"Then wait a little longer. If it doesn't work, go look for other British companies. Wheelock should have similar land." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said. Companies such as Hutchison and Whampoa have a lot of land, but it is located in the core of Hong Kong Island. However, there is no land. The main reason is that it was previously developed and sold by Qi Dezun, and then used for acquisitions everywhere. Fortunately, the land in Hung Hom was stuck by the "industrial-to-commercial conversion", otherwise it would not be retained. Chen Zhiwen has it in his hands.
"Wheelock? I know they have two buildings in Central. They should have rented them out. I need to check the other sites." Zhou Jiayang replied after thinking for a while.
"The Federal and International Building is in a good location, but there are too few floors, and it probably won't be for sale now," Chen Zhiwen said.
The two buildings, Federal and International, are two of Wheelock's more famous properties. Both are less than 30 floors. They are famous because Wheelock intended to sell them a few years later in 1978, and Li Jiacheng ended up selling them. Hutchison Whampoa followed the same routine, setting up a joint venture with Wheelock and then buying the two buildings for HK$1.1 billion.
Two years later, Hong Kong property prices rose sharply. Li Jiacheng sold two buildings for 2.2 billion, not counting interest. Li Jiacheng made a profit of HK$550 million from the sale. This can be said to be Li Jiacheng's early business history, and finally A beautiful investment.
"One more thing. The Hong Kong government is preparing to develop the fifth berth of Kwai Chung Terminal. The Hong Kong government has sent us a note. Do we want to participate?" Zhou Jiayang then asked.
"Berth No. 5? With Hutchison Whampoa's current funds, we are unable to develop this port berth." Chen Zhiwen said with a frown. The port's berths can be said to be making money, but Hutchison Whampoa currently does not have the funds to develop this port. pier.
"But outsiders don't know our situation. During this period, after we successively privatized Hutchison, Whampoa, and Watsons, the outside world's speculation about us became more and more exaggerated. I think we can use this opportunity to give Swire a certain pressure, as far as I know, Swire is bound to win this terminal." Zhou Jiayang said.
"Besides Taikoo, which other companies will also participate in this auction?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"Jinghe's Wharf, Wheelock and several consortiums from Japan and Europe have all signed up. However, overseas consortiums generally do not succeed. As for Jardine, I heard that they have financial problems recently, and there are also rumors in the market. The most promising What may be successful is actually ancient." Zhou Jiayang said.
"Then let's give it a try. Let's let the market know first. Let's say that we have Bank of America behind us and we must get this berth. Let's see Swire's reaction." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Anyway, there is no loss, so let’s put some pressure on Taikoo.
"Okay." Zhou Jiayang said with a smile and agreed.
"These are all small things. It doesn't matter if the headquarters building is a little late. I'm here mainly for Watsons today." Chen Zhiwen added: "Watsons owns a Parknshop supermarket. I'm going to invest a certain amount of money to let it go first." Become the largest supermarket in Hong Kong and monopolize Hong Kong’s daily retail market.”
With the super platform Hutchison Whampoa, many things have become much more convenient. In the past, even if you had money, it would be impossible to build a supermarket chain in Hong Kong within a few years. But with enough foundation, talents, and resources, You only need to invest money, and you can basically wait for the flowers to bloom, unless the industry has been occupied by other giants and you need to spend money to grab the market.
"The biggest supermarket in Hong Kong?" Zhou Jiayang's eyes lit up. This is a very good industry. Although compared with real estate, supermarkets are considered small businesses, but as long as they are the largest in Hong Kong, their scale will not be small.
"Yes, you also said before that we have cheap purchasing resources from Galaxy Trading, which is more or less an advantage for supermarkets in Hong Kong. We will first increase the scale and then use cost-effectiveness to unify Hong Kong's retail market. "Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
The difference between supermarkets in Hong Kong and supermarkets in the United States is like the larger Unilever supermarket in the mainland compared with RT-Mart in later generations. In terms of goods, the former prefers daily necessities, mainly to meet the basic living needs of nearby people. The huge purchase volume of Galaxy Trading, It can reduce the cost of many goods to an extremely low level. However, because the habits of Hong Kong and the United States are completely different in many aspects, there are some differences. But overall, it still has a certain effect. In the retail field, procurement costs will be reduced. 1% is a huge advantage.
