Chapter 10 The emperor made a small profit from consulting fees
Soon, the mass production of "Shufu Balm" soap officially began.
Zhu Houzhao priced the "Soothing Cream" at a retail price of fifteen cents per piece. He believed that after the eighteen years of Hongzhi and the people's rest, although the court had no money, the people would be rich. The purchasing power of fifteen cents was especially useful to most people. It shouldn't be a problem for the people in the capital.
However, Zhu Houzhao no longer cared about the specific management of these soaps. After all, his main responsibility was to rule the entire empire.
Wei Bin was responsible for the sales of "Soothing Balm" soap, but he cleverly found his butler and asked his store to purchase 10,000 pieces of soap in bulk at a low price of twelve cents, and paid three cents in advance. One hundred taels as a follow-up soap order.
Qiu Ju, Luo Xiang and other Eight Tigers were also not to be outdone, and asked their own shops to contact Wei Bin to order goods in bulk at low prices with a total value of more than three hundred taels.
Because of this, Royal Industrial Company made a net profit of more than 400 taels on the first day it opened.
Wei Bin and other Bahu's own stores took advantage of their information advantages to first purchase the "Soothing Cream" and then directly raised the price of each soap to one or two yuan. The price increased by more than 80 times. Even Qiu Ju, who was familiar with the production process, even He asked his servants to heat and solidify the "soothing cream" soap, making it into half a smaller soap, and then sold it at a high price of one or two pieces.
Zhu Houzhao could naturally guess their little thoughts. Otherwise, Wei Bin would not have been able to find a partner so quickly to order soap from his Royal Industrial Company in bulk, and he seemed to already know his cost price very well.
But Zhu Houzhao didn't expose it. As long as Royal Industrial Company could still make money, he didn't care if Wei Bin and others became the first batch of middlemen.
However, what Zhu Houzhao didn't expect was that Qiu Ju, Wei Bin and other eight tigers all suffered losses. After nearly half a month, they barely sold a piece of soap.
On this day, Zhu Houzhao called Qiu Ju and told him his intention to make glass.
After all, the current reserve of the Royal Industrial Company is more than 100,000 taels. There is no problem in developing glass. Glass is a simple craft product and the main manufacturing material for experimental instruments in the chemical industry and biological industry. If the Royal Industrial Company wants to further develop the industry , making glass is urgent.
However, at this time, Qiu Ju expressed his opinion: "Your Majesty, this soap seems to be unprofitable. Now you have to make glass again, so don't waste your work again."
"What, soap doesn't make money?"
Zhu Houzhao asked in surprise.
Wei Bin nodded hurriedly: "Your Majesty, what Qiu Ju said is true. The 10,000 pieces of soap ordered by Wei Ji Grocery Store have only been sold for five pieces now, and several stores that have been contacted before have sold out. Willing to restock.”
After Wei Bin finished speaking, he couldn't help but think to himself, not only was it not making money, it was simply a loss! If the emperor hadn't said that you were the biggest boss of this royal industrial company, the ministers would have directly demanded compensation. More than six hundred taels of silver, all in vain.
Qiu Ju also nodded, and watched with distress as the eunuchs moved carts of coal up the mountain. He thought that of the Royal Industrial Company's more than 100,000 taels of silver, he had invested more than 10,000 taels himself. Buying coal and making crucibles all cost your own money!
If the glass he produced does not sell for money, he will lose many years of savings.
Liu Jin was also disappointed with the Royal Industrial Company, but he did not dare to openly oppose Zhu Houzhao. He only said: "Your Majesty, the Zuo Ban Guan (civilian official) of the outer court now has great opinions on this. There are rumors outside that your Majesty, you are not doing your job properly and you are not doing your job properly." In the Leopard Room, he performed some strange tricks and neglected government affairs. The ministers listened. They are all very angry! This Royal Industrial Company should stop. Now that our foundation is not stable, it is not easy to act recklessly." Gu Dayong and others hurriedly agreed. After all, losing a few hundred taels is nothing now, but they I'm really worried that my emperor will lose all the tens of thousands of taels of silver he invested.
Zhu Houzhao only smiled slightly at this time: "Wei Bin, didn't you say that you are good at doing business, but in the end you turned into a hugely profitable business like this! You are so incompetent! Go find the store owner of Wei Ji Shop and tell him, Give me ten taels of silver, and I will keep it for him and give him a way to turn his losses into profits. If it doesn’t work, I will pay him twenty taels!”
Wei Bin couldn't help but feel happy, thinking that if he could really turn a profit by selling 10,000 pieces of soap after spending ten taels, it wouldn't matter if he spent another ten taels. If he couldn't sell it, the emperor would give him twenty taels to compensate for the loss. , and asked hurriedly: "Does your Majesty really mean what he said?"
"I am the emperor, how could I lie to you!"
Zhu Houzhao said and returned to the Leopard Room.
The other "Eight Tigers" didn't object, they were all waiting and watching, wondering if His Majesty really had a way to turn losses into profits? If there is, it is naturally a good thing, at least it will not lose so much money in vain.
Early the next morning, Wei Bin eagerly gave Zhu Houzhao the silver: "Your Majesty, the owner of Wei Ji Shop is ashamed to meet the emperor, so he asked his servant to help convey this. This is ten taels of silver."
"Well, they haven't studied the market thoroughly. The price of this soap cannot be too high. Think about it, one tael of silver is enough to buy a lot of new clothes. Who would buy a piece of soap when they can afford it for one tael of silver? Soap is naturally made by wealthy people, but wealthy people replace it with new ones every day. Clothes don’t need soap, and even washing the body doesn’t cost much, so the main target of this soap is the common people. Fifteen cents is just right! In addition, people are resistant to new things, so I’ll leave it to you how to promote it! Method.”
Zhu Houzhao told Wei Bin the method.
Wei Bin immediately asked Wei Ji Store to follow Zhu Houzhao's method and first give away small soaps for free, and then lower the price to only fifteen cents a piece. Soon, on the third day after the free small soaps were given out, six to seven hundred people came one after another. Came to buy soap and sold more than two thousand pieces that day.
On the fourth day, all the soaps in Wei Ji's store were sold out, making a profit of 300 taels! The actual profit was two hundred and ninety taels! Making less than two hundred and ninety taels a month is considered a very profitable business in this era.
Wei Bin was so happy that he came to Zhu Houzhao the next day:
"Your Majesty is worthy of being your Majesty. The ministers really admire me. Wei Ji Store sold out all its inventory of 10,000 yuan in just four days, and now there are still people eagerly waiting for it!"
Seeing this, Qiu Ju and others hurriedly asked Wei Bin privately: "Brother Wei, what method did the emperor tell you that is so effective?"
Wei Bin wished that Qiu Ju and others' soap could not be sold, so he refused on the grounds that the emperor's personal instructions could not be passed on to others.
Qiu Ju and others had no choice but to come to Zhu Houzhao with their money.
Zhu Houzhao gave everything to him one by one, and then he made a small profit of eighty taels. For ordinary people, eighty taels was naturally a lot, but for him, the emperor, it was just a way to earn some consulting fees. .
(End of chapter)