2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 7 Selling Clothes

"Selling clothes? What the heck?" Zhang Xupeng looked at Tan Jincheng with a puzzled expression.

Xiao Tan's thought process is so amazing! How did she come up with the idea of ​​selling clothes?

"Yes, to be precise, it's about selling the clothes overseas," Tan Jincheng nodded.

Aside from those very serious crimes, these days, if you want to do business and make big money, most of it is inseparable from foreign trade.

In the foreign trade industry, clothing and electronic products are two major sectors.

Leaving aside electronics products for the time being, the apparel industry, with its lower entry barriers and lower technology requirements, is the best way to enter the foreign trade sector.

Monopolistic industries and industries requiring large investments are all out of reach for Tan Jincheng. As for the more profitable financial industry, does Tan Jincheng have the ability to succeed with Zhongguo Ping An, which he started with in his previous life with a cost of 85 yuan?

"Zhong Guoping, who bought shares at a cost of 80 yuan, has the nerve to call himself a stock trader?"

Besides, it's 2004 now. Apart from being able to remember Moutai liquor, Tan Jincheng knows almost nothing else, not even the rules of stock trading these days.

By the way, Tan Jincheng just checked Moutai liquor online; it's already listed, and yesterday's closing price was 34.93 yuan.

Based on my current net worth, if I went all in, I could probably buy 3400 shares. Calculated based on the stock price of over 2000 yuan in Maotai's previous life, and considering the dividends over the years, it would be around ten million yuan.

Actually, if I had listened to my dad, retaken the college entrance exam, gone to university, then gone home to take the civil service exam and settled down, and used my money to buy Moutai liquor, I could have lived a comfortable life from then on.

But that's obviously impossible; besides, where would I find any high school knowledge now?

Since the two countries formally established permanent normal trade relations in 2000 and officially joined the WTO in 2001, foreign trade has become an important pillar of my country's economy.

With a wider scope of business, demand naturally increases. Even though SARS affected the economy last year, there was no negative growth as expected, and the GDP growth rate for the whole year reached 10%.

In the first half of this year, the dumping of color TVs also came to a final conclusion. Although the four major manufacturers were punished quite severely, it did not affect the normal development of trade between the two sides.

In addition, the RMB to USD exchange rate was around 8 for the past few years, so people took advantage of this period to do export business and earn more USD to exchange back into RMB.

When the exchange rate reaches 6, it will be a good choice to either do import business or exchange for US dollars.

Tan Jincheng had done business in his previous life and often dealt with US dollars. He remembered that after the exchange rate broke 7 in 2008, it remained at the 6 level for a long time, and even reached around 6.1 at its lowest point.

Although his stock trading skills were lacking, Tan Jincheng still understood this simple numerical comparison; every dollar in and out represented ready-made profits.

Knowing the current situation, doing import and export business is the most suitable option for Tan Jincheng right now.

In addition, there's his life at sea after his rebirth. Tan Jincheng isn't just focused on accumulating capital; whenever he has the chance, he tries every means to get to know some of the passengers on board.

Regardless of whether it's useful or not, it's always good for business people to make more friends.

Tan Jincheng's words completely baffled Zhang Xupeng. In his opinion, opening a restaurant was already quite daring, but he never expected his good friend to go so far.

These days, foreign trade is considered a relatively fashionable and high-end industry.

"Sell clothes overseas? Can we do that?" Zhang Xupeng asked with some skepticism.

However, it must be said that Xiao Tan's idea is indeed quite tempting. Even if she only receives the lowest wage on the cruise ship, the amount she can earn after exchanging currency will still be considerable. One US dollar can be exchanged for more than eight dollars.

As for the two of them separating and going their separate ways, Zhang Xupeng hadn't thought about that; since Xiao Tan wasn't going to school either, they should still be together.

"What's wrong with that? At worst, we'll just have to work for nothing all year. Aren't you tired of doing odd jobs in the ship's kitchen?"

"That makes sense, so why don't we open a restaurant?"

Good heavens, he has absolutely no perseverance! If only I hadn't listened to him in my past life, I would have worked myself to the bone doing fast food on the construction site.

After finishing the last sip of his soda, Tan Jincheng stood up and said, "Why open a restaurant? Listen to me, let's open a factory in Zhejiang Province. There are plenty of factory girls making clothes there. You can manage the workshop then."

"Huh, huh, it's true! Haha, you said it! But why go to Zhejiang Province?"

"When we came back, we docked in Ningbo. There's a port there, so it's definitely more convenient."

"That's true, having a port would certainly be more convenient, but let's wait until your younger siblings are born before we talk about it, shall we?"

At this point, Zhang Xupeng looked at Tan Jincheng with a hint of amusement; his good friend hadn't been home for over a year, and now he had a younger brother or sister—that would be a rare occurrence for anyone.

Tan Jincheng just smiled and didn't respond to the topic; his face didn't show much expression, which disappointed Zhang Xupeng, who was watching the show.

Opening a factory in Ningbo was a plan Tan Jincheng had long ago. While there were naturally more opportunities in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, Ningbo was the best choice for him.

As one of the top manufacturing cluster cities in the country, Tan Jincheng is far more familiar with Ningbo than with his hometown.

Beyond just foreign trade during the initial capital accumulation phase, Ningbo's massive industrial chain is a major advantage for any future endeavors.

Furthermore, both now and in the future, the business environment in Zhejiang Province is far better than that in Yicheng, the birthplace of modern industry.

Even five years from now, it will be much more difficult for two young people without connections to successfully start a factory in their hometown than in Ningbo.

In my past life, I had a classmate who became successful in the children's clothing business in Huzhou. To give back to his hometown, he excitedly returned home to open a factory.

They were happy when they started, but in less than two years, they had no choice but to close down the factory and run away.

Tan Jincheng knew the current situation. Although things might not go smoothly in Ningbo, things would be better in a developed coastal city.

This is an indisputable fact, both now and 20 years from now.

Before the high-speed rail opened in Yicheng and society entered the Internet era, Tan Jincheng had no plans to start a business or buy property in his hometown.

Unless by then their size has become so large that people dare not make a move against them.

In the darkness, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng walked side by side, discussing their entrepreneurial plans.
The streetlights and the bright moon cast their shadows on the road; people occasionally stopped at the roadside food stalls.

Before long, the two returned to the family quarters and walked towards their respective gatehouses.

Tan Jincheng's first day back in Yicheng ended just like that.

(End of this chapter)