Brilliant Years 1991

Chapter 202 He must be right!

Song Yuhua looked at everything in front of her calmly.

However, the shock deep in her heart gradually turned into numbness, and after becoming numb, she was shocked again uncontrollably... Only she herself knew.

At this moment, she was standing on the third floor of the first department store in Magic City.

Originally, there was a small cash register about seven or eight meters in front of her. There were four cash registers like this on the entire third floor. Customers needed to come over under the guidance of the salesperson, pay the money and get the receipt, and then they could go to the sales counter with the receipt to pick up the goods. Now it is not small anymore. A table was temporarily placed next to the cash register, with a cashier and a ticket clerk added, making it a large cash register.

The entire third floor is the same, with four cash registers, all with an additional set of cash registers.

Even so, there was still a long line at the cashier counter in front of her.

There were two rows, both with more than a hundred people lined up - basically they had reached the stairs and could not line up any further. If they lined up further they would have to line up on the stairs, or disrupt the basic order of the entire third floor.

The scene was exactly the same at the other three cash registers on the third floor.

She had observed and even calculated the time herself. These cashiers and ticket writers could basically collect three payments and write three tickets in one minute. After only two days, they had become very skilled. They could abbreviate the product names to the point where only a simple pen shape remained. Therefore, it was very fast - in one hour, a group of them could complete at least 180 payments and ticket writings, which means about 1500 to 1600 tickets in eight hours a day.

There are eight groups on the entire third floor, so today’s sales volume is probably around 12000 units!

God!

Not to mention that I have never seen such a scene, I have never even thought about it.

Not only have I never seen or thought about it, I'm afraid that the managers and cashiers of the No. 1 Department Store in Shanghai have been selling goods for many years and are knowledgeable. A scene like this must have never been seen by them before!
You know, these people are queuing up to buy, no, they are queuing up to grab, and it’s not a bar of soap or a tube of toothpaste, it’s not something that costs a few cents, it’s an electric rice cooker that costs as much as 688 yuan!
How did things suddenly get out of control and end up like this?
Ah, yes, advertising!

In fact, Song Yuhua had seen the ad before it was aired. She thought it was beautifully shot. Compared with many ads she had seen on TV before, its image and luster seemed more delicate and soft. Of course, Li Qingxia was a big star. She was of course very popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Even in the mainland, she was very popular. Moreover, Hong Kong and Taiwan stars seemed to be very high-end...

But... it seems that this alone is not enough to explain what happened in the past two days.

So what is the reason?

Advertising slogan?

Which sentence?
The flower of red sky industry?

The best-selling album of Red Sky in 17 years?

Or is it the sentence that left a deep impression on me: "Although it is a little more expensive, it is really much better"?
When I asked him about it, he explained that this phrase was actually directed at similar products from Fuso. Currently, China has basically no production capacity for electric rice cookers, as they are all imported. Moreover, before this, almost 100% of them were products of Fuso, and they were actually quite expensive, basically priced at three or four hundred yuan per unit.

Therefore, although rice cookers have been sold in China for many years, sales have actually never been very high. In Song Yuhua's view, this is a product that does not have much presence - people who have become initially wealthy are willing to spend money on refrigerators, thinking that they are high-tech, and are also willing to spend money on washing machines, because they really save trouble, but rice cookers are just for cooking.

Who among you can’t cook?
Why spend that money?
In fact, in Song Yuhua's view, openly declaring that one's own products are "expensive" in advertisements has always puzzled her at that time, and in fact until now!

Who who sells things doesn’t promote their products as being of high quality and low price?
Why is it that when he sells something, he advertises that his product is of excellent quality but sells it at a high price?

So...why is this?
How could it be like this... There was suddenly such a long queue?

The TV commercial was broadcast the night before yesterday, and yesterday morning many people had already started running to the counter to look at the products. Some were even willing to stand there for twenty or thirty minutes, waiting to see the trial machine next to the counter cook the rice. But at the beginning, not too many people bought - of course, that was not too many considering the current situation. In fact, more than one hundred units had been sold in one morning, which was already a surprise to Song Yuhua at the time.

As a result, during the lunch break at noon, the number of people coming suddenly increased. I don't know from which moment on, people suddenly rushed to the cashier to pay. By the evening, because the department store closed at six o'clock, everyone was afraid that they would not be able to buy anything today and would have come in vain, so they suddenly started to rush to pay - and then yesterday, the third floor suddenly became lively.

Then today, the department store was still closed early in the morning, but there was a rare long queue outside. As the news of people queuing there spread, even more people came to line up!

I went crazy all of a sudden!
The news that Song Yuhua had heard from others was that everyone said that the stuff from Hongkong was particularly good, that it was quick and easy to cook, and that the rice cooked was particularly good - combined with the hot sales of the previous two days, it seemed that this buying spree started all of a sudden.