"It's not a problem with other supermarkets. What I'm most worried about is Wellcome. Wellcome used to be a subsidiary of Dairy Milk International. Its development wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. Later, Land acquired Dairy Milk and also invested in Wellcome. We have made a lot of money, and Wellcome has been expanding in the past few years." Zhou Jiayang said, in the context of Galaxy Trade, he naturally thought of developing his own advantages, and also created the main rivals of PARKnSHOP, The others are basically not large-scale, and the main one with potential is Wellcome Supermarket, a subsidiary of China Land.
"Land is indeed a difficult opponent to deal with, but even if we expand together with Wellcome, there will be no competition, at least in recent years. Supermarkets in Hong Kong have just begun." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.
Although supermarkets have already appeared in the 1930s, they really started to become popular in Europe and the United States in the 1960s, which was when Walton started his business. In Hong Kong, although they existed a long time ago, they were not large-scale. Before the 1960s, Hong Kong was still a popular lifestyle consisting of department stores, wet markets and street shops.
The popularity of supermarkets also began to increase in scale in the late 1960s. Chain retail supermarkets appeared, and many large capitals began to fail. In the original history, it was Wellcome Supermarkets owned by Jardine Matheson and Parknshop Supermarkets owned by Hutchison Whampoa. , completed its monopoly on Hong Kong's retail industry in the 1980s, but Wellcome still had the advantage in terms of scale, at least in the 1980s.
Now that Chen Zhiwen has acquired Hutchison Whampoa, and due to the Galaxy trade, he will naturally strongly support PARKnSHOP. If possible, it is best to destroy Wellcome or acquire it. But no matter what, you have to do it after taking action against Wharf. The best time should be around 1983.
In the 21st century, the retail sales of Hong Kong supermarkets are almost tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars a year. It is not very big, but it is not small. And as a local consortium in Hong Kong, although it is not rare to make money from supermarkets, it still has control in its hands. better one.
"Then let's clear out those traditional department stores first, and then compete with Land and Land." Zhou Jiayang said with a smile.
"But I have another request. When recruiting, Parknshop can consider employees who are slightly disabled or have inconveniences at home, and arrange some part-time jobs to take care of those who cannot come to work at a stable time." Chen Zhiwen continued. said.
The characteristic of supermarkets is that they can directly create a large number of jobs, and many of them are easy-to-use varieties that anyone can make. In this way, they are very suitable for helping those who think they lack certain abilities and cannot find a job. As long as they control It is good that the small proportion of disabled people will not affect the company's daily operations.
"No problem," Zhou Jiayang said, knowing the boss's purpose: "Hutchison can also recruit some people like this in this regard, which will also help us improve our image."
"Okay, as long as you understand what I mean." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "Apart from ParknShop and the distilled water business I handed over to Red Bull before, the only thing left for Watsons is the pharmacy. I will not close this area. But I won’t invest any more.”
"Is it because you are not optimistic about Chinese medicine?" Zhou Jiayang asked after thinking for a while.
"That's not true." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "The market is too small. Unlike other products, drugs can be exported at will. Countries have very strict control over drugs. Don't talk about us. They are just drugs between Europe and the United States. We want to communicate with each other." Exporting is very troublesome, not to mention that we can’t even explain the ingredients of our traditional Chinese medicine. And the most important thing is that real traditional Chinese medicine has hundreds of people and hundreds of prescriptions. It is very powerful, but it is not suitable for modern business, at least. Given Hong Kong’s situation, it is impossible to develop the traditional Chinese medicine industry on a large scale.”
If there is a mainland market and a huge reserve of traditional Chinese medicine talents, the market for proprietary Chinese medicines will still have a future, but obviously Hong Kong is far from meeting the requirements. This is just like the automobile industry. In a small country, no matter how talented it is, Neither reserves nor markets are sufficient to develop this industry.
Even if the mainland reopens, the Chinese patent medicine industry will not be able to develop on a large scale. It will only be possible after the 21st century, and the scale will not be very large. The most important thing is that in this field, his golden finger is useless, so It is better to develop in other industries. With more funds in the future, we can support & invest in this industry in the mainland.
"Actually, that's right. After hundreds of years of development, Watsons has only opened dozens of pharmacies, and it can no longer develop." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said.
"Although the development is slow, it is still good for the people of Hong Kong. At least some diseases will be more convenient to see a doctor." Chen Zhiwen said.
