Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 681 Business warfare is all about moral bottom lines
A Samsung authorized service center near the university town in Jingzhou City.

Outside the store, a huge poster for XP Speed ​​Edition was displayed on the bright glass window, and staff in brand-new uniforms wore professional smiles. Inside, several display computers played promotional videos for XP Speed ​​Edition on a loop.

The store manager watched all this with anticipation for the upcoming era of paid services.

Finally, finally, we're about to see a return on our investment!

To say that there were no complaints about the free installation during this period would be a lie.

When Samsung invested heavily in promoting Audition Online, they received a share of the game card revenue.

Now it's Microsoft's turn, why are they being so stingy?

Where did that domineering, "I'm the only one who can do this" attitude go? Did you really spend all your money just by promoting MSN?
That's just a useless dog.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the store manager led the staff to clean up and opened the store on time.

As soon as they opened the shop, they saw an extremely eye-catching red stall on the sidewalk less than ten meters away directly opposite the shop.

Two simple folding tables were put together, covered with a red tablecloth with white lettering. The bottom of the tablecloth read "Official Free Installation Point for Momo OS System".

Behind the table stood two huge roll-up banners. The left one showcased the clean and smooth interface of Momo OS and promised it would be permanently free. The right one directly listed a comparison with XP Lite: [No payment required, just as fast], [Natively secure, virus-free], [Perfectly compatible with Momo apps and games].

Three young men in red vests stood behind the table. One of them even had a portable speaker with a pre-recorded message that was now playing on a loop: "Official genuine Momo OS system, free installation, ready to use, say goodbye to lag, safe and worry-free, don't miss it!"

The Samsung store employees were stunned. The store manager's good mood vanished instantly, and his face darkened.

Soon, a customer who looked like a student, attracted by the Samsung advertisement, walked hesitantly toward the Samsung service center with a backpack.

As soon as he reached the door, a young man from a stall greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hey kid, want to install an operating system? Check out our Momo OS! It's a state-owned enterprise, guaranteed, completely free, and installs fast. Plus, it has excellent support for our school's campus network and forums, and it even has exclusive optimizations for World of Warcraft!" The young man said, handing over a flyer.

The student was clearly tempted. He glanced at the sign in the Samsung store that clearly stated the installation fee was 20 yuan, then looked at the sign at Tang Yan's stall that offered free installation, and his steps involuntarily turned towards the red stall.

"Is it really free? Is this the same system used in university computer labs?" the student asked, still unsure.

"Yes, yes, yes, it's the system from the university computer lab. We'll install it for you on the spot, it'll be done in twenty minutes. If you're not satisfied after installation, we'll restore it for you." The young man patted his chest to assure him, deftly taking the student's laptop.

He quickly turned on the computer, first made a backup for the young man, and then inserted the Momo OS installation USB drive that he had prepared beforehand.

The store manager at the Samsung store watched helplessly as a potential customer was snatched away, and he was so angry that he gritted his teeth. With a gloomy face, he waved his hand, and several employees immediately understood and rushed to the stall.

"Hey, what's going on here? Did you get our permission to set up a stall here? You can't just set up stalls here!" The lead Samsung employee spoke in a very unfriendly tone.

The young man looked up at the Samsung clerk and said, "Brother, we've checked. This is a public area. We didn't block the door or the way, so it's all legal and compliant. Besides, we're competing fairly. You charge your fees, we offer our free services, and customers can choose whichever they want."

"How are we supposed to do business if you keep doing this?" a Samsung employee said angrily.

"Do you think you can do whatever you want? Do I have to teach you?" The young man was very hot-tempered and rolled up his sleeves to argue with the Samsung employee.

Their team was responsible for this area, and their team leader said that if they were hit by a Samsung employee, their salary would be doubled and they would get paid leave.

"Come on, why don't you overturn our stall and beat us up?" The young man shoved his face close to the Samsung employee's, pushing forward relentlessly.

The Samsung salesperson really wanted to beat the young man up, and then said: "I've never seen such a request in my life."

But he only dared to think about it.

In his mind, the young man had already been beaten black and blue.

