1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 175 Economy and Culture

This time he came to Victory Port, Li Nai felt that his biggest achievement was not the negotiation of arms, refined salt, soap, matches, etc., but the discovery of many new concepts and ways of thinking during the contact with the Haihan people. .Among these new concepts and new methods, what impressed Li Nai the most was the business skills of the Haihan people.

When they saw the glass products made by Haihan people in Guangzhou, everyone in "Furuifeng" believed that Haihan people should be a group of craftsmen who are skilled in skills but clumsy, and the sales channels and skills will be the shortcomings of Haihan people.If it wasn't for the insistence of the shopkeeper Li in Yazhou, the head office wouldn't even want to send someone to Shengli Port for inspection and negotiation.

After Li Nai came here this time, he realized that what Li shopkeeper said was true. Haihan people's sales skills and manufacturing techniques are equally excellent, and they don't plan how to sell a thing after they make it, but think about it first. It is completely different from the commodity circulation link he has been exposed to in the past.And the marketing concepts put forward by Schneider were unheard of by Li Nai before.

Schneider has a lot of vocabulary that Li Nai doesn't quite understand, and most of the time he listens to Schneider's explanation in a state of being unclear but aware of it.But as far as he can understand, Li Nai can feel that Schneider's sales skills are far superior to his own, and even his father may not have such a detailed sales plan for a certain product.The effect of this kind of planning is also obvious. Although it is only at the stage of signing orders after looking at samples, after the explanations of Schneider and others, Li Nai is very optimistic about the sales prospects of these products. Strategy to promote, a lot of income is already within reach.

Compared with glass products, Li Nai actually prefers the deals that have been negotiated this time.This has nothing to do with the profit of the product. The profit of glass products is also very high, but there is a defect that after the customer buys it back, it is often used as a collection decoration, and there is almost no consumption. Buy a set of glass stationery It may be placed in the study for several years when I go back.The other commodities negotiated this time are all consumables, which will be consumed quickly during use, and buyers will continue to purchase because of this, which can bring long-term and stable income to "Furuifeng".

Of course, Li Nai didn't know that this was actually part of the foreign trade development plan formulated by the executive committee.In the planning of the Executive Committee, the local industry is mostly based on the deep processing of raw materials or semi-finished products, and the corresponding export commodities are mainly fast-moving consumer goods, so as to maintain a long-term sustainable foreign trade transaction scale.As for glass products, a relatively special product, the executive committee will also reduce production costs by continuously expanding the production scale, making it more popular for sales groups, so as to further launch glass-packed products in the future—for example, the most Alcohol products that will be available in almost a year.

In terms of commodity prices, since Schneider offered to grant the two-year exclusive distribution rights of "Fu Ruifeng" in Fuzhou and Guangxi provinces, Li Nai did not make any unnecessary bargaining.There is no need to worry about not being able to find a seller for these products. If Haihan people are unhappy because of the bargaining price, and they find another agent to cooperate with, then the loss of "Furuifeng" will be greater than the small price difference.Of course, Li Nai does not expect to be able to keep the secret of the source of these products for two years. After two years, there will definitely be other competitors participating in the competition for the distribution rights, but because his own company came first, Schneider also promised to wait for the distribution rights After the expiration, "Furuifeng" will enjoy the preferential treatment of renewal under the same conditions.

As for what kind of conditions the Haihan people will offer at that time, after these two days of contact, Li Nai already has a certain idea in his mind-the Haihan people are nothing more than asking their partners to meet their input needs for materials and personnel. Probably still have to cooperate in the sales strategy of the product.These things are not difficult for the well-connected and wealthy "Fu Ruifeng" in Guangzhou.On this point, Li Nai very much agrees with what Schneider said at the banquet last night: As long as the problem can be solved by money, it is not a problem.

Li Nai quickly placed an order of 1000 taels of silver for soap and matches. Although Schneider said that the stock was insufficient and they needed to be delivered in batches, Li Nai also thought it was nothing serious.As long as the Shengli Port can maintain social stability, it is only a matter of time before the Haihan people produce these products. Judging from the two days of visits, Li Nai believes that the Haihan people already have a very strong control over the local area. Sufficient capacity to ensure the smooth progress of production.

In the end, it was Li Nai's original purpose of their trip, the glass stationery series exclusively launched by Haihan people.After this period of further development, the first official series has been finalized.From the appearance, it is not much different from the previous samples, but each piece of stationery has a stamped trademark - the word "Haihan" in Xiaozhuan font.

