Chapter 122 Product Upgrade
Flashman shipped 60,000 units, but this was not the best-selling product of Shirakawa Electric.
The product that Shirakawa Electric actually ships the most is... headphones.
Thanks to its originality and the publicity of Stereo Magazine, the earbud headphones caught people's attention as soon as they came out.
It quickly became popular in the market, and even attracted a wave of scalpers when it was out of stock .
Fortunately, the production of headphones is not difficult, and production capacity quickly caught up with the market.
Currently, Shirakawa Electric already has three headphone production lines, which can produce nearly 10,000 pairs of headphones every day at full capacity, basically meeting the market consumption rate.
During the New Year period, Shirakawa Electric shipped nearly 90,000 pairs of in-ear headphones, which is 1.5 times that of Flashman.
This was the case when production capacity limited sales. Under current conditions, sales of Walkmans would probably double.
As for the hot sales of headphones, just as Baichuan Feng expected, white headphones are the most popular color.
Of the 90,000 pairs sold, nearly half were contributed by the white model.
After all, white is versatile. In addition to its round and technological appearance, it can also be matched with various hairstyles and various styles of clothing.
This is why it is the most popular. Products with no purchase threshold will always be the most popular choice for the general public.
Although the price of the headphones is only 1,500 yen, its return rate is surprisingly high.
A profit margin of 40%-50% is difficult to achieve in the manufacturing industry except for high-tech core products.
However, this is only the initial bonus of a new thing. Once the technology matures and other competitors join in, the price will definitely be pushed down very low.
But so far, in just the ten days of the new year, the earbud headphones have brought Shirakawa Electric more than 60 million yen in net profit.
Smells good ~ Really smells good.
It was also the first time that Shirakawa Kaede tasted the sweetness brought by "original" products.
As expected, in the electronics industry, the companies that make the most money are always those with core technologies and R&D capabilities.
So now Shirakawa Electric has solved the issue of life and death and is making some profit.
At this time, the first thing Shirakawa Feng wanted to do was to set up his own technical research institute.
Science and technology will always be the primary productive force.
"Everyone, it is clear that Flashman's project has been a great success. But this does not mean that Shirakawa Electric can just sit back and relax.
Don't forget that Sony was the one who implemented the Walkman idea, we just moved a little faster than the rest.
There are still people ahead of us who are far ahead.”
Baichuan Feng's words quickly calmed the lively atmosphere in the conference room.
If you think about it carefully, it is indeed true. It is even more shameful to say that Shirakawa Electric is just an imitator.
Seeing that everyone was in a low mood, Baichuan Feng smiled and said, "Of course, our determination and efficiency are unmatched by others."
"In this case, we must continue to maintain our advantages. At the same time, we must make up for our shortcomings and strive to walk on two legs as soon as possible."
"So," Baichuan Feng looked at the people below with a serious expression, "I decided to establish the Baichuan Research Institute.
He is fully responsible for the research and development of all relevant technologies of Shirakawa Electric, and conducts in-depth research and development and verification for the next generation of products and possible new technology fields. "
"Mr. Inoue, I'll need your help with the talent. Any university or company that has the right people will be recruited!
Our salary will directly double the other party's original salary, so don't give them a chance to hesitate.
Even for some special talents, we can also pay the relevant liquidated damages arising from the non-compete agreement.
This is the top priority for Shirakawa Electric's future development and must be considered as the top priority at present."
"I understand!" Inoue Ken nodded seriously.
This junior student's courage is really impressive, and the company has just turned around.
The first thing that comes to mind is not to enjoy life to the fullest, but a sense of crisis in development.
This sense of crisis alone may be enough to allow Shirakawa Electric to break through the siege in the future.
"Mr. Yasuda, when the Shirakawa Research Institute was established, the first subject it specialized in was audio technology.
Whether it is analog signals or digital signals, Shirakawa Electric must have its own R&D capabilities. "
"Hui!" Masaaki Yasuda looked more serious than ever before.
He felt a great deal of pressure because his expertise was in mechanical and acoustic design.
There is limited knowledge reserve regarding the vast field of audio.
In fact, the most suitable candidate is Yamazaki Teru, but if nothing unexpected happens, he will soon return to Kikuchi Laboratory.
Baichuan Feng had no choice as there were only a few R&D personnel available .
Most of them were contributed by the Kikuchi Laboratory. Their academic abilities may be fine, but they still lack real practical experience.
Therefore, the only one who could take charge was Yasuda, who had relatively rich experience and qualifications.
"In addition, the research and development of the next generation of products should also be put on the agenda." Although Flashman has been launched, the company's development cannot stand still.
"Do you have any suggestions on this?"
Everyone in the meeting was silent for a while, then began to discuss with each other.
"President Shirakawa, perhaps we can further refine the classification of our products." Hasegawa from the marketing department spoke first.
"For example, our pink Flashman is very popular among girls. Among the 60,000 units sold in the New Year, nearly one-third came from pink products.
Can we make a separate exterior design based on girls’ preferences? Of course, the interior design should be consistent with other styles.”
This is indeed a direction. Japanese people like a refined life.
Everything must be categorized and arranged clearly.
For example, there are more than a dozen types of kitchen knives used in daily life.
There are vegetable cutting blades, meat cutting blades, mountain blades, willow blades... there are so many types that they are countless.
Moreover, many Japanese people buy into this and never hesitate to spend money when new products are launched.
“Yes, this is a direction that can be tried.
Mr. Hasegawa, we can conduct a survey on consumers and collect their ideas.
This way, we can make targeted designs when developing the next generation of products.”
"Hayi"
Baichuan Feng felt that brainstorming was still very effective. After all, he couldn't decide everything for them himself.
Only by giving full play to everyone's subjective initiative can the enterprise be vibrant.
"In addition, I think we can also try to develop mid- to high-end products."
This is the next product plan that Baichuan Feng is considering. After all, the market is still a blue ocean.
There are vacancies in the mid- and low-end markets, but there is also the prospect of big blockbusters in the high-end market.
The reason why we chose the mid-to-low-end was, firstly, because of cost, and secondly, because of technology.
Now that we have both, there is no reason not to try the mid-to-high-end.
"Mid- to high-end?" Yasuda began to ponder with his head down.
"That's right," Baichuan nodded, "You can consider improving the material or upgrading the function.
Full metal shell, recording, radio, tone adjustment, etc., you can start from this aspect. I believe that mid-to-high-end products must have their audience.
Don't forget, according to preliminary statistics, a considerable number of our Flashman buyers are office white-collar workers.
They are our potential mid- to high-end customers.”
Baichuan Feng paused, as if he had thought of something, "In addition to the mid-to-high-end, we must also strive to lower the low-end.
On the basis of maintaining or improving the functional design, we will strive to reduce the price of the existing Flashman to less than 23,000 yen, or even lower. "
The purpose of Baichuan Feng doing this is to further split the mid- and low-end products.
The cheap ones get cheaper, the expensive ones get more expensive.
This way, consumers will not have to worry about which product to choose, as the two do not overlap or interact.
Expensive or cheap, Baichuan Feng wants them all.
