Among the future presidents of the United States. Ronald Reagan was a very open president, and during his tenure, many overseas groups successfully acquired large companies in the United States, including oil, auto and other groups, which is difficult during other presidents. Moreover, it also gave a lot of freedom to the operation of the economy, and it was also during his reign that many monopoly laws were abolished, such as the abolition of Hollywood studios, which were not allowed to participate in distribution and theaters, so that large Hollywood groups began to expand on a large scale.

With such a president in office, it may be much more convenient for him to invest a lot in the next 8 years, so it is still necessary to build a good relationship, not to mention that the future President Reagan will come forward to help him, as long as he does not operate in reverse.

In the following days, Chen Zhiwen met with the future president twice, and Chen Zhiwen drew a very big pie for the future electronics industry, which made Reagan gradually feel that the vision of the person opposite was really profound, and he could actually say the future product market pattern very clearly.

It's just that, in fact, Chen Zhiwen only picked out some actual situations in the future, and a lot of things that are beneficial to him have not been said, not to mention Reagan, that is, Jobs, who thinks he has the strongest grasp of the product market, after decades of struggle in the shopping mall, after several ups and downs, he can't judge the future market pattern, for example, when the iPhone was launched in 07, Jobs's goal was only that Apple could get 2% of the global mobile phone market, I never thought that Apple would overthrow the entire mobile phone market at that time.

may not have won President Reagan's friendship, but at least he is different from ordinary people who donate political donations, and in Reagan's eyes, Chen Zhiwen's value is certainly not ordinary.

After the political donation was settled, Chen Zhiwen went to the second Costco supermarket in Los Angeles.

"Business here seems to be much stronger than our No. 1 branch in Los Angeles a few years ago." Above the second floor, Chen Zhiwen looked at the shoppers downstairs, probably recalled, and said.

"Of course, Costco supermarket in the south has been in business for a few years, and it is very well-known in Los Angeles, and there are some people in the north who have long been members, and now we have opened another one here, and these people are much more convenient, along with many people in the neighborhood, we have also taken them in." Pierce said with a smile.

"The business of the No. 1 branch has been affected, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"There is a little impact, but the problem is not big, we can open more members here, the total sales still increase a lot, like this big city, there are two Costco supermarkets is still necessary, otherwise, other big supermarkets may come to grab the market." Pierce said.

"It's okay, big cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco are all about to be fully covered, and it is better to reduce the average sales after opening a new store, and to eat the market, otherwise, other supermarkets will enter the market, and then we will consume us, then we may lose even more." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Although Costco is currently in the first place in the field of warehouse supermarkets, it is too much worse in the entire retail supermarket field, after all, Costco currently has only more than 60 stores, and the number of supermarkets like Celtic has exceeded 2,000, and in terms of sales, it is not even a fraction of others.

In the case of not in the same city, we do not interfere with each other, but the first-tier cities belong to the retail industry, when many retail giants are still testing the water to study the warehouse supermarket, this time difference must be mastered, as long as Costco opens two or three in the big city, covering most of the citizens, it is difficult for other players, the warehouse supermarket is a membership system, and one person, it is unlikely to do two warehouse supermarket membership cards.

This industry is very xenophobic, and once Costco succeeds, then within a radius of 10 kilometers, other similar supermarkets will not be able to survive, so medium-sized cities need one. But by the same token, if other supermarkets succeed elsewhere, Costco doesn't stand a chance either.

"We need to build more than two large cities, at least twenty or thirty in the United States, plus other cities also need to expand normally, which requires a lot of funds, and now the interest rate of the bank is too heavy, and if you take out another loan, I am afraid it will affect normal operations." Pierce said with a frown.

"Funding is not a problem, I will give you another 300 million dollars, as long as you think it should be built, it will be built." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"$300 million?" Pierce said in surprise that although Costco's annual sales exceeded $1 billion, this is a very efficient data for warehouse turnover, even if Costco can press two months of payment, the maximum amount on the account is only more than $100 million.

"But it's not a one-time for you, you need to make a reasonable investment plan for me, especially the deployment of personnel, the number of management personnel, etc., if it is suitable, I will approve." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Supermarkets, in fact, are not difficult in nature, they can be done by individuals, but if they want to do a good job, there is no one in ten thousand, and if you want to achieve the world's top level, it requires vision, economic environment, capital, personal ability, team ability and so on.

Needless to say, Costco is looking for the current economic environment, and all Americans are looking for cheap goods under inflation, which is just right for Costco. The only thing to worry about is the team's ability, which is the most important thing.

"Over the past few years, I've been spending a lot of money to train a lot of managers, and I thought the number was enough, but if the boss gave me $300 million to expand, I would double the number of Costco, and a lot of supermarkets poached people from us, so there was a bit of a problem with personnel." Pierce said helplessly.

