2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 124 Taking a break from the busy schedule
I woke up, picked up my phone and checked the time. It was already past 10 a.m., and I could have lunch in another hour.

“I drank a bit too much last night. This won’t do. I’m too young to hang out with these old guys, or I’ll ruin myself.” Tan Jincheng rubbed his head.

Last night, Zhang Mingcan set up another karaoke session. I don't understand why these old men like karaoke so much, and they seem to have a particular fondness for the fake alcohol in karaoke bars.

It seems that KTVs won't be popular for many more years. I don't know when it started, but nobody went there anymore. However, in 2005, business was still pretty good.

The KTV at the foot of Phoenix Mountain is packed every night.

Without the early mornings and late nights of this stage from my previous life, my biological clock seems to have changed, and I need to drink more often. It's time to make a change; if I continue like this, I'll be ruined in a few years.

Looking at those famous big shots, regardless of their personal abilities or online reputation, there is no doubt that they are a group of people full of energy and must be in good physical condition. Ordinary people really cannot cope with that kind of work intensity.

I took a shower, threw my clothes into the laundry bin, and by the time I finished washing up, it was already past eleven o'clock.

After thinking about it, it seemed that there was nothing important to do today. Lin Yumin and Wu Zhenping had already started to build a sales team. Since arriving at Beicang that day, Tan Jincheng had told them about their future work as soon as possible.

The two of them each took charge of a team, recruiting people when needed and providing funds when needed, to quickly build up their teams. They started by practicing and training the teams by bringing in business from Jinyi Industry. Once they were in charge of Shanchi, they would use their teams to conquer the market.

Those who perform well have a higher chance of becoming the marketing manager of Flash Automotive in the future, with double the salary and double the power. What it means to be the marketing manager of an electric vehicle company with an annual output value of nearly 100 million yuan is self-evident.

After Tan Jincheng left, the two exchanged wry smiles: "From this moment on, we are competitors. The young man from the Tan family really has some tricks up his sleeve."

"Yes, this 2 yuan settlement allowance isn't so easy to get. But it's a good thing that the boss has some tricks up his sleeve. How long a private enterprise can survive actually depends more on the boss's ability."

"That's true. If he trusts us completely and doesn't guard up at all, then it's actually a bit scary."

"So, Brother Lin, we'll have to compete from now on. Whoever becomes the marketing manager, remember to treat us to a meal."

"Haha, no problem, Brother Wu too. Doing this makes you seem like you're back in your twenties, full of energy."

"That's true. I now feel that our adventure is 60% successful."

"I think so too, at least we've already made a profit."

Tan Jincheng originally wanted the two of them to rest for two days, since it was the weekend, but the two of them didn't even think about it and immediately got to work, approaching Chen Jinwen to recruit people and build a team.

Since that's the case, Tan Jincheng didn't stop him. If he wanted to do it, so be it. It wouldn't do any harm to the boss. At the same time, Tan Jincheng also asked Chen Jinwen to recruit more salespeople. In addition to the two of them forming a team, Tan Jincheng himself would also lead a team to go out and do business.

In terms of starting business, Tan Jincheng's personal ability is also quite good.

Everything is proceeding smoothly, and the testing of the parts is not yet complete. Tan Jincheng, who was originally scheduled to go on a business trip this week, suddenly found himself with nothing to do.

Since I'm not too busy, I'll go check out Jinpeng Trading. I haven't been there in a long time, and I don't know if Zhang Xupeng is at the company. I just went to his room, but no one was there.

Driving to Jinpeng Trading, I happened to run into Li Jinglan downstairs, who was on her way to buy food. She was accompanied by a girl that Tan Jincheng didn't recognize. After asking her, I learned that Zhang Xupeng was upstairs.

"Please bring me a meal too. I haven't had breakfast or lunch yet." After giving this instruction, Tan Jincheng went upstairs on his own.

As soon as she arrived at the company entrance, the sharp-eyed Li Yanning spotted Tan Jincheng: "Hey, Boss Tan, what brings you here? Have you eaten yet? If not, I'll call Jinglan to bring you some."

"I just ran into her downstairs. I told her, 'It's been a long time since I've seen Sister Yanning,'" Tan Jincheng said with a smile.

Meanwhile, glancing around the office, Jinpeng Trading had changed considerably since the Canton Fair. Liu Wenbin was nowhere to be seen; he was probably out. In addition to Li Yanning, there were three other employees.

The three of them were looking at Tan Jincheng with curiosity. It was said that there was another boss in the company, but they had never seen him before. This must be the one in front of them.
Tan Jincheng nodded to the three of them and walked straight into Zhang Xupeng's office.

"Boss Zhang, long time no see! Where have you been making your fortune lately?" Tan Jincheng pushed open the door and said loudly.

What's he busy with? Didn't he notice the commotion outside?

Tan Jincheng's voice startled Zhang Xupeng, and his hand trembled as he reached to turn off the computer screen.

This action really piqued Tan Jincheng's curiosity, and he quickly ran over to stop him: "You kid, you're not watching porn in broad daylight, are you?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? I was just startled by you, that's why I had a stress reaction!" Zhang Xupeng denied repeatedly. "Get out of the way, let me see what you're doing." After pushing Zhang Xupeng off the chair, Tan Jincheng turned on the computer screen, only to see the comments section of his own QQ Underwear's Taobao store.

