Chapter 5

As the Spring Flower Festival is approaching, Jingli Supermarket has already d,one a good job of publicity. Fresh food, beverages and drinks are sold at 20% off, and the sales of various products will increase with the rise in passenger traffic.

Most of the carbonated beverage shelves are occupied by the fruity sodas under the Banfen banner, and only five glass bottles of “Qiqi” are placed pitifully in the corners.

A few young people just came in, and pushed the cart to the beverage area: “Do you want to take some drinks?”

“Right, you need to eat meat with carbonated drinks.”

“The Banfen fruit flavor is very popular recently, I want grapefruit flavor.”

“That new cherry flavor looks good too.” 

The two bottles of soda were put directly into the shopping cart, and only the girl at the edge was still wandering.

“Tao, what are you thinking?” Her friend pulled her elbow.

Le Taotao sighed: “I am thinking about the next video, the theme of the recently held video contest is nostalgia.”

Last year, she tried to upload some food broadcast videos. She was honored to be promoted to become a well-known gourmet with her sweet looks and exaggerated comments. However, apart from a few small advertisements, she didn’t make much money, and it was purely a hobby.

Later, Le Taotao was attracted by the O station benefit and joined them. O Station is a video website that has emerged in recent years. It recently changed its owner and is willing to spend money to cultivate high-quality video producers. The top few broadcasters can sign contracts. After signing the contract, the monthly guarantee is according to the contract.

Even if it is a B-level contract, they guarantee to pay 3000 yuan monthly. As long they complete the monthly video upload and click requirements, they can say goodbye to the hungry and now eat until full.

“Nostalgia theme, how about the old street food?”

Le Taotao sighed: “I have thought about it, the problem is in the past few years of urban construction, the street stalls have long disappeared, even if you make it yourself, it taste won’t be the same.”

As she spoke, she glanced down and was attracted by the lonely glass bottles in the corner.

The glass bottle contained a dark brown liquid, nothing like those colorful fruity sodas.

What attracts Le Taotao is other reasons – the red beer bottle cap, the exquisitely carved bottle body, and the seal logo with a little classical charm. Just like the food stalls in the 1980s.

“Which brand is this?” She squatted down and turned the bottle. The ingredient list, food safety certification marks, and the manufacturer’s site were all available, and she carefully recognized the words on it, “Qiqi?”

“Isn’t it a soda from a long time ago? I remember I drank it in junior high school.”

“Isn’t your home in Liangzhou? You have to take a half-day train to Jingzhou for you to buy them.”

“This doesn’t seem to be a local brand in Jingzhou. Back then, it was popular all over China, from barbecue stalls to grocery stores, there is always a place for it. However, after it doesn’t taste the same anymore, I can’t buy it any-longer.”

“Then let’s try it, I hope it tastes the same as before,” Le Taotao recalled drinking it in elementary school, and vaguely remembered the process of the bubbles exploding delicately from her mouth to her throat, “This is also a nostalgic one, right?”

“Hahaha, add a few more nostalgic snacks, you can do it, Tao. “

Several people chatted and left. This is one of the few orders that Qiqi has made in the past few days.

In the face of these fast-moving consumer goods, the vast majority of consumers take the brand they are most familiar with and leave. Even if they have to choose, their eyes will only wander among the Banfen series, and few people rarely look down at the small glass bottle in the shabby corner near their feet.

The sales data for these two days were naturally submitted to Zhang Shan’s desk. The market analyst also thoughtfully made a sales performance histogram of both parties. Naturally, the one that stands tall in the sky is Banfen fruity soda series. In contrast, Qibao is like a poor little dwarf.

“Good, good.” Zhang Shan lit a cigarette happily, “Qiqi didn’t respond at all?”

“They changed the packaging back to glass bottles, which increased the cost. apparently, they want to use the concept of nostalgia to restore some old customers.”

“Stupid, so stupid.” Zhang Shan shook his head, “What’s the use now? Their old customers were almost lost in 2005. Who still remembers what Qibao is?”

“You mean, Mr. Zhang’s foresight is really admirable!” The assistant immediately nodded and rushed up to flatter him, and handed the ashtray to Mr. Zhang.

Zhang Shan flicked the cigarette ash and put this unseasoned competitor to the back of his head: “Let’s talk about the development of a cold drink series.”

At the same time, Qing Qin also held a meeting with three people in a small conference room.

“It’s like this, I’ve run through all supermarkets and grocery stores in Jingzhou. We only sold 1,600 boxes mostly in Jingli supermarket.” Mr. Li was the first to speak, “After deducting the rebate, it is 53,000 which is not even enough to pay the workers.”

Qing Qin lowered his head and flipped through the documents without speaking.

The atmosphere was too solemn. Mr. Li couldn’t say anything anymore. He bit the bullet and continued to add: “Jingli’s manager Sun showed us the sales of this batch, which is completely uncompetitive in the market.

Mang Yao timely projected the sales of “Qiqi” on the big screen, and put their sales and Banfen’s side by side to make a comparison.

Tragic contrast almost like a public execution.