But in reality, he really didn't dare to take action.

The reputation of Momo Group is no joke.

The dominant force in the national internet cafe industry, even local bullies don't dare to cause trouble in Momo Group's internet cafes, so what are they?

The shop assistants could only give them an angry glare and sullenly return to the shop.

What can we say now?

We can only look at each other from afar and compete fairly.

Similar situations soon began to unfold across the country.

Momo's close-quarters tactics, though simple and brutal, were extremely effective; those vendors clearly wore the words "local bully" on their faces.

The people in charge of setting up the stalls are all employees of the Momo Virtual Equipment Trading Center in various districts and counties. This Momo Virtual Equipment Trading Center is a very magical existence. They are involved in all industries and do all kinds of business. It is basically a general store opened by the Momo Group.

The heads of each district and county transaction center were the first ten people trained by Momo Group to manage illegal internet cafes.

After five years of growth, they have become well-known veterans in their respective districts and counties, capable of handling both sides of the law.

At the entrance of a computer mall in Lanling City, next to the Samsung service center, is a free Momo (a Chinese instant messaging platform) location.

A middle-aged man brought his computer to have the operating system installed, but when he heard that Samsung would charge 20 yuan, he turned around and went to the free Momo booth.

In a county in western China, Samsung's only competitor is Momo's free service point.

Local Momo sales representatives even upgraded their services, offering free system installation, computer dust cleaning, and hardware troubleshooting.

Customer traffic at Samsung service centers is decreasing at a visible rate.

A few customers occasionally entered the store, but upon hearing that installation would be charged and seeing the bustling free services across the street, most hesitated for a moment and then turned to leave. Frustrated, the store managers immediately called the regional manager to complain, who then reported it to Samsung's China regional headquarters, which in turn rushed to report it to Microsoft Asia Group.

If this problem isn't solved, how can we continue playing?
So the advertisement was for the Momo OS system?

At the Microsoft Asia headquarters, Waters looked at the reports compiled from various locations, his face ashen.

He had anticipated that Momo Group would retaliate, but he didn't expect it to be in such a despicable way.

This was completely contrary to his understanding of the rules of business competition; it was more like a brawl between street thugs.

“This is malicious competition and disrupting market order,” Waters said in a deep voice to Lee Jae-yong on the other end of the phone. “We must find a way to drive them away.”

Lee Jae-yong sighed, "Mr. Waters, they're playing the free card, and they've chosen a public area as their location. Legally, it's difficult to find a reason to directly evict them unless they strike first or commit illegal acts..."

“Then let’s find a way to make them break the law,” Waters said coldly. “As long as they’re human, we can find a way to break through.”

"Okay, we'll try our best to figure something out," Lee Jae-yong agreed.

After hanging up the phone, Lee Jae-yong instructed Samsung's China regional headquarters to use some gray-area methods appropriately, but not to give anyone any leverage against them.

With Lee Jae-young's promise, Samsung's dealers and service center owners across the country immediately sprang into action.

For these business owners, Momo Group's close-quarters tactics are no longer normal competition; it's like a toad crawling on the back of your hand—it doesn't hurt you, but it's disgusting.

Microsoft's advertising is loud and clear, but most of the customers who come after seeing the ads are snatched up by the free ones from the other side. Every day, they see long lines forming at the other side's booth. Who can swallow this insult?
In Qingjiang County, Lanling City, the owners of five Samsung service centers and specialty stores gathered in a private room of a teahouse, a rare occasion.

Smoke filled the air, and everyone's face was etched with anxiety and resentment.

"Damn it, since headquarters has spoken, let's not be polite with them." A fat boss stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and said, "I've installed less than three hundred systems in my shop these past few days, but that stall across the street is doing well. Not only are there long queues every day, but they've even added three more stalls."

“Who says otherwise?” a tall, thin boss chimed in. “Yesterday, an old customer came in with his computer and asked if I could install one for him for free. He said that everyone else across the street was doing it for free, and I was charging twenty here, which was really unfair. Damn it, this is officially authorized, professional service. How can I be the same as those shady operators?”

