Chapter 623 The fortress was breached from within
In Antoine's mind, at this time, he only felt ridiculously powerful. After playing eagle for a lifetime, he finally got his eyes pecked by an eagle.
This lighter company came out of nowhere. In terms of technology, production capacity, and cost control, it completely surpassed BAK. How could Antoine not feel ridiculous about this.
"Send this lighter to the laboratory. Tonight, I will see its detailed data!"
"Also, tell me which companies have the best performance this year? Old Europe has registered a new patent for safety lock and constant flow valve! ”
Although he was angry or even panicked, Antoine still made arrangements. The company's brand could be fooled, and the lighter brand could be fooled, but patents and technology couldn't be fooled.
"As for the Eastern European dealers, how do we respond? Should we adjust the supply price of Bic lighters?"
Hearing the words of the supervisor in front of him made Antoine even more angry, "Adjust What, where are the production costs? The cost of producing a lighter now is only three or four dollars. How to adjust it? You can make up for the loss!"
Seeing Antoine turn into a hippo again, what's going on in front of me? Several supervisors did not dare to speak anymore and had to walk out of the office with sad faces.
Antoine will not lower the supply price of lighters, but he will have to sell the lighters. How can there be such a good thing in the world? Believe it or not, they replied to the BAK dealers in Eastern Europe like this, and they will betray them early tomorrow morning. .
After staying up all night and suffering from dark circles under his eyes, Antoine finally saw the experimental data brought over by the technical department before dawn the next day.
“The Black Label lighter is a technically mature lighter, with innovations in both appearance design and lighter technology!”
Listening to the person in charge of our technology, he said: As Black Label exclaimed in admiration, Antoine said impatiently, "I don't need to hear this. In terms of safety locks and constant flow valve technology and materials, has Black Label stolen anything..."
"No!"
The head of BAK's technical department, who knew what Antoine wanted to ask, said directly, "The safety lock used in Black Label lighters is a safety lock with an inclined lighter belt structure.
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The safety lock technology used by Bic is completely different. Even the other party's safety lock technology may be more advanced and more reasonable in design.
In addition, the constant flow valve technology is still being tested in the laboratory. The other party uses a lot of new materials and new processes, and the gas and material ratios are completely different from BAK's constant flow valve technology! "
When Antoine heard this, his hanging heart finally... died.
After not wanting to listen any more, Antoine asked the person in charge of the technical department to leave. Wan slumped in the chair, thinking of reporting this to Brenno Bick, Antoine felt worse than death.
......
"You mean, Bick lost the Eastern European market?"
Brenno Bick had just sat down in the president's office when he received a "surprise" from Antoine, but this surprise came It was so sudden that he had the urge to pick up the golf club in the office and hit Antoine's head like a golf ball.
Antoine also noticed Brenno Bick's movements and unconsciously took two steps back, as if he was afraid that the angry little Brick would hit him in the head.
“It’s just a part of it that’s lost, and this is only temporary. Currently, BAK is at a temporary disadvantage in terms of price in the Eastern European lighter market, compared to black label lighters.”
Antoine He said bravely, then glanced at Little Bic, and said, "The most critical question now is whether the emergence of the black label will affect Bic's market in Western Europe!"
Brenno Bick stared at Antoine with sharp eyes, "What do you mean by that?"
"The supply price of Black Label is really different from Brick's. The price difference for a lighter is nearly two dollars.
It’s hard to guarantee that those damn scalpers, smugglers, and even lighter dealers in the old European Union won’t be tempted.
After all! In the old European Union, the annual consumption of lighters is more than 800 million!”
Brenno Bick also took a breath. Compared with large-scale products such as cars and TVs, lighters are not that important! At first glance, its previous profits were not high.
But now, due to the reduction in supply in mainland China, the price of lighters in old Europe has soared. The black label supply price is very eye-catching when sold in markets such as France, Germany, and Italy.
A black label lighter is sold from Eastern Europe to Western Europe, and the interest rate difference is two dollars. If it is hundreds of millions, how much profit can be made?
The profits of hundreds of millions of dollars are enough to attract scalpers, lighter dealers, and even some gangs.
Don’t be like the old European gangs. They play so high-class and spend all day playing with contraband, guns and so on. There are gangs who play in those industries, but not all gangs squeeze into those industries.
Just like the Italian Mafia in the eyes of the outside world, influenced by Hollywood movies, they think it is engaged in "high-end" business. In fact, what are gangs? Kidnapping, extortion, collecting protection fees, etc. are their most important tasks. Often done.
Many of the agricultural products and meat supplies in old Europe are controlled by gangs headed by the mafia. They use various means to rob and secretly purchase meat and vegetables from farmers at low prices, and then supply them to hamburgers, Fast food restaurants, pre-made steaks in shopping malls, etc.
Among them, some gangs thought they were making little money, so they sold dead cows, expired frozen beef, and even horses as cows, pretending to be steaks, to fast food restaurants in old Europe. The profits were normal. Four times as much beef.
If lighters are found to be profitable, will those old European gangs be tempted? Their mobility is incredible. It is not difficult at all to sell black label lighters from Eastern Europe to Western Europe, and those Shopping malls, tobacco shops, bars and the like may not dare to reject it at all.