“Not only Jingli’s, other supermarkets and grocery stores reacted very coldly. The worst thing is that none of them plan to continue to cooperate with us.”

“In order words, we are about to lose most of our sales channels. Furthermore, there is a backlog of nearly 10,000 boxes of beverages in our warehouse.” Meng Yao summed up the current situation, “Mr. Qing, we have to think of a way.”

Seeing that everything was as expected, Qing Qin was satisfied and almost overjoyed: “Hmm.”

Fortunately, he still remembered that he couldn’t lose the game on purpose. Flat-faced and pretend to say in a deep voice: “I already have an idea.”

(I am sorry, I couldn’t help but insert this)

Meng Tiao’s whole face was hidden behind the computer screen, her ears were pricked up, ready to listen to what strange tricks Mr. Qing had.

“Since we can’t use offline channels, let’s switch to online.” Qing Qin knocked on his desk, “I remember QIbao had  an official website before?”

“Yes, we have an official website in 1999, but the official website was mainly used to find franchisees.” Mr. Li quickly found the official website, “We don’t have a sales channel.” 

The official website also appeared on the big screen.

Alternating between blue and white which is extremely simple and clumsy, revealing an aura that has not been modified in the past ten years.

Qing Qin: “Then add sales channels on the official website, and then sign a contract with the nearest Blue Bird Logistics to deliver the goods to consumers by express delivery. Besides, Meng Tiao, can you see if you can build a Qibao store on Taobao?” 

“Taobao?” Meng Tiao was a little surprised, “Who would buy things online?”     

Qing Qin is very clear that this world is the same as his original world, online shopping is still a new thing, and consumers have great doubts about the safety and security of online products and payment methods.     

However, the words in his heart should never be spoken.     

Qing Qin shook his head and looked at her disapprovingly: “Not many people are shopping online now, but soon, online shopping will become a big trend. On the other side of the ocean,  Rehe Mall has become the main option for consumers to buy goods, enough to compete with the Aiwei Shopping Mall. As our country’s network continues to develop, this will also be the trend, we are just transforming early.”     

“Besides,” Meng Tiao hurriedly recorded on the computer. Knowing that this move was reasonably explained for the bad old man, Qing Qin continued to blindly command, “Find someone to update the official website, ask the best artists and technicians to ensure that the sales channels on the official website are not stuck absolutely, and let the login interface be mighty, as soon as you enter, you can tell at a glance that it is a century-old company.”     

“What kind of grade does this spend need to be?”     

Qing Qin made a direct decision. This kind of place is where you spend a lot of money: “The best, less than 100,000 yuan. Let them work overtime to do a good job, money is not a problem.”    

“Okay.”

“In addition to that,” Qing Qin turn around his pen, “Remember to write in the most conspicuous place on the website that our company is about to close down.”

“What?” Mr. Li couldn’t sit still now, “How can we directly post the news of going bankrupt on the official website.”

It is to let others see it and run away quickly ah. What good things can a factory that is going to close down have?

Qing Qin couldn’t resist, smiled, and shook his head, brewing an excuse.

On the other hand, Meng Tiao’s eyes lit up: “Mr. Qing meant that this is a propaganda strategy. Many things are only known to be precious if they are lost is about to be lost.”

“That it to say, Mr. Qing wants to make our “Qiqi” the white moonlight in the minds of consumerssumsMeng Yao kindly sum it up.

“Mr. Qing’s move is really wonderful.”

The whole meeting instantly turned into a flattering conference.

Qing Qin: No, how did you think that way? You are really a tenth-level master of reading comprehension.

It was only after they finalized the whole strategy that they came back and asked: “Mr. Qing, none of these methods can attract a lot of traffic right away?”

Qing Qprofoundlyn a profound manner: “The fragrance of wine is not afraid of the deep alleys. The first thing we need to learn is to calm down, and the time will come.”

Time?

Several people fell into contemplation, and then their eyes lit up.

Qing Qin glanced at the wall clock and decisively interrupted their thoughts: “The meeting has already been held for an hour. In the future, we will add the company’s management regulations that the meeting should not exceed an hour. Everyone, let’s end the meeting and do what we need to do” 

Meanwhile, Taotao finally got home and hurriedly opened the bottle of dark-brown soda.

The air was full of gas, the foam gushing out stained the hands, and there was a faint refreshing aroma in the air, which made people move their index fingers.

Le Taotao took a sip immediately, sweetness entered her mouth, and before she felt greasy, the bubbles flooded her mouth. The delicate tingling of the foam exploded from the mouth all the way to the throat, and before she knew it, she swallowed two or three mouthfuls in a row.

Different from the Banfen fruity series, their aftertaste is like plain water with only a little sweetness floating on the side of the tongue. After pondering it carefully, she felt lonely after drinking it.

When taking a mouthful of this soda, it gives enough sweetness, and it perfectly soothes every taste bud. After swallowing it thoroughly, the aftertaste made her want to take another sip.

With this in mind, she took another three mouthfuls.

Other people have already made hot pot. Their eyes burned hot seeing her. Naturally, one after another they took sips. After a long time, the soda bottle returned to Taotao’s hands — 

It was empty.