Chapter 629 Planning of the LCD Industry
"By the way, there are already many different LCD watches. How is our own brand competing in this regard?" Yang Wendong suddenly asked again.
Electronic LCD watches have been released for almost two years. Honor Electronics quickly gained fame by relying on its first-mover advantage in the early stage;
But this industry does not have very great copyright protection capabilities like literary creativity. Others can follow suit after seeing this and can also make similar things. At most, they can avoid appearance patents and technical patents.
Wang Zhiqun replied: "Yang Sheng, last year our electronic watches sold a total of 230,000 units worldwide. Because there are many models and different prices, the total turnover is about 13 million.
Nowadays, there are many LCD watch brands in the United States, Japan and even Hong Kong. Big brands will have ways to bypass our patents. Small brands or some miscellaneous brands may be pirated directly. This structure is too simple. They cannot make time accuracy, but they can barely use it.
The price of electronic watches is also falling very quickly, so it may drop once a month. "
"Yes, this will happen. "Yang Wendong nodded and said, "And there will be a critical point. Once the price of electronic watches is cheaper than mechanical watches, the entire market may be completely overturned. "
The price of electronic watches was very expensive when they first came out. Even Yang Wendong directly deducted the early R&D costs of Honor Electronics. The factory price of a watch was more than 150 US dollars. It is normal to double it at the terminal. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that this thing was half a luxury item in the early stage;
But the natural characteristic of electronic products is that the cost drop is very amazing, especially in the case of full competition. Once the quantity rises, the price will plummet like a cliff until the cost is almost flat.
Compared with equipment such as automobiles and home appliances, the real raw material of many electronic products may be sand. For example, chips. Once the cost is recovered in the early stage, it can really be cheaper than the bargain in the later stages.
In history, electronic watches also appeared in the early 1970s, but after the mid-1970s, the market for mechanical watches was almost collapsed. If a genius had not come out to take the high-end route of mechanical watches, the entire market would have been almost gone. But even so, the mechanical watch industry that had almost supported the three Nordic countries would have fallen, leaving only a few high-end brands.
Wang Zhiqun nodded and agreed: "Yes, according to the current price reduction rate, it is estimated that the cost level of mechanical watches will be soon;
But even if the price is the same, many people will still habitually choose mechanical watches. Unless the price of electronic watches continues to drop, which is much cheaper and the accuracy is OK, it can completely overturn the entire mechanical watch market."
"Yes, generally speaking, the cost needs to be reduced a little more to completely replace mechanical watches." Yang Wendong nodded and agreed.
Unlike smartphones to replace functional machines, electronic watches are not an epoch-making revolution. After all, no matter what changes the internal structure has changed, its external functions are still the same. They all depend on time. One is the rotating dial and the other is the number. There is not much difference in people's senses, unlike smartphones;
Similar examples are electric vehicles in previous lives replacing fuel vehicles. Although there are some differences in driving, the characteristics are similar. When electric vehicles first rose in the early days, although fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, the penetration rate growth was very slow. It was not until later that BYD, which controlled the entire industrial chain, began to take the low-price route and beat other fuel vehicles with higher cost-effectiveness, and successfully made trams the mainstream.
In the absence of a subversive revolution, price is the most important factor, and there is almost no other.
Wang Zhiqun said, "If this is the case, the entire electronic watch market will experience an unprecedented explosion."
"Yes, according to the current production capacity, that is absolutely not enough, so we need to be prepared enough." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Hong Kong itself is one of the production bases of mechanical watches, but it used to work for the Nordic countries in Switzerland. Now in the electronic watch industry, we have to seize the opportunity. Even if we can't get everything, we have to win a part."
