Reborn since 1993

Chapter 366 This is not scientific
The first to report the news came from the Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative, one of the ten cities in Hanxi. Of the five million lighters produced by the Torch Group, three and a half million were distributed within the province, and the remaining one and a half million were shipped to surrounding provinces and cities.

Among them, Pingyang Cigarette Factory subscribed for 500,000 sticks, and the remaining 3 million sticks were distributed to ten urban areas in Hanxi Province. On average, each city received about 300,000 sticks. The local supply and marketing cooperatives took on the main responsibility for sales.

In addition, the goods were also distributed in supermarkets, restaurants, stations and other places, but the fact that the Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative was able to sell out the goods in one day was beyond the expectations of the Torch Group. You should know that the Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative, as well as the supply and marketing cooperatives in the counties, districts, and towns under Yingshi, have underwritten a total of at least 60,000 to 70,000 lighters. The fact that they were able to sell out was indeed beyond expectations.

"The Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative is sold out of lighters?!"

Zhang Xiaocheng couldn't help but confirm with the marketing manager who answered the phone, and his heart finally settled down a little.

“It’s really sold out!”

After confirming it again and again, the head of the marketing department of Torch Group said to Zhang Xiaocheng excitedly, "The Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative has indeed sold out of lighters, and they want us to ship another 200,000 lighters as soon as possible!"

There was a burst of noise in the conference room, but whether it was the people from Pingyang Municipal Government, Hanxi Provincial Government, Provincial Industry Department, or Yanjing, everyone had an excited look on their faces. This was definitely a good start for the Torch Group.

As for the fact that the Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative was out of lighters in one day, Li Dongling thought about it for a moment and guessed some of the reasons.

Although the supply and marketing cooperatives are now in decline, they still have powerful channels throughout cities, counties, towns, and rural areas. Some supply and marketing cooperatives have changed their signs to become supermarkets, shopping malls, etc., but a considerable portion of the supplies in these retail stores are still distributed and supplied by the supply and marketing cooperatives.

For a city-level supply and marketing cooperative, tens of thousands of lighters may be enough to distribute dozens of lighters to each of the hundreds of retail stores, and that's basically it.

For people nowadays, lighters are not only needed by smokers, but also for daily use such as making fire and cooking. Lighters are much more convenient and durable than matches. Everyone can tell the pros and cons between matches and lighters.

Lighters are a necessity for many families today, especially those in urban and rural areas. At a price of one dollar, even a budget-conscious family can afford it, which makes the demand for lighters in these areas even stronger than expected.

As for the supply and marketing cooperative, they could get 20% of the profit for each lighter sold. It might not seem like much, but in just one day, the Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative received a commission of yuan!
This reminded the supply and marketing cooperative of the time when they cooperated with the Shangguan Town Component Factory, the predecessor of Torch Group. At that time, the supply and marketing cooperative was making a lot of money.

Twelve thousand yuan is certainly nothing for a municipal supply and marketing cooperative. But if the lighter sales volume can maintain a certain level, how much will the lighter sales volume be in a month, half a year, or a year, and how much commission can the supply and marketing cooperative get?

After all, lighters are consumables. They may run out of gas, or be damaged, lost, etc. A smoker will use at least a dozen lighters a year. Add to that the needs of the family, and the annual consumption of lighters in a city will almost start at millions, or even far more!

The Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative may not care about ten thousand yuan, but when the sales commission of lighters can bring in one hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, or even five hundred thousand or one million yuan in revenue, can the supply and marketing cooperative still remain indifferent?
The Ying City Supply and Marketing Cooperative also saw how popular lighters were. They thought that as long as they put the goods on the market, they would be able to sell them, so they naturally promoted them vigorously in order to make more money!
After the news came back from the Ying City Supply and Marketing Cooperative, the lighter sales in other urban areas in Hanxi Province were also reported back to the Torch Group headquarters.

There will definitely be deviations in these sales figures, but the approximate sales figures can be estimated. When the marketing department of Torch Group calculated that the sales of lighters in Hanxi Province today exceeded 400,000, applause broke out in the conference room.

"We are preparing to start full-scale mass production. In addition, the Human Resources Department will begin recruiting and training personnel to prepare for increased production!"

Zhang Xiaocheng told the managers of Torch Group that he was very familiar with this aspect. When the satellite dish went on sale, the sales were also extremely hot, and the component factory tried its best to increase its production capacity.

