Reborn since 1993

Chapter 380 Adding fuel to the flames
Zhou Wenyan looked at the design drawing handed over by Li Dongling. At first glance, he saw that the intricate patterns carved on the exterior of the lighter on the drawing were almost completely different from the disposable lighters currently produced by Torch Group.

At first glance, Zhou Wenyan's feeling was not that the lighter had a gorgeous appearance or complicated craftsmanship, but that this lighter looked... expensive!

The drawings that Li Dongling took out showed that the entire outer shell was carved with patterns and had a clamshell structure, which required the use of pure copper etching technology, including the copper shell, inner shell, hinges, cams, springs, striking parts, fire wheels, flints, cotton balls, thimbles and other parts.

Zhou Wenyan has made countless lighters. This kind of retro lighter has a different craftsmanship, but after taking a few glances, he has figured out the tricks behind it.

"This type of lighter requires many more parts than the lighters currently produced by Torch Group. It also requires pure copper etching and other processes. I'm afraid the cost will be very high!"

Zhou Wenyan said to Li Dongling, without saying whether it was difficult or not. It was obviously not a difficult problem technically, at least not as difficult as developing a constant flow valve lighter.

"As long as the cost can be reduced to less than fifty dollars, it will be enough. In the future, high-end Zorro lighters will be priced at thirty dollars, or even more than fifty dollars!"

"Fifty dollars a lighter?"

Zhou Wenyan's eyes widened. The cost he mentioned was a bit high, but he didn't think about it. A Zorro was sold for fifty dollars, which was equivalent to a high price of four hundred yuan. Selling a Zorro was almost equivalent to selling four hundred ordinary lighters, and the profit could be several times more.

"Now, Dupont lighters from old Europe are sold for thousands of dollars each and are sold as luxury goods. Compared with Dupont, Zorro's pricing is nothing. In the future, the Zorro brand can promote that each lighter is hand-polished by craftsmen and is unique in the world!"

Li Dongling planned to use the same trick as the small can tea. When the small can tea was launched, it was advertised that each can was personally roasted by several masters who were over fifty years old.

Although I don't know how Xiaoguan Tea, which has an annual sales volume of 1446 billion, relies on several tea roasting masters over years old to roast kilograms of tea every day.

This method of artificially creating signs of product scarcity may not be considered sophisticated, but it does not prevent it from being sold at a high price. Silver can tea costs three thousand yuan per catty, and gold can tea costs six thousand yuan per catty. At least it gives tea buyers the impression that they are buying fine products through a master's hype.

Likewise, there are stories of hand-polished sports cars, Swiss watches painstakingly crafted by master craftsmen, and so on. Without exception, they are all priced sky-high, but they simply sell better than their peers, and it’s clear that buyers buy into this.

In the future, Zorro lighters under the Torch Group can also use the same routine to promote Zorro's high-end lighters, all of which are hand-polished by master lighter craftsmen with 30 years of experience. What? Torch Group and Zorro have not been established for 30 years, so there is no need to care about these complicated details, as long as they are made by a "master".

"If we promote the Zorro lighter, we will probably need to build a new lighter production line, and we will also need to place orders for new standard parts from the parts manufacturers!" Zhou Wenyan said, putting down the drawings.

After hearing this, Li Dongling said directly, “The Torch Industrial Park was originally intended to be the largest lighter industry base in China, Asia, and even the world.

Whether it is a disposable lighter or a metal lighter, as well as the electronic lighters, waterproof lighters, solar lighters, voice-controlled lighters that may appear in the future, and portable lighters that can be connected to cars, computers and even mobile phones.

Torch Industrial Park can provide parts for these types of lighters, and even one-stop assembly, production, and transportation!"

Good things should be kept within the family. Torch Group is the largest shareholder of Torch Industrial Park. The land, water, electricity and other infrastructure of the industrial park are all supplied by Torch Group. The more companies that move into Torch Industrial Park, the more money Torch Group will make.

Zhou Wenyan was stunned when he heard the types of lighters mentioned by Li Dongling. He didn't expect that there would be so many types of lighters. Although they are not available on the market yet, he didn't know whether they could be developed. Zhou Wenyan was a little itchy for a while. "I will start the research and development of Zorro lighters as soon as possible!" Zhou Wenyan said.

"There's another project!"

Li Dongling spoke again, Zhou Wenyan looked at Li Dongling in confusion. Looking at the serious expression on Li Dongling's face, he felt that what Li Dongming said might not be a trivial matter.

“This project requires the technical department to conduct research and development in secret. In addition, we need to work with medical schools, medical research and development institutions, and pharmaceutical engineers to develop an e-cigarette that is designed to help people quit smoking!”

It is important to occupy the greater good. The research and development of any product, in name, must benefit users rather than harm them. Even guns were developed for hunting and to protect personal safety, and never for doing anything illegal!

E-cigarettes also need a sense of justice. They are developed to help users quit smoking, not to harm health. Professional medical practitioners are needed to conduct experiments to ensure the safety of users.

Seeing Zhou Wenyan's surprised look, Li Dongling said, "The e-cigarette project must be kept confidential. Product safety must be ensured, and research and development also needs to be kept confidential!
If the research and development is successful in the future, the main market for e-cigarettes will be overseas markets such as America, old Europe, Japan, and South Korea! "

As early as when Li Dongling mentioned the e-cigarette project to Zhang Xiaocheng, he was planning to sell it in overseas markets.

In this regard, it is definitely necessary to cooperate with overseas tobacco giants. Otherwise, it will be impossible to distribute products overseas without giving up a certain amount of profits. The tobacco giants in America and Britain will never allow Torch Group's e-cigarettes to appear on local sales counters.

The patent for e-cigarettes is in the hands of Torch Group, which gives it the qualifications to negotiate with those overseas tobacco giants. However, if it wants to sell the products, it still needs to give up a large amount of profits, or even let those overseas tobacco giants take the lion's share.

There is no way around it. Just think about how powerful domestic tobacco companies are. Overseas tobacco companies act in the same way, and are even more domineering, because tobacco is related to taxation all over the world. And to extend it a little further, military expenditures, weapons research and development funds, etc., mostly come from taxes brought by tobacco.

If you want to touch the cheese of those overseas tobacco giants, you must have some ability. You will be beaten to death before you can even eat the cheese.

If Torch Group’s e-cigarettes want to gain a foothold overseas and be sold in America, old Europe and other places, they need to give a certain amount of profits to local tobacco companies. Otherwise, it will be a waste of money. How can the tobacco giants do that?
Only by bringing them into the same camp can Torch Group's e-cigarettes be successfully developed overseas. Moreover, with the help of the sales channels of overseas tobacco giants, e-cigarettes can be quickly promoted. Then, everyone can reap the benefits together!

If you want to sell e-cigarettes in America, Britain and other places, you will definitely need the support of financial institutions in Wall Street and London.

How much money can be made just by selling cigarettes? As long as Torch Group can come up with e-cigarette concept stocks, get support from Wall Street institutions and London financial institutions, and complete listing on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, wouldn’t it be great to reap the benefits after the listing?

This is not groundless. In the past, a domestic e-cigarette giant company completed its listing in the Americas, and its market value exceeded US$458 billion, equivalent to RMB billion. It is hard to say that there was no Wall Street behind this.

Torch Group can also do the same in the future, launching an e-cigarette brand, listing it in America, and reaping some profits along with Wall Street.

However, Li Dongling asked Torch Group to launch e-cigarettes mainly for the future of Torch Group. Torch Group needs new industries to provide jobs for so many employees. It is not a problem for e-cigarettes to support the future for more than ten or twenty years.

(End of this chapter)