Xia Xiaolan would never do something pointlessly complicated.

Now that the state-owned department stores led by Zi Jing Shan were engaging in real price reduction promotions, it wouldn’t be simple to attract customers back to Ya Xi Ya without sustaining major losses.

Xia Xiaolan’s “shopping cards” alone weren’t enough, but adding cash back on recharges would surely attract some customers to return.

Once purchased, the shopping card’s balance would remain until used, unlike the state-owned stores’ promotions which might end in a few days if customers didn’t buy immediately.

The shopping cards had another advantage – they were anonymous. People would surely realize their clever use soon enough. When trying to do someone a favor, a gift might not suit their taste, and giving cash would be explicitly wrong… ahem, wouldn’t a store shopping card be perfect? It wasn’t conspicuous, and let the recipient choose what they wanted.

Amitabha, this secondary effect wasn’t Xia Xiaolan’s intention – she just wanted to turn Ya Xi Ya’s situation around!

Song Minglan thought it was pointlessly complicated because she didn’t understand the key points.

Price reduction promotions were something any store could do, but once prices were lowered, customers would object to raising them again. Unless all stores in the price war set aside their differences and agreed to restore original prices together, any store raising prices unilaterally would face customer resentment and skepticism.

Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t reduce prices.

Instead, she could use ‘shopping cards’ to ensnare customers step by step – no need to rush, everyone would get their turn!

First, this was Ya Xi Ya offering discounts, but not purely discounts. At least Ya Xi Ya’s merchandise prices hadn’t hit rock bottom – to put it crudely, they maintained their prestige. Without shopping cards, prices stayed original, keeping Ya Xi Ya’s high-end department store image.

Meanwhile, several state-owned stores were also offering discounts, but customers showed no loyalty – they’d go wherever had sales!

But once customers started using Ya Xi Ya’s ‘shopping cards,’ they’d gradually be tied to Ya Xi Ya.

The shopping cards had no time limit, no usage restrictions, retained unused balance indefinitely and could be used for any type of merchandise store-wide… When customers went to Zi Jing Shan’s state-owned stores, discounted items might not be what they wanted. Unless those stores were willing to operate at a loss with store-wide discounts seven days a week, they couldn’t match Ya Xi Ya’s ‘shopping card’ store-wide advantage.

Ya Xi Ya had another subtle strategy – items that could be priced at 10 yuan were usually priced at 9.9 yuan, leaving that 0.1 yuan difference.

This was retail psychology – though 9.9 and 10 yuan differed by just 0.1 yuan, it suggested to customers that the item hadn’t reached 10 yuan, so it wasn’t too expensive.

When card payments became available, these omnipresent odd amounts would serve their purpose – how many customers could spend exactly in whole numbers every time?

Unable to reach whole numbers, with the balance remaining on their cards, wouldn’t they need to come back for second and third shopping trips?

When they returned for second and third visits with just a few yuan and jiao left, unwilling to waste the balance but insufficient for purchases, seeing the recharge cashback promotion still ongoing, they’d recharge again—

This strategy was refined through merchants’ years of experience.

Gyms, bakeries, and all kinds of businesses used this approach with consumers. Though cash payments could be made one visit at a time, they persuaded customers to get membership cards using discount benefits, and while the balance remained, customers’ first thought for purchases would be stored where they held membership cards!

The principles were all connected. Xia Xiaolan could have explained this to Song Minglan but chose to let her figure it out herself.

She wasn’t making things difficult for Song Minglan; on the contrary, she was planning to cultivate her.

Rumors were circulating at Ya Xi Ya that she couldn’t manage and would invite Zhu Suizhou back to take charge, yet Song Minglan showed no such inclination, despite being Zhu Suizhou’s relative with closer ties.

Based on this alone, Xia Xiaolan felt Song Minglan was worth cultivating.

Song Minglan might not be loyal to her, but she truly devoted herself to Ya Xi Ya, loyal to her position as “Special Assistant” – this was professional integrity.

Second Aunt had doubts, but with so many successful “cases” under Xia Xiaolan’s belt, she decided to trust her once more.

After two days of thinking, Song Minglan remained confused.

Nevertheless, she followed Xia Xiaolan’s instructions, working tirelessly to promote the ‘shopping cards.’

Even if shopping cards could keep customers at Ya Xi Ya, they first needed to know about them, understand the recharge cashback promotion, and how to use the cards – the city’s residents needed to feel confident about it.

Xia Xiaolan wanted to film a simple, clear advertisement.

No complex plot is needed – just someone shopping, opening their wallet, counting money, realizing they hadn’t brought enough, and becoming flustered.

Another person would reach the cashier, take out a card to swipe, with a beep completing payment, followed by an electronic voice: “Purchase amount XX yuan, card balance XX yuan, enjoy your shopping at Ya Xi Ya.”

Add some narration explaining the “shopping cards,” especially highlighting Ya Xi Ya’s current recharge cashback promotion, and the advertisement would be complete.

No need for special actors – Ya Xi Ya’s female salespeople and ceremonial staff were all attractive and would look good on TV.

The challenge wasn’t the advertisement but the payment system. Current computers had limited memory, and Xu Jing had spent considerable time creating this stripped-down version that barely functioned. It could only process card payments, required manual reconciliation, lacked barcode scanning for automatic entry, and needed manual input for transaction amounts.

Even this simplified version couldn’t be completed in a day or two. When Xia Xiaolan took over Ya Xi Ya, she had been planning for future chain operations, having Xu Jing start preparations two or three months ago. Originally planned for two or three years of development, they now had to launch it early to compete with state-owned stores’ promotions – perfection was secondary, card payment processing was primary, and Xia Xiaolan couldn’t demand more under such urgent circumstances!

Half a month passed, and Xia Xiaolan felt Ya Xi Ya was ready for battle. Staff had been retrained, cashiers understood card processing, and she prepared to launch TV advertisements.

Old Huang secretly called Qiong Island:

“Director Zhu, isn’t it laughable? Do they think a little card can turn things around? She doesn’t even know that the city’s suppliers, after observing for so long and seeing Ya Xi Ya’s lack of effective competitive measures, have decided to cut off Ya Xi Ya’s supply… Director Zhu, please come back to take charge, or Ya Xi Ya will truly be finished – this is your life’s work!”