Chapter 654: The Corporate CEO and His Clueless Wife

News of Mrs. Jiang spread quickly among first-year postgraduates while the news that Mr. Jiang, along with his wife, appeared at the Longkai Hotel circulated even faster among entrepreneurs.

Consequently, a series of cars appeared over the next few hours.

Among these vehicles, BBA models were quite common. The parking lot at Longkai was so crowded that cars ended up parked haphazardly.

“So many fancy cars. The parking guide was overwhelmed, wondering how humans manage with just two hands.”

Afterwards, a group of entrepreneurs gathered.

These individuals came from various cities and worked in diverse fields. At this moment, Longkai was packed both inside and out.

Those who arrived early entered the lobby, while the latecomers queued up with their project proposals by the fountain, resembling students waiting for their homework to be checked.

“Is Mr. Jiang really here?”

“Yes, Mrs. Jiang is hosting a gathering for her classmates today, and Mr. Jiang came with her.”

“Damn, I knew it. It’s always hard to meet Mr. Jiang directly; you have to go through Mrs. Jiang. Old He is a prime example!”

“Who’s Old He?”

“You don’t know Old He? The guy who wanted to chain his hotpot restaurant but had no funds. He opened a spot right in front of Linchuan University, wined and dined Mrs. Jiang, and after she complimented the food, he secured investment from Golden Silkwood.”

“Wow…”

Among the suited crowd, some were hearing this for the first time and marveled at such genius. Successfully leveraging the wife’s influence in business meant they deserved their fortune.

Meanwhile, Jiang Qin was invited into the largest banquet hall to review their project proposals.

He kept the interesting ones and left the rest on the table.

Some of these would become well-known brands in a few years, currently still constrained by funding issues. They were now under Jiang Qin’s focused attention.

Feng Nanshu was right beside him, sometimes passing interesting projects to her for a look.

“How about this one?”

“This one works.”

“And this?”

“Not this one, big bro, don’t invest.” Feng Nanshu shook her head, worried her big bear might get upset over a bad investment.

Jiang Qin held two project proposals, pondering why his judgments matched hers. His suspicion that the little rich girl was quite sharp deepened.

In recent years, due to the rapid development of the internet industry and the rise of platforms like group buying and delivery services, small businesses have found it increasingly difficult to survive. Take the restaurant business for example; one clear change is the growing trend of brand franchising.

Brands that pull the biggest crowds in any commercial district around the country are invariably the franchise chains.

Under these conditions, life for small entrepreneurs is getting even tougher.

Wei, an entrepreneur from Fuzhou who owned a fast-food restaurant that included some family recipes, had managed to maintain friendly prices and profitability for several years.

He held a price advantage over the likes of KFC and McDonald’s.

But with the escalation of group-buy and delivery wars, and the costly local campaigns rolled out by fast-food brands, four of Wei’s six outlets had folded within six months.

Why?

Because his price advantage had disappeared.

These chain brands have solid capital backing and could endure a price war for a year without much damage, but such spending battles spell disaster for small entrepreneurial stores.

No matter how excellent, clear in positioning, well-reputed, or rich in management experience you are, you can’t outlast competition that literally throws money around.

Maybe in a few years, as the chain branding curve accelerates, every city across the country will look the same.

The same malls, the same chain stores; eating, wearing, and using increasingly national brands…

If you want to find a specialty store, even the internet can’t help, you need a local friend.

Like hotpot in River City, which city now doesn’t have it?

It doesn’t matter if it’s authentic or not; it just isn’t distinctive anymore.

A decade or so from now, uniqueness will become a rare commodity, and some cities may even explode overnight thanks to their distinctive offerings.

So niche outlets that can’t compete on price and don’t market well must seek capital, cling to big Corporate legs – that’s the trend.

Driven by these forces, Linchuan becomes their top choice.

Because the ecosystem formed by Linchuan Business Group+Golden Silkwood Fund+Group-Buy Supply Chain support+Group-Buy marketing practically makes Linchuan an incubation paradise. Linchuan’s once nationally challenged brands are vivid examples.

So in recent years, restaurant brand entrepreneurs always try their luck in Linchuan.

This has propelled Linchuan into a phase of rapid development; its GDP growth has far exceeded expectations.

More migrant workers have moved here, and even property prices have started to approach those in top-tier cities.

Throughout its sixth and seventh rounds, Linchuan Business Group opened channels for external brands to join, attracting many bosses to buy properties and even relocate their headquarters here.

