Peerless Genius System

Chapter 569: The Situation.

Zhang Dashan’s purpose for coming to Xia Hai was, not only, to catch up with Xiao Luo, but also to share some of Xiao Luo’s workload. After all, Jiang City’s headquarters was as stable as Mount Tai, so it didn’t make a difference if he was there or not. On the contrary, Xia Hai was different. They were entering new territory, so it was necessary to launch a fierce battle with local competitors with all hands on deck.

At the beginning of the month, Luo Fang officially broke ground into Xia Hai!

Prior to this, the advertising campaign had already been overwhelming, and the sales promotion activities of various shops were also in full swing. All kinds of cakes were catered to the tastes of Xia Hai people. Under the efforts of the talented person, Luo Qi, there were dozens more kinds of cakes than those of Sumir.

However, despite all this, only a handful of customers across all of the stores actually made their purchase. In contrast, the traffic volume of Sumir stayed the same, as if the addition of Luo Fang in Xia Hai did not affect them at all.

[Luo Fang Xia Hai Branch]

Inside the conference hall, Xiao Luo was wearing a suit and sitting at the center of the table, with his right hand beating rhythmically on it. He initially didn’t quite believe that there would be such results. After all, even before entering Xia Hai, Luo Fang was well prepared. They did all kinds of research, publicity, store decoration and so on. It could even be said that Luo Fang had made many changes in various aspects just to adapt to Xia Hai’s market, based on Xia Hai’s water and soil customs.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear your thoughts.”

Xiao Luo said, after all his ability was limited. At this time, they must brainstorm, re-examine themselves and find the root cause of the flop.

In addition to Zhang Dashan, Li Zimeng, Luo Qi and the others, there were also high-level managers and store managers of Luo Fang. There was also a huge TV connected to the high-level headquarters in Jiang City. It could be said that all the important cadres of the company attended the meeting. Zhang Dashan’s position had already been affirmed, so Xiao Luo was not worried about his possible influence on Zhang Dashan’s authority in attending this meeting.

“Boss Xiao, I think the Xia Hai people have already developed the habit of buying cakes from Sumir. Five years ago, a baking chain company called ‘Flying Snow’ broke into the market and flopped.” A man stood up and expressed his opinion.

Xiao Luo nodded, “In your opinion, how can we solve it?”

“Habits are hard to change. Changing the habits of the Xia Hai people will be a tedious process, and we can’t afford it, so we have to change ourselves.” The man said.

“Go on.”

“According to my research, 80% of customers belong to middle-aged and elderly people. The middle-aged and elderly people pay more attention to health, so if we introduce a Chinese medicine health cake that can help lower blood pressure and resist clotting, I believe it will drive the turnover of our company.”

But Luo Qi immediately rejected it, “We are not doctors, and we don’t know any Chinese medicine. How can we develop such a pastry?”

“Minister Luo, that’s just a marketing tool. Our cakes don’t really need to have that effect, it’s to just let the customers think that it has such an effect.” The man said.

“Isn’t this lying?” Luo Qi frowned and looked at Xiao Luo. “Big boss, this is a bad move. This is absolutely intolerable. The reputation of the company is supreme. Once our reputation is damaged, it will be difficult to win the customers’ recognition.”

Many people nodded their heads and agreed with what Luo Qi said. Even if they wanted to improve their performance, they mustn’t become liars.

Xiao Luo waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then continued to ask, “Does anyone have any other ideas?”

A female executive stood up and said, “I personally did a survey and randomly selected ten stores. We asked 50 customers why they chose Sumir instead of our Luo Fang. Their answers were very consistent, saying that Sumir is an old brand, and they trust Sumir. Many of them believe that most Chinese merchants are black-hearted and use sponges found in cigarette butts as meat floss. Furthermore, in order to prolong the shelf life, many preservatives are added to cakes.”

“Don’t they know that our Luo Fang is also an old brand?” Zhang Dashan asked.

“Mr. Zhang, our Luo Fang is an old brand in Jiang City, but if we’re looking at the whole country, Luo Fang is still small and new. Although Luo Fang made a lot of headlines last year, time has passed and everyone soon forgot. For Xia Hai people, we are just a baking business with no roots. Take our human nature as an example, a familiar person will always make us trust them more compared to a stranger.”

Hearing this, Zhang Dashan kept silent.

The female executive continued, “To increase the turnover, it is necessary for Xia Hai people to trust our Luo Fang. I think we can disclose a video monitoring system like a CCTV showcasing how our cakes are produced in the factory and put them in the store for customers to see. Of course, the displayed scenes must be positive, such as we are following proper hygiene in the making of the cakes.”

When this statement was said, everyone started whispering, because the idea was too bold.

“Does this not reveal our trade secrets? The new products we have worked so hard to develop will be known by our opponents. For us, this is a loss.” Li Zimeng put down her pen, looked up and raised her opinion.

The woman said, “There are indeed risks in this respect, hence the video only needs to show ‘most’ of the production and not all. We can exclude our secrets from it. Most customers are not professionals and they won’t be able to tell the difference. They will only think that this is the whole process of our pastry production.”

The others nodded and thought this method was feasible.

“Boss Xiao, Boss Zhang, I want to also speak out my opinion.”

Another male executive stood up. “Compared with Sumir, our Luo Fang is an outsider. We also don’t have much advantage in price. As Minister Wang said just now, 80% of customers are middle-aged and elderly people. The consumption concept of middle-aged and elderly people is quite different from that of young people. They will give priority to comparing prices and tend to those with lower prices. In their concept, cakes will be the same.”

“So you mean we lower the price a little?” Zhang Dashan asked.

The male executive nodded, “Yes, we should not think about profit at this stage, but instead think about gaining a foothold in Xia Hai as a priority. We can wait until we have a firm foothold in Xia Hai to proceed with other things.”

“Playing the price war may not win against Sumir!”

Li Zimeng spoke, “Not to mention Sumir’s own strong economic strength, their boss Su Li has a very good friend. She is the president of Huayao Group. Once a price war is set off, we have no power to fight back with their joint forces.”