toutiao and the short video platform, he came into contact with countless advertising partners in his daily work, giving him a deep understanding of consumer trends and the purchasing power of different demographics.

His mindset was shifting from the singular perspective of a developer to that of a well-rounded professional. He was participating in more and more business and financial meetings, and his rate of growth had even exceeded Chen Yansen’s expectations.

Chen Yansen glanced at his watch. Without even going back to his office, he simply got into the back of the Gusteau and told Lao Huang to head back to the Delta.

「Meanwhile.」

No. 668 Yanjing East Road, High Technology Corporation Headquarters.

Inside a spacious and bright conference room.

Zhang Guangwei’s brow was furrowed, his eyes glued to the data on the projector screen. He wanted to curse someone out but didn’t know who to blame.

In just two years, High Technology Corporation’s domestic market share had plummeted. First, it lost to Mountain Star, then to Apple, and was subsequently overtaken by Orange, Huawei, and ZTE.

And now, even the likes of 360, Xiaomi, and NetEase were walking all over High Technology Corporation.

Its market share was less than 5%. Revenue in the first half of the year was down 27% from the previous quarter and 39% from the same period last year, totaling a mere 20 billion yuan.

Due to its excessive pricing, the High Technology Corporation Jetstream found few buyers in the tablet market, with sales amounting to a mere fraction of the Orange iPad 1’s.

The High Technology Corporation M7, released in February, had once garnered a decent market response with its all-metal body, UltraPixel camera, and BoomSound dual speakers.

But after the Yaocheng X1 was released, it was as if there was no room left for the High Technology Corporation M7 in the vast market.

This was because the High Technology Corporation M7’s front camera was only 4 megapixels. Although its performance was on par with a 13-megapixel camera thanks to the UltraPixel sensor, it was priced at 4,888 yuan.

But domestic users weren’t buying it. In an era where major phone manufacturers were locked in an arms race over specs and new models, consumers immediately lost interest the moment they heard "4-megapixel front camera" and "4,888 yuan price tag."

In terms of sales, it was completely crushed by Orange, Apple, and the Mountain Star Galaxy series, unable to fight back.

High Technology Corporation’s mid-to-low-end models offered far less value for money than competitors like the Qingcheng, the 360F series, Red Mi, and Honor.

Seeing High Technology Corporation’s high prices and poor sales, mobile carriers lost all enthusiasm for partnering with them.

Before, when there were few domestic smartphone brands, carriers had been willing to cooperate. But now, phone brands were a dime a dozen; one more or one less High Technology Corporation made no difference.

Since High Technology Corporation insisted on acting high and mighty and refused to come down from its high horse, the three major carriers’ attitude toward it had grown extremely cold.

The HTC First, a custom phone made in partnership with Facebook, sold only ten thousand units over three months. This greatly angered Zuckerberg, who blacklisted High Technology Corporation as an unworthy partner.

Zhang Guangwei rubbed his temples. He knew perfectly well that if he allowed High Technology Corporation’s business to continue its decline, his own time in his position would be up.

Rumor had it the company was planning to invite ’Iron Man’ Robert Downey Jr. to endorse High Technology Corporation, hoping to win back the market and stop the decline.

But he wasn’t optimistic. The exorbitant endorsement fee would be difficult to convert into brand premium.

’Unless High Technology Corporation’s phones are actually built by Iron Man!’

「The next day,」 Thunder launched its membership service. In moving toward commercial monetization, it was also moving toward its doom.

Half an hour later, Pinbei CEO Huang Zheng announced on Weibo that Pinbei International, its cross-border e-commerce business, would launch on July 18th.

Unlike the overseas shopping models of previous years, Pinbei International combined overseas suppliers with a bonded warehouse model. To a certain extent, this solved the pain points of troublesome international shopping and the prevalence of counterfeit goods.

Top-tier goods would first clear customs upon entering the country before being moved into the warehouse.

All information, from the procurement contract to the certificate of origin and shipping routes, was traceable, reducing the risk of customers buying fake products.

The platform only needed to strictly vet supplier qualifications and the compliance of the purchasing process to bring all sorts of high-quality overseas goods under its umbrella.

Huang Zheng had been preparing for this for over half a year. He used Duan Yongping’s connections to establish the bonded warehouse links in coastal areas.

The moment the news of Pinbei International’s impending launch broke, the founders of Yangmatou and 55Haitao panicked.

They were both intermediary platforms for overseas shopping, profiting from the price difference.

Pinbei International’s model was simple and brutal. It bypassed overseas personal shoppers and shopping platforms to connect directly with brand owners and distributors in Europe and America, Asia, and Australia.

To put it bluntly, Pinbei’s business model could kill off 99% of all overseas personal shoppers and shopping platforms.

As a result, the comments section on Huang Zheng’s post was forty percent praise and sixty percent vitriol from overseas students.

’Pinbei International? A bonded warehouse model?’

At the Hang City Ali Headquarters, Ma Liyun, who had been struggling to find new areas for business growth, immediately had the idea to copy it.

Having been in the e-commerce trenches for years, he immediately saw the difference between the model used by Pinbei International and those of Yangmatou and 55Haitao.

In fact, some of the Shopkeepers on Taobao C Stores were also overseas sellers, but due to issues with logistics and after-sales service, transaction disputes had long been frequent.

Ma Liyun had long noticed the hidden growth potential in cross-border business, but he hadn’t yet figured out how to scale it.

