Reborn in 08, a heretical cultivator starting a business

Chapter 24: Followers Appear, Followers Die!

As the designated fruit for this year's Olympic Games, the Qilin watermelon has seen a surge in popularity.

The already expensive price has gone up even further; it costs 8 yuan in supermarkets!
The school supermarket sells them by the page, which comes out to 12 yuan per pound.

Wang Junshan uses group buying; with larger quantities, the wholesale price can be lowered, and even a lower selling price can still be quite profitable.

Other varieties like Jingxin watermelon and Black Beauty watermelon are also inexpensive and worth buying.

……

Three figures stared intently at the warehouse across the street.

Leading the group was Xu Ao, the former president of the student council.

"Brother Xu, look how booming this winter melon business is! It's incredibly profitable!" Bai Zhihui exclaimed excitedly.
"Our school doesn't have fans, and the power goes out at night. This winter melon really helps cool you down; it's amazing and can be said to be a necessity for students at Binzhou University!"

"Wang Junshan made a fortune on this deal!"

Chen Weifeng, who was standing next to him, chimed in, "If he can make money, so can we!"

"Let's go to the market and buy a thousand catties of winter melon. We should be able to get a price of six mao per catty. We can then sell it at the school for two yuan, no, one yuan and fifty cents. That's fifty cents cheaper than Wang Junshan's, and it'll definitely be a hot seller!"

“Wang Junshan sold more than two truckloads yesterday, at least 40,000 jin.”

"We can easily sell a fraction of his stock, maybe four thousand catties!"

"You make 90 cents per pound, so you can earn 900 yuan for 1,000 pounds, and 3600 yuan for 4,000 pounds. It's an absolute windfall!"

Upon hearing this, even Xu Ao, who had been silent all along, was somewhat tempted:

"Earning 3,600 a day sounds pretty good."

"But you've overlooked a few key issues."

"4000 jin of winter melon is a considerable amount. Wang Junshan has a 200-square-meter warehouse, but we don't!"

"Where to store our winter melons, how to sell them, and how to attract customers are all problems."

"Wang Junshan promoted the warehouse by distributing flyers, posting posters, and advertising on Baidu Tieba, which made everyone aware that the warehouse sold winter melons, so there was no shortage of customers."

"What about us?"

"This..." Both of them fell silent.

Some things seem simple, but they're not so simple to do.

"Besides, the market is limited. Yesterday he could sell 40,000 jin in one day, how much can he sell today?" Xu Ao continued:
"Binzhou University only has 14,000 students, and Wang Junshan has probably sold more than 4,000 winter melons in the past two days."

"In other words, more than four thousand people have already bought it, and the number of potential customers is decreasing!"

“Next, Wang Junshan’s sales will be greatly reduced. He sold 40,000 jin yesterday, but he probably won’t be able to sell 20,000 jin today.”

"Even if we were to make it, how many kilograms could we sell?"

"Even 2000 jin would be difficult; it's more likely to weigh 1,000 jin at most!"

Bai Zhihui frowned: "Brother Xu, even if it's only 1,000 jin, if we buy it for 60 cents and sell it for 1.5 yuan, we can still earn 900 yuan a day!"

"Heh, you don't charge for shipping? You don't charge for loading and unloading? You don't charge for the electronic scale?"

Xu Ao gave a cold laugh: "These are all costs, and they add up to several hundred."

"There's no such thing as free advertising? Whether it's printing flyers or distributing them, it all costs money!"

“Wang Junshan hired people to sell winter melons, paying them 6 yuan per hour. Even working 16 hours a day from morning till night, they would earn nearly 100 yuan.”

"After deducting all that money, how much of your profit of 900 will be left?"

"Well... I'm afraid we can only save two or three hundred yuan." Both of them fell silent.

"It's only two or three hundred yuan, but it's something I can do!"

Chen Weifeng refused to give up.

Just then, two passersby, each holding a winter melon, laughed and said, "Boss Dong is so generous! He's lowered the price to 1.8 yuan per jin (500g), it's a good time to buy!"

