While most people expect such a high level of online sales, Matrix's online sales are understandable, given that Matrix's initial target customers are very sensitive to technology and fashion.

The common characteristics of this group are: young, well-educated, born into a family of middle class or above, loving new things, and liking to pursue differences.

And this group of people is also the main users and deep users of the Internet now, and the overlap between the two users is very high.

The number of users of the Internet is still growing exponentially, which means that the basic disk of the Matrix is getting bigger and bigger. At such times, as long as Matrix keeps the online sales channel, the future is a bright road that can be seen.

And now, Zhang Chen actually said that he wanted to enter the offline channel in a big way, and also threw out the word Matrix Store.

Matrix Store？

What is it? From Zhang Chen's foreshadowing and literal sense, it should be the same thing as a Matrix store, but a specialty store, is it necessary to take it out so solemnly?

The era of specialty stores has passed, and consumer electronics has entered the era of stores, and even the era of supermarkets.

In addition to IBM and HP, Compaq and Dell have already entered Walmart, and the success of the emerging electronics supermarket Best Buy illustrates the convergence of the consumer goods market. Due to the excessive investment and high fixed costs, the disadvantage of the cost per square meter cannot be made up, and various computer brands have gradually withdrawn their own stores.

Today, as we enter the 21st century, it is unreasonable that Matrix has chosen to open a store.

In the face of the whispers of the audience, Zhang Chen pressed the remote control to turn the slides as if he hadn't seen or heard: "Everyone guessed right, Matrix Store is indeed a specialty store opened by Matrix, but Matrix Store is also different from traditional specialty stores. ”

Zhang Chen pointed to the comparison item on the slide with the laser pointer on the remote control: "The only function of a traditional specialty store is to sell goods. Unfortunately, this is no longer the time for over-the-counter sales. Now that the PC market is gradually entering the era of competition, in order to obtain a competitive price advantage, cost control is the most important task of every company. The high cost and low output of traditional specialty stores have undoubtedly been abandoned by the times. ”

"And, you don't see it, these specialty stores all have one characteristic. The corners of Zhang Chen's mouth pulled down, revealing a disgusted expression, "Ugly, very ugly." ”

The audience didn't understand anything else, but they were still amused by Zhang Chen's expression. Many people in the industry are very strange, since these Zhang Chen are very clear, why do they want to open any stores.

Zhang Chen played the slides one after another: "The featureless display area, the wooden and rigid layout, the self-righteous decoration design... ”

"OK, these pictures have exhausted me, and I don't want to pollute everyone's eyes anymore. Back to the point, what is the difference between the Matrix Store and these specialty stores? ”

Zhang Chen pressed the remote control, the screen dimmed, and then slowly lit up again.

Here's a video.

"I've never seen a store like this, it's a work of art. An old man in his sixties appears on the screen, and the subtitles below indicate that this person is none other than Sisapery, who is famous in the field of architecture.

"The Matrix Store is one of the most comfortable stores I feel comfortable in, and what you need more here is the experience, the service that makes Matrix different. I'm sure even people who don't know how to use computers will love it. The video shows Julia Roberts, who has recently caught fire in Hollywood.

"I don't like to describe a building in terms of fashion, but I love it, yes, I love it, and if you see me coming in with a Chanel one day, it won't be abrupt. Anna Wintour, the fashion witch, said expressionlessly.

The last to emerge was Jonathan Ivey, Director of the Matrix Design Center.

Jonathan Ivey wore a gray skinny T-shirt and he had a quality that made the other person feel genuine, no matter how dry he said: "There was a real time conflict between the design of the new product and the design work with 8inch's Tim Bryant to perfect the Matrix Store, which was a serious challenge at the time, but luckily, we did it." ”

Immediately after, the scene changed, and a rectangular two-story building with an almost entirely glass façade appeared in front of everyone.

Even on low-resolution videos, viewers can still see the interior of the building through the completely transparent glass.

As the camera progresses, it is clear to all viewers that the building has replaced the traditional façade with a large area of glass, without any windows, and has been replaced by long open tables. The large seating area can accommodate at least a dozen people.

Beautiful, really beautiful, almost everyone will have this first impression in their hearts when they first see this building.

But is this really a specialty store?

As the video ended, the audience's doubts could be heard from the applause at the scene.

