Chapter 164: Providing For Your Milk Tea

Jiang Qin’s purpose in coming to Wanzhong Mall was certainly not for an electric pot. It was just a coincidence – he needed an electric pot, saw an electric pot, and Yue Zhu was willing to gift him one. The two sides hit it off and everyone was pleased.

His real purpose for this trip was actually to get a copy of Wanzhong Mall’s sales data for this quarter.

“What do you want this for?”

“For facilitating sales.”

“?”

Jiang Qin sat in Yue Zhu’s office and took a sip of tea. “Wanzhong sells a wide variety of items and types, it’s easy to get lost just browsing.”

After hearing this, Yue Zhu smiled slightly. “That’s what a mall is. It’s also why we value offline traffic more. Many people have no idea what they want to buy before entering the mall, but usually figure it out as they browse. So as the marketing manager, my job is to attract more people to walk through the mall doors.”

“That’s right, but complex and diverse products are not conducive to online sales.”

“Is General Manager Jiang referring to that new website you developed?”

Jiang Qin nodded very frankly. “Our supermarket and commercial street channels can already meet 80% of college students’ needs, so the mall section has very low traffic.”

Yue Zhu could understand this phenomenon. “Buying things on a website definitely won’t have the same experience as shopping in a mall. Low traffic is normal.”

“So I hope to select a batch of Wanzhong’s most popular products that are suitable for college students – high quality, good taste, fashionable, and can’t be bought in retail supermarkets or pedestrian street stores. Using this as a foundation, I want to make a recommended product section in the forum. To put it bluntly, if they don’t want to browse, I’ll help pick for them.”

“I’m having a hard time imagining it.”

Jiang Qin put it another way. “Simply put, I hope online shopping isn’t just a necessity for life, but can also become a form of leisure and entertainment. Got your living expenses and want to spend money but don’t know what to buy? Check out the curated product section. Maybe on impulse you’ll buy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 things, just like browsing the mall. You can consume without a target.”

Yue Zhu thought for a bit. “People will buy just because you recommend it? No way, right?”

“Let me give an example. If someone says this lipstick makes you look super fair, it’s this year’s trendy shade, a must-have for rich pretty girls, and lists out the pros and cons for you with detailed first-hand experience. She even calls you dear sister and tells you to hurry and buy it. And right under the special section there happens to be a discount coupon, and they’ll deliver it to your door. So, what would you do then?”

“I…would probably buy it.”

Yue Zhu thought, if a sister really said that to her, and there was a discount, and it was delivered to her doorstep…even if she didn’t initially plan to buy lipstick, she might buy one.

No choice, she called me dear sister after all!

After hearing this, Jiang Qin nodded. “So I want to use this method to tap into the consumption potential of our forum users.”

“But I can’t just give out sales data, I need to check with Manager He first.”

“Manager He is here?”

“Yes, how about this, I’ll take you upstairs and you can tell him yourself, so I don’t transmit the message inaccurately.”

Jiang Qin nodded and followed Yue Zhu to Manager He’s office. After hearing his intent, He Yijun pondered for a long while and finally nodded in agreement.

Although sales data can’t be made public casually, the important part is really the numbers. As long as the numbers are obscured a bit, giving a copy is no big deal.

To a certain degree, he was willing to accept a new channel. Since Jiang Qin was willing to give it a try, he wanted to see how far it could go.

It’s free anyway, right?

Businessmen chase profits, and profits without costs are even sweeter.

Since they agreed to join the group-buy site in the first place, doing a favor is also beneficial for Wanzhong Mall.

“Many thanks for Manager He’s support.” Jiang Qin sincerely expressed his gratitude after getting the data.

He Yijun waved his hand. “We’re all old friends, no need to be so polite. By the way General Manager Jiang, when did your rebellious phase end?”

“I’m still very rebellious even now.” Jiang Qin’s mouth twitched. “Why is Manager He asking this?”

“You met my daughter last time right? She got into a fight at school recently and was suspended for a week. Wouldn’t it be great if she was a study superstar like you?”

The corner of Jiang Qin’s mouth twitched. Is this inside joke never going to end?

When you say it yourself it doesn’t feel awkward, but when others say it, it really does feel awkward.

He was afraid Manager He would sigh a few more sentences. Maybe he would dig through the floorboards with his toes and fall straight from the fifth floor to the fourth floor. So he stood up to say goodbye and quickly left.

After Jiang Qin left, He Yijun took out that letter of intent from the cabinet and looked at it again.

To be honest, he still wasn’t optimistic about Jiang Qin, let alone this online sales model. But if young people dare to think and try, it’s no big deal if they lose.

The security department said that when he came last time, he was riding a Bentley with a driver.

With that kind of background, it probably doesn’t matter if he loses.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was late December.

After Room 208’s full preparation, the Dorm Stocking Festival started on a snowy day.

