Chapter 75: The Pre-orders Broke Two Million!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
s.h.i.+ Xiaotao walked into the office. She was shocked and left her mouth open.
He is way too young. We’re probably the same age.
“Please have a seat,” Chen Jin said, while Liu Qi, the manager of the human resources department, prepared her a cup of tea. s.h.i.+ Xiaotao expressed her grat.i.tude. “Please briefly introduce yourself… My last name is Chen, and you can call me Chief Chen.”
“Alright.” s.h.i.+ Xiaotao stood up and said, “My last name is s.h.i.+, my full name is s.h.i.+ Xiaotao. You can just call me little Tao. I am 23 years old and I graduated in Beijing Film Academy, majoring in directing.”
“Take a seat, please… graduated? Didn’t you say you’re a director? You just graduated.”
“Ah, it should be a director-to-be, to-be. But I did shoot a 15-minute anime movie last year with my friends for our graduation design project. The name of the movie is ‘The Country of Snow’, and we got first place in the graduation evaluation. I can show it to you now.” s.h.i.+ Xiaotao took the Apple notebook from her pink pack back and clicked on the video. She was clearly well-prepared.
Chen Jin watched for a while and nodded. The visual elements were sophisticated and beautiful, the storyline was fair, but not tedious. It was quite aesthetically pleasing.
s.h.i.+ Xiaotao added quietly, “We spent more than five million on this video.”
Chen Jin raised his head and glanced at her. He paused the video and pushed the computer aside, crossing his fingers with his elbows on the desk. He tilted his chin and said, “Talk more about your ideas.”
Joy was written all over s.h.i.+ Xiaotao’s face. She hurriedly explained all of her thoughts about making an anime movie about Wa-wah robots. She concluded with three reasons for why the movie would be a huge success:
First, “Wa-wah Robots” was probably going to be a popular IP. The TV potential was huge. Second, once Wa-wah robots entered thousands of families, they would become a household name, and if there was a related movie, it would definitely bring family members of all ages to the cinema. Third, the potential for adapting the story was enormous. One could already compile many humorous stories about the battle of wits and courage between humans and Wa-wah robots within the setting of the promo videos. There was just no chance of creating a bad story.
The more she talked, the more excited she got. However, she did not notice the interest in Chen’s face began to lag. He even interrupted her and said, “I see, I see. I know what you mean, don’t talk about the IP. There is enough IP in these years. My uncle’s company shot two IP movies before, and at the end, they ruined the original piece. I don’t want a lousy movie to ruin my product image. Please… just go.” Chen Jin waved his hands.
Being thrown aside like a wet blanket, s.h.i.+ Xiaotao grew petrified and froze immediately. But then she quickly came to herself and vowed, “Chief Chen, please believe in me, I will not screw this IP up. I can definitely create something sophisticated, please give me an opportunity.”
Chen Jin examined her round and sternly serious face. He thought for a while and said, “How about this? It is indeed not so fair to paint you with the same brush. After all, you just graduated, and you are the hope of the movie industry in our country. I can’t stifle our country’s hope in the cradle.”
s.h.i.+ Xiaotao nodded like a chicken pecking rice. She clenched her fist and said, “Right. I am the hope of the movie industry in our country.”
“You can go back and write me a movie script first. If you can produce an intriguing script with which I am satisfied, then I can consider further collaboration. However, if the script falls into mediocracy or cliché, that’s it. No more chances.” Chen Jin gave her a smug shrug.
An anime movie consisted of a script, visual art, and special effects. Among them the script was of utmost importance. It could determine the quality of the story, or more crucially, the life and death of a movie.
“No problem! I’ll go back and write you a script. I’ll keep writing until you find it good enough.” s.h.i.+ Xiaotao was well aware that it was never easy to get a good IP. If she wanted to be recognized, she needed to show what she had. Therefore, she earnestly said, “Chief Chen, since you have given me an opportunity, please do not give this IP to others before I hand in my script. It’s just fair compet.i.tion.”
“Fine! If other directors find me, I’ll also ask for a script first so as to compare and then choose the best one. I just don’t know whether you can do your best.”
“Chief Chen, please have faith in me. I am the best!” s.h.i.+ Xiaotao clenched her first. The desire to get this IP in her bag filled her eyes.
Chen Jin nodded. Only the fittest could survive. He would rather take everything into his own hand than give the IP of “Wa-wah Robot” to those lousy directors whose sole purpose was to earn money. He would offer the chance to the team with the best script, visual style, and special effects. As long as he was not satisfied with the part, he could reject them and halt the collaboration. Anyway, he would never let anyone ruin the image of the Wa-wah robots just because he wanted to a little more money.
After getting the a.s.surance from Chen Jin and exchanging contacts, s.h.i.+ Xiaotao went back and wrote her script, with fierce determination in her heart.
…..…
The 25th of March marked 30 days since the first batch of Wa-wah robots pre-orders was released. Two weeks had pa.s.sed since the official delivery.
Ling Feng Jing Mi Company had hired enough workers so that the efficiency of the factory’s production line finally reached its maximum. Working relentlessly in three s.h.i.+fts, the workers managed to produce 10,000 Wa-wah robots every day from the production line. The yield rate had also reached 90%.
The first batch of 50,000 orders could be done after five days. Within a week, the robots could be delivered to all the users through the collaborated logistics company.
Furthermore, in early March, after much deliberation, Xing Hai technologies and Ling Feng Jing Mi Company signed the second OEM contract: purchase all the parts and materials needed for another two million Wa-wah robots. Together they would produce two million more. Together with the one million robots of the first OEM contract, that was a total of three million Wa-wah robots. With the efficiency of the factory, all the orders could be finished within two months.
Therefore, on the 25th of March, Xing Hai Technologies released the second batch of pre-orders, a total of two million Wa-wah robots, in official stores on Taobao, 366buy.com, and other online channels.
The price was $3,699. Everyone was only allowed to buy one. The delivery was around one to five weeks, but would not exceed six weeks at the latest. The sales began at 12:00 a.m, and after it started, the one-million stock was snapped up on the Taobao store within 67 minutes.
As for the 600,000 stock on the 366buy.com, they were sold in 95 minutes.
And the remaining 400,000 robots on other official online stores, they were again snapped up within six hours.
Two million Wa-wah robots were sold again! Clamor and joy filled the entire Xing Hai Technologies company.
The internet also went crazy; people kept asking each other, “Did you get it?”
Many experts did an a.n.a.lysis and foresaw that the sales of Wa-wah robots could reach at least ten million. It would become the sixth indispensable appliance in the common household. For those companies who also produced cleaning robots, they got really panicked this time. It was like the end of the world. In fact, some compet.i.tors had already acted, vowing not to let Xing Hai Technologies dominate the entire market share of cleaning robots. They began to struggle and fight back.