After closing the business, they counted the accounts and found that more than 1200 units were sold on the first day, which made the general manager of the First Department Store very happy. So that night, the small truck that he had contacted in advance was put to use. The warehouse at the department store worked overtime for more than an hour and 5600 units of goods were delivered at once.

As a result, they were all sold out the next day.

And they were almost there, so they had to rush to move the goods from the warehouse to the First Department Store warehouse at around 2:00 p.m., and they were already in the hands of customers before the end of the get off work day!

So, after some calculations last night and consultation with the general manager of the First Department Store, Song Yuhua immediately brought in as many as 15,000 rice cookers overnight!

This is simply... crazy!
However...he had actually calculated every bit of madness in advance!

According to Tao Mingqi, he had previously brought in nearly 100,000 rice cookers in one shipload, and stuffed them all into a rented warehouse. It seemed that he had already guessed that his rice cookers would sell very quickly as soon as they were on the market, and that thousands or tens of thousands of units would not be enough to sell!
So one ship can directly carry 100,000 units!
Moreover, before he left, he specifically reminded himself to ensure the supply and contact the vehicle...

Every step was within his calculations.

And now, this rice cooker... this rice cooker... which is so expensive, so expensive that even Shanghai residents, workers with jobs and normal incomes, need half a year's salary to buy one, has actually become a hotly sought-after item!

The rice in the trial machine over there at the counter no longer needs to be cooked, nor does it need to be distributed to everyone for tasting. No one is busy with such things now. The cashier is constantly counting money and writing receipts, and the counter is constantly collecting receipts and delivering goods. There are more than a dozen workers divided into several groups, who are constantly transporting things up from the warehouse!
The First Department Store even specially arranged four groups of staff to be responsible for unpacking the money withdrawn from the bank. One bill for ten yuan is added to two bills for one yuan, and then they are combined into one bill. The cashier collects the money here, counts it, and then directly takes it from the customer, which is twelve yuan, and gives the change directly to the customer - speeding up the pace.

What's more, cashiers and ticket takers have to change shifts every hour, because the ticket takers can't stand the high-intensity writing, and the cashiers can't stand the high-intensity money counting!

call……

More than 10,000 units a day!

The daily sales volume is six or seven million, maybe even seven or eight million!

One day!

call……

"Manager Song!"

Someone called out to Song Yuhua, who was distracted, and she was startled. She turned around and saw that it was the deputy general manager of the First Department Store who was responsible for contacting her. His surname was Cheng. So she smiled faintly and nodded in response, "Mr. Cheng."

She is not pretending to be cool or putting on airs. In fact, Song Yuhua is naturally cold. Over the years, except in front of her relatives, she appears particularly lively, be it warm, mischievous, or cute. It is only in the two recent meetings with Cao Yukun that she reveals a lot of worldly qualities. At most other times and in front of most people, she is always like this, neither cold nor warm.

However, of course, at this time, Vice President Cheng had no opinion on her attitude!
That’s a turnover of nearly 10 million a day!
"Many customers have said that they don't understand why we limit the purchase to one per person! Because there are indeed many people who want to buy two or even more. Some neighbors and relatives don't have time to come, so they entrust us to buy on their behalf. Some customers also plan to buy two and send one back home. So you see, our sales policy... And, Manager Song, if you relax your purchase limit policy, the workload of our cashiers and ticket writers will be greatly reduced, which will help sell the goods as soon as possible!"

Song Yuhua was a little hesitant when he heard this.

In fact, this is the simplest thing. With her intelligence, she had actually considered this problem yesterday - it only takes a few steps to solve the problem and slow down the sales speed!
Once the purchase restrictions are lifted, certainly not everyone will need to buy two or even more machines. But there are actually quite a few people who will do so. In this way, not only will it save trouble for the cashiers and ticket takers, as they can just write down several machines on one receipt. The key is that it will save trouble for the customers too!
If you insist on limiting the purchase to one, what if people get tired of queuing up a second time and don't buy your second unit? Wouldn't that mean that the sales that should have been secured would be lost?

So in fact... she didn't quite understand why they had to set such a rule and put up a big sign that could be seen from a distance, telling everyone clearly that one person could only buy one. What was the point of it other than limiting sales and reducing efficiency!
However, at this time, the hesitation is only temporary.

After just one or two seconds, she calmly told Vice President Cheng, "This...can't work. This is our rule, which was decided a long time ago, and I don't have the power to change it."

Don’t we have rights? Yes, we do.

After agreeing on the cooperation with the TV station and No. 1 Department Store, Cao Yukun left the next day. Before leaving, he clearly told himself not to call him to report the situation during the first five days of sales. He should take care of everything. This matter was completely left to him!
But...it was he who set the purchase limit!

Although I don't understand why he wants to limit purchases, and I don't understand what the meaning is, I don't know why he wants to make things difficult for the staff of the First Department Store and his customers, but...

