Chapter 332 The Beginning of the Agent Price War
Paper will be difficult to replace in the next hundred years. Even in the electronic age, the impact on A4 paper is not great, while toilet paper and napkins are even more is an eternal need.
As early as a few years ago when the production of sticky notes began, Yang Wendong thought about entering the paper industry, but was unable to implement it due to constraints in capital, manpower, environment and other factors. Now the time has come.
Wei Zetao said with a smile: "Okay, I will first contact some channels in Hong Kong and overseas to communicate with potential customer groups."
"Well, in fact, the essence is still a price issue." Yang Wendong He added: “If we want to find ways to control costs, we should also learn more from similar overseas companies.”
"Understood." Wei Zetao said: "The management team at the Wanwan Paper Factory is also Chinese from Japan. They have experience in this area, and whether it is labor or environmental protection costs, Wanwan is much lower than Japan. Transportation With Changxing Shipping, it will be much better, both in terms of raw material input and product output."
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I will go to Wanwan when the factory opens. Take a look."
Wei Zetao smiled and said: "Okay, I will inform you of the specific time later."
"Yeah"
The time is coming to the end of March:
On the 26th, Yang Wendong came to the Maxim's Pastry Shop on Harcourt Road, Admiralty. After learning the news, the Wu brothers also came to accompany him in person.
"Yang Sheng, why are you here in person? Just tell us what pastries you need, and we will arrange for someone to send them over." Wu Zhande said with a smile.
Although the cooperation agreement between Changxing Group and Maxim's Food has not yet been finalized, the general direction has basically been set, leaving only some details.
In the future, Yang Wendong will not only be a shareholder of the company, but also a strategic partner and the pillar behind Maxim's Food Company. He also promised not to compete for management rights as long as there is no serious loss. Under such circumstances, the Wu brothers naturally respect Yang Wendong very much.
Yang Wendong smiled and said: "I don't know what I want to eat. Only when I come over and take a look will I know what I need."
This is also the reason why many supermarkets and offline retail stores can still maintain certain advantages when facing online competition from the Internet decades later. Online shopping is always inferior to physical goods.
And pastry food will not be easily affected by the Internet in the future. The shorter the shelf life, the more advantageous it is.
"Haha, okay, then let me introduce you to the pastries of various flavors" Wu Zhande also said with a smile.
Then he explained the types and characteristics of his pastries to Yang Wendong, Zheng Zhijie and others, and everyone tasted some of them respectively.
Finally, Yang Wendong pointed out a few items and called his assistant: "Send these pastries to my home."
"Okay, Yang Sheng." After the assistant agreed, he immediately arranged for someone to pack the pastries and send them home.
After watching the pastries, Yang Wendong, Zheng Zhijie and the Wu brothers went to a nearby cafe.
“This coffee shop also belongs to you?” Yang Wendong asked, looking at the word Maxim’s above the store.
"Yes." Wu Zhande explained: "Yang Sheng, currently in Hong Kong, the main group with the spending power for high-end food is the British ghosts, and many ghost customers buy pastries. I wanted to find a place where I could drink coffee and eat pastries, so I opened a cafe nearby."
"This coffee is indeed a good business, I suggest you. The focus is on developing in this direction," Yang Wendong said with a smile.
James Ng asked: "Why? In Hong Kong, only the British like coffee, right? Although they have enough spending power, the total number of people is still far less than that of the Chinese."
"Of course it is in Hong Kong. That's it." Yang Wendong replied: "It's just that. If you are able to expand overseas in the future, the performance of the coffee chain will be far greater than that of the pastry shop.”
Judging from the situation in his previous life, there are many international coffee chain brands around the world, including Starbucks. Became a Fortune 500 company.
As for pastry shops, there are some chain ones, but the scale and brand are not an order of magnitude worse than coffee.
“Going overseas?” James Ng smiled and said, “I will be very satisfied if I can gain a foothold in Hong Kong.”
Yang Wendong smiled and said: "That's what you think now, but if one day you really gain a foothold in Hong Kong and even monopolize pastry shops and coffee shops in Hong Kong, then you will definitely find ways to expand.
People can never predict the future, but as long as there is a possibility, they will keep trying to make progress. You and I are the same."
