September 21st fell on a Saturday.

Asia Department Store’s “buy one get one free” promotion on all summer wear instantly enlightened the state-owned department stores.

No matter how they calculated it, the state-owned stores had more off-season inventory than the Asia Department Store.

If Asia Department Store was clearing its seemingly non-existent inventory, why couldn’t they do the same?

However, everyone had agreed to launch attacks in an orderly rotation, so the stores held back their impulses, letting Zijingshan Department Store lead with their women’s clothing promotion day. Though Lu Hongbo criticized Xia Xiaolan for being calculating and insincere about the discounts, he couldn’t resist lowering his discount further, adjusting from 30% to 50% off women’s clothing.

Off-season summer wear was 50% off, while autumn clothing was 30% off.

This wasn’t even Lu Hongbo’s bottom line. If Asia Department Store made another move, he would reduce summer wear to 60% off and autumn wear to 40% off.

At 40% off, the department store’s women’s clothing would barely break even.

Below 50% off meant definite losses.

However, with clothing merchandise, the profitable period was during initial full-price sales or minimal discounts. The capital investment had already been recovered, so any subsequent sales were pure profit.

Using women’s clothing for promotions wouldn’t cause Lu Hongbo losses.

Besides, wouldn’t customers buying women’s clothing look at other products too?

While the promotion appeared to target women’s clothing, it was meant to drive store-wide consumption. Though Lu Hongbo talked about uniting to besiege Asia Department Store, he had his agenda. Since Asia Department Store opened in late August with a booming business, making life difficult for the state-owned stores, items like electronics weren’t concerned with inventory – selling a month earlier or later made little difference, upgrades weren’t that frequent, and even selling the next year was fine, with prices remaining stable.

Clothing was different.

Especially women’s clothing – styles changed rapidly these past two years. Women seemed to spend all their time studying fashion, with sharp eyes that could immediately spot non-seasonal items.

Last summer’s clothing was hard to sell this summer.

Lu Hongbo felt dejected.

In previous years, women didn’t seem so picky.

It seemed that just in recent years, their standards had risen increasingly higher.

For example, the very popular Luna brand these past two years, and that other brand competing with Luna – what was it called?

It was Luna’s bad influence, establishing “fashion consciousness” among women, even producing TV dramas, making women more selective about clothing!

Fortunately, Lu Hongbo didn’t know that Xia Xiaolan was also Luna’s co-owner or his frustration would have increased considerably…

September 21st arrived quickly.

Both Asia Department Store and Zijingshan Department Store’s promotions were attractive.

Asia Department Store excelled in style variety and appealing designs. Though they shared the same suppliers, selection made the difference. In clothing, Xia Xiaolan had more advantages than other department stores – her chosen styles were rarely unpopular. Though Asia Department Store’s remaining summer wear was limited, Xia Xiaolan had arranged with suppliers that if they had inventory, Asia Department Store could sell it on consignment.

After selling their minimal inventory through “buy one get one free,” they could help clothing suppliers clear stock. Xia Xiaolan didn’t care how much the suppliers recovered – she kept no inventory, settled accounts based on sales, and returned unsold goods to suppliers.

She only took 10% of sales as venue and labor fees.

The state-owned department stores thought Asia Department Store had little off-season inventory for promotions – they were wrong. When Xia Xiaolan offered to help suppliers clear stock, they nearly ran their shoes off rushing to participate.

A 10% service fee was fine – after all, their clothes could be sold at the Asia Department Store.

Summer clothing prices were lower than winter wear – a 50-yuan item might sell for 25 yuan now, with Asia Department Store taking 2.5 yuan, leaving suppliers with 22.5 yuan… For suppliers, this wasn’t a loss – there was still profit. Only fools would disagree.

For Xia Xiaolan, she ran the promotion without worrying about losses, taking 10% per sale, with the main costs being staff time. It was good business with nothing to complain about!

Lu Hongbo and others were naive to think Asia Department Store had little summer inventory.

Asia Department Store might not have it, but suppliers did!

These summer clothes and shoes could be sold next year – big city distributors might be picky about styles, but smaller towns wouldn’t mind. With lower wholesale prices, they’d still sell.

But that way, suppliers still bore the risk – better to clear inventory this year.

So on September 21st, Asia Department Store’s buy one get one free promotion was quite popular. Though summer clothes wouldn’t be worn much this year, attractive styles at good prices still tempted customers.

Women’s fashion changed quickly, but men’s didn’t. Many female customers bought for male family members.

The same applied to children’s wear.

For kids, buying larger sizes meant they’d fit next year.

Sandals, high heels, and slippers wouldn’t go out of style next year.

With abundant stock, good prices, and clothing and footwear for all ages, Asia Department Store’s customer flow didn’t decrease that day.

Xia Xiaolan taught Second Concubine, Song Minglan, and others a lesson.

A promotion could satisfy customers and suppliers while keeping Asia Department Store profitable.

Asia Department Store’s own inventory sold out quickly, then they sold suppliers’ stock, still buy one get one free, taking 10% commission per sale. Far from losing money, they made quite a profit that day!

That evening, Song Minglan’s eyes sparkled:

“Could we do the same with home appliances?”

Xia Xiaolan dampened her enthusiasm:

“You’re thinking too much. This works because of the clothing’s special nature. Electronics don’t go out of season – suppliers won’t agree to this approach.”

Xia Xiaolan wanted to see how Shangdu Department Store would handle their big electronics sale.

Zijingshan Department Store’s women’s clothing promotion did attract considerable customer flow.

Since Asia Department Store opened, Lu Hongbo hadn’t seen so many customers in his store.

He was offering genuine discounts.

Some customers wanted to stock up on summer wear at bargains, others sought discounted new autumn styles.

Though customer flow increased, it wasn’t the overwhelming crowd he’d imagined.

Lu Hongbo wasn’t surprised when he heard Asia Department Store’s summer items, even typically stable-priced sandals, were all buy one get one free. But their seemingly endless “inventory,” restocking as items sold out – that was unusual!

“Where did Asia Department Store get so much off-season stock?”