Chapter 271: Chapter 271: A mix-up on the first day of business
The 23rd day of the first lunar month was the official opening day of Jiamei's three convenience stores. Zhou Xinyu still attached great importance to this day and waited outside one of the stores in his own car, with four people crammed into the backseat. Gao Zhiyi, being a fat guy, had the advantage this time and occupied the passenger seat all to himself.
The store they chose was not the best located, the one by the business district, where they would easily bump into the leaders of Midea.
After 8:30, three cars pulled up in front of the small restaurant: a Santana, a Fukang, and the best one, a Crown. A few people in their forties, clearly cadres, got out, arms akimbo, looking like they were on an inspection tour. They looked around inside and out, occasionally pointing at something, and then the three staff members in overalls did some adjustments on the spot as they were told.
'So casual?' Zhou Xinyu muttered to himself.
Gao Zhiyi also looked a little strange, 'Are they the directors or officials of Jiamei?'
'What's so strange about that? They are both directors and officials. For example, the president of a provincial business must have at least a ministerial-level administrative rank, and the directors of some of the business divisions under his company are really equivalent to division-level cadres.' Zhou Xinyu also had the equivalent status of a deputy division-level cadre back then.
At 9 o'clock sharp, two salespersons pulled a red ribbon decorated with red flowers, while one placed a firecracker next to it. Then the three leaders picked up scissors and, facing the camera of the group's propaganda department, smiled for the camera. Amidst the stares of several passers-by who had stopped in their tracks, they ceremoniously cut the ribbon for the convenience store.
Once the leaders had left, the three salespersons also relaxed. Their originally standardised standing posture returned to normal. One stood behind the cash register, one leaned against it, and the other strolled around the store with his arms folded, loudly discussing, 'I heard that at the store in the central district, it seems that Vice-Chairman Chen of the group's labour union went to cut the ribbon.'
The one wandering around is the store manager. He happened to see two groups of six people walking towards him, so he hurriedly reminded them, 'Someone's coming, stand properly.'
From a distance, Jiamei looks a bit like Feng Yiping's "Old Home Flavour" noodle shop. Both have a bright red door with white lettering, which is quite conspicuous. However, Zhou Xinyu still feels that Jiamei's blue base tone is more peaceful.
The interior is also similar, but there are quite a few colourful small gifts piled in the basket by the door. The POP poster next to it says, 'During the opening period, there are gifts for entering the store!'
This was ordered by Director Sun of the procurement department of Jiamei and dug out of the company warehouse. They are all promotional items left over from past festive events. Since they are leftovers, they are of course not very good, but giving them away like this will still increase some attractiveness.
Zhou Xinyu and the others looked very carefully, while constantly comparing their store in their minds. It looked to the three of them like a sure sign of good business, and they hoped that the store would have a good start as soon as it opened!
Turning to the salt section, Zhou Xinyu looked at the price and was a little stunned. He looked at the time and went outside, making a discreet phone call to Feng Yiping.
It happened to be the end of the class, and Feng Yiping was still walking in the small garden. He felt the phone in his pocket vibrate, and went behind the flowers. 'Have you read it? What do you think?'
'I'm reading it now, but Yiping, it seems that they have the backing of the provincial government, and their bargaining power is indeed stronger than ours. I just saw that their salt is on sale now, only 65 cents, which is 20 cents lower than our purchase price from the provincial salt industry company.'
Jiaming of course knows that the main customers are still family users, so when it opened, like Youjia, it chose these commonly used household goods for promotion. The provincial pricing bureau stipulates that a bag of iodised salt retails for one yuan. When Youjia opened, it offered a 10% discount, 91 cents a bag, which was still an additional 5 cents on top of the purchase price. Now Jiaming is selling it for 65 cents, which is truly amazing.
'65 cents?' It doesn't make sense. No matter how big the provincial government is, they can't get such a low price from the salt company.
You have to understand that the salt company is a pretty powerful entity. It has its own special laws, and it is under the leadership of the state-owned China Salt Corporation. Moreover, the salt companies at all levels are now all part of the same organisation, with two brands. Its other brand is the Salt Administration, which has administrative law enforcement capabilities. So it is both an athlete and a referee, even more powerful than oil and telecommunications companies.