Many people in the history of human business never thought that they would become ". At the level of "richest man", your company will become an industry giant, such as so many Internet companies in previous lives. For example, Tencent was still a junior in the Internet in 2002.
But later it developed smoothly and encountered the trend of the times. After taking off, it was impossible to stop.
Wu Zhande nodded and said: "Indeed, when I first started my business to build Maxim's Catering, I just wanted to build one store. Later, when the business got better, I thought about opening more stores, and then cakes, I can’t stop drinking coffee.”
"Haha, me too." Yang Wendong also said: "The Hong Kong market is too small. If you want to develop well, you must expand externally. This is the case for my industry. Let's not talk about the industry. Even Carrefour Supermarket will follow the external expansion in the future. Expansive.”
“Yang Sheng’s ambition is indeed Still admired." Wu Zhande paused and said, "So Yang Sheng thinks that it is easier to start an overseas chain of coffee than pastries? But my idea is that even if we expand overseas, we should first enter Southeast Asian countries or Japan. In these places, pastries will be the best. It sells better than coffee.”
“In these places. The pastry will indeed sell well,” Yang Wendong said: “The core problem is that pastries are difficult to standardize and have a short shelf life, which makes management more difficult when the scale grows;
And we also have to consider issues such as different tastes in different places. But coffee is much better and can be easily standardized."
Wu Zhande thought for a while and said: "What Yang Sheng said makes sense. In fact, this problem exists in Chinese restaurants, including many chain stores in Hong Kong. The taste is also different because the chefs are different.”
"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded and said: "That's pretty much what it means."
Wu Zhande said: "I understand this truth, but what I am good at is pastry, and the coffee business has just started. I will wait for the follow-up. "Let's study it further." "I just want to make a suggestion," Yang Wendong said, "If Maxim's Food continues to expand in the future, it can use its capital. Even in Southeast Asia, as the economy develops, more and more people will drink coffee.”
In the next few decades, Western culture will still be there. Controlling the world, regions that have just developed their economies will learn from Europe and the United States in many areas, even cultures that have nothing to do with the economy itself, such as drinking coffee.
There are many people who insist on drinking even though they don’t have to drink
"Okay, thank you for reminding me." Wu Zhande said with a smile: "Yang Sheng, I didn't expect that you don't do catering, but you have such an understanding of these things, it's amazing."
"It's just theoretical knowledge." Yang Wendong said again: "Wu Sir, what we discussed last time , I wonder if you have decided yet?"
Wu Zhande replied: "Yang Sheng, I can agree to the transfer of the 30% equity you proposed before, but I have another request."
"Say." Yang Wendong asked.
Wu Zhande said: "I hope that in addition to the funds for the shares, Yang Sheng can also lend me a separate amount of funds."
"You want so much capital? Are you preparing for major expansion?" Yang Wendong asked.
Wu Zhande said: "Yes, I have this consideration. One is that Jardine is putting a lot of pressure on me now. For such a large company, it may only be a word from the top, but it may invest hundreds of millions of dollars." Millions or even tens of millions of dollars are competing with me. If I don’t have enough cash, I will lose in the end.
The other thing is that I am going to enter Carrefour to make pastries. Although it doesn’t require a big store, you can. More than 40 people under its banner Carrefour, with such a large number, also needs to invest a lot of money and recruit new people, which takes a lot of money and energy."
Yang Wendong thought for a while and said: "I can't lend you funds directly, but I can. Arrange Hang Seng or East Asia to give you a loan, and if I come forward, you will be satisfied whether it is the amount or the interest.”
Although Changxing Group is not short of money, it is better to keep its own funds. .
"Okay, that's okay." Wu Zhande replied. This is also a common situation in business cooperation.
Yang Wendong added: "Not only now, Maxim's Food will need funds in the future. As long as it is reasonable, there will be no problem in borrowing from banks, and there will be various discounts."
"I understand." Wu Zhande smiled and said.
Once large capital investment is introduced, the risk level on the bank's side will be much lower. If the risk is low, both the loan amount and interest will be much lower.
This is also one of the benefits of joining a large consortium. There are actually reasons why so many companies around the world form groups.
