"$15 million?" Although Chen Zhiwen has long heard of IBM's high profits, he can't help but be shocked when he hears this offer, and it is only 6 million US dollars to build a logistics center plus dozens of trucks, which requires 2.5 times the hardware.

"Yes, and not only that, if we want to install GPS on every truck, some information of each store is transmitted through satellites, the price will be very expensive, I have also consulted with related companies, the cost may be hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, if Costco opens a new store in the future, the cost will increase." Pierce said.

"It's too expensive." Chen Zhiwen also frowned, he really wanted to engage in intelligence, even if it was much worse than the most ordinary small supermarket in later generations, but at least a lot of information can be queried through the computer, the simplest is the number of inventory, when the supermarket is getting bigger and bigger, this kind of data will become more and more chaotic, and more and more manual sorting is needed.

It's just that the current era when computers are still very unpopular, can only be customized to make such a set of hardware + software management system, which is the field of IT giant IBM, so he asked Pierce to contact IBM to try, although there is a psychological preparation that the offer will be very expensive, but I still didn't expect that the price would be so high, far more than his budget.

Pierce continued: "I have analyzed the logic of this management system, the use of satellite transmission, in fact, is just faster, we can use manual instead, the information of the branch is sorted out and sent to the headquarters, and then the headquarters of the people to input the computer, and the transport vehicle is not necessarily equipped with GPS, our distance is not far, basically there will be no traffic jams, as long as we relax in the time control, generally there will be no problems, in this way, do not lease satellite signals, you can save a lot of money." , but the entire supermarket data management system is a must, and this money is difficult to save! ”

"IBM's position, coupled with this offer, is unlikely to budge, have you consulted other similar companies?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

Now IBM, mainly is the production of industrial and commercial large-scale servers, customized management systems, supercomputers, etc., the main customers are government departments, military departments, aircraft, automobiles and their large parts companies, large construction companies, university research institutions, banks, insurance and other giant companies, is the United States and even the world's supergiants, at its peak its market value is estimated to be 25% of the GDP of the United States, the later generations of Microsoft and even the Apple empire, can not be compared.

This is the ironclad law of business, and it is estimated that it is more difficult to make customers like IBM cheaper.

"Yes, it's still a Chinese-owned company like Eric you, called Wang An's Company." After speaking, Pierce found a business card from his purse and handed it to Chen Zhiwen.

"Wang An's company? Do they have this business? Chen Zhiwen asked.

Although Midea is not currently involved in the computer business, it will inevitably be in the future, so he also knows a little bit about the most famous computer companies in the United States, and the most famous is naturally IBM, which basically belongs to Wang An.

However, because the current computer is quite different from the computer defined by Chen Zhiwen in his heart, he does not pay much attention to this aspect, and if it is not for Costco's urgent need to seize the development opportunity of the golden time, there is no need to go to the data management system.

"Yes, Wang An's main products are small computers, but they also want to enter the large-scale computer market, but IBM's main customers are the military, government, banks, large automobile and aircraft companies, this kind of customers, Wang An's company wants to grab business can be said to be very difficult, so we are also very interested in this business, but because they have no experience in this area, I don't dare to let them try at will, and there is a big problem, they don't understand retail, I would like to use the feedback from our platform to develop software. Pierce said.

"In this way, the market of retail supermarkets is indeed in line with the current positioning of Wang An's company, at least IBM has not made any achievements in this field." Chen Zhiwen said.

It's not that IBM doesn't look down on this market, but it's that the current computers are too expensive, so expensive that many Fortune 500 companies have to pay three points when they place orders, but the importance of military, defense, large automobile and aircraft projects is very high, and the data is complex.

Banks and other financial institutions, not that manpower can't be calculated, but data is very important, can not make mistakes, plus investment banking institutions need efficiency, the higher the efficiency, the more money can be made, in the era of high-speed signals in the future, Wall Street in order to be able to feedback data faster than a few tenths of a second, but willing to spend billions of dollars to build a fiber optic pipeline across the United States, as long as it can make more money, it is naturally willing to buy high-priced computers.

The retail sector doesn't matter, and although the data is big, what if something goes wrong? Big deal to reconvene the human to do it again? If you can't do it, will you lose some money? No big deal.

Therefore, the current retail giants have no intention of engaging in information technology at all, only until the 1980s Wal-Mart, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to launch satellites into the sky, can be regarded as the first company in the retail industry to pay attention to technology, this investment was laughed at as a fool at the time, but a few years later, Wal-Mart's logistics costs dropped from 8% to 3% of turnover, and no one laughed out again.

As for Wang An's company, its main products are small commercial computers, that is, computers used by professionals in many large companies, while IBM's main business is large commercial computers. Before the 60s, IBM monopolized both markets, and it wasn't until Wang An invented a cheaper small computer that it robbed IBM of this small market.

However, compared with large-scale supercomputing or large-scale server clusters that cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars, Wang An's company has only snatched a drop in the bucket.

And Wang An, who is ambitious, naturally wants to enter the mainframe computer market, but there has been no suitable entry point.

Pierce asked, "Eric, you mean that in the future there will be a massive use of commercial computers in retail?" But in the general supermarket, the SKU is ten times more than our Costco, and the number of stores is much more than ours, even if Wang An Computer Company is cheaper, it is impossible to bear this cost. ”

"The price of electronics will get cheaper and cheaper!" Chen Zhiwen said: "I can't bear it now, it doesn't mean I can't bear it in the future, so I have to prepare one step ahead now, so that I can gain experience in this area than other peers, and I can reduce the cost one step further!" ”

Don't say that Pierce doesn't understand the electronics industry, he is an elite in the electronics industry, and many people can't predict the future development of the electronics industry.

