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Chapter 580 Hand-to-Hand Combat (Seeking monthly votes and subscriptions)
The Spring Equinox has passed.

The Qingming Festival is approaching.

The Yanshan Mountains are covered in lush greenery.

In the vast northern region of China, the nights have become noticeably shorter. On the streets and riverbanks of the ancient capital of Yanjing, the willow branches have unknowingly sprouted green twigs, the warm sun has awakened the magnolias, and the sea of ​​fragrant snow has spread from the red walls of the Forbidden City all the way to the Summer Palace.

Until early April, the day before Qingming Festival, the weather suddenly changed. A strong yellow wind swept in from the Yinshan Mountains and stormed into Yanjing, turning this ancient city into a dark place. The flowers that had adorned the whole spring withered and died overnight.

Zhang Yunqi flew away from Yanjing on this day.

On this day, Aiwa Electronics and Tsinghua University held a grand signing ceremony.

Aihua Electronics invested 30 million yuan to establish a joint technology laboratory with the teams of Academician Li Yanda from the Department of Electronic Engineering, Academician Jin Guopan from the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanics, and Academician Zhang Bo from the Department of Computer Science and Technology. The two sides will carry out in-depth cooperation in multiple fields such as optical storage, optical heads and servo systems, decoding chip algorithm optimization, and technical talent training.

Zhang Yunqi didn't have time to go.

However, he made it very clear to Liu Ming, the head of R&D at Aihua Electronics, that with so much money and resources invested, they must secure a 300 million yuan interest-free loan from the National Digital Optical Disc Special Fund, and the first domestically produced VCD with its self-developed mechanism must be on the production line by the end of this year.

Zhang Yunqi's flight was at nine o'clock. While waiting at Beijing Capital International Airport, he unexpectedly received a call from Jin Guopan.

Jin Guopan cut to the chase: "Mr. Zhang, I heard from Mr. Liu that you cannot attend our cooperation signing ceremony today?"

Zhang Yunqi didn't believe Jin Guopan was unaware of this matter, and said with a smile, "Yes, Professor Jin, I have something to attend to back in Rizin. I'm very sorry."

Jin Guopan said, "Then, I'll treat you next time you come to Yanjing."

Zhang Yunqi said, "Professor Jin, you're too kind. Is there something you need?"

Jin Guopan said, "Well, it's like this, I have a niece who happens to be studying at university in Lijin, she's a senior this year..."

Zhang Yunqi said, "We at Aihua Electronics happen to be hiring and urgently need talent. I believe your niece will be able to handle the job for us."

Jin Guopan smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, you flatter me."

Zhang Yunqi said, "By the way, Professor Jin, I also have something here that I might need your help with."

Jin Guopan said, "Mr. Zhang, you're too kind. Please go ahead."

Zhang Yunqi said, "I'd like to ask you to inquire about someone."

Jin Guopan asked, "Who are you?"

Zhang Yunqi said, "Zhao Shixiong."

Jin Guopan asked, "Only one name?"

Zhang Yunqi said, "He studied at Tsinghua University in the late 70s."

Jin Guopan paused for a few seconds and said, "I'll look into it when I get back."

At that moment, the airport's public address system announced the flight check-in information. Zhang Yunqi and Jin Guopan exchanged a few more pleasantries, hung up the phone, went to the boarding gate, and flew directly to Rijin.

*******
While Zhang Yunqi was flying to Lijin, the first error-correction competition held by Aihua Electronics at Yanjing Xidan Electrical City the day before yesterday had already been thrust into the spotlight due to a brawl that broke out between Aihua Electronics and sales promoters from companies such as Xinke Electronics and Wanlida.

The brawl was extremely serious, resulting in the detention of eleven people and causing a great stir in the industry.

In a sense, it unveiled the curtain on a fierce battle for supremacy in China's VCD industry.

By the end of March 1996, there were already 300 VCD manufacturers in China, with more than 60 types of VCD players on the market. Domestic manufacturers included Aiwa from Rijin, Xianke from Shenzhen, Meihua from Wuxi, Xinke from Changzhou, Dingtian from Sichuan, Haiyue from Shanghai, and the earliest Wanyan... Meanwhile, powerful world-class companies such as Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and Pioneer were also making a major push into the Chinese market.

The reason is simple.

The sales figures for VCDs in the Chinese market for the first quarter of 1996 have been released, showing a 104% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. Market demand has seen an extraordinary increase, with sales in large shopping malls experiencing a frenzied upward trend.

By this time, it wasn't just visionaries like Zhang Yunqi who could see it; any industry insider could recognize it as a massive market with astonishing potential. Nationwide media coverage proclaimed that China's VCD industry had entered a golden age, and industry professionals were ecstatic, rushing to join the VCD production ranks. However, the problem was that by the time everyone knew this small market was profitable, foresight was useless, because the blue ocean market had transformed into a cutthroat red ocean battlefield!
Business competition is extremely brutal.

Samsung alone spends a total of 100 million yuan on advertising and promotion throughout the year in order to compete for market share.

This is 100 million in 1996!

Perhaps Samsung, as the industry leader and the top-selling brand in 1995, has realized, in the face of its market share being constantly eroded by domestic brands, that its first-generation assembled machines, which relied solely on the influence of international brands and adhered to the principle of genuine products, failed to address the pain point of rampant piracy in the Chinese DVD player market by strengthening its error correction capabilities, leading to a huge crisis of trust among consumers.

that's the truth.

In China, no other home appliance has ever been able to reverse the dominance of foreign products in the domestic market as quickly as the VCD player.