“If this continues, we might not be able to complete this month’s installation target. If we don’t, Samsung headquarters might cancel the discount on our agency fees.” Mr. Chen, the most senior member of the group, said in a deep voice from the main seat, “Those guys are blocking the door now. Even if we fake it, it probably won’t fool those people at Samsung headquarters. We have to think of a way.”

"Think of a way? What way can we think of? We've called the police, and the urban management officers have come too. Are those people from Momo Group easy to mess with? I heard they have some connections with the locals." The fat boss shook his head helplessly.

"If open methods don't work, we'll try covert ones." A young boss who hadn't said much, but whose eyes gleamed with shrewdness, lowered his voice and said, "Why don't we find some unfamiliar faces to pose as customers and cause trouble at their stall? We'll just say that after installation, the data was lost, the computer crashed, and the games stopped working. We'll make a scene and prevent them from installing the system. Even if Momo Group finds out about something like this, what can they do to us?"

"That's right. We're the local bigwigs in the computer market, after all. Do you think Momo Group would send people all the way to Qingjiang County to beat us up? They only have a few internet cafes in Qingjiang County. Do you think they can compare to us, the people who have been rooted in Qingjiang for over twenty years, with our influence here?"

The portly boss nodded slowly and said, "What you're saying is feasible."

Although the idea is despicable, it seems to be the most feasible method at the moment.

What is business competition?
That's just mutual despicable behavior.

Whoever is more despicable will ultimately prevail.

With a plan in mind, they immediately began discussing the details and ultimately decided that each family would send two people, divided into five groups, to take turns causing trouble at five Momo free service points in the district. The requirement was to be unreasonable and disruptive, but to keep things in check and never resort to violence so as not to give the other party any substantial leverage.

The following afternoon, several special customers indeed arrived at the various Momo free service points in Qingjiang County.

At a stall near the computer mall, Xiao Wang had just finished installing a system for a pretty lady and was patiently teaching her how to use the built-in media player when a burly man wearing a floral shirt and a gold chain slammed an old-looking computer case onto the table.

"Hey, what kind of lousy system is this?! I had it installed here this morning, and when I got back, all the photos on my computer were gone! Photos of my wife and kids! You have to pay me back!" The burly man's loud voice instantly attracted the attention of everyone around him.

Xiao Wang was taken aback, but remained polite and said, "Brother, don't worry. We back up important data for users before installation, and our system installation process won't overwrite the user's data partition. I can restore it for you."

"Okay." The burly man crossed his arms and glared fiercely at Xiao Wang along with several of his companions.

Xiao Wang smiled apologetically at the people queuing behind him, then pointed to the two stalls next to him and said, "Everyone, please queue up here first. I'll help this gentleman restore his registration."

The people in line complained a few times, but then went to queue at two other stalls.

Xiao Wang quickly turned on the burly man's computer, but when he opened the D drive, he found that the D drive had already been formatted.

He stared at the burly man in surprise and said, "Brother, why did you format your computer?"

"What formatting? I don't understand. Get the photos back right now! Do you know how important these photos are? If you can't get them back, you can forget about running this business." The burly man wouldn't listen to any explanation, and his spittle almost landed on Xiao Wang's face.

Meanwhile, similar scenes were playing out at other stalls.

"I installed your system, and now I can't log into the private server of Legend of Mir. It's ruined my chance to farm equipment. Will you compensate me for the loss?"

"What a terrible interface! It's ugly and awkward to use. Switch me back to XP right now."

"Did you guys secretly install some background program? My computer seems slower."

These customers were unreasonable and asked all sorts of strange questions, some of which were even contradictory.

They blocked the stall, shouting and preventing volunteers from serving other genuine customers.

They wouldn't listen to my explanation.

When we offered to help them check and resolve the issue, they refused, insisting it was a system problem and demanding only compensation.

For a time, the work at all five stalls in Qingjiang County came to a standstill.

Seeing this scene, the real customers waiting in line also became suspicious. Some shook their heads and left, while others went into the Samsung service center and voluntarily spent 20 yuan.

(End of this chapter)