The city of Shangdu wasn’t that big. With several department stores sharing overlapping suppliers, Lu Hongbo quickly understood why Yaxiya had so many summer clothes available for half-price promotions. Those suppliers were laughing all the way to the bank, privately praising Yaxiya’s young general manager Xia Xiaolan.
Initially, Lu Hongbo suggested holding a “friendship meeting” to gather suppliers and have several department stores jointly pressure them to stop supplying to Yaxiya… This tactic violated market economy principles, but none of the state-owned department store managers saw anything wrong with it.
In their minds, this was perfectly normal. Without their approval, suppliers wouldn’t provide goods to Yaxiya – “fair competition” wasn’t in their vocabulary. Wasn’t it laughable to expect monopolists to practice fair competition?
Unfortunately, Xia Xiaolan helped suppliers clear their inventory, quietly thwarting Lu Hongbo’s planned strategy. When Lu Hongbo wanted to hold the “friendship meeting,” those suppliers hemmed and hawed, making excuses not to attend, and showing no intention of stopping their supply to Yaxiya.
Lu Hongbo angrily slammed the table, while other department store managers cursed. Were these suppliers trying to rebel? The workforce was becoming increasingly difficult to control! Things weren’t like this before. After Yaxiya opened, it broke its monopoly over Shangdu’s retail department store industry. Just thinking about this made them all more upset.
“Old Lu, this strategy isn’t working against Yaxiya at all!”
Lu Hongbo gritted his teeth: “This Xia is too cunning, truly a capitalist. She caught our weakness this time. Let her have her way for now – I’ll see if any home appliance suppliers are still willing to play along with her schemes.”
Everyone wanted to clear out-of-season clothing inventory, so clothing suppliers naturally responded to Yaxiya’s proposal. However, when it came to home appliances, suppliers absolutely wouldn’t agree to bear the risk of fifty percent discounts. If Yaxiya wanted to continue this approach, they would need to take back their stock first. For instance, with an electric fan costing 85 yuan wholesale, Yaxiya would need to pay for the goods upfront, and then they could sell at whatever price they wanted.
Lu Hongbo was right. On September 22nd, when Shangdu Department Store launched its big home appliance sale, Yaxiya couldn’t match it. Yaxiya maintained original prices on home appliances while continuing their buy-one-get-one-free summer clothing promotion… This couldn’t compete with the Shangdu Department Store. The massive home appliance discount had tremendous appeal to Shangdu’s citizens, who saved their money specifically for big purchases!
If the neighbors had a television, wouldn’t you want one too? When a coworker’s son got married and bought a new washing machine, the in-laws bragged about how their daughter married well and didn’t have to wash clothes by hand anymore – naturally, other wives would start complaining. And what about electric fans in summer? Wasn’t pressing a button for cool air better than tiring your arm with a palm leaf fan?
How strong was the appeal of home appliances to common people? Years ago, buying appliances required ration coupons, and collecting enough coupons for a television wasn’t easy – people had to borrow them from relatives and friends. If such difficulties couldn’t stop people’s desire for home appliances, how could they resist Shangdu Department Store’s big discount?
If neighbors had a black and white TV, you’d want to buy a color one! Having a competitive spirit wasn’t bad – how else would society progress? Besides, it wasn’t just about competition; it was about pursuing a better life. If everyone hoarded their money like Grandet, the economy would stagnate.
So on September 22nd, when Shangdu Department Store launched its home appliance sale, customers flooded in. No other department store in Shangdu could steal their thunder – not even Yaxiya. The long-legged female honor guard’s performance and storewide summer clothing clearance couldn’t compete with genuinely discounted home appliances.
Shangdu Department Store was ruthless – selling 83-yuan fans at 83 yuan, making zero profit. Factoring in labor, venue, and transportation costs, this home appliance sale was a genuine loss-maker.
Facing the explosive customer flow, Shangdu Department Store’s general manager felt both joy and worry. He was happy to experience having so many customers that entry had to be limited, with customers guided to shop in batches. He worried that they were losing money to gain attention.
Because Yaxiya showed no response, their customer flow plummeted that day, and even the buy-one-get-one summer clothing promotion couldn’t save it. The state-owned store managers, led by Lu Hongbo, felt they had won a round.
The stores’ morale soared, and following Lu Hongbo’s strategy, they continued taking turns holding sales promotions. For a while, Shangdu citizens’ discussions shifted from “Yaxiya” to “discount sales.”
Coworkers chatted about which store was having what sale, asking if others wanted to go shopping after work. Even if they hadn’t completely stolen Yaxiya’s customer flow, they came close.
After the grand opening peak, Yaxiya’s daily sales still exceeded 1 million yuan, but with state-owned department stores taking turns with promotions, Yaxiya’s customer flow dropped significantly, with daily sales falling to as low as 210,000 yuan.
210,000 yuan. For such a large store, only 210,000 yuan in daily sales?!
210,000 yuan in daily sales wasn’t small. But having seen the grand opening’s 2 million plus and being accustomed to daily sales of over 1 million, no one was satisfied with 210,000 yuan.
Xia Xiaolan wasn’t satisfied, but she could control herself and not show anxiety. Second Aunt wasn’t satisfied and had suggested several times to Xia Xiaolan about joining the price war. Of course, Xia Xiaolan refused each time.
“Second Aunt, since you initially supported me as general manager of Yaxiya, during my tenure, you should support my decisions. Yaxiya is just making less profit now, not losing money. If Yaxiya joins the big discount promotion, the situation will become completely uncontrollable. I don’t like doing things according to others’ rhythm.”
Second Aunt was no match for Xia Xiaolan, not even in verbal sparring.
Time flew to mid-October, and even though Yaxiya’s daily sales had dropped to just over 100,000 yuan, Xia Xiaolan still stubbornly refused to follow the state-owned department stores’ big discount promotions, seemingly unworried.
While employee morale was low, she took several days off to fly to Qiong Island to see Zhou Cheng.
Was Xia Xiaolan unconcerned?
At night, when Zhou Cheng held her while sleeping, he could feel her ribs under her chest, one by one.
His wife had never been associated with the word “fat,” but she had never been this thin either.
Zhou Cheng knew about Yaxiya’s situation, but he didn’t persuade Xia Xiaolan to give up. If Xiaolan insisted on not having discount promotions, she must have her reasons.
What should he do, what could he do to help his wife?
Xia Xiaolan snuggled into Zhou Cheng’s embrace, not minding that they were both sweaty:
“What are you thinking about? Worried about Yaxiya’s situation?”