20% off doesn’t sound like much, but when reflected in product prices it’s still quite attractive. So the number of registrations on the group-buy site did start climbing as expected.

There were even people posting on the forum to gather people to get discounts.

Stocking up is actually quite common in college dorms. Take toilet paper for example. The phenomenon of one person buying and the whole dorm mooching is too common. A roll of paper taken into the bathroom only lasts two or three days before being reduced to just the roll.

Besides that, things like shampoo, laundry detergent, snacks, drinks, bottled water…to a certain extent can all be shared items that aren’t clearly distinguished.

You can’t squat in the dorm every day guarding your things and not letting anyone touch them, unless it’s locked in a cabinet and you open the lock each time you use it.

So, under the pretext of the Dorm Stocking Festival, many dorms started pooling money to stock up.

In addition, there were also people who bought their own stuff after gathering enough people, even more crazy than the first deal day.

The Academy Supermarket was the first to be cleared out. Jiang Zhihua was going numb.

She had received notice from Jiang Qin early on and stocked up before the festival went online, but still couldn’t withstand it.

“Manager Jiang, stock more daily necessities next time. If you’re short on funds I’ll cover for you, don’t be so stingy.”

Jiang Qin came to the Academy Supermarket exuding an air of extravagance.

“General Manager Jiang, in order to stock up, I removed two whole aisles of snack shelves. I run a supermarket but now I’m practically a warehouse manager for you!”

Jiang Zhihua’s face was full of complaints, but she was actually delighted.

Whether it’s a supermarket or warehouse, as long as goods can be sold and money made, who wouldn’t be happy.

Jiang Qin didn’t expose it, but solemnly said, “You have to withstand the pressure Manager Jiang, we’re just getting started. If I did the event at the beginning of the month, all the shelves in your supermarket would have to be removed.”

Jiang Zhihua was stunned for a moment. “Why?”

“The living expenses arrive at the beginning of the month, so sales would definitely be even higher.”

“I just don’t get it, how do they buy so much toilet paper? I can understand girls, but do guys use paper like they’re eating it?”

Jiang Qin pursed his lips. “That I don’t know. I’m a proper person, not like those stinky boys.”

Jiang Zhihua brought over a stool and sat by the door. “I heard Xitian’s sales this month exceeded 200,000, is that true?”

“False, how much milk tea would that have to sell? It did exceed 200,000 but not all from milk tea sales.”

“Doesn’t a milk tea shop only have milk tea? What else does it sell?”

“We added a new product called a milk tea card.”

“What’s that?”

Jiang Qin reached into his wallet and took out a small pink card the size of a bank card. On it was printed a lush tree, under which a simply sketched boy and girl were leaning against each other. In addition, the upper right corner of the card had three logos printed – Xitian, Zhihu, and the group-buy site.

“It’s this. Each card has a face value of 100 yuan and is only sold through the group-buy site. If you want to buy it, you have to participate in the Dorm Stocking Festival.”

“People actually buy this thing? What’s your milk tea made of, so addictive?” Jiang Zhihua felt she had seen a ghost.

Jiang Qin laughed. “The advertising slogan for this card on the group-buy site is ‘providing for all your future milk tea.’ Many boys buy it as gifts. Besides toilet paper, this is the best-selling product on the group-buy site.”

Jiang Zhihua took it and looked. “Why is there a small hole punched in it?”

“The milk tea card comes with a metal chain that can be threaded through the small hole to attach to a bag or keychain. Some popular girls like to show off how much they’re liked. They feel embarrassed going out without one hanging. Girls who don’t receive any might also buy one themselves to hang as an accessory. It’s all about being trendy.”

“So you’re making money from both boys and girls. Who came up with this crazy idea?”

“Me. Impressive, right?” Jiang Qin grinned from ear to ear.

As his voice fell, the corner of Jiang Zhihua’s mouth began to twitch.

Although Manager Jiang had some understanding of Jiang Qin’s methods from the fake campus beauty contest, she couldn’t help but exclaim “awesome” at his ability to play around with milk tea like this.

But as she looked, she suddenly narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer and closer, as if discovering some key details. After carefully examining, her expression gradually turned to surprise.

“General Manager Jiang, the boy on this card is drawn based on your appearance, right?”

“You can tell?” Jiang Qin was a bit shocked.

Jiang Zhihua nodded. “You can tell if you look closely. But who is the girl modeled after?”

“No one.”

“No, it looks like that pretty girl who came to my supermarket for a milk tea cup last time, right?”

Jiang Qin felt numb from head to toe. “You can remember her after only seeing her once?”

Jiang Zhihua laughed. “The details are drawn so well, I can recognize her from the posture and expression.”

“Awesome.”

“This tree seems quite meaningful too. Why are there a bunch of tags hanging on it?”

“That’s a Best Friends Tree.”

“?”