Chapter 218: The Backbone of the Team

Chapter 218: The Backbone of the Team

TL: Etude

In mid-March, the popularity of the campus beauty contest continued to rise.

The Xi Tian Milk Tea Shop firmly occupied a high position in terms of customer flow, instantly opening up the market. As a result, long queues formed daily in front of the store, attracting even more people to join the crowd.

The commercial street was bustling from morning till night, and even the surrounding merchants benefited from the increased foot traffic, seeing a steady rise in their sales.

Why? Because the wait for orders was so long, people often chose to visit other shops in the meantime.

While browsing, it was natural for them to make impulsive purchases. After all, since they were already there, why not buy something? This was particularly true for the so-called “exquisite piggy girls” known for their impulse shopping.

This economic phenomenon is common, similar to the continuous promotion of tourism by various provinces and cities. Increased human traffic leads to higher spending on basic needs and non-essential items.

Buying things that aren’t really needed, or ordering more food than one can eat, is a common occurrence.

Therefore, the benefit of increased traffic wasn’t limited to the target customers; the entire business district reaped the rewards.

Given this situation, the collaboration negotiations between the team-up and this commercial street were extremely smooth.

But not all merchants were happy. For instance, the other milk tea shops on the street were cursing under their breath.

Since the start of the damned campus beauty contest, their customer base had dwindled significantly.

After all, in competitive markets, one’s gain was often another’s loss. No one buys a cup of milk tea from one shop only to buy another from a different shop right after. That would be absurd.

Especially troubling for these milk tea shop owners was the sudden absence of their regular customers, making them feel like a disaster was imminent.

“Damn it, didn’t they promise to only love my milk tea?”

This fickleness was just like love, changing without even a goodbye!

“Old Xu, do you have any business over there?”

“Not a damn bit. I’ve been open all morning, and I haven’t seen a soul, not even a hair.”

“I spoke with Sister Wang from Real Fresh Fruit. We can’t just sit here and wait for doom. If we do, we might as well close shop.”

“What’s your plan?”

“I heard that a student runs that shop. Let’s go scare them a bit!”

So, within a week of intense competition, the owners of the three milk tea shops came over to make trouble four times. They dared not vandalize, but they threw threats around every day, disturbing the peace of the shop and scaring away many customers.

Lai Cunqing, the leader of the Polytechnic University’s promotion group, tried to resolve the issue several times, mainly through reasoning and emotional appeal, but it was useless.

After all, they had indeed taken away the business of others. No amount of sweet talk could change that; sweet words weren’t money, after all.

For example, if you stole someone’s girlfriend and then tried to comfort them, you’d be lucky not to get punched in the nose.

And let’s face it, money is much more important than a girlfriend!

But Lai Cunqing was also frustrated.

“Damn it, business is about ability. Why should we care if you can’t sell your product?”

Eventually, he stopped going there, leaving a few people to guard the entrance and ensure the safety of the staff. Besides the issue with the milk tea shops, he had many other problems to deal with.

The content team was short-staffed. Lai Cunqing initially planned to transfer some people from the marketing team, but nobody wanted to distribute flyers anymore.

Especially a certain impoverished student who complained about the tiresome task daily and wanted to join the content team. When he saw his name wasn’t on the transfer list, he went on strike.

In principle, such a person should be fired, but the difficulty was that the individual was impoverished, leaving Lai Cunqing indecisive.

“How did the boss start the project all by himself and bring it from nothing to something?”

“But even online, with Xi Tian’s huge traffic, we can’t compete with them!”

“That’s why I promise you here and now, Xi Tian will not sell milk tea online. This market will always belong to you.”

Two hours later, Jiang Qin and his team had visited all three shops and returned to the university classroom with three contracts.

Lai Cunqing was puzzled, “Just because they caused trouble, Xi Tian is giving up online services? Isn’t that too big a concession?”

“I didn’t say we’re not doing online services, I just said we’re not selling milk tea.”

“Then what are we selling?”

Jiang Qin pulled out a Xi Tian Milk Tea Card from his wallet, “Xi Tian won’t do delivery for milk tea, but we’ll sell milk tea cards online. Anyone who buys or receives a card has to come to the store to redeem it.”

Ding Qiaona also took out her card, “I have one too, given by a junior.”

“How do you feel after using it?”

“After I got this card, I almost never drank milk tea from any other place,” said Ding Qiaona.

Jiang Qin nodded, “In business, there’s no need to drive competitors to extinction. By leaving a small space for those three milk tea shops to survive through delivery, we’ve made a compromise.”

Lai Cunqing felt a tingling sensation in his scalp, “So these three shops can only survive on delivery from now on?”

“Perhaps.”

“And they have to pay us a commission for every milk tea they sell? So, there’s no market online or offline that we can’t reach?”

“Of course.” Jiang Qin revealed a charming smile.

In fact, many future stores would solely focus on delivery, known as takeaway shops. They have no offline business and rely purely on online orders.

The media calls them workshops. Since they don’t need a physical storefront, their costs are low, prices can be kept down, and they represent a new business model born out of the new era.

Jiang Qin put his wallet back in his pocket, “Any other issues? Speak now. I have to meet Director Sun shortly.”

“The issue with staff allocation in the marketing team. People are upset. They all don’t want to distribute flyers and keep asking in the group why they can’t move to the content team like others.”

“Why can’t they?” Jiang Qin asked.

Lai Cunqing immediately replied, “They’re not capable enough. If they’re not even serious about handing out flyers, I obviously have to reserve opportunities for those who are hardworking and enduring.”

“Here’s what you do: fire the one who complains the most first. Let him experience the harshness of society.”

“But that one’s the poorest. It doesn’t seem right to fire him outright.”

Jiang Qin laughed, “Think of it this way: being poor is even better. The more he regrets getting fired, the more stable our team at the Polytechnic University will be. The salary we offer can’t be matched by others.”

Lai Cunqing pondered, “But what if he creates trouble?”

“I spent over thirty yuan on banners and certificates. That money can’t go to waste. Director Sun will help us out. That’s the advantage of having a guiding teacher.”

“Oh.”

“Old Lai, remember, we’re in business, not charity. You must remember, poverty should never be seen as a protective umbrella.”

Jiang Qin spoke sternly, then felt that his last statement was quite impressive and wanted to repeat it.

But saying it again would seem foolish, so he decided to bask in the admiring glances of his team members.

Hmm? Gu Tiantian’s look was particularly admiring, almost excessively so. She even crossed her legs tightly.

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