“Mom!”
Liu Fen was embraced the moment she stepped off the train.
Even without seeing the person, just hearing the voice and catching the scent, she knew it was her daughter.
“You silly girl, stop fooling around and go get the goods.”
The final batch of merchandise had traveled on the train with Liu Fen, arriving in the cargo car.
Xia Xiaolan waved to those behind her, and four neatly dressed young women came forward to greet their boss.
They chattered cheerfully, their voices light and spirited. Wearing matching suit dresses, they were young and beautiful – impossible not to notice.
Xia Xiaolan took two of the girls to collect the goods. The vehicle had been arranged beforehand. Liu Fen watched their efficient movements and realized the ‘training’ had truly been effective.
“How did Grandmother Yu train them?”
When Liu Fen had left for Yangcheng to get merchandise, they hadn’t been this capable.
“The uniform makes us look professional as soon as we put it on. You chose well with these uniforms.”
The four shop assistants wore what Liu Fen had sent back in the previous shipment. Spring called for bright colors, so Liu Fen had selected blue and white ensembles – white shirts with sky-blue jackets and A-line skirts. The shop assistants who had previously found training tedious now naturally stood straighter once wearing the uniforms. Each high-quality outfit, resistant to washing and deformation, costs several dozen yuan even at wholesale prices. Add a pair of block-heeled leather shoes, and the entire ensemble cost over a hundred yuan. Being able to wear such outfits before the store even opened demonstrated the “promising future” of this job to the young women!
As for Luna’s shop assistants in Beijing, they naturally wore Luna-designed uniforms.
Though Xia Xiaolan had trained them together, only three shop assistants bound for Yangcheng knew they would work at Luna. Those in Beijing didn’t learn until the end that they would work at different stores.
Two stores were ‘Blue Phoenix,’ and one was ‘Luna.’ While the assistants couldn’t tell the difference, Xia Xiaolan as manager needed to keep them separate.
She wouldn’t have Luna’s staff help organize her own clothing store’s merchandise, nor would she let her staff help Luna. Though both sold women’s clothing, the two stores had completely different business philosophies.
Liu Fen had no time to talk about what happened in Yangcheng.
Whether it was meeting Xia Dajun and the Xia family, or Tang Hongen’s thoughtful gestures, now wasn’t the time to discuss it.
She and Li Fengmei had selected so many spring items for ‘Blue Phoenix,’ and before the clothes could be sold, they needed to have threads trimmed, checks for damage, proper ironing, and price tags attached.
Then there was coordination.
If a customer liked a sweater, how could they be convinced to buy matching pants?
While trying on the sweater, have them try the pants too. If the outfit looks good together, they might not want to give up the pants.
These were sales techniques that tested the shop assistants’ aesthetic sense and judgment.
Xia Xiaolan hoped these young women had paid attention during training.
“During probation, you’ll only get a basic salary, but you can earn perfect attendance bonuses! After probation, you’ll get a commission on everything you sell. So, what should you do after organizing the merchandise?”
“We should work hard distributing flyers…”
“Correct, and who should you give them to?”
“To fashionable women who look like they care about their appearance.”
They eagerly answered Xia Xiaolan’s questions.
Xia Xiaolan pointed to the tallest girl, “Qian Ying, you answer.”
Qian Ying looked at Xia Xiaolan with admiration. Young Manager Xia wasn’t much older than them but had taught them so much during training.
Like being called on by a teacher in class, Qian Ying feared answering incorrectly: “Give them to women in government compound areas, those with permed hair, those shopping at department stores.”
Xia Xiaolan had said every social circle had a “fashion trendsetter.”
For instance, in any work unit’s compound, there would be certain women whose style others noticed and imitated.
If flyers could precisely reach these women’s hands, the advertising effect would spread to half the work unit!
Xia Xiaolan thought of Editor Cui. If the soft advertising worked well enough, she should collaborate with Editor Cui to offer clothing discount coupons as magazine supplements. Those who shopped with coupons would get an 11.2% discount during specified dates. If the store was already having a sale, the discounts would stack… Fashion magazine subscribers were exactly the precise customer group Xia Xiaolan needed to attract.
This could be left for Blue Phoenix.
Blue Phoenix focused on volume, Luna on branding – two different business models.
As for the flyers in the shop assistants’ hands, this wasn’t a new idea. She had thought of it when meeting Director Wang Linshu at Da Guan Yuan. The original flyers had only text, but Xia Xiaolan simply added color photos of models.
The first batch of goods arrived two days ago. The photographer Director Wang recommended had introduced a calendar model, who posed in several spring outfits… The photographer’s private work wasn’t expensive, and calendar models only got paid around 10 yuan per selected photo. Xia Xiaolan chose 5 photos and made a simple collage – that cost was negligible.
The expensive part was color printing.
Even just printing flyers wasn’t a small expense.
Having spent money and effort, the flyers needed maximum impact.
Before opening, she had the shop assistants distribute them everywhere.
Each person had a quota to distribute throughout the city within a day. The shop assistants alone couldn’t complete it, but as local Beijing residents with friends and relatives, they could accomplish it with help.
Xia Xiaolan didn’t have to pay any of these flyer distributors.
Grandmother Yu called her a ruthless businesswoman, and even Manager Wu came to ask:
“You’re not open yet, but the whole family’s helping distribute flyers. People are asking me about it today – is this flyer distribution okay?”
Some people still had concerns about individual businesses being so high-profile, feeling nervous while distributing flyers.
But Xia Xiaolan wasn’t worried, “This is how the clothing store’s investment will quickly break even, and I’ll repay the bank loan soon, don’t you agree? It’s fine, just opening announcements. If the flyers work well, you might even see our store’s advertisements in newspapers later.”
Manager Wu hadn’t come to criticize Xia Xiaolan’s business practices. Having the whole family help seemed perfectly reasonable to him.
Jobs weren’t easy to find, and bank tellers weren’t exactly relaxed. At least Xia Xiaolan was having shop assistants’ friends and relatives distribute flyers – bank employees’ friends and relatives had to spend real money buying government bonds!
“If there’s no problem, then good. Your store seems quite grand – business will surely prosper!”
“Thank you for your kind words.”
Manager Wu wasn’t the only one who noticed these flyers. They seemed to appear anywhere women gathered.
Xia Xiaolan was truly ruthless – she’d specifically noted and instructed shop assistants to target units with high salaries and good benefits, where working women had money! Also, places where people cared about fashion, like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs… So whether people liked Xia Xiaolan or not, they had equal chances of seeing the flyers.
…
“A clothing store?”
Zhou Yi was handed a paper as soon as she went out.
With color-printed large images, she didn’t immediately throw it away. While holding it on her way to meet friends, she discovered she wasn’t the only one who received one.
So what was this about?
“Opening on the 17th – whoever it is, they’re doing it big!”