"It's normal to be the head of an industry and inevitably be poached by other companies." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "We can also poach people from other places, the management of supermarkets is almost the same, as long as the business model uses people who already have experience, don't worry about funds, just dig people with all your strength." ”

The success of Midea Group in the field of arcade machines has also made countless electronic peers red, and they are also digging Midea engineers everywhere, not only from the American branch, but also from Hong Kong, but Chen Zhiwen doesn't care, the most important thing in the game is creativity, so many engineers in the United States, just to design and test according to the requirements, especially Hong Kong engineers, if they are poached by the United States, the salary will be dug dozens of times, Chen Zhiwen will also bless these lucky people in his heart.

"Okay, I'll try it." Pierce nodded and said, with the expansion of funds, he is a little happy, after all, he is also old, before retirement, if Costco can become one of the largest supermarkets in the world, it will be a supreme honor, even if because of the boss's continuous capital injection, the shareholding ratio of the entire team, including him, has plummeted, but it doesn't matter, anyway, they have no management rights, and Chen Zhiwen has never interfered with specific management, the better the company's development, even if the shareholding rate falls, but the wealth still increases, in this way, The partners who have been working with him for decades have also been richly rewarded.

"One more thing, I need you to select a group of better teams for me, I need to build a supermarket chain in the United States that is responsible for electronic goods, and I need this team to run it for me." Chen Zhiwen said again.

"Electronic goods? Is it similar to a gaming console? Pierce asked, he also knew that his boss's main business was electronics, but the core arcade machine was not a civilian commodity, and the only suitable one was the handheld machine, which he had also played, and it was quite interesting to play occasionally.

"Game consoles are just one type, and Apple's personal computers are also one, but they are just a drop in the bucket of electronic goods." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "What I want to build is not the kind of large supermarket, similar to the decoration of the material supermarket, such as Home Depot." ”

"So big? Then large household appliances can also be put into it and sold? Pierce asked, he thought that the small area of the supermarket was for small electronic products such as game consoles, which are now available in the United States, such as radios, electronic watches, calculators, and so on.

"Yes, large electronics supermarkets, large household appliances can naturally be put in, including air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, and even kitchen appliances, but these are by the way, mainly for consumer electronic goods, according to my speculation, with the development of semiconductor technology, consumer electronics will soon usher in a big explosion, I need to prepare in advance." Chen Zhiwen said lightly.

I made so much money in the United States, not to mention all of it, but some of it must be spent in the United States, and it is okay to buy stocks, but it is not yet the time to buy the right stocks, so according to the speed of development of the electronic age, the 80s will soon usher in exponential growth, so this time is exactly the right time.

"Wouldn't that be in competition with Costco?" Pierce asked.

"There will be a little, but Costco's main focus, after all, is not in the consumer electronics market, electronics are just part of your business, and most importantly, Costco's expansion is limited by the urban population, and can only exist in large cities." Chen Zhiwen paused and said: "Midea's home appliances, in terms of brand itself is not good, I must build a perfect after-sales system in the United States, in order to have the capital to confront the home appliance giants, but it is impossible to build such a system alone, it is too much of a loss, and I can't build a supermarket similar to Wal-Mart, and now there is no such opportunity, and this electronic supermarket chain can help me accomplish this purpose." ”

Any large-scale business action must be profitable in itself, such as building an after-sales system that can cover most of the United States, and the premise of this is that its own products have covered most of the regions and are profitable, so it is profitable to spend a lot of money to build such an after-sales system, because it can further improve its own after-sales service to avoid the huge cost of inviting local third parties. Of course, even if it is these giants, it is impossible to really realize all their own operation and after-sales, at most find part-time jobs.

And like Midea, in the market that has been controlled by giants, if you want to fight a way, either the technology is developed, or the cost and after-sales service, the technology is basically no play, at most the gap is not very obvious, the production cost is a little advantage, after all, it is produced in Hong Kong, and it will go to the mainland in the future, but after-sales is a dead knot.

Within Costco's control, its own home appliances sell quite well, but once it comes out, except for the fan, everything else is not good, because it is only after-sales installation, you need to rely on a third party.

"Then I understand, if there are really thousands of such electronic supermarkets, it will not only solve the problem, but also make other electronic giants rely on us." Pierce knows the retail market well and says with a smile.

"Yes, that's what I want, as long as I can control the end market, then all brands have to be limited to me to a certain extent." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

Small household appliance companies like the United States rely on third parties to a large extent, whether it is terminal sales services or future after-sales service, only very cheap goods can be replaced, and expensive ones must need to be repaired.