"OK, the video is over. Zhang Chen pressed the remote control, "Maybe most people will think, it's crazy, this doesn't look like a computer store at all." Yes, Matrix Store is not exactly a specialty store. Let's all think about it, what do we need more when we buy a computer?"

Zhang Chen paused and looked at the audience: "It's an experience." ”

"I often go to various e-commerce malls and find a very strange phenomenon that most merchants don't allow users to try out their computers on site, and even if they have one or two display machines, they are limited in what they can do. Customers don't even know what they're about to spend thousands of dollars on what they get their hands on, and all they get is a configuration slip from the merchant. ”

In addition, almost all businesses can't answer slightly more professional questions, and many even answer indiscriminately in order to show that they are professional. As for the simple question, a considerable number of merchants will be impatient, and the shopping experience of ordinary customers is quite poor. ”

"In addition, after after-sales, customers buy computers, when there is a failure or need technical support, businesses often do not have enough technical strength to help customers deal with these problems, you know, 80% of computer users do not understand computer technology, which also gives a lot of unscrupulous businesses the opportunity to harm customers, consumers in addition to the failure to affect the use, more worried about whether these people will be slaughtered. ”

"Also, every time a customer enters a store, the clerk of each brand only cares about when he takes his credit card out of his wallet. Only pay attention to their own needs, but do not care about the real needs of customers at all, many consumers end up choosing the most suitable product for themselves. ”

Many viewers nodded secretly, and everyone came from a computer ignorance. Even old users who have been using PCs for a few years will feel at a loss to buy again in this era of new hardware.

“Genius Bar。 Zhang Chen gently spit out these two words from his mouth, and the cameras of the two large screens shifted to the second floor of the store in due course, "This is the heart and soul of every Matrix Store, Genius Bar, as the name suggests, every clerk in our store is a professionally trained genius." Their most important job is to guide and serve customers through how Matrix's flawless technology products can change our lives and change the world. ”

"In Genius Bar, consumers can not only buy the latest and greatest products of Matrix, but more importantly, every customer can get free technical support provided by the geniuses of Genius Bar by appointment. ”

"Whether it's buying a new product, repairing a problem, or even just having a software that won't be installed, you can make an appointment with our geniuses, who will not only help you solve the problems you encounter in use, but also help you have a deeper understanding of the computer. ”

At the same time, the Matrix Store also regularly hosts free seminars. These seminars not only promote how good Matrix's products are, but also teach users some unique techniques to improve the efficiency of use. There are also some more professional free lectures for developers, such as C, C++, VB, Java。。。。。。 There are many geniuses who don't know that they have a lot of potential in computing, but with these lectures, maybe they can have a clearer understanding of themselves, and Matrix hopes that the impact on every user's product will be positive and positive. ”

Speaking of this, there was a round of applause from the audience, no matter whether Zhang Chen's idea is feasible or not, but if this thing can really be done, it will indeed cultivate a considerable number of science and technology enthusiasts. And among these enthusiasts, maybe there will be the next Gates, the next Jobs, the next Zack Chang.

Zhang Chen nodded, his body language is not rich, but it can often play the finishing touch, "Matrix hopes that in the next three years, we can open 50-100 Matrix Stores." Except for megacities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Memphis, Dambury, Atamont and other areas will also have the same service content Matrix x hopes that more people will be able to experience our products on site because they are so fantastic. ”

Speaking of this, the audience couldn't help but burst into applause, no matter what, it is undoubtedly a good thing to be able to buy Matrix's latest products at your doorstep and get the most professional service.

Time Magazine reporter Stengel had previously interviewed Zhang Chen, who was also a media guest at Matrix's first press conference, and was still invited as an important media guest this time, and couldn't help but ask in the first row in a loud voice, "How much money does it cost to build so many Matrix Stores?" Will it have an impact on Matrix's operations?"

Zhang Chen smiled: "Although it is not yet the media Q&A session, Richard's question is exactly what I will announce next." ”

Zhang Chen took a deep breath and pressed the remote control: "Within three years, Matrix will invest a total of one billion dollars in a budget to build Matrix stores across the United States. The first Matrix Store, the Union Square store in San Francisco, will be officially operational in a month's time. Over the next three months, Matrix Stores will open in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Boston. ”

This is definitely big news, and many people have immediately reacted to the fact that Matrix cannot afford such a large amount of capital investment, which means that Matrix will inevitably seek financing!