Jiang Qin also intends to cultivate some unique brands within this regional business range. These outlets might be too unique for national scaling but fit well into the regional Group-Buy ecosystem.

If you’re traveling to a city and hear of a distinctive food place, you’d surely want to check it out — that’s the future of tourism economy and a bonus for commercial districts.

Utilize the Golden Silkwood Fund to invest some money into these small regional brands, integrate them into the local commercial circles and gather localized traffic.

Let the Group-Buy Supply Chain act as the origin, integrate supply and sales resources, and eventually plug these brands into Group-Buy, creating a more complete ecosystem…

Oops, I’m going to make a lot of money again.

Jiang Qin, tch-tch, gathered the project and development plans and took them back to Linchuan Business Group, planning to hand the selected parts over to Wei Lanlan.

“How did it go, what did Mr. Jiang say?”

“Couldn’t get a word in, but Mrs. Jiang nodded when looking at my plan.”

“That’s promising, unlike me. Mr. Jiang nodded at my proposal but Mrs. Jiang hadn’t yet. I feel it’s still a bit iffy…”

At dusk, Jiang Qin and Feng Nanshu arrived at the Group-buy Headquarters to hand over the more promising project plans for regional brand development and initial incubation.

The projects he selected were mostly brands that had very good revenue before 2010, which were the ones Feng Nanshu had nodded to earlier.

These brands lacked only capital but could develop slowly, having a definite competitive advantage in regional markets.

Of course, some of these brands may also develop the capability for national expansion, something Jiang Qin would love to see.

Taobao initially started with the idea of helping the national manufacturing industry do business online by gathering large, medium, and small manufacturers to create a huge e-commerce empire.

Jiang Qin is now also helping offline stores do business in the same way, grouping those with national and unique characteristics, using the supply chain as a starting point, and ending with group purchases, delivery, or commercial complexes to achieve mutual benefits.

Eventually, the commercial venues like Wanzhong Mall, merchants’ gatherings, and the ultimate business body [Merchants’ Heaven] will not be entirely homogenized but will each have unique characteristics under the confluence of many popular brands.

He, Old He, and Aunt will have a big triple-win scenario.

“Later, Group-Buy Supply Chain can send someone to coordinate this plan. The connectivity on Group-Buy’s side can be managed by Tan Qing arranging local managers.”

“Understood.”

After Jiang Qin finished, he remembered another issue: “How’s Feng Corporation’s Joy City doing?”

“There are more companies making commercial complexes nowadays. Joy City’s construction schedule is tight; they hope to open by mid-2013.”

Wei Lanlan thought for a moment then added: “Wanzhong’s merchant gathering project in Shanghai is planned to open around the same time.”

After hearing this, Jiang Qin nodded: “How’s the leasing going?”

“After reducing rents, it’s going alright, but the quality isn’t high. Joy City in Kyoto was meant to be a model but now it’s somewhat lacking, especially in attracting restaurant brands; almost none, but you often said, shopping centers are not sold, they are eaten out of.”

Jiang Qin tapped the table: “Not much time left for me to play the villainous father-in-law.”

“Boss, aren’t you keeping a stiff upper lip?” Wei Lanlan was surprised.

“?”

“Father-in-law is father-in-law, a good friend is a good friend. Don’t mix them up.”

Jiang Qin, like a man-sized dog, went out to find his good friend, only to see Feng Nanshu playing with Su Nai again.

The two had plenty in common.

Seeing this made Jiang Qin angry. He moved to take his little rich girl away but stopped at the door as if he remembered something, then pretended not to see and quietly returned to his office.

Following this, Golden Silkwood’s targeted investment in regional brands officially began.

Some unique small brands got the chance to develop and expand.

Honestly, Jiang Qin really wanted another round of group buying wars, to hook into other people’s wallets and burn some brands into prominence, but unfortunately, the only remaining large public couldn’t do it — reportedly, the boss, Zhang Tao, had a cerebral hemorrhage and was still not sorted out.

Of course, another delivery war was also feasible. Although on-site dining was impossible, some brands could still do delivery.

Moreover, Hungry Yet retains some pride; Zhang Xuhao still believes he’s no weaker than others.

Thus, soon after regional brand incubation began, Group-Buy Delivery proactively initiated another delivery war.

The entire Hungry Yet operation looked gloomy, repeatedly seeking help from Alibaba.

Pang Rui clenched her teeth and refused Hungry Yet’s challenge; feeling a deep sense of crisis towards Group-Buy Supply Chain’s intent stare, she dared not make a move.