Although I have long known that Americans love to hoard paper, I never expected that they would be so crazy. All the various discounts prepared are not as good as toilet paper that has no discount but is slightly cheaper than other supermarkets.
After a while, the entire row of toilet paper was swept away. Many people left with their full shopping carts and quickly walked to the door to check out.
Although Pierce behind him couldn't understand Chinese, he looked in the direction where the boss and the boss' secretary were looking and said with a smile: "This is all as expected. There is still a lot of toilet paper in the warehouse behind, and it will be replenished soon."
"You Americans like toilet paper so much?" Angel asked in English.
“It’s not that I like it, but it’s a disadvantage in supermarkets. Although toilet paper is not heavy, it takes up a lot of space. The transportation cost is quite high, but the price is not high. For many supermarkets with higher rents and located in the city center, It’s not cost-effective, so most supermarkets don’t have much stock, and the price is relatively expensive, but users use it a lot and can only buy it regularly.” Pierce explained with a smile.
"But we don't have this problem. The transportation costs may be about the same, but the storage and retail location costs are much lower. After all, our supermarket location is very average. Both rental and self-ownership costs are very low, and the area is sufficient. It is large and can be easily purchased by users for less than half a year's use at one time." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, this is indeed a good advantage. Toilet paper is a daily necessity in Europe and the United States, but normal supermarkets cannot provide it on a large scale and cheaply.
Wal-Mart is only slightly better than other supermarkets in this regard, but because the area is the same as other supermarkets, it is impossible to store too much toilet paper.
Pierce continued: "This can also be regarded as my entry point. I had already discovered this situation when I was at Fedmart, but the capital turnover was not good at that time, and I was not able to provide much investment in this area."
"Okay, this can be considered a good breakthrough. As long as this is done well, it will be easier for people to become our VIP customers." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.
Many people can't imagine why warehouse supermarkets have a membership system that is different from other types of supermarkets, instead of being open to everyone?
In fact, the logic here is very simple, because the warehouse supermarket is not located near residential areas, or in other words, it is not near most of its users.
In order to let users from far away come to shop, the warehouse will attract users with preferential prices, but people are lazy. It is okay a few times, but it will not work after a long time. They always think that even if the prices in nearby supermarkets are expensive Yes, but it saves time!
Therefore, membership is a necessary operation. When members actually invest dozens of dollars in membership fees, in order not to let their membership fees go to waste, they will think more about shopping. In addition, warehouse supermarkets will offer rebates. Service, that is, if you purchase a certain amount of goods, you can deduct the membership fee until the membership fee is free. This will become a motivation to stimulate users. When the points exchange amount obtained by the user exceeds the membership fee, the user can use it for other specific products. Discounts or direct exchange for certain products can stimulate users to come and spend.
Over and over again, this combination of punches can pin down customers who are far away and make them spend their daily consumption in their own supermarkets. Costco also uses this principle to the extreme.
But the premise of all this is that you have to let users become members. The operating logic of previous warehouse supermarkets was to target company groups or a certain group and attract them to shop by giving away memberships. Costco wants to break the deadlock of demand in this small market. , including all nearby residents as its potential members.
But it is difficult to get users to actively hand over dozens of dollars to become a supermarket member. How can there be any reason to spend money before buying anything in this world?
Therefore, the one-week experience time is to let users discover that the prices in Costco are cheap. As long as they buy more things, they can earn back the membership fee, and there are still points that can be redeemed. But this is not enough. It is best to have something that can be used. Products, such as large household appliances, for which membership fees can be repaid with one or two purchases.
However, the replacement frequency of household appliances is very low, and large electrical appliance groups may not allow a certain supermarket to break the price positioning. Chen Zhiwen previously wanted to make a fuss in clothing, beverages, and food, but he did not expect that Americans care more about toilet paper.
"How many rolls of toilet paper do American families use in a year?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
"I haven't checked. I have to look up the specific data in the library, but for my family, it's about four to five hundred volumes a year." Pierce thought for a while and said.
"Four or five hundred?" An Qi's eyes widened. Do you eat toilet paper every day?
"Toilet paper is also purchased from the United States?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"Yes, the American company, Mr. Chen wants to purchase from Hong Kong?" Pierce asked.
Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "There is no papermaking company in Hong Kong. We have to go to other places in Asia to inquire. Anqi, remember this. After returning to Hong Kong, ask Xu Weishan to go to Indonesia to inquire. The forestry industry there is relatively developed and there are many companies in the papermaking industry."
Xu Weishan is the general manager of Galaxy Trading Company. He was also hired from Hutchison Whampoa. He is currently responsible for meeting the supermarket demand in the United States and purchasing from Hong Kong. He is also responsible for the expansion of the trading company's own business, such as RB, Xu Weishan When he was at Hutchison Whampoa, he had cooperated with many RB supermarkets. Chen Zhiwen also took this factor into consideration when recruiting him.
"Okay." An Qi immediately wrote it down in her little notebook.
"If we can get cheaper toilet paper sources from Asia, it will be of great help to us." Pierce nodded and said.
Having trustworthy supply partners in Asia is crucial to the development of supermarkets. Many large supermarkets in the United States actually know this, but there are too many products in supermarkets, which affects customers' life experience and even food safety and other important factors. , it is very cautious to change suppliers from distant places. The larger the retail group, the more careful it is, because once something goes wrong, the impact will be very bad.
"Leave this aspect to me, there will be no problem." Chen Zhiwen said boldly. The cost in Indonesia is definitely much lower than that in the United States. After all, the papermaking industry is not a high-tech industry. Even if the equipment is not comparable, but in other aspects The difference is too big, and if we wait a few years and the mainland reforms and opens up, there should be a lot of Costco branches by then. Once our US dollar orders are placed, domestic state-owned enterprises will naturally do this business.
"OK, then I'm relieved." Pierce smiled, looked at a group of people below putting toilet paper on their shopping carts, and said, "I want to go down and take a look. The most important thing now is that these people handle our member."
"Okay, that's hard work." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Professionals do professional things. How can they persuade customers to pay for memberships? He probably won't be able to convince anyone. As a boss, he only needs to wait for the data.
