Chapter 50: Out of Stock

The third morning.

The ‘Wang Triangle’ of the Nanwang Reservoir was isolated into a villa district. One of the villas here was the current residence of Ren Hong. The Wang Triangle had more than 30 luxury villas built on the western edge under plenty of tree shade. It was surrounded by beautiful mountains and water, making it a perfect living area.

The Nanwang Reservoir was still being transformed, and after buying this land, Ren Hong was about to turn the entire reservoir into an exclusive holiday park for XlouS. The facilities would be fully equipped and not open to the outside world. One had to admit that this was a great benefit for the company’s employees, where employees on vacation or off work could enjoy their lives and bring their families for free.

Ren Hong’s villa was like a silver-whitish lingzhi[1] set on the shore. Divided into three floors, its boundaries were curved, and the bottom floor hid a magnificent view. The side of the building against the water was constructed entirely of transparent tempered glass, displaying a beautiful underwater scenery. The Nanwang Reservoir was full of aquatic creatures. Being in the bottom floor of the villa was like being in an aquarium.

At that moment, the half-naked Ren Hong stood next to the window, looking in the direction of the store several kilometers away. He spotted the long queue. It was already the third day; it had been more than 70 hours since launch and the queue still seemed equally endless.

But as the only physical store, this wasn’t surprising. People who traveled to Wanning were more or less entrusted by their friends to bring back an S-1 for them. There was also no shortage of people from other urban areas who came specially from the mainland. After all, this was the only physical store in the world.

“Hmm?” Ren Hong gazed in the direction of the physical store and suddenly frowned. He grabbed a pair of binoculars from the desk and took a good look at the queue that was starting to gather into a rowdy crowd. He quickly unlocked the device on his wrist and commanded, “Sakura! Get me the marketing manager!

“This is Ren Hong, what’s up with the physical store? Why did the crowd suddenly start gathering? What if there’s a stampede of thousands of people?” Ren Hong said to the strip in his hand, still looking through his binoculars at the moment.

“Oh? Chairman? Here’s the thing, Chairman, we’ve run out of inventory. The physical store sold 1.8 million units in the last three days!” A voice sounded from the device.

“How did it sell so fast?” Ren Hong dubiously asked.

The other party sounded awkward, “Well, these people at our physical store basically bought an average of more than 5 units each, and we didn’t think there would be any problem selling 1.8 million units. But there was still this long line 72 hours later and now the consumers who didn’t get to purchase are gathering to protest…”

“Be sure to calm everyone down. And remember, no stampedes!” Ren Hong interrupted, emphasizing on his point. He could imagine the consumer dissatisfaction at the moment. One would definitely be upset after queuing for so long just to be refused and told that no more units were available. It would be especially so for some of the more agitated consumers. If a stampede occurred, it would be disastrous!

“Director Wang! Any available units left?” Ren Hong contacted Wang Lei, the director of the production department.

“There are 60,000 units that just passed the quality inspection yesterday!” Wang Lei responded.

“Send it to the physical store immediately!” Ren Hong urgently said.

“Ugh! These units have already been booked.” Wang Lei hesitantly replied.

“Pay for the breach of contract! Priority is to be given to the physical store, and the queue would go on for days at this rate,” Ren Hong said.

“Okay, I’ll send it over right away!” Wang Lei responded.

At that moment, the marketing manager personally arrived at the scene to pacify the crowd. Despite that, many of them were distressed. Some had lined up for 24 hours and they weren’t willing to leave without getting their hands on a S-1. The more they thought about it, the more upset they became. Why was it that only the people in front were able to purchase?

“I’ve even set up a tent here in line for 36 hours. And when it’s my turn you say there’s no more stocks? Unforgivable! All I get for 36 hours is a boring wait?”

“The guys in front of me packed away a few units and now you’re telling me you’re out of stock? Are all of you in marketing stupid? Do you know how to manage your business?”

“This is your company headquarters; there’s no way you’re out of stock!”

“I don’t care! I want S-1! Right now!”

The marketing manager perspired profusely as he looked at the hordes of consumers roaring with anger one after another.

“Please be patient, everyone! I’m the Marketing Manager. I…””

“So you’re that dumb head of marketing! Do you have any stocks or not? Don’t waste our time!”

The marketing manager was drenched in sweat when he felt the strong, threatening presence from the customers. He let out an awkward laugh: “It’s in stock! In stock! Everyone, please listen to me! Listen to me first. Hold on a second! Please be patient!”

After hearing that there was available stock, the consumers on the scene finally quietened down.

“I knew it. Giving them pressure like this always works!” A young man in the crowd softly laughed.

The marketing manager didn’t hear his remark. He shouted into the loudspeaker, sparing no effort: “The production department is delivering the stocks over. For that, we paid a large amount of compensation for the cancellation of the foreign orders. You can rest assured that everyone here will get an S-1! However, it is limited to only one per person. We’re sorry about that! Now, please line up and don’t start a stampede!”

“Wouldn’t everything have been fine if you limited the units to one unit per person? How could you be so dumb?” Someone in the crowd criticized.

The marketing manager saw the thousands of people getting back into an orderly queue and instantly felt relieved. It would be catastrophic if a stampede were to happen. He couldn’t afford to be responsible for it. At that moment, he finally experienced what it meant by pleasure within the pain.

From the villa, Ren Hong saw the crowd gradually dispersed and began to line up again. He also felt relieved and glad.

All of a sudden, a pair of fair and delicate arms wrapped around his abdomen and a warm body pressed against his bare back.

“What’s going on?” Gao Yue asked from behind him. She, who had just woken up, seemed a little dazed. Her partly revealing clothes and wandering gaze brought upon a different kind of allure.

“The physical store is selling out. Consumers are protesting. But it looks like it should be fine now.” Ren Hong said as he gazed out the window.

“I don’t understand why we’re not setting up more physical stores around the world; offline channels are also important and they bring in billions of dollars in global revenue to the company too! Now, there are so many people who are earning the profit that should have belonged to us.” Gao Yue said.

“There’s good and bad! It’s nothing to earn billions less.” If the outside world heard this remark, their eyes would have twitched. However, Ren Hong did have the capability to say that. “E-commerce is the future trend. The internet has made promotion more convenient in today’s day and age with an efficiency in sharing between people. And with the help of Real-time Online Translator, as long as one’s product is good enough, one doesn’t need to worry about no one buying it. Building offline channels is not worth the effort. There may be some malicious attacks from the Internet, but they will fall apart as long as the momentum builds. It is also obviously unwise to have the entire meat to ourselves. It is understandable that carnivores like us leave some soup for the rest. There are many ways to make money, and making money together is the way to go.”

“But Apple doesn’t think so. We can be considered stealing the meat directly from their bowl!” Gao Yue added, and with a hint of concern.

“Indeed!” Ren Hong gently nodded, gazing at the queue in the distance and saying in a ghostly voice. “We have eventually touched the core interests of some people and it is also irreconcilable. I’m not going to hell, so whoever wants to is free to do so.” Saying that, Ren Hong turned around and wrapped his arms around Gao Yue’s slender waist. “I have a hunch. My intuition tells me that behind XlouS’s current glamor, troubles have begun to stir and that unsettling days will soon be approaching.”

[1] A type of mushroom, known as the “mushroom of immortality”.