Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 1043 A Bountiful Harvest

On December 20th and 25th, both the municipal and provincial TV news stations provided live coverage of the New Year's Shopping Festival.

Provincial and municipal leaders also gave positive comments on the Spring Festival shopping festival. The provincial and municipal commerce departments began to organize research to study the advantages and disadvantages of this sales method: centralized retail with large markets and large logistics.

On the afternoon of the 25th, total sales exceeded 100 million yuan, with private stalls averaging 23,000 yuan in sales per day, almost half a month's worth of sales under normal circumstances. This news immediately landed on the desks of leaders at all levels and subsequently made it into the newspapers.

On December 30th, footage of the bustling first annual New Year's Goods Festival in Fengtian Zhongjie was shown for 45 seconds on CCTV's 7 PM primetime slot.

The news report affirmed the commercial development in Liaodong and Fengtian, confirming it as a breakthrough in enriching people's lives during the Spring Festival. It stated that the project was "welcomed by ordinary people, with sales exceeding 100 million yuan in ten days, becoming a new benchmark for the domestic retail industry and opening a door for nationwide commercial retail."

Several news reports brought another surge in traffic to the Spring Festival shopping season, causing sales, which had been steadily declining, to suddenly jump up.

The stockout still occurred, not because of insufficient preparation, but because the manufacturers couldn't supply it. Fortunately, Director Liu was experienced and the backup plan was immediately put in place, silently resolving the crisis. Those factories were also blacklisted, and the backup plan took over.

The market is cruel and unreasonable. There's no logic to it. Domestic products are too homogeneous. The same things are everywhere. If you can't seize the opportunity, you can only watch others succeed, and you won't even qualify as a backup option.

After half a month, everyone had gone from being unfamiliar and tense to relaxed and at ease; people's adaptability is truly amazing.

Commander Hou was always cheerful. He was killing two birds with one stone, and who knew he'd hit such a juicy hornet's nest! He'd secured a huge prize for the division, earning him a great deal of credit and a substantial personal reward.

Moreover, as the market stabilized and a large team gradually took shape after a period of adjustment, the mobile market can be said to have plugged the last bottleneck and eliminated all problems.

Manager Zhang was also deploying personnel, constantly bringing in more people for hands-on experience. Practical training is the ultimate classroom that all industry training programs cannot avoid, and the New Year's goods festival is like a battlefield of demon kings. Once you go in, you'll come out as a mini-elite monster. This opportunity is rare.

It's true that the finance department staff work the hardest.

Over the course of more than ten days, several money counting machines had burned out. Large amounts of settlement slips and cash were piled up in the middle of the tent. Every day, apart from eating, more than a dozen people would bury themselves in counting money in a tent guarded by a squad of soldiers with guns.

They had to compile the data, separate company operations from individual stalls, further divide company operations by product category and work group, and separate private stalls by account, settling accounts separately. The workload was enormous.

Fortunately, the tax task force also served as part of the finance department, which relieved them of the work of settling tax returns and allowed them to help with tasks, such as watching the money counting machine. Of course, they didn't work for free; they received a salary and also got to share some of the goods.

"Xiao Wei, where are you?" Ga Zi's voice was urgent.

"I'm in the office, what's up?"

"Give me some money, I can't hold on any longer. The supplier over there can only extend credit of 50,000 yuan, and I've already exceeded that limit. If I don't pay soon, I won't be able to get the goods."

"...Oh, I forgot about that. You can ask around and see if this is the case at private stalls."

"Definitely. These past few days, most of us haven't been sitting at our stalls. We've been going around buying goods on credit and borrowing money. We're both happy and frustrated at the same time."

"Okay, then, make a list, register each one, have the boss sign and put their fingerprint on all the bills, and then have the customers come to me to settle their accounts and get paid. We'll settle everything together at the end. I'll advance the money for you, no interest charged."

"Holy crap, really? Okay, okay, I'll get it done right away."

Gazi hung up the phone and started contacting other stall owners to collect statistics. A cheer erupted from the private stalls. Hundreds of owners gathered together like a large meeting, each with a smile on their face, creating an invisible sense of unity. Working here is so comfortable.

The management office of the Free Market immediately sent people to assist Ga Zi with the statistics and records, and the finance department immediately arranged for cash payment.

In fact, many business owners in Wuainan Tower are actually waiting here on site. Most of their clothing and footwear goods come from these two places.

But they're not qualified to come in and sell, so they just cheer on their customers. It's a lie to say they're not envious. Their retail sales are almost catching up with wholesale sales, who the hell wouldn't be jealous? Some big bosses have already approached the mall to discuss getting in.

If it doesn't work this year, there's always next year. Anyone who sees how popular it is knows that it will definitely be held again next year, and it will be even bigger.

Manager Zhang became famous after his appearance on CCTV's 7 PM primetime slot and started getting busy. It was the end of the year, and various tea parties, commendation meetings, award ceremonies, lectures, and reports from different departments came one after another.

The shopping mall received a bunch of bronze medals and banners, especially the title of "Leading Commercial Enterprise in Liaodong Province," which came with policy backing. If it weren't for the backing of a prime-time CCTV program, it would never have fallen into the hands of a private enterprise.

Manager Zhang himself became a director of the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, a standing committee member of the Individual Business Association, a representative of the District Political Consultative Conference, and the vice president of the Municipal Consumer Association. He also acquired a bunch of titles such as "model worker," "advanced worker," and "outstanding party member."

Manager Zhang had spent most of his life working in the state-owned commercial sector without achieving anything significant. Unexpectedly, after only half a year of ownership by the private sector, he reached the pinnacle of his life. He was overjoyed and got himself drunk.

Director Liu is starting to tremble now.

Businessmen have the keenest sense of smell. Starting the day after the 7 PM CCTV broadcast, invitations, cooperation agreements, and greetings from all over the country began to arrive like snowflakes, all from various manufacturers.

The purpose of the initial congratulations was to solidify the relationship with existing customers. The remaining objective was to establish channels for cooperation to get the products into the market.

Director Liu is a veteran purchasing agent, having worked in the field for twenty years. This is the first time he's felt so triumphant, looking at the stack of official documents on his desk as if he were an emperor choosing his concubines.

"Next year, we can completely break away from all the wholesale markets in Fengtian and independently purchase directly from manufacturers, and the terms we get will be better than those of the agents in the wholesale markets."

Director Liu sat opposite Xiao Wei, looking quite spirited: "I'm even considering whether to set up a new department to enter the major wholesale markets and develop them. We are fully capable and qualified to do so."

Xiao Wei was both amused and exasperated: "What about all these wholesalers and distributors? Sis, we can't possibly do all the business, can we? Is it really necessary? It's good enough if we just guarantee that everything is directly from the manufacturer, don't you think?"

(End of this chapter)