2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 85 Internet and the Real World
As times progress, modern people have higher demands for clothing; fashion and novelty are essential. For most businesses, in order to quickly capture the market, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on market trends.

For a women's clothing item to become a hit, it naturally requires a lot of effort behind the scenes; from clothing design to model selection, photography, and short video shooting and promotion, a great deal of effort must be put into all aspects.

If you have the money, you can also sponsor TV dramas and hire celebrities to endorse your products, etc., to create a huge market influence.

Tan Jincheng put in a lot of effort to research clothing styles and make the products more popular in the market.

I did a lot of research, from samples at OEM factories to small shops on the street, fashion magazines, and various online runway videos.

Sponsoring TV dramas and movies, and hiring celebrities are things that Jinpeng Trading doesn't have the capability for right now, but through market research and catering to the preferences of buyers, coupled with some insights from later generations, Tan Jincheng can still manage these things.

Therefore, Tan Jincheng has been involved in the design of almost all of Jinpeng Trading's samples to date, putting in a great deal of effort.

Currently, for Jinpeng Trading, which is essentially a shell company, these sample collections are considered core resources. What Tan Jincheng is about to show Gu Qingqing is a portion of this year's summer clothing.

Summer clothes, some foreigners might not think much of them, but it's uncertain whether they will be accepted in China, including whether the models will accept them.

Gu Qingqing is not a professional fashion model, so it's understandable that Tan Jincheng wouldn't accept some of the clothes.

Sure enough, there were several summer outfits in the sample catalog that Gu Qingqing could not accept. Seeing Tan Jincheng's knowing expression, Gu Qingqing blushed. Fortunately, Tan Jincheng did not dwell on the issue.

At this time, Tan Jincheng's headache was that his three new Taobao stores were almost finished with their decoration. The operation of the new women's clothing stores was fine, and everything was based on the old ones. It was also convenient to source goods.

The men's clothing store wasn't a big problem either, and that was easy to solve; finding models was simple. But the QQ underwear store was a bit more complicated. In 2005, social attitudes were far less open than they would be in later years.

Even professional models might not be willing to take photos like this. Do we have to go to a club to find special talent?
"What's wrong? Can't I just shoot these few?" Gu Qingqing asked with some concern when she saw Tan Jincheng frowning.

"Oh, no; I'll find someone else to film the rest. I'm thinking about something else." Tan Jincheng glanced at Gu Qingqing, then hesitated before speaking.

"Mr. Tan, do you have anything else to attend to? If so, I won't keep you any longer."

"No, do you know any other classmates who are good-looking, male or female?" After thinking for a moment, Tan Jincheng decided to ask Gu Qingqing.

"To tell you the truth, I've opened three new Taobao stores, which will be launched soon. One is for men's clothing and the other for women's clothing. I also need a few male clothing models."

It's better to have one person do the job. College students are much cheaper than professional models. If Gu Qingqing has any classmates who want to do part-time work, that would be perfect.

"You've opened another Taobao store, three of them now?" Gu Qingqing raised an eyebrow, surprised.

"Yes, go back and ask around. If any classmates are willing to film, you can introduce them. The pay will be the same as yours. Also, you can help vet some good-natured people, and I can give you a referral fee."

The last glory of brick-and-mortar businesses probably ended around 2008, after which e-commerce entered a period of rapid development. If you start nurturing these three stores now, even if you have to resort to cheating, you should be able to get a crown-level store.
At that time, selling the shop will be considered a way to profit from the internet e-commerce boom.

Opening three more Taobao stores at once? What kind of tactic is this? Are Taobao stores really that profitable?
Gu Qingqing, who was already curious about Taobao shops and even thought about earning some pocket money, felt that Tan Jincheng's thinking was somewhat unusual. "If everyone buys things online, what will happen to physical stores?" This question suddenly came to Gu Qingqing's mind.

Online operating costs are lower, so wouldn't that mean her store's revenue would decrease significantly? Gu Qingqing suddenly thought of this question.

"Okay, I'll go back and ask my classmates to see if anyone's interested." Then, Gu Qingqing asked curiously, "Didn't you say there were three shops? What does the other one sell?"

This question caught Tan Jincheng off guard. How was he supposed to explain this? Discussing this topic with an 18-year-old girl seemed a bit indecent.

"Um, the lingerie store," Tan Jincheng said ambiguously, scratching his head.

"Pah." Gu Qingqing spat inwardly and didn't press the matter further.

This young boss is really obsessed with money; he'll make money from anything. A grown man selling underwear, isn't he ashamed at all?

But this isn't the time to dwell on that. We should ask the small business owner why he's so optimistic about online stores, opening three at once, bringing his total to four.

For some reason, after listening to Tan Jincheng describe his experiences at sea for more than a year, Gu Qingqing felt that Tan Jincheng did this not just because opening an online store was cheaper.

For someone who has a very clear plan and is willing to study English diligently in addition to working for a year in advance in order to do import and export business, doing business should not be so simple.

So, Gu Qingqing tentatively asked, "Boss Tan, do you have a very positive outlook on the development of online stores?"

"Yes, with the increasing popularity of computers and mobile phones, as well as the convenience of internet payment, online shopping will definitely become more and more popular in the future," Tan Jincheng nodded.

Looking at Gu Qingqing, Tan Jincheng smiled and said, "Imagine what it would be like if one day you could receive local specialties from most provinces and cities across the country online within two or three days, and easily buy whatever you want to eat?"

Tan Jincheng wasn't surprised that Gu Qingqing could think of this; being able to get into university was proof of her intelligence, even in 2022 when university enrollment was greatly expanded, the number of undergraduates was only 4% of the total population.

Before graduation, they will always be the pride of heaven.

Moreover, Gu Qingqing was born in a city where chicken feathers could be traded for sugar, a city with a very strong commercial atmosphere.

There's nothing to hide. Since 05, the country has changed faster every year. If you pay attention, even if you don't realize it now, you'll be able to see the trend next year or the year after.

"Wouldn't that impact the rent of physical stores, like the International Trade City in our area?" Gu Qingqing finally asked the question that concerned her the most.

"Huh? That's what she's concerned about? Looks like this girl's family owns a shop."

(End of this chapter)