But if you are a third party, then you can solve this problem, when many cities have their own terminal electronic retail supermarkets, then a supermarket similar to Suning in the future, will naturally have its own after-sales service and maintenance personnel, not only to ensure their own interests, but also to make money from other brands.

As long as their own electronics supermarkets are big enough and good enough, home appliance giants such as Sony, RCA, and General Electric have to rely on themselves to a certain extent. Especially when they can attract a lot of traffic, other small businesses may have to change careers, similar to Walmart appearing in a town, and basically the local retail is finished.

Unless a certain brand is as strong as the Apple mobile phone of later generations, otherwise it will not be able to avoid the brand supermarket chain that controls the sales of terminals, but in the eighties and nineties, the only one with this kind of influence is estimated to be Microsoft.

"Okay, I'll need a little bit of time to pick a team like this." Pierce nodded.

"Okay, I've found someone, arrange for him to meet me in Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen said: "How to operate this electronic supermarket still needs to be discussed. ”

"Then let's try it in Los Angeles first, find a place to build a supermarket first, plus the decoration, it will take a few months, and this time is enough for us to think clearly." Pierce suggested.

"Yes, but one is not enough, build a few more, three or five floors, and when it opens, we can also analyze a little more data, in addition, you can also discuss with some electronic brands about the entry of the problem, whether it is cost-effective for us to purchase directly, or to rent a place to the brand." Chen Zhiwen thought about it and said, rich and capricious, the most important thing now is not money, but time, it's no problem to spend more money on trial and error, and it's impossible to lose money, the house is built, and you won't lose much by opening a shopping mall, the era of the outbreak of the electronic market, what is lacking is the channel, at most it is the problem of making more and making less.

"Okay, but this kind of supermarket is not suitable for too remote places in the suburbs, right?" Pierce asked.

"Don't choose too biased, and you don't need to be in the city center, just take this opportunity to test it." Chen Zhiwen said.

The new type of retail supermarket, no one knows what to do, the rent or land price in the urban area is too high, and the popularity in the suburbs is not enough, after all, it is not a high-frequency consumer retail supermarket, and no one will be happy to drive a car to such a far place in the future.

This is also because the current U.S. real estate market is very stable, except for the core cities, the rise in real estate prices in other places is not very obvious, although there will be several times in a few decades, but it is much worse than the mainland, if it is the mainland, it is right to choose the city center with your eyes closed, no matter what investment is the case, except for polluting factories.

"Okay." Pierce nodded.

"This is a gift from me." Suddenly, Chen Zhiwen handed Pierce a key and said with a smile: "I bought a few mobile villas in Beverly Hills, and I will give you one of them, thank you for your contributions to Costco over the years." ”

With so much money in the United States, it is unlikely to be put in the bank to eat interest, it is still possible to buy a house, the real estate market in the United States has not changed significantly, but the scarce resources have risen very considerably, such as apartments in the center of New York, luxury houses in Los Angeles, etc., Chen Zhiwen also arranged for people to buy some by the way.

"It's not good, it's too expensive." Pierce quickly shook his head.

"Actually, it's not much, it's just a few million dollars, this is what you deserve, it's a special reward for the past few years, you know, this is nothing to me, if you are like this, it will delay my time, maybe the loss caused to me will be even greater." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said.

"But Costco, I'm not the only one who has contributed." Pierce said with a frown.

"Don't worry, I've bought luxury homes elsewhere in Los Angeles as well, and I'll give them to people who contribute to Costco, you don't have to worry, everybody has it." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile, in fact, it adds up to tens of millions of dollars, and it is just a drop in the bucket to reward a group of teams that have built a huge retail empire for themselves.

In particular, Hong Kong's Galaxy Trading started with orders from Costco, and has become a supplier to many retail supermarkets around the world, as well as one of the most sophisticated companies in all Asian countries. After all, even if it is an automobile giant like Toyota, it needs a lot of conditions to invest or procure, and when it is chosen, it will not be changed casually, so it is not very attractive to the government, but the orders for daily necessities in units of 100 million US dollars, except for developed countries such as Japan, where labor costs are too high, who in Asia does not pay attention?

Not only Costco's team, but also several other companies, with clear rewards and punishments, can make more people work hard, and at the same time attract more high-quality talent.

"Okay." Pierce said as he took the key.

PS: In the previous chapter, there was a reader feedback on the British car problem? There is a plan in this regard, but it is not yet time, I have checked the information before, the current car brands in the UK are still all state-owned enterprises, the government is controlled, and Margaret Thatcher just became the prime minister a few months ago, and also has the idea of saving the British car industry, it should be in 1982, when the British government itself was powerless to return to the sky, it began to sell British car brands on a large scale, including Rolls-Royce, mini, Jaguar, Land Rover and so on.

(End of chapter)