Chapter 37: Yo-yo Competition
Editor: Henyee Translations
The idea of Pengda's pricing strategy had been inspired by Gaben and Bendai.
The popularity of yo-yos in the North America market earned Meng Lang a lot of money in US dollars.
But it also received a lot of criticism from the American people.
According to New York Times, the hype over yo-yos was a plot against the US. They claimed that the Chinese were using shady means to steal the American people's money, and that Fox was the accomplice. The "traitor" had acted against America's interests and was shamelessly begging PD Company for money.
The caricature that came with the report depicted a stout, bearded man wearing a t-shirt with PD across the chest, and he was kicking open a wooden door that said "USA", holding a yo-yo-ish weapon in his hands, and robbing the two kids inside.
The sarcastic thing was that Fox was also mentioned in the caricature, only that it had turned into a rusty lock on the door with a line of small words next to it, which said, "This is betrayal!"
It was a betrayal and they were the traitor!
After TBS, another media tycoon was deemed a "traitor".
Fox had been criticised much more severely than TBS had been.
Japan was also deemed a "high price region" by Meng Lang, but the price was proportionate to the local price level, and wasn't all that high. Compared to the price in its home country, yo-yos were only sold for about 10 yuan more in Japan.
But it was a different story in the US.
Since it was supposed to be the greatest country in the world, of course the price should have fit such a status.
With the change in public opinion, PD soon became the company that American parents detested the most. The company was practically robbing the consumers by selling a piece of plastic at that price.
Fox was very concerned.
PD was a foreign company, and they weren't affected much by the public opinion of the Americans. Fox, however, still had to run its business in the country. It wouldn't be a good idea for them to offend all the parents in America.
Hence, Fox issued an emergency statement.
It was a long statement, and the main point was, "Fox has nothing to do with this! We didn't betray anyone. All we did was perform our duty under the contract. PD is in charge of the toy production and Fox isn't responsible for what has happened. Blame the abominable PD Company!"
Fox blamed everything on Pengda and claimed that they had no knowledge of this pricing strategy.
"Sir, just look at my innocent face. How can Fox be a traitor?"
After all, Fox was a media tycoon, so when they made an effort to turn the public opinion against PD, they were able to achieve it almost immediately.
The abominable PD Company!
Fox was a victim as well! They had been wronged!
A Wall Street financial analyst working for Goldman Sachs somehow managed to obtain the undisclosed January sales data of Pengda Pictures.
"I've never seen a company as greedy as PD. They are taking away truckloads of US dollars with this unspeakable price discrimination strategy…"
According to sales data, over 2 million yo-yos had been sold in America, and the despicable PD Company had earned a shocking 150 million from the sales proceeds alone!
Damn it!
All American parents cursed the company.
Just when they were about to lobby some senators in the hope that they would list PD as an "unwelcome company", they received news from their cousin across the Atlantic.
Yo-yos were sold at a minimum price of 30 pounds over there in Britain.
It was sold at such a high price because Pengda Pictures didn't have any local partners at the moment. All the yo-yos sold there were produced by Pengda Toy Factory and imported from China.
The British had no other choice, and the parents had to pay for their children's toys while cursing the despicable PD Company continents away.
The Americans didn't know what to say.
A lot of damage arose from comparison. Compared to the UK price, 29.9 USD suddenly didn't look that bad…
…
Meng Lang always turned a deaf ear to public opinions.
Those people could say all they wanted. The buyers would keep buying, and the rest of them still wouldn't take the yo-yos even if Pengda gave them out for free.
The criticism seemed to have affected the overseas sales of yo-yos, but in fact…
Entering February, the sales of yo-yos overseas didn't decline, but had increased instead.
The parents had done all the talking.
But they weren't the ones playing with the yo-yos!
All kids were the same. The more their parents tried to stop them from playing, the more eagerly they wanted to play with the toy.
This negative opinion all over America not only didn't affect the overseas sales of PD's toys, but had also introduced yo-yos to children who previously didn't know what they were. More kids were interested in the toy.
It was destiny!
The kids' rebellious period backfired on the parents, and as a result, Pengda earned a fortune.
But soon, Meng Lang wasn't so happy any more.
Ma Teng, the marketing director, informed him of something.
The US was a high price region, but on the other side of the border, Mexico was a low price region.
Then, something strange happened.
Coyotes who used to smuggle people across the border started working on something on the side. Every time they smuggled some people into the US, they would bring some yo-yos with them, acting as purchasing agents. Word on the street was that it was a lucrative business and they almost earned as much as Pengda did. After all, they didn't have to pay any tax.
Buy in the low price region and sell in the high price region?
F**k!
This time, It was Meng Lang's turn to lash out.
Such behavior had severely damaged Pengda's interests. In order to stop it from happening, Pengda reached out to certain American authorities and reported on the smuggling of the yo-yos.
The Americans took it very seriously!
They didn't care about smuggling yo-yos, but the illegal immigrants were a different story.
Hence, the two parties struck up a deal.
Pengda put some transmitters on the yo-yos they sold in Mexico. Once they were spotted at the border, the authorities could take the people down together with the yo-yos.
The mission turned out to be a success and the North American sales rose steadily. Meng Lang was smiling again.
Rich people could become happy so easily. How boring.
Although yo-yos had only just gained their popularity in the foreign market, in the domestic market, they were almost past tense now.
The fairy toys, on the other hand, were selling well among the girls. Peripheral products such as stickers, stationery, and fairy dresses were all very well received.
In order to increase the potential of yo-yos, Pengda Toy Factory joined hands with the marketing department of Pengda Pictures and came up with something big!
They were going to hold the "Pengda Yo-yo World Cup"!
The champion's prize was set as high as 100,000 USD!
And even the second place would get 50,000 USD!
The competition would consist of preliminaries, semi finals, and finals.
The preliminary contest was easy. Anyone signing up for the competition could enter, and the contests would be held in one city per country. Pengda Group would sponsor the preliminary and semi-final contests at home, and the contests overseas would be sponsored by local partners.
After a week-long preliminary and semi-final contests, the contestants would be ranked globally by their points. The first 12 contestants would be given plane tickets to Jiangchuan, where the final contest would take place!
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