"Dear audience, as you have seen, the electronic gaming industry is a burgeoning one, and it has evidently grown to a considerable scale. Many players are delighted or saddened by the characters in a game. It's truly fascinating and worth paying attention to. It seems that I also need to immerse myself in the so-called electronic games. Well then, our interview comes to an end. Thank you all for watching."
Click.
In the headquarters of Woodson Department Store, in an office on the top floor, David stood in the center, sweating profusely. A portly man leaned back in the boss's chair, smoking a cigar and holding the TV remote.
Through the smoke, he glanced at the sweating David and asked the question he most wanted to ask.
"Do we have the product that's currently popular in these small and medium-sized department stores?"
"We... we do." David's breath was somewhat hurried.
"If we do, then why does it seem like only these small and medium-sized department stores are thriving, while our department store is quiet these past couple of days? I want to know what's going on."
"Well, we have similar products, and our sales are actually quite good. Our PN1 and PN2 game consoles, as well as Lil'Da's 2600, have sold hundreds of thousands of units and made a decent amount of money."
"But they're not as popular as the products sold in those small department stores."
"No, that's not it." David hastily explained.
"It's because they just released a new game for the gaming console over there, which is why they're so enthusiastic about buying."
"A game? What game is that?" The boss furrowed his brow, clearly not very familiar with these things.
As the chairman of a department store, he spent most of his time engaged in larger business activities, and he only cared about the results, not the process.
Yesterday, he was leisurely playing golf at the golf course and chatting with government officials and fellow executives.
That was their usual social activity.
However, yesterday, some unexpected guests appeared.
They were the owners of several medium-sized department stores.
These owners did have the qualifications to come here, but even if they did, they would seem inferior to the big shots like him.
The owners of those medium-sized department stores were usually quite tactful and would greet them respectfully.
But yesterday, these owners not only failed to greet them humbly but also seemed to adopt an equal footing.
This puzzled the chairman.
When did these owners of medium-sized department stores become so cocky?
Were they planning to unite and compete with large department stores?
This was worth paying attention to.
So he ordered his subordinates to investigate the recent activities of these department stores.
By that evening, he learned something.
The profits of these small and medium-sized department stores had been quite good recently.
If it were just one or two stores doing well, that would be normal, but most of them were rapidly increasing their profitability, which was quite unusual.
In contrast, their department store, after a rough look at the reports, had hardly made any progress.
So he immediately conducted a detailed investigation to find out the reason.
As the chairman, and also someone who only cared about the results, he rarely took the time to investigate the specific reasons, so this was quite rare.
Ultimately, he learned that these small and medium-sized department stores were all selling a certain product, and this product had earned them quite a bit of money.
With money in hand, they seemed more confident.
After learning all this, he had only one question.
Do we have the same product in our company?
But that would require asking David, the business manager.
And then the scene described above occurred.
David, sweating profusely, couldn't believe he had been caught by the chairmen of the company, once again.
Damn it, why was this company getting more and more attention?
Clearly, they also sold similar gaming products, but they just couldn't compete with others. It was frustrating.
All the electronic games from GameStar would sell without any problem, while the SuRui Electronics and Lil'Da's game consoles they bought could only be considered average.
Several large companies couldn't even suppress a small emerging company from Japan. David couldn't help but feel that SuRui Electronics and Lil'Da were a bit useless.
"Chairman, electronic games are entertainment products. Game consoles are like machines that play videotapes, and electronic games are like videotapes of movies and TV shows. Only the good ones are more popular."
"So why don't we have the popular electronic games that they're selling? Why are our electronic games not selling?"
"Well... they're not not selling, it's just that fewer people are buying compared to over there..."
"David, please don't try to deceive me. You know me well. I'll never allow my subordinates to repeatedly deceive me. Don't think I can't see that you're trying to deceive me."
The chubby chairman's expression turned dark.
Being deceived by subordinates was like being treated like a monkey. After all, he had been in the business for many years, and he couldn't allow such things to happen.
David hurriedly said, "No no no, I don't think so, it's just..."
"I just want to know why we don't have the popular products that those department stores are selling?"
"It's because we didn't get the authorization from those companies." David explained.
"Hmm? A company that sells products doesn't come to us, the more influential department stores, but instead goes to those small department stores. Isn't that strange?"
The chairman was somewhat puzzled.
David, seeing the situation had come to this, could only grit his teeth and say, "They contacted us before, but we were influenced by those large companies. They threatened us that if we dared to sell products from this company, they would abandon the contract with us."
The chairman frowned and asked, "Who threatened you?"
"There's the Morgan Group, SuRui Electronics, and several other relatively large electronic companies."
Upon hearing this, the chairman eased up a bit.
That was a reasonable reason.
Several large companies obviously wanted to suppress a small competitor, so to ensure continued cooperation with the large companies, it was normal to give up cooperation with a small company.
Seeing the chairman's expression ease, David breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said again, "Then, I can only comply with their requirements and not cooperate with this small company. I have no choice but to do this."
"I see." The chairman nodded slightly. It couldn't be blamed on David.
But he still said, "Contact this small company again, explain the reasons to them properly, and sign a cooperation agreement with them."
"But Chairman, the threats from those big companies..."
"Heh, when there's no benefit, you can naturally listen to them, consider it giving them face. But now, why should we listen to them? Would they really dare to give up cooperation with us? At most, they'll just complain a bit. We're the ones who truly hold the power in the department store business."
"Okay, okay, I understand. I'll contact that company."
"Good, go ahead." The chairman waved his hand to dismiss David. It was just a small matter after all, nothing to fuss about. Once it was explained, everything would be fine.
But at that moment, one of his trusted subordinates hurried into the office and whispered a few words in the chairman's ear after glancing at David.
David was about to leave when he suddenly heard the chairman's voice turn dark again from behind: "David, wait a moment."