He wasn’t interested in annual sales of just a few billion or even tens of billions of yuan.

The emergence of Pinbei International showed him a path forward.

’Are we going to copy them again?’ Zhang Yong muttered to himself, noticing the excited look on Ma Liyun’s face.

...

...

The next few days flew by, and soon it was July 18th. Pinbei International launched as scheduled.

The first batch of merchants consisted mainly of beauty, mother-and-baby, and health supplement brands, including Estée Lauder, La Mer, Clarins, Lancome, GNC, Vibra, Abbott, and others.

Unexpectedly, sales in the infant formula category surpassed those in beauty.

Mead Johnson, Wyeth, and Friso were completely sold out in less than a day.

The first day’s transaction volume reached a staggering 290 million yuan!

It was just 10 million shy of breaking the 300 million mark.

There were just over 100 merchants in the first batch. To put it simply, the average daily sales per store were nearly 4 million yuan.

This undoubtedly sent a clear message to overseas merchants: There’s money to be made, so come quickly!

For a cross-border e-commerce platform, no amount of advertising is as effective as establishing a prime example of profitability.

In an instant, the number of new merchant sign-ups skyrocketed.

Seeing this, Huang Zheng immediately transferred temporary staff from the review and the investment attraction and operations departments to relieve the pressure.

Pinbei International’s success made Ma Liyun and Liu Qiangdong green with envy. Both men quietly established their own cross-border e-commerce divisions and began trotting down the path Huang Zheng had blazed, trying to catch up.

「At the same time.」

After landing at Yanjing Airport, Cook first made an appearance at the Apple Store in the Chaoyang District, then went to inspect Foxconn. Only after finishing all this did he head to Xucheng with his assistant, his entourage, and Ge Yue, the Managing Director of Apple Asia.

On the way, Ge Yue looked at the passing scenery and couldn’t help but think, ’If it weren’t for Orange Technology, I would never have come to Xucheng in my entire life, let alone for a second time.’

On the surface, Cook maintained a calm demeanor the entire time, but inwardly, his mind was a raging sea.

He had studied Chen Yansen’s entrepreneurial journey and knew that Xucheng was a third- or fourth-tier city in Hua Country, incomparable to places like Yanjing, Hu City, or Shencheng City. Yet, as he approached the Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park, he was still stunned.

He couldn’t imagine that the Orange Z1 Instruction Set—a patented technology capable of crushing the ARM architecture—had been born in a software park surrounded by wheat fields.

Before Cook’s convoy could even get close, domestic media reporters were already snapping photos.

For the CEO of the world’s second-largest smartphone brand to travel thousands of miles by plane and car to personally visit Xucheng, his ambitions were clearly significant.

Whether his purpose was competition or cooperation, it was explosive news either way.

A huge crowd of reporters blocked half the road in front of the Science and Technology Park, a group that included media representatives from Korea, Little Days, and the Lighthouse Country.

Chatting as they walked, Chen Yansen and Xu Zhenhui descended at a leisurely pace and strolled to the park entrance.

Zhou Shouzhi followed closely behind them, with Gao Weilin and Ye Qiuping trailing after.

Meanwhile, the Inspectors outside the gate were maintaining order.

"Mr. Chen, a pleasure!"

Cook had seen photos of Chen Yansen, and with a prompt from Ge Yue, he immediately spotted him. Chen Yansen stood out from the crowd—tall and handsome, with delicate features, broad shoulders, a narrow waist, long legs, and a powerful aura.

He unconsciously quickened his pace and walked up to him with a broad smile.

Chen Yansen took a deep breath, extended his right hand, and offered a smiling pleasantry. "Mr. Cook, welcome."

His expression remained normal, but inwardly, he was full of disdain.

"This is Mr. Xu Zhenhui, from the Xucheng Central Control Department."

He paused, inconspicuously letting go of Cook’s hand as he made the introduction for Xu Zhenhui.

The three men stood at the entrance, giving the reporters ample time to take their pictures.

’Although Apple and Orange Technology are competitors,’ Cook thought, ’there’s no reason we can’t cooperate. Increasing the proportion of our local supply chain would also be beneficial for sales growth.’

Xu Zhenhui’s thoughts were simpler. ’I need Cook and Chen Yansen to act as promotional calling cards for Xucheng.’

Chen Yansen, on the other hand, was eyeing Foxconn’s manufacturing contracts.

’After all,’ he thought, ’whether it’s Xiaomi, 360, NetEase, LeTV, or Meitu Mobile Phone, none of their shipment volumes are very high. Their combined order volume is less than a third of Apple’s.’

’Using Apple’s manufacturing orders as a temporary bridge would also provide me with a stable source of Human Dao Fire.’

Each harboring his own agenda, the three men smiled as they walked together into Building 9, the headquarters of Orange Technology.

As soon as they were seated, Cook presented a small gift: an engineering prototype of the Apple 5S and an A7 chip the size of a fingernail.

"Thanks," Chen Yansen said with a faint smile. ’This is the world’s first mobile processor to use the Orange Z1 Instruction Set technology. It’s certainly meaningful to keep it as a memento.’

Immediately after, Cook eagerly began to ask about the Deep Blue Battery.

Chen Yansen gestured with his hand. Meng Yun, who was standing nearby, immediately understood and placed an ultra-thin phone battery on the table.