Sorry, that was his decision!
I may not understand, but who am I to question his decision?
If he is right, then he must be right.

He said to do it, so it must be done!

No one has the right to change his decision!
"Hey, Manager Song, don't be so rigid! The policy needs to be flexible. This affects the sales of your company's products! Once the purchase restrictions are lifted, you can sell thousands more units a day!"

"I'm sorry! Uh... Actually, there's no point in selling more, because our next batch of goods will take some time to arrive!"

"..."

Vice President Cheng was speechless. He sighed helplessly and walked away.

Next batch of goods? Haha, he wouldn't let me call or ask, who knows where the next batch of goods is... But I heard him mention that even if his rice cooker factory was producing at full capacity, the maximum monthly production capacity would only be about 15,000 units!

It is said that the batch of goods brought to Shanghai this time is the production inventory of the factory for nearly a year!
So…in fact, the situation has already opened up, and it is so open, why should we worry about the problem of slow sales? What we need to consider is the shortage of supply!

call……

How could something be sold so easily by myself?
Now that I think about it, when he went to Hong Kong alone to sell plum juice, it was similar to this, and he opened up the market right away, right? Probably, right?

Before he took over, the beverage factory could only survive by selling orange soda. The monthly after-tax profit was only tens of thousands of yuan at best, and sometimes it even lost money! But after he took over, he adjusted the production direction, and starting in June, it suddenly started to accelerate!

Up to now, the beverage factory's monthly production capacity is said to have reached more than 15,000 tons!

According to my eldest brother, when the machines were purchased and the production capacity was determined, the design was for a monthly capacity of more than 12,000 tons under normal production conditions. So in fact, the current production capacity means that the beverage factory is actually operating at overload - working in two shifts and taking turns to rest the machines!

Now, it seems that the electrical appliance company he bought in Hongkong will also start working in two shifts!

"Manager Song..."

Vice President Cheng suddenly came over again and said, "Come on, someone from the TV station is here to interview us. From what I heard, this matter is so popular that the reporters want to report it! Come on!"

"Ah? Am I interviewed?"

"You are the manufacturer! If people ask about supply, purchase restrictions, etc., of course you should answer!"

Song Yuhua suddenly felt a little nervous, but at some point, a light bulb went off in her head, and she suddenly remembered what he had said to her before he left - that night in the car, on the way there after he reached out and touched her face for the first time - and suddenly, she was no longer nervous.

Oh my god, had he even expected this?
Or was it just pure luck?
No, it can't be a guess!

He is such an extremely smart person that he had accurately guessed every step and every detail of the matter even before it started. So, he knew in advance that this rice cooker would be a hot seller and even snapped up. And how difficult was it for him to guess that a TV reporter would come to interview him?
It must be difficult for myself and others.

But for him, this matter seemed as easy as eating and drinking.

What did he say that night?

Oh, at that time, I was just shocked by the moment he reached out and touched my face, and I was just savoring the warmth of his palm... Oh, right, I remember now...

"...In fact, our purchase limit is to ensure that more customers and consumers have the opportunity to buy our Aijia rice cookers. Of course, we have already sensed the enthusiasm of the people of Shanghai and everyone's love for our Aijia rice cookers. We have urgently adjusted the stock and strive to ensure that everyone who wants to buy has the opportunity to buy it. So, friends who cannot buy it for the time being, please don't worry..."

…………

That evening, in the news program of Shanghai TV, the footage of Song Yuhua being interviewed on behalf of Hongkong Joyoung Electric Appliances, the manufacturer of Aijia rice cookers, was broadcast as local hot news.

Because although it was only two or three days, Aijia rice cooker suddenly became popular. The popularity was so high that everyone in the streets and alleys was discussing how to cook rice with rice cooker, how high-end and good Aijia rice cooker was, how it was "the best-selling product in 17 years", how gentle and beautiful Lai Qingxia was, how "although it was a little expensive", how Fuso brand could not beat Hongkong brand, whether Fuso or Hongkong was richer, and who was prettier, Yamaguchi Baihui or Lai Qingxia...

So, this interview came at the perfect time.

All I can say is that in this age when even the central bank will apologize in the news broadcast if the Spring Festival Gala is not well organized and the audience is dissatisfied, no matter which level of government, they really care about the concerns of the people and the focus issues of the people.

If the public has something to discuss, the news section will ask the questions for you.

However, it's useless!
That night, Song Yuhua watched the goods being put into the warehouse until late at night and returned to the hotel. She didn't see the news broadcast, but the next morning, she was hastily awakened by a call from Deputy General Manager Cheng of the First Department Store. She just washed her face and rushed to the downstairs of the First Department Store. She was extremely surprised to see a line of people rushing to buy that stretched for 500 to 600 meters...

(End of this chapter)