Brenno Bick suddenly felt a severe pain in his head, "Where did the Black Label lighter and Global Trading Company come from?" "I'm still asking people to check, but they found out We will know which company supplies the technology and patents used in Black Label lighters, but this will take some time!" Antoine said.
Brenno Beek glared at Antoine, suppressed his anger and said, "Find all this damn thing and I will go see Congressman Lucas!"
The Beek Group is also powerful. The person supported by the characters, even Brenno Bick himself, is the vice president of the Old European Lighter Association. Otherwise, how could he push the old European Trade Commission to launch an anti-dumping investigation into the interior.
......
Just when Antoine was in dire straits, it was reported that the BAK Group would not lower its supply prices. Many Eastern European cities from Lao Maozi to Poland, from Hungary to Romania, etc. Large shopping malls, convenience stores, tobacco shops and other places that sell lighters have begun to "change their tactics" and put black label lighters on their shelves.
These lighter dealers are too lazy to sympathize with how hard life is for BAK. If BAK delays their efforts to make money, then they will mercilessly get rid of the BAK Group.
In the city of Naples, Italy, Rossi, who had been having fun all night at the most famous local nightclub, walked out of the nightclub with his arms around a hot blonde woman in cool clothes.
Rossi is a member of a family gang in Naples and is considered a minor leader. For people like them, life is basically precarious, so they don’t think about tomorrow. The money is spent, nightclubs, women, contraband and the like are commonplace things every day.
Rosie, who had drunk a lot of wine in the nightclub, hugged the woman and walked a little sloppily. He took out a cigarette and put it on his mouth. He touched his pocket, but there was no lighter.
Looking up, I saw a convenience store not far away, and staggered over.
“I want a lighter!” Rossi shouted to the salesperson after entering.
"7,500 lire!" The salesperson took out a Bic lighter.
Now that the old European Union has not implemented the euro, Italy still uses its own lira, and one dollar can be exchanged for about 1,500 lira.
“What?”
Rosie thought she heard wrongly and couldn’t help asking the salesperson, “How much did you say?”
Lighters, Luo Xi When Xi used to buy tobacco, he would buy one randomly. He had a lot of it in the drawer of his apartment, and he didn't pay much attention to it on weekdays.
But he also knows the approximate price, which is usually between three and four dollars, that is, between four thousand five thousand lire and six thousand lire. The price is not too outrageous.
But now I suddenly heard that I was charged 7,500 lire for a broken lighter, and Rosidon felt like I was being ripped off.
The price is not expensive, but for a person who licks blood at the edge of a knife and is outside the mainstream society, he used to kill others with his knife, but when he was suddenly killed, Rossi felt offended. , who the hell is the gang!
Looking at Rosie, who had a fierce look in her eyes and tattoos on her arms and even her neck, the salesperson became nervous.
"This...this is the company's rule, not the price I set. I heard that there is a shortage of lighters throughout old Europe, and the price has risen sharply. In the mall, the price of this lighter has soared to 9
I will pay for this lighter and give it to you..." the salesperson stammered.
Looking at the salesperson, Rossi suddenly felt like he had seen the time when he was still in school, working in the store during the holidays.
But when it became like this, Rossi no longer remembers it, and he doesn't want to think about it. He only knows that there is no way back for him. If he can't climb to the top of the gang, he will still be there. He was doing dirty work for the gang, so he didn't know whether he could live to be thirty. He couldn't tell. After a fire, he lay down.
He took it out at will from his wallet. Rossi didn't bother to count a few liras and threw them on the cashier. Rossi picked up the lighter, hugged the woman and rushed towards the apartment.
The next day, Rossi was disturbed by a rapid ringing of the phone. When he woke up, the woman beside him had disappeared, and Rossi didn't bother to pay attention. This scene happened every day anyway. Even if the woman told him her name, he couldn't remember it.
But the ringing of the phone suddenly made Rossi sober. Only the gang could make this call.
After answering the phone, Rossi got up from the bed, put on his clothes randomly, and rushed to the gang's lair.
Halfway through the ride on a Harley, Rossi picked up a cigarette out of habit, but the lighter he bought yesterday was left in the apartment again, causing Rossi to curse inwardly.
Roxi saw a tobacco store with a T sign on the street. When he was about to go there to buy a lighter, a figure sneaked up to Rossi.
“If you want cigarettes or lighters, I have them all here!”
Rossi took one look and knew that these were street scalpers. Italy also specializes in tobacco, and the prices are quite expensive. Naturally, there are a group of people selling smuggled cigarettes. The ones in front of him are small scalpers who sell bulk goods at the bottom. He has no idea. Whoever he goes to, depends on one bad life to make a profit.
"How much does a lighter cost?" Rossi looked at the time and asked casually with a frown.
"Seven thousand lire!"
Rossi, who had his hands on the accelerator, suddenly remembered the lighter he bought in the convenience store yesterday, and couldn't help but ask, " How much did you say?"
Looking at Rossi, the little scalper felt guilty, "Six thousand lire is okay, at least it can't be less than six thousand lire. The price I get is always six thousand lire!"
(End of this chapter)