Not to mention the loose salt that Feng Yiping could buy for a few cents a pound when he was a child, which has become extinct under their crackdown. For example, as mentioned in the later hit 'A Bite of China', the family in Lidenong Village, Dali, cooks salted ham and then sells it in the market. In this case, the Salt Administration has the right to fine them, because that is private salt. It's fine if you eat it yourself, but if you get it into circulation in the market, you are violating the 'Measures for the Exclusive Sale of Salt'.
Therefore, such a company will not bargain with you. How can the price of the Jiamai be so low?
Feng Yiping, who had worked in a shopping mall, thought of a possibility. His mischievous interest could not be suppressed and came to the surface. 'Do they have restrictions on the quantity bought?'
'No, I haven't seen any,' said Zhou Xinyu.
'Then just say you are setting up a pickle processing plant. How much are they stocking? You buy it all.'
'Buy it all?'
'Buy it all. The salt company won't give us a discount, and there's no rebate at the end of the year. Why not take advantage of such a low price?'
Hearing Zhou Xinyu's request, the store manager happily went to call the company to check the inventory. It was really a good start!
In any case, the Jiamai headquarters was still concerned about today's business. Soon after the store manager called back, someone immediately passed on the good news to Jin Ling.
Jin Ling was not in the office today, but was sitting in the car, visiting the three stores next to each other. She had not attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony at any of the stores today. According to her opinion, there was no need for ribbon-cutting ceremonies, but since the higher-ups wanted them, there was nothing she could do. Her biggest protest was to make up an excuse not to attend.
It seems too coincidental. 'Ask the other two stores if there are many people buying salt.'
'Not at the other two stores. There aren't many customers coming in right now, and those who do are buying only cigarette packs, snacks and drinks.'
It's been less than an hour since the store opened. No matter how many promotional tactics you use, it's already pretty good to have sales right now. Who would wait for you to open the door and rush in to grab those promotional items? And those who are sensitive to the prices of daily necessities are probably preparing lunch at home.
'Go check out that store,' Jin Ling said to the driver.
The manager of the store was really overjoyed. The company reported back that nearly five tons of goods could be transferred, which is more than 6,000 yuan. His small store in a general location could have such a high turnover within an hour of opening, which is definitely a record.
Jin Ling felt something was wrong as soon as she saw Zhou Xinyu and his entourage waiting there. She asked the secretary and the driver, 'Do you know the price of salt?'
These two were both in their twenties, and neither of them had any idea about the price of salt at home. Still, the secretary had a knack for knowing what to do, and she ran to a small shop not far away and bought a packet of salt, which cost one yuan.
'Call the purchasing and finance departments right away and ask them to check the price.'
Five minutes later, the news came back: purchasing had checked the purchase price, and finance had looked at the invoice. The purchase price was 82 cents, and the promotional price was also set at 85 cents. As for how it had become 65 cents on the shelves, the company was looking into it.
Jinling walked over and said to Zhou Xinyu, who was waiting for the Jiamei delivery truck to come and pay, 'I'm sorry, sir, I'm the general manager of Jiamei. The original price of the salt you want to buy was 0.85 yuan, but due to our negligence at work, it was marked as 0.65. So I'm very sorry, we can only sell it to you at 0.85 yuan a bag.'
I see!
'I don't understand what you're saying,' Zhou Xinyu said, taking a bag of salt and pointing to the price tag on it. 'It's 65 cents, right? When I was talking to you just now, it was also 65 cents, right? Now how has it gone up to 85 cents? When doing business, you have to be trustworthy, how can you just raise the price? Besides, your negligence at work is your company's business, what does it have to do with me?'
'Okay, then. We'll give you all the salt in the store at 0.65 yuan per bag, okay? For everything else, we can only settle at 0.85 yuan.'
Although the loss of five tons would be less than 2,000 yuan, Jinling couldn't afford to lose face on the first day of business. Of course, if she had known that the person across the street was the general manager of Yujia, she would have felt ashamed right now.
'What do you take me for, someone who's greedy for small advantages? Let's go to the salt company. We're wasting our time here.'
On the first day of business, she was given such a hard time. Even Jin Ling, who was very composed, was now pale with anger. 'Arrange a full inspection immediately. If anything similar happens again...' She didn't continue. She always emphasised that everything had to be done according to the company's rules and regulations, and at the moment, there was no system in place for this.