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and said: "Although I won't give you a written promise, I can promise you verbally. As long as there are no major operating problems on your side and it does not affect the interests of my companies, then these stocks, I won’t sell it arbitrarily. Even if I really want to sell it, I will give priority to you.”
Although with my own investment, Maxim’s Food, which was originally the number one in history, will most likely remain so. First, there may be exceptions to everything, so he won't stick to his words.
Again, it is difficult to control people's hearts to avoid special situations. After all, this is not like Wal-Mart's investment. It cannot affect Wal-Mart at all. However, in Hong Kong, the future business situation in the future is completely different now. Unknown.
"Thank you Yang Sheng." Wu Zhande added: "Then I will prepare the company's internal information and give these data to your company, and then we will negotiate the transaction price and subsequent loan funds. "
"Okay, I will ask the people from Changxing Real Estate Company to reach an agreement with you as soon as possible." Yang Wendong nodded and said: "From now on, you will mainly contact Zheng Zhijie. Changxing Real Estate itself also has many properties for rent. You can also achieve long-term cooperation. ”
Although there is no need to worry about renting out real estate in Hong Kong, it is still the most profitable if it is more stable. Just like Pao Yugang's boat, long-term rental will yield higher profits.
"Okay." Wu Zhande replied.
Yang Wendong added: "In addition, my suggestion is to be more serious about Yihe's threat to you. For stores that are close to each other, you have to fight a price war. According to my investigation, your The service is better, so as long as you maintain the cost price or pay a little more, they will suffer serious losses."
"But when it comes to funds, I can't compare to Yihe, even with your investment. A lot worse?" Wu Zhande asked with some uncertainty.
Yang Wendong nodded and said: "Yes, but a large company like Yihe has too many businesses. They may not even know what their main businesses are. If a business suffers serious losses, it may be eliminated at any time. Cancellation, this is also the norm for large companies.”
Many people think that big companies are smart, but in fact this is not the case. There are too many companies in human history that have made obvious mistakes. Similarly, there are also many companies that have developed in such chaos that they can no longer figure out their main business.
This is also the reason why Yang Wendong imposes restrictions on his different business companies. He only allows one subsidiary to develop in one direction and can freely invest in the industrial chain and even terminal retail, but is not allowed to enter other obviously different industries. , even if you need to hoard land, you will not be allowed to develop real estate in the future, just to avoid business confusion.
Wu Zhande said: "Yang Sheng is right. Jardine Group is indeed very big now, but it is also very chaotic."
"Among the British-funded consortiums, Swire Development is actually "It's pretty good." Yang Wendong smiled: "There are several others. They are almost in chaos, but the foundation is too strong, so there is no problem for the time being. "
The biggest reason for the decline of British capital in the 1980s was not the rise of Chinese capital, but its own problems. Relatively speaking, Taikoo was more stable. , is also smarter and voted for G as early as possible.
Wu Zhande thought for a while and said: "Okay, I will do some more market research and formulate a subsequent expansion plan."
"Okay~" Yang Wendong nodded and said: "I can also give you a verbal commitment , if Jardine is determined to compete with you for the market, I will fully support you.”
Let agents engage in price wars with each other, that is what big companies like to do, such as Penguin in the previous life. Ali, the former just raised a pack of wolves to drive away the tigers.
Now Yihe is determined to compete with itself in the retail industry. In this industry, even a time traveler like Yang Wendong will find it difficult to gain absolute advantage in a short time. It is better to consume Yihe from other fields. and resources.
Of course, this is just the beginning. In the future, there will still be many excellent industries and founders among Chinese capital. They will definitely compete for the existing market of British capital. This is the instinct of business development, but it is trapped by Due to financial or background reasons, it is impossible to succeed in a short time.
And you can invest in them, which is in line with your own long-term interests. After all, even time travelers cannot invest in so many different industries indefinitely. If you are diversified, you can only choose a few core industries.
At the same time, it can also form an alliance with many Chinese capital to devour British capital. In the 21st century, British capital still had some strength in Hong Kong. This shows that Chinese capital did not do well in the original history. If you are not good enough, push yourself and achieve more with one stone.
PS: Please give me monthly tickets
(End of this chapter)