Zhang Chen turned a deaf ear to other media's questions: "OK, if you have any questions, you can continue to ask questions in the media Q&A session after the meeting." Next, let me introduce you to Bob Mansfield, Senior Vice President of R&D at Matrix. He has made a very important contribution to the development of new products at iCom and with us, and he has some interesting things to share with you next. ”

Bob Mansfield walked to the center of the stage with a big belly and waved his hand like a smiling Buddha: "Hello everyone, I'm Bob Mansfield, X is a technology-oriented company, everyone here is committed to providing consumers with the most advanced and excellent products, and I hope that our products can change people's lives and make everyone's life easier and better." ”

"When I use a personal computer, what I am most disgusted with is the messy cable behind the host and monitor, the power cable of the host, the power cable of the monitor, the signal cable of the host monitor, the PS2 cable of the keyboard, the com interface cable of the mouse, and now with the Internet, there is an extra telephone line or network cable. ”

"These messy cables make our living and working environment messy, and sometimes even affect our normal life and work. Last week my wife was working on an important document in her office, and a young man accidentally tripped over a power cord on the floor and fell to the ground, of course, my wife's document must have been finished, but it wasn't the worst of all. The unluckiest of all was the young man, who had an intimate contact with his thigh with an eighty-five-degree coffee, but luckily he had more hair, otherwise he might have had skin grafting in key areas. ”

The audience laughed, although the joke was not so funny, but everyone had encountered the scene described, and they still felt the same way.

"Therefore, when iCom was launched, everyone should have noticed that there is only one power cord for the entire iCom mainframe. With the addition of keyboard and mouse cables, iCom minimizes exposed cables as much as possible. And now, I can proudly say that we have made a technological breakthrough again, and from now on, your network and phone lines are no longer needed. ”

Bob Mansfield pressed the remote control: "Ireless-Fidelity, wireless fidelity, we gave it the name 'i-fi' that is easy to remember. ”

"To put it simply, our i-fi equipment can convert the signal of the dial-up network into a wireless signal, and in the bandwidth environment of the current dial-up network and most broadband operators, the signal is completely undistorted, that is, if you are using ATT's 56k dial-up Internet service, as long as the signal cable is plugged into our signal converter, this converter can convert the dial-up data signal to a wireless signal. ”

"As long as your computer is equipped with a board that can accept wireless signals, then, your computer will be completely free from the entanglement of telephone lines or network cables, and there is no longer a need to plug the telephone line into the built-in modem, nor do you need to plug the network cable into the built-in network card, you don't need anything, you just need to accept the signal. ”

"The range of the signal is up to 15 meters in diameter, which means that if your house is 1,000 feet in size, you can receive a wireless signal from anywhere in the house, and your computer can be moved around without worrying about where the phone or network cable is. ”

Speaking of which, the audience has already exclaimed,, black technology, what kind of IFI is really so magical?

Bob grinned, "I'll show you how to do it now." With that, he walked over to an iCom on the booth, and the camera followed, and Bob reached out his fat hand and lifted the iCom up with the handle of the iCom.

"As you can see, this iCom doesn't have any network cables or phone lines connected to it, but it can go online now, you see. Bob put down iCom, clicked on Internet Explorer, and his chubby fingers crackled on the keyboard to type a line of URL, which is Google's official website.

The progress bar at the bottom of the browser doesn't take a few seconds to get to the end, the page flashes, and Google's homepage appears on the screen.

"OK, let's do a search. Bob typed the letters Matrix into the search bar, and the official website of Matrix was at the top of the list.

The applause and exclamations from the audience came one after another, and it was hard for those who were accustomed to all kinds of wireless networks to imagine how Bob Mansfield's demonstration would shock the audience.

It's like when someone hasn't even made a wired phone call, and suddenly sees a big brother.

Bob demonstrated for a while: "OK, the internet is very fast, well, here is ISDN, 256K, which is great." My wife always said I was an internet obsessive, and yes, I was obsessed now. The audience burst into laughter again.

Bob pretended to be reluctant to put down the keyboard, "Okay, maybe everyone has questions, what does this amazing wireless device I talked about look like." Now I will introduce to you the world's first wireless router - Air-Port. ”

This is the second and third watch of today, combined.

(End of chapter)