Which is better, Chinese and Western medicine? This topic has been debated in China for decades, but he feels that there is no need to argue about this kind of thing. The best way is to use them together and choose the appropriate method. Traditional Chinese medicine has many technologies and cannot The effect of explanation is very favorable to ordinary people, and it is also very cheap.
It is said that ten years later, a heavyweight in Hong Kong was diagnosed with cancer. This person went to major hospitals and medical centers in Europe and the United States, and invited many experts for treatment, but they were all told that it was too late, and then he went to a hospital in the Mainland. Yanjing, relying on the powerful combination of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, managed to live for more than 20 years.
From this point of view, Chen Zhiwen will definitely support the development of the domestic traditional Chinese medicine industry in the future. Maybe it will still be useful in the future. As for playing on his own, there is no need. There is no advantage at all. Just be a financial backer.
"The core of Watsons' future is retail supermarkets." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said, apart from these industries, Watsons really has no other investments, except for some small properties.
"Retailing is right, but it's not just supermarkets." Chen Zhiwen continued: "I hope Watsons will enter a new market-the cosmetics retail industry."
"Cosmetics retail industry?" Zhou Jiayang was stunned for a moment and said, "We don't seem to have any experience in this area."
"It doesn't matter if you don't have it, just learn. This kind of industry itself is heavy on capital investment, and ordinary people can't get into it. In the future, there will be a very huge market in this area." Chen Zhiwen said: "Unlike pharmaceuticals, cosmetics retail The procedures for stores in various countries are very simple. It is basically an ordinary store, which is very suitable for us to expand around the world. As for the cosmetics themselves, we don’t need to worry about it. We only need to attract people to our own stores. "
No matter which country it is, the process of pharmacies is quite troublesome, but it is a trouble, and it is not impossible to solve. The key problem is that pharmacies are too biased towards local forces, because things that can cure diseases and save lives are huge profits, and everyone will take a fancy to them?
A strong dragon may not necessarily be able to suppress a local snake, and even if it could, it would not be worthwhile. Pharmacies often do not need advertising. Therefore, big brands often do not necessarily have much competitive advantage. At most, joint purchasing may have some discounts, but generally people who buy medicines do not care too much about the price of medicines. This is a low-frequency consumption in itself, but it is necessary. Basically, most people buy medicines and buy them as soon as they see them. Unless they are too expensive, they will not go to multiple stores to compare prices.
Relatively speaking, cosmetics are much simpler. Cosmetics need to be driven by traffic, and cosmetics stores also need to be driven by traffic. Although cosmetics themselves are consumed at a low frequency, the demand is much greater. The net profit is no less than that of medicines. Especially in countries with good economies, many people spend 10% of their wages on cosmetics.
In Europe and the United States, there are also giants in the cosmetics retail industry, but in Asia, except for the developed countries Japan, other places are blue ocean markets with huge potential. Later Watsons also relied on the cosmetics chain business to become a company with a market value of thousands. Billion Hong Kong dollars, a giant with an annual turnover of more than 20 billion US dollars.
"Cosmetics are luxury goods. If we want to open a store, we have to open a store in the most prime location in Hong Kong. The investment will not be small, even tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars may not be enough." Zhou Jiayang thought for a while and said: "With the current situation and Will Huang’s situation affect other businesses?”
"Tens of millions may not be enough, but this is a matter for the future. What you have to do now is to do market research first, open a few stores to test the water, it doesn't matter if you lose or win, sum up experience, and slowly If the development goes well, in a few years, I will make additional investment and strive to achieve the top level in the world in this field." Chen Zhiwen said: "As for other businesses, don't worry too much. I have already said that the future of Hutchison Whampoa , we will only do a few cutting-edge fields, and we can just get rid of all the other messy businesses if they are not big enough. The cosmetics retail business is an important business in my future planning for Hutchison Whampoa."
Diversification is a route that traditional companies like Hutchison Whampoa must take, but the closed-eyes expansion model of Qi Dezun's era is just stupid. To truly diversify, you should choose the right route, work hard, and then develop and grow. Even under normal logic, these diversified industries are related to each other, so that benefits can be maximized.
Hutchison Whampoa has too many businesses, and Chen Zhiwen only chooses a few better ones, mainly the route of the later generation Li Jiacheng. In this regard, it is impossible for Chen Zhiwen to ignore the several industries that this man has been following for decades. , doing cosmetics retail, the reason comes from this.