"Damn, are you bored? You're actually looking at this? You know perfectly well where these pictures came from."

"It's not what you think!" Zhang Xupeng argued, his face flushed.

"What is it?" Tan Jincheng asked with a meaningful smile.

"Don't look at me like that." Zhang Xupeng said a little embarrassedly, "Okay, to tell you the truth, I'm researching this store. I found that its sales are really good and very stable."

"What's there to study about this? If you want to know, just come to my place and ask them for the data."

"Well, well, it's a little embarrassing to say, but I've actually been thinking about opening a shop like this, so I've been researching it lately," Zhang Xupeng said, scratching his head sheepishly.

Tan Jincheng suddenly realized and said, "Oh, so this is what you're doing here. I thought you had some special hobby. Well then, go ahead and open one. You know where to get your supplies and roughly how much profit you can make."

"Wouldn't that be inappropriate? Like I'm stealing your business?"

"What's the big deal? Even if you don't open one, someone else will. One more or one less won't make a difference. Besides, what others earn is nothing compared to what you earn. But I'm a little curious, why did you decide to open a Taobao store?"

Zhang Xupeng pulled up a chair and sat down, saying, "Hey, Jinpeng Trading has already gotten into the right track, and we've recruited enough employees. Apart from business matters, I don't have much to do. I figured I might as well open another Taobao store and earn a little more money since I'm just sitting around doing nothing."

The business of Jinshang Clothing, Xiaotan, and the other two stores is really good, and the profit margin is extremely high. This model of factory direct + Taobao store is extremely profitable nowadays. A summer dress priced at 59 yuan has an average cost of less than 10 yuan. If 100 pieces are sold a day, the profit is 5000 yuan.

QQ underwear's profit margin is even more outrageous. The cost of a few pieces of fabric is almost negligible. Although its sales volume is not as high as regular clothes, it is stable. In addition, with Xiao Tan's shrewd tactics, the store's traffic has always been good. Plus, with the discreet shipping policy, its sales are much better than other stores.

Another advantage is that this thing hardly needs after-sales service. Most customers who place orders do so secretly and directly, and there is no need to deal with the return process after purchasing. Everything is really as Xiao Tan said.

"Go ahead and do it, it's fine. Take advantage of the good business these past few years, and our advantage in supply, to earn more. When the competition gets fierce later, we won't have to work so hard for this money."

"Then I'll open one too? And find something to do while I'm at it?"

"Well, you don't need to think too much. You know what I'm busy with right now. These shops were just something I set up on a whim, and I don't care about the profits."

"Damn, you're so arrogant. A Taobao store can earn enough to buy a decent house in a year, and you're still not interested? You're just bragging."

"I'm not bragging. I'm focused on my electric scooter right now. If you're too lazy to drive it, I can even transfer that QQ lingerie shop to you."

"No, no, I can run my own business, it's not a big deal; by the way, what brings you here today?" Zhang Xupeng waved his hand and said.

Sitting in his office chair, Tan Jincheng said casually, "Nothing much. I haven't been here in a while, so I came to visit and grab a free lunch."

This kid can't escape the "it's actually good" phenomenon. He used to think this thing was tacky, but now he's secretly researching it.

However, what Tan Jincheng didn't know was that he didn't care. The few Taobao shops he casually set up, with their novel operating methods including free shipping in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, confidential delivery, and unconventional traffic generation, caused a surge in traffic to the shops in a short period of time, which has already attracted considerable attention among Taobao shop assistants.

After checking the backend data, the shop assistant found that these four stores, whose registered locations and IP addresses were all related to stores in Ningbo, had some order-brushing behavior, but it was not particularly excessive. The surge in traffic was entirely due to their unique operating methods.

The spirit of the internet cannot be separated from innovation. Although Tan Jincheng had never operated a Taobao store in his previous life, his thinking, influenced by the mobile internet era, was more than 10 years ahead of the current operating model. In today's terms, it would be a game-changer.

However, he himself did not realize it. In the end, Tan Jincheng was more focused on real-world business. The internet was just something he did casually. Moreover, in essence, while people who run real businesses may envy the speed at which internet people can make money, they still look down on these "parasites" to some extent.

In 2005, the two Mas were not yet the giants of the mobile internet. Ma was busy solving the problem of mobile payment and the struggle with Yahoo was also giving him a headache, while Ma was still struggling with the topic of how to monetize traffic.

In this era, the internet belonged to the three major portal websites and a host of gaming giants like Shanda. The appearance of four innovative related stores on Taobao and the sudden large-scale purchase of 10 shares of QQ in the secondary market were enough to attract their internal attention.

The reason why Tan Jincheng has not been found yet is twofold: firstly, the person who discovered the problem has not yet reported it, and they want to observe the other party's subsequent actions; secondly, both companies are currently in a state of utter chaos, and the founders are focused on how to survive, so they have no time to pay attention to such trivial matters.

Old Ma had a famous saying from his previous life: "We were only three months away from bankruptcy," which seems to have happened around this time.

(End of this chapter)