"Did you hear about the Dream Radio store selling a batch of televisions?"
"That news has been all over Anhui province for ages. Your information is too outdated. Those who wanted to buy have already paid and placed their orders."
"Besides, Dream Radio is a thing of the past. They're selling televisions now, and I heard they'll be selling washing machines and refrigerators later. They've even changed their name to Zhenhua Appliances!"
Two workers, walking side-by-side after finishing their shift at the Feishi Agricultural Machinery Manufacturing Plant, chatted casually. Similar conversations were common on the streets of Anhui province.
Dream Radio was already a star store in Anhui, practically known to everyone. Chen Yang's store had captured the market and gained a strong reputation among customers.
However, the used radio market was starting to shrink, not only because fewer people were buying but also because most old radios had already been consumed.
This was precisely why Chen Yang was eager to launch televisions. Without new products, the store would have nothing to sell.
Chen Yang also took the opportunity of launching televisions to change the store's name. Used radios would gradually be phased out of his product line; they had already served their purpose.
Chen Yang now had hundreds of stores across five surrounding provinces and cities, a testament to the success of used radios.
Televisions were still in high demand at this time. Despite their high prices, many families pooled several years of their savings to buy one, a symbol of status and prestige.
Imagine having a television at home, watching it, and receiving envious glances from neighbors who would bring their stools to join in the spectacle – it was quite a display of prestige.
Some shrewd individuals could even charge a fee, a few fen per person per episode, turning it into a profitable venture.
While the market demand at this time was undoubtedly smaller than in later years, the production of televisions was even more limited compared to that era. When weighed against each other, it remained a complete seller's market, with televisions being extremely hard to come by.
Getting a ticket for a television was far more difficult than for a bicycle or a sewing machine; ordinary people couldn't obtain them easily.
Therefore, Chen Yang's launch of televisions at this juncture was undoubtedly sensational and helped minimize the impact of the name change, even allowing the new brand, Zhenhua Appliances, to gain recognition with minimal, or even no, cost.
Zhenhua represented Chen Yang's original aspiration: to revitalize China!
His venture into home appliances was intended to capture the market share that Panasonic held in that era. Chinese home appliances, Zhenhua Appliances would provide them. Panasonic could focus on its European and American markets.
In another decade or two, when Zhenhua Appliances mastered core technologies, Chen Yang would still contend with Panasonic for market share.
The reason was simple: he disliked the Japanese ("little Japan") immensely.
It was the twenty-second day of the twelfth lunar month, not far from the New Year. All Zhenhua Appliances stores had new signage. It had been nearly two months since the first television was produced.
Chen Yang's own factory had also been producing televisions for a month. However, it couldn't compare to the Third Radio Plant. They had experienced state-owned enterprise workers, and once they figured out the assembly process, it became a streamlined operation.
Chen Yang's factory in Jinling only produced less than two hundred units in a month, just enough to supply the stores in Jiangsu Province, with about three to five units per store.
The Third Radio Plant, however, had accumulated nearly a thousand televisions in two months. Sheng Changqing had pushed himself and his workers with great vigor to repay the cost of the two production lines as quickly as possible.
Hundreds of workers, working in two shifts, toiled day and night. Chen Yang couldn't complain; state-owned enterprise workers in that era were indeed highly motivated.
After two months of continuous operation, with workers rotating and the assembly line running non-stop, Chen Yang worried about the workers' exhaustion and suggested Sheng Changqing give them a break.
To his surprise, neither Sheng Changqing nor the workers at the Third Radio Plant were willing to rest. These workers possessed a strong sense of pride; they were determined to quickly repay the money owed to Chen Yang and secure the two precious production lines for the factory. Chen Yang could only accept this.
With over a thousand televisions distributed, each store would only receive a few units.
Of course, Chen Yang wouldn't distribute them evenly. Stores in major cities like Shanghai, Feishi, and Jinling, where demand was high, received a dozen or even dozens of units.
Stores in some smaller county towns might only receive one or two units, serving as a demonstration of supply and paving the way for increased production.
The first batch of over a thousand televisions sold out quickly, with no difficulty, thanks to Chen Yang's powerful sales channels.
Because Chen Yang had already established a good reputation selling radios and had prior experience with pre-orders, the pre-sale of televisions was equally successful.
Chen Yang had no worries about sales. After the first batch sold out, not only did it fail to dampen the enthusiasm of customers who couldn't buy, but it actually encouraged them to join the pre-order list.
Chen Yang couldn't help but smile as he looked at the funds and order forms pouring in from the various stores.
He wasn't worried about not being able to sell them. His current concern was the slow production speed; he feared his dear, beloved customers might not be able to wait!
If this were the future, home appliance brands advertising everywhere and slashing prices to attract customers would likely be consumed by envy.
This New Year was destined to be a busy one for Chen Yang.
Not only were the television sales incredibly hot and sold out, but orders had also piled up for thousands of units. The Fermented Fish factory was also booming.
In Hong Kong, Huang Lizhen and Zhang Weiyang had somehow managed to secure several large orders from Southeast Asia and Singapore.
Chen Yang had no idea how they had promoted the fermented fish so quickly. The fermented fish factory was once again needing to expand its workforce, all of which were good news.
It seemed Zhou Dazuo had provided some assistance. With his help, Chen Yang had even purchased several trucks from Hong Kong. With trucks, the transportation of canned fermented fish from the factory became more convenient.
However, for some reason, Chen Yang had been waiting for nearly half a year for the delegation Zhou Dazuo had mentioned to visit the mainland, and there was still no sign of them. Perhaps Zhou Dazuo was truly preoccupied and couldn't attend to matters on the mainland.
Chen Yang's more than seven hundred thousand RMB were still stored in the elder's vault, and he wondered if they were getting moldy. Of course, for Zhou Dazuo, this amount of money was trivial, a mere drop in the ocean. Even if it did get moldy, it wouldn't matter much.
However, Chen Yang was going to Hong Kong this time to meet Huang Lizhen and Zhang Weiyang. They had made such significant contributions, and as the boss, he certainly had to show his appreciation.
The fermented fish factory also needed an upgrade. With so much Hong Kong dollar earned, it was time to spend it and convert it into food production lines and television production lines!
Expanding production was urgent!