"Yeah, I didn't know winter melon could cool you down yesterday. I only found out today from the forum. And it's even on sale now, so I guess I deserve to enjoy it."

Upon hearing this, the three exchanged a glance and fell silent.

After a long silence, Xu Ao sighed: "Wang Junshan has dropped to 1.8 yuan per jin. We don't have a warehouse, so we need to ship quickly. We can only offer it at 1.3 yuan per jin."

"Even if we buy 1,000 kilograms for 60 cents each and can sell them for 1.3 yuan per kilogram, the gross profit is 700 yuan. After deducting loading and unloading fees, freight, flyer printing, advertising costs, and labor costs, how much will be left?"

“There’s practically nothing left…” Chen Weifeng’s expression was rather grim.

"Most importantly, what if Wang Junshan's price drops to 1.5 yuan again?"

Bai Zhihui's expression changed drastically: "He lowered the price to 1.5 yuan per jin, and we can only compete for customers at 1 yuan per jin, which means there is even less profit. It's purely a loss-making endeavor."

"But will he continue to lower the price?"

“Today, even without competitors, Wang Junshan dares to lower the price to 1.8 yuan. Once there are competitors, he will definitely lower the price to 1.5 yuan per kilogram because he has an absolute cost advantage.”

"Even if the price drops to 1.3 yuan per kilogram, he can still make a profit because of his large scale and low costs! We'll lose everything!"

"So, does this mean the winter melon business is doomed?" Bai Zhihui said with great distress.

Xu Ao smiled: "We can't do it, but we can let others do it."

"Brother Xu, you mean Jia Zhonghao?"

Bai Zhihui's eyes lit up: "Brother Xu, isn't he making a profit?"

“He lost out, isn’t that perfect?” Xu Ao smiled.

"Got it. That bastard Jia Zhonghao, Brother Xu promoted him to be the new student council president, but he tried to steal a female student from Brother Xu. He deserves to be screwed over."

"But how do I talk to him so that he'll fall for it?" Chen Weifeng couldn't help but ask.

"Simply say I'm planning to investigate the market, sell winter melons, and make a fortune!"

Chen Zhifeng immediately understood: "Jia Zhonghao has always been at odds with Brother Xu. He has no interest in things that Brother Xu doesn't do. But he's the first to sabotage things that Brother Xu wants to do. He's definitely going to fall for it."

"That's right, that's how we'll do it."

A sharp glint flashed in Xu Ao's eyes: "Jia Zhonghao, Jia Zhonghao, your brother Xu will always be your brother Xu!"

In fact, like Bai Zhihui and others, there are quite a few people who see the potential of winter melon.

Many people want to follow the trend and sell winter melons.

But a person with a brain would think about it again, calculate the costs, and have no choice but to give up.

Especially with Wangjunshan's price dropping to 1.8 yuan per jin, its future is even more bleak.

After all, winter melons are bulky, taking up space, and there are problems with storage, sales, loading and unloading, and transportation costs.

Even if it's a thousand kilograms, the transportation cost plus loading and unloading fees would still be three hundred yuan.

Moreover, we can negotiate a very good price for 20,000 jin, but we can't ask for a very low price for 1,000 jin.

In particular, Wang Junshan has ordered 80,000 jin of winter melons in the past few days, which has depleted the winter melon storage capacity of Binhai City.

This directly led to a shortage of winter melons in Binhai City, and all small vendors raised their prices.

If you want 10,000 jin (500 kg), we'll ship it directly from the production area in Shou County, and you can get an extra 2 mao (0.2 yuan).

But if it's only 1,000 jin, it can only be shipped locally in Binhai City, and it won't even be 6 mao (0.6 yuan) anymore, it'll be 8 mao (0.8 yuan)!
Add to that the shipping and loading/unloading fees of 300, printing and advertising fees of 200, the cost of the electronic scale, etc., and the total cost comes down to 1.6 yuan!
This doesn't even include the cost of hiring sales staff!

Selling it for 1.8 yuan won't sell it; we can't beat Wang Junshan.

Selling it for 1.5 yuan would result in a loss!

Those who truly emulate Wang Junshan deserve to die!
(End of this chapter)