According to the first day's sales, the marketing department of Torch Group believes that it will take about two weeks or even three weeks to sell out the five million lighters produced in trial production.

After all, even if it is a consumable, it is impossible to buy it every day, and the sales of lighters are large at the beginning, but after a few days, the sales may slow down. Therefore, if five million lighters are sold in two to three weeks, the analysis of the Torch Group’s marketing department should not be too different.

Therefore, there is no urgency to increase production capacity, and it is still carried out step by step. However, it is unknown whether it is carried out according to the expectations of the marketing department...

Pingyang Municipal Government, Hanxi Provincial Government, Yanjing Economic and Trade Commission and other places breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the first-day sales volume of lighters reported by Torch Group. The sales volume was basically in line with expectations.

However, for retail outlets such as supply and marketing cooperatives, shopping malls, supermarkets, stations, and guesthouses that sell lighters, they may have been slow to realize the changes brought about by the lighters. But after checking the accounts the next day, they still found clues.

"Did I calculate correctly? The store's revenue increased by 600 yuan yesterday?!" In the supermarket where Qiao Caidan worked, the couple looked at the accounts in wide eyes. The prices nowadays are not like those in the future. A supermarket's daily turnover can easily be several thousand yuan or something. For the supermarket run by Qiao Caidan and her husband, the daily turnover is only two or three hundred yuan.

The couple worked hard running the supermarket and earned about 1,500 to 1,600 yuan a month. This income was not low and was much higher than that of many state-owned factory worker families.

But yesterday the store's revenue suddenly tripled, which shocked Qiao Caidan's husband.

"I think I've calculated it five or six times," Qiao Caidan calculated it several times with a calculator, but she was still a little unsure. "It's mainly cigarettes and lighters. All the Golden Monkey cigarettes and lighters have been sold out!"

Tobacco is very profitable. Not only tobacco companies make money, but also the shops that sell tobacco can make money.

But the sales of the Golden Monkey, which came with a free lighter when buying cigarettes, were so strong that it was beyond Qiao Caidan’s expectations. And the lighters, basically, would be sold out as long as she promoted them!
Qiao Caidan and her husband looked at each other. Her husband swallowed and said to Qiao Caidan, "You go get the money, and I'll go get the goods. We need to get more lighters!"

……

Just after eleven o'clock in the morning, the phone for table reservations at Qi Minghai's restaurant started ringing non-stop. After noon, the restaurant was almost fully occupied, with no empty seats at all.

Qi Minghai's face almost never stopped smiling, even though he had invested a lot of advertising fees in the advertising department of Torch Group to print advertisements for lighters to be placed in the county.

In addition, Qi Minghai would give out two or three lighters to every table of customers when they left after dinner, but Qi Minghai now enjoys doing it.

Even though advertising on lighters and giving lighters away to customers is a considerable expense, compared to the customer flow brought by lighters and the hotel's skyrocketing daily revenue, this expense is almost nothing!

……

"What? They're out of stock over at Shangzhong?"

"Is the provincial capital also out of stock?"

In the office of the head of the marketing department of Pingyang Cigarette Factory, Xu Boen was sweating profusely as he answered the ringing phone calls.

When he received the first call in the morning, he heard that the goods from Pingyang Cigarette Factory in a certain area were sold out. Although Xu Boen was surprised, he still transferred another batch of goods to the local area. Although out-of-stock situations are rare, they have happened before.

But then, the ten urban districts and counties under Hanxi, and even dealers from other provinces, called urgently and asked Pingyang Cigarette Factory to ship the goods. Only then did Xu Boen feel that something was wrong.

The Pingyang Cigarette Factory was not out of stock in any particular city; it was sold out throughout the entire Hanxi region. This had never happened before.

"Old Wei, the production department is stepping up shipments. They are sold out in the province and are also out of stock outside the province!"

Xu Bowen first called Wei Minghui, the production manager of Pingyang Cigarette Factory, and asked him to increase production capacity as soon as possible. Wei Minghui, who answered the call, was stunned for a moment when he heard Xu Bowen's anxious tone, and then he realized that something must have gone wrong. He cursed inwardly, and then urgently called people back to the production department to work overtime.

After calling Wei Minghui, Xu Boen rushed to the office of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory's director. Xu Boen felt that he could no longer handle this matter, although he was still a little confused and had no idea what was going on.

Half an hour later, there was a commotion in the director's office of Pingyang Cigarette Factory, and several leaders of the cigarette factory rushed over in a hurry.

(End of this chapter)