The R&D department initially wanted to use other trademarks, but the executive committee insisted on using "Haihan" as the trademark for glass stationery.The purpose of doing this is not to save trouble, but to have far-reaching considerations.

The glass stationery products developed by Time Travel Group are mainly sold to literati and gentry, especially the high-end products that were marketed as luxury goods in the early stage, and the target consumer groups are those senior literati with considerable wealth and status.The money in these people's pockets is second to none, and the right to speak and influence they have in Daming society is what the Executive Committee values—from the perspective of later generations, these people are actually the well-known elites of Ming Dynasty.

These gentry literati who occupy the main discourse power in society only account for a very small part of the entire population, but the role they can play in guiding public opinion in this era of lack of media is unmatched by others. These people will inevitably be used to influence public opinion in the areas under the Ming Dynasty.

The time-traveling group wants to gradually annex the territories of the Ming Dynasty and bring the people who originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty into its own system. The first thing to solve is a problem of identity.If the time-traveling group only appeared under the vague name of "Haihan", it is likely to be treated as an overseas foreign country by the Ming society, especially for ordinary people who have no contact with the time-travelers. What is the difference between Qinghai Han people and Flangji people or red-haired people.

If the time-traveling group wants to target the public, the work that needs to be done is very cumbersome and arduous, and it is difficult to monitor the effect that can be achieved.And if this object is replaced by the gentry and literati class who have the right to speak, the effect will be different-the glass stationery with the "Haihan" logo will almost certainly be popular in the market, and these users are very interested in this product. The sense of identity can easily be subtly transformed into the identity of the "Haihan" culture.

Just imagine a literati who uses Haihan stationery all the year round, and can see the Haihan logo written in Xiaozhuan every day, would he still treat Haihan as an overseas country?The opinions of these people will gradually affect the people around them, and the common people's sense of identification with Haihan will gradually increase accordingly.

This implicit publicity strategy is long-term, and it will not stick to the form of glass stationery.The Ministry of Information Industry has already cooperated with the departments of culture and education, machinery, and chemical industry to cooperate with the commissioning of the papermaking workshop, and is preparing to develop the printing industry.At that time, in addition to printing some internal materials, certificates and other things, external cultural output will also be one of the key projects of the printing industry in the future.The Executive Committee hopes to further gain the recognition of the literati class by exporting a large number of beautifully printed and cheap books to the mainland. This will effectively reduce the resistance from the people when it gradually encroaches on the mainland in the future.

It’s hard to say how effective this “invasion” method with culture as the carrier can achieve, but from the perspective of Li Nai, a typical representative of scholars in the Ming Dynasty, he has already shown a strong interest in the samples displayed.

Li Nai took the samples one by one and looked at them slowly. While marveling at the imagination and creativity of the Haihan people, he also noticed the small seal marks printed on the surface of the products.Somewhat different from the thoughts of the traveler, Li Nai did not realize that this was a "cultural invasion" in disguise, but believed that the Xiaozhuan logo was an ingenious idea of ​​the Haihan people in order to highlight its own brand and prevent it from appearing on the market. A device for knockoffs—that's how Schneider explained the purpose of the logo to him.

Li Nai was already pondering in his mind that after the beautifully made glass stationery was shipped back to Guangzhou, "Furuifeng" only needed to pack it in a brocade box, and then it could be sold at a high price.But how should the distinction between high, middle and low grades mentioned by the Haihan people be carried out?Does it depend on the packaging?Pretending to be the same, wouldn't that be a way to deceive fools?Moreover, if the style of this stationery is too single, it seems that it is not in line with the "unique, unique, noble" sales concept advocated by Haihan people.

Li Nai raised these questions to Schneider anxiously, and Schneider asked back with great interest: "As Mr. Li said, it is difficult to distinguish high-end and low-end products only by packaging or promotional slogans, and it is not easy for buyers. Everyone agrees. If Mr. Li is in charge of the design work, how do you plan to achieve the differentiation you mentioned?"

Li Nai frowned and thought for a while before answering: "I'm afraid we should try to distinguish them from the appearance as your previous proposal, for example, can we use some carving skills to engrave some poems, songs or paintings on the stationery. What is the word used to increase its... its... the added value of the product!"

(End of this chapter)