Costco's biggest advantage is that the supermarket has a large amount of materials and a small variety, which leads to a lot less data to be processed, and it is also easy to manage, which can be used as the best test site to provide experience for the use of the entire retail software, which is the most desired achievement of Chen Zhiwen, as long as he maintains a few years of experience more than his peers, it is an advantage.

Now, small-scale testing, maybe the reduced logistics cost may not be comparable to the price of the computer, but the acquisition of a lot of data and experience will play a great role in the future after the scale of the multiple expansion.

"If that's the case, you can really try it first, then let Wang An's company take care of this matter?" Pierce asked.

"Let's look at the quote first, it's cheap enough. However, we only consider the hardware for them, and we will do the software ourselves, as for Wang An's company wants to use us to increase their own capabilities through trial and error, let alone think about it. Chen Zhiwen said:

"My Midea company has a branch in the United States, and the person in charge of this branch is called Woz, who is very software research and development, and I will contact him in two days and ask him to come here and be responsible for communicating with Wang An's company.

In terms of software, let him be responsible, there should be no such software on the market to manage supermarkets, and companies that have the ability to make software do not understand retail, and they do not have a lot of experience in trial and error, even if IBM estimates that it is the same. ”

Wads's ability is very strong, but it may not be really omnipotent, but a good management is to use all kinds of talents to complete tasks under the condition of understanding the profession, even if you don't understand this kind of data processing, but you will always know what kind of talents are needed, as long as the team is built.

"I've inquired that writing software like this requires a lot of time to be changed according to reality, and this Mr. Wads can stay at Costco for a long time?" Pierce asked.

"It's okay for a while, just let him build the team and then ask about it from time to time in the future." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

In fact, Woz's team has not been developing on the arcade machine recently, the software and motherboard of the magic cube have been developed a long time ago, and the equipment has been tested for a long time.

It's just that the demand of the market can't keep up with a few games in Chen Zhiwen's head, and under the guidance of Chen Zhiwen's direction, the Wads team has even developed the "Space Invader".

In terms of the market, Snake also began to expand under the full force of Henry Morgan, and it is estimated that it will take half a year to make the next one a play, which is also for the sake of maximizing profits, and not everyone can afford to buy several different game arcades worth three or four thousand dollars.

"That's fine, since this Wox understands technology, let him see the hardware, I'm afraid that something goes wrong, millions of dollars, I can't afford it." Pierce said with a smile.

"Well, if it succeeds, then our Costco will be the first supermarket in the history of the retail industry to use a mainframe computer to manage it." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said.

"I hope that our big investment will bear fruit." Pierce said that tens of millions of dollars, if used to expand, can build four or five new stores, which is a very big investment for Costco, which currently has only 16 branches, and if it were not for Chen Zhiwen's arbitrary actions, in a normal company, the board of directors would never have spent this money.

After all, the results and performance of investing in new stores can be seen directly, but this computer?

"Yes, the future will be the world of computers." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "This supermarket management system, in fact, the greater significance is testing, it may only take two or three months to start to make it, but if you want to slowly improve, you need to explore it in practice for a long time, which can only depend on you."

I will ask Midea to set aside a team to live in Costco in the future, what you need, just mention what you don't need, delete it, or have any ideas, you can also say it, these are all experiences, but also patents, if this piece of software is perfected, maybe you can still make money by selling this software? ”

"What we researched and sold to other supermarkets?" Pierce asked.

"It depends, the really good solution is that we update the version and then sell the old solution, which not only pays for the cost, but also prevents other tech companies from developing this kind of technology." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

Enterprise software, in fact, is also a big market, the later generations of Oracle, is the perennial second only to Microsoft software giant, but this industry needs a lot of resources to research and development, Midea is not good at these, at least now there is no ability to do it, but now if you cooperate with Costco, there is actual data and technology, specifically developed a set of software for the supermarket management system, it should be no problem.

"That's not bad." Pierce nodded.

Chen Zhiwen continued: "So in the past few years, it's better to do what, the logistics center is ready to be built, right?" Can Costco pull $6 million in cash out of its account? ”

"It's not enough, Costco has built 6 new stores in the past six months, and the funds on the account are relatively tight, and I have used the supplier's account period funds to the maximum extent." Pierce said.

"Okay, I'll take care of the funds, I'll give you $2 million first, and I'll give you the rest in two months." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

In two months, the arcade machine will be fully rolled out in the United States, and Henry Morgan also needs to give him 25% of the account as agreed, and even place a new order, and the arcade machine is not only needed in the United States, as long as it is popular in the United States, then Europe, Japan and even Asian countries, people with vision will take the initiative to send him money.

As long as it comes to next year, the whole United States will no longer be short of funds, especially in the second half of the year, it is estimated that the magic cube will be popular in the United States again, and then it will be able to enter the real high-tech industry research and development field with the help of profits in units of 100 million US dollars.

"That's for the best." Pierce said with a smile, he had planned to ask for money a long time ago, but there was really no way, in order to keep Costco's turnover faster than Wal-Mart's expansion, he couldn't take out a loan, so he could only ask the boss for money!

(End of chapter)