In previous years, Hong Kong's watch exports were able to rank among the top five in the industry, but like toys and garments, they were all OEMs for foreign brands. The profit was pitiful, and they were all relying on squeezing ordinary workers to make some hard-earned money;
There is no way, when you don't have technology and no channel brands, you can only make this little money. This is how the whole society is. Several companies within Changxing Group can give employees better treatment and humanization, which is essentially because they have some technology or innovation;
Otherwise, if Yang Wendong is just a boss of OEM, then even if he is kind-hearted and does not squeezing workers, other competitors will, customers will naturally abandon the cost-effectiveness; the so-called good welfare and good treatment is the premise that they have a capable factory. There are so many mainland and foreign companies in their previous lives, and the essence is the same. Many other industries such as clothing and toys. Even Yang Wendong, a time traveler, finds it difficult to change the existing global market. At most, it is involved. However, the particularity of the electronics industry is that it has strong subversion. Once it is subverted, the entire industry will undergo regional transfers, which is an opportunity for Hong Kong. Although even electronic watches will eventually be unlimitedly spread out, they are at least much better than before. The core is whether they can grasp the profit points inside.
Wang Zhiqun thought for a while and said, "The entire industry is now mixed. It is probably very difficult for us to win enough markets at the terminal. It is better to focus on the core components, namely LCD and transistors. In this way, it can also be tied to many Hong Kong peers."
"Haha, yes, I think so too." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "But since the terminal brand has been made, don't give up. We can try to take the high-end route, compete with ordinary Hong Kong brands at a staggered range, and there is no conflict of interest, and then supply them with core components. This model is perfect."
Although I am not sure what happened in the electronic watch industry in the original history, one thing is certain, that is, many big brands eventually gave up on this industry, which may be because there are too many pirated versions and there is no way to manage it.
Most ordinary people just want a watch. Ordinary miscellaneous pirated watches are a few minutes a day, but the impact is not big. Most people can adjust the TV one day, or even once every few days. Big brands naturally need to ensure accuracy, which will inevitably lead to a sharp increase in design and production costs, thus losing competitiveness.
Wang Zhiqun agreed, "Okay, I will ask the Honor Electronic Watch department to design high-end products to see if it can enter a different market."
"It's a bit difficult, just try it." Yang Wendong didn't care either, and said, "The core is to ensure the supply of the Hong Kong market, and the price should also be reduced. My goal is to make Hong Kong electronic watches the world's largest production base, and even the brand is here, that's the most perfect."
Although the electronic watch industry cannot make a top brand, the global demand is very large. Before feature phones are popularized, most people and even children need a watch, and the market is in billions;
Such a large demand, even if the profit margin is low, can bring huge wealth and employment to Hong Kong and even the surrounding areas, and these demands can also produce the LCD, transistor and even the future chip industry behind the OEM;
Maybe electronic watches cannot prosper for a long time, and the wealth it can bring can at least be richer for a generation, and once the electronic industry behind it develops, it can also be used to create other products, such as future game consoles, computer keyboards and mice, etc. These small things have enough demand, which is also a huge wealth. They can be transferred to the inland in the future, and countless Chinese groups will be rich.
Although Yang Wendong does not want to be a saint, since many people need to work for him and will give workers a certain amount of financial resources and wealth, he naturally has to give priority to Chinese people.
Wang Zhiqun replied, "Okay, then I'll make arrangements in advance. The transistor should be too late, but the current production capacity of LCD is definitely not enough."
The newest ⊥Xiao⊥Speak⊥Send⊥Six⊥9⊥Book⊥⊥⊥⊥Back⊥⊥⊥⊥! "Then expand the LCD production capacity first. I want to make Hong Kong the world's largest LCD production city." Yang Wendong said with a faint smile.
If the explosion of the chip industry will take at least ten years, then LCD may only be two or three years. The demand for an electronic meter and LCD can drive the development of the entire industry;
There will be calculators, industrial displays, home appliance displays, etc. In the future, some normal people will think that Yang Wendong will make it in advance and put it on his own products to increase his style.
So the preparations for the expansion of LCD capacity must be made well, and compared with chips, the Western government also has much lower restrictions on LCD, which is also a good thing for itself.
But there is a small problem. LCDs have a very high demand for water, but the current production of small pieces is small, so there is no big problem in the short term.
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(This chapter is over)