At the same time, in terms of capital, at least in the 1980s, his capital was far greater than that of Li Jiacheng. As long as the development goes smoothly, when funds are sufficient in the 1980s, investing heavily in Watsons will definitely create a bigger business in the future than later generations. Watsons.
"Understood, Chen Sheng." Zhou Jiayang nodded and agreed. He already knew that his boss's main investment directions after acquiring Hutchison were real estate, ports, and infrastructure, but he never expected that there was also a cosmetics retail industry.
"You also know that I have invested heavily in the retail industry in the United States, but it is just an investment. Costco will still be managed by an American team in the future. On the Asian side, we also need to seize the retail industry. You also need to grasp the influence and profits here. Everyone knows that Watsons has experience in related fields. As long as we provide funds and find the right direction, we will be able to become one of the largest retail companies in Asia in the future." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "Remember, our goal , it is in Asia, not a small Hong Kong. In the future, it must become global."
Watson's cosmetics retail industry will not be difficult to succeed as long as it follows its original history and uses large capital to continuously make acquisitions in Europe and the United States and then integrate resources. The European and American governments will not interfere at all in this industry, as long as the acquirer does not engage in large-scale As long as people are unemployed, they will welcome anyone who wants to acquire it, even if it is a country that is hostile to a certain extent.
In the original history, Li Jiacheng's efforts were in the 1990s, but he will start in the 1980s, and the first-mover advantage will be more obvious.
The same goes for the supermarket retail industry. Many countries in Asia do not have large supermarkets. As long as local forces are selected for cooperation and cheap galaxy trade goods are provided, there will be a huge first-mover advantage. The focus is on deregulating supermarket controls in the next 90s. Mainland.
As long as large capital investment is required, before the rise of e-commerce, it will be enough to build large supermarkets in a large number of domestic cities, and they will all be in prime locations in the city. As long as there are no rental problems, the prices of goods in domestic supermarkets will be completely cheaper than those of e-commerce. , maybe in the future in the mainland, it should not be difficult to reach the level of Carrefour and Auchan, let alone Wal-Mart.
Supermarket chains, mainly in the mainland and supplemented by many Asian countries, as well as Watsons cosmetics chain stores in Europe, America, Japan, Korea and China, are Chen Zhiwen's expectations for Watsons, a huge retail empire with a scale no less than that of Costco.
However, the premise is that in the 1980s and 1990s, we seized various golden opportunities and obtained massive development funds.
…
PS: Why do so many people backstage ask me to write a movie? When I wrote about Hong Kong entertainment in my last book, not many people read it, and the results were much worse than this one!
As can be seen from the name of this book, the main body is business, with industry as the mainstay, retail as the supplement, and finance and real estate as the source of funds. I just want to write out a reasonable business development process that conforms to ZZ logic and business logic, starting from several businesses and gradually developing and expanding.
At least until now, no one has commented that a certain business development is unreasonable in the comments (perhaps the starting capital is a bit complained about), which is rare for the starting point.
In line with reality is my pursuit, although it is unlikely to be achieved, but try your best!
As for the entertainment stars that everyone wants to watch, there will be some later. In the early 1970s, I really couldn’t find any suitable ones. Personally, I feel that many Hong Kong ladies are not good. You can go to Baidu to take a look. Maybe there is something wrong with my vision? (As far as I know, it was only after Hong Kong sisters joined a wealthy family in 1977 that countless beauties were attracted to participate in events. This may also have led to an improvement in the quality of Hong Kong sisters.)
As for the Zhao surname that everyone is familiar with, as an old reader who has read countless Hong Kong articles, I definitely don’t want to write about it. In terms of aesthetics, maybe she is not my favorite. Relatively speaking, those in the 1980s may be much better-looking. ?
And if you read this book in the early stages, you may have seen some pictures of people who drove a lot of cars before opening the book, but they were blocked, so they had no choice but to delete them.
In fact, the main business entity industry of this book has not yet begun to officially reach a large scale? The official start will be after the re-opening, and now everything is being prepared for the layout.
That's it. I hope you will support me a lot. Come and click to support the genuine version, and don't subscribe to the book. The subscriptions keep increasing, so I have the motivation to update, even if I stay up late!
Thanks.
(End of chapter)