In early 1995, my country's VCD market was almost entirely dominated by Japanese and South Korean brands, whose market share exceeded 94%. Among the top 10 VCD brands, only two were domestic: Aiwa and Wanyan, barely making it into the top 10 with extremely small market shares. The other eight were all foreign brands, with Pioneer, Sony, and Samsung holding a combined market share of a staggering 75.5%!

Times have changed. In less than a year, domestically produced VCD players have transformed from virtually unknown to market leaders, with their market share soaring from less than 6% in 95 to 49.9%, effectively monopolizing half the market. Aiwa Electronics, Shinco Electronics, Malata, and Xianhua have become the four leading domestic brands in the Chinese VCD market, ranking among the top 10 in market share!

However, at a time when major domestic brands were making great strides, Aiwa Electronics launched this "notorious" super error-correction competition marketing war in the eyes of industry insiders.

The scene at the tournament was unprecedented.

Zhang Yunqi was present at the scene and witnessed firsthand how the arena was completely surrounded by a large crowd of eager participants. After the conflict between Aihua Electronics and sales representatives from companies such as Shinco and Malata, the relevant management authorities dispatched armed police to maintain order at the scene.

The following day, Zhang Yunqi obtained the sales data for the new Aiwa VCD player. The Yanjing Xidan store sold 487 units that day, with sales exceeding one million yuan, setting a new historical record.

However, this is just the beginning.

Following the resounding success of the Super Error Correction Challenge at its Xidan store in the capital, Aiwa Electronics, based in its home base of Lijin, launched a three-month Super Error Correction Challenge in first- and second-tier cities across the country, with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen as its core, coupled with an overwhelming advertising campaign.

This series of competitions showcased Hu Zhibiao's genius marketing creativity to the fullest.

Undoubtedly, for the ever-growing Chinese pirated CD market and consumers, the error correction function is the most important function of VCDs and the function that ordinary people care about the most! However, the parameters of this function are very complicated and ordinary people cannot understand them. They are often misled by salespeople. Now, Hu Zhibiao has transformed the boring error correction parameters into visual impacts such as "sandpaper grinding" and "magnetic interference", which directly lowers the technical knowledge threshold for ordinary people.

The bigger gimmick was that this competition put Aiwa Electronics and dozens of VCD players right in front of the public, comparing the error correction performance of various manufacturers' VCD products in the most intuitive and straightforward way. This naturally caused a major upheaval and extreme dissatisfaction in the industry, but consumers welcomed it enthusiastically.

In terms of distribution strategy, Hu Zhibiao directly connected the event site with dealers and large supermarkets, realizing a new closed loop of "experience-decision-purchase". Moreover, he also creatively made the video recording of the competition into a VCD called "Aido Kung Fu Secrets" and gave it to consumers as a gift with the new machine. As long as consumers bought the new machine, they could know which brand's VCD error correction function was the most powerful. It is foreseeable that this will become the brand promotion video with the largest circulation in the pirate market in the 90s.

This series of competitions pioneered the marketing of performance art in China during the 90s, with astonishing results.

1996年4月，爱华电子VCD的销量从月均3万台陡然飙升至9万台，市场份额从16%跃升至28%！首度超过三星，一跃成为中国VCD影碟机市场的龙头老大！并且还在迅猛增长当中。

Of course, in addition to the surge in sales, Aiwa Electronics' targeted attack on this equipment has also had a huge market effect. The error correction standards of China's VCD player industry have been forced to upgrade in line with Aiwa Electronics, with the error rate of mainstream models increasing from 10^-4 to 10^-6. The State Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine's spot checks show that the proportion of consumers asking about "error correction capability" when purchasing VCDs has soared from 18% to 79%!

During that period, competitors were also completely stunned by Aiwa Electronics' sudden attack.

Although China's pirated VCD industry has grown rapidly, it is still illegal. Most VCD manufacturers, like their foreign counterparts, focus on developing and promoting their players based on legitimate discs. Zhang Yunqi's error-correction function, which he heavily promoted based on pirated discs, received such a strong response from consumers. They hadn't anticipated this, or perhaps they didn't have enough time to follow up with further development.

After a brief silence in the industry, the first company to react and criticize Aiwa was Malata!
In mid-April, Malata criticized Aihua Electronics' aggressive marketing tactics on CCTV's "Focus Interview," accusing them of misleading consumers. This directly led to Hu Zhibiao being invited to a meeting with provincial officials for a day of questioning.

Shinco Electronics followed suit with a series of moves. First, it urgently launched an advertisement for its "sandpaper-resistant" error correction function, engaging in an advertising battle with Aiwa Electronics. Then, on April 18, Shinco announced a deep cooperation with Fuhai Trading, a subsidiary of Xiongsen Group, making Fuhai Trading the general agent for Shinco Electronics in Central China. This was clearly an attempt to set fire to Aiwa Electronics' stronghold!

Lu Yuanzhou's family business, Fuhai Trading, acted swiftly.

In late April, Fuhai Trading launched a "Counterfeit-Fighting Contest" in Lijin, the provincial capital, offering a reward of 100,000 yuan to collect counterfeit Aihua Electronics VCDs that failed to play!

The two sides are about to engage in a physical battle in Aihua's stronghold.

The smoke of battle has already risen.

The market is highly charged, and a major battle is imminent.

Just then, during the rainy season, Zhang Yunqi knocked on the door of Zhang Qing, the president of the Lijin City Commercial Bank.

******
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