165: Start renting cold storage!
Chen Kai immediately gasped. The intelligence he had been exposed to so far was all about simple investments where he just needed to report periodically.
Being suddenly asked to hoard goods in large quantities left him feeling a bit overwhelmed for a moment.
Moreover, this kind of intelligence—predicting in advance which items would experience shortages—couldn't be used to buy futures like in the commodities market.
It had to be actual physical hoarding, and he had to find the sales channels himself.
Fortunately, the system was quite conscientious and had already found the sales channels for him, so he wouldn't have to run around asking everywhere like a greenhorn after hoarding the goods.
However, even so, how to negotiate with the manufacturer of the ginseng health drink remained a problem.
He couldn't just show up anywhere and expect them to take his goods, right?
It wasn't even certain if he would be able to see their purchasing manager, and even if he did, what price they would offer him remained an unknown.
Thinking this, Chen Kai hurriedly crammed on negotiation knowledge! He couldn't afford to be at a disadvantage during the negotiation, right?
Time slipped by, and it was already one o'clock. Chen Kai had spent an hour reading about the art of negotiation, and only then did he feel his brain was well-equipped.
Even when he started his business before, he had never negotiated.
Although he had learned a bit, he still felt a little nervous, but at least he had some confidence now!
"Hiss! I still need to search for the storage conditions for Fresh Ginseng."
Chen Kai muttered. This time, the Score a Bargain opportunity was different from previous ones; he had to ensure everything was perfectly prepared before taking action.
If it were dried ginseng, he wouldn't mind, but for Fresh Ginseng, it likely required specific storage conditions—otherwise, there wouldn't have been a sudden gap in the market.
"Let's hoard 200,000 worth of ginseng first. It seems I'll need to rent a space, especially for Fresh Ginseng."
Thinking this, Chen Kai searched for the storage conditions for Fresh Ginseng again. There were two main methods: one was Cold Storage (refrigeration), avoiding freezing to prevent the ginseng from being damaged and losing nutrients.
The advantage of this method was that as long as it was sold in time, it would be just like fresh, tender, white ginseng newly dug from the ground.
It also had a drawback: it could only be refrigerated for one to two weeks, otherwise the price would drop significantly.
It wouldn't fetch a good price then.
Another method was sand storage, using sterilized river sand to bury the ginseng, which could preserve it for one to two months.
However, the disadvantage was that once buried, it was no longer Fresh Ginseng; it became similar to dehydrated dried ginseng.
After weighing his options, Chen Kai decided to rent a Cold Storage!
After buying the Fresh Ginseng, he would send it all to the Cold Storage and sell it directly from there.
Plus, the refrigeration period was just right—seven to fourteen days—which was exactly his sales cycle.
This way, it wouldn't lose nutrients or be subject to price-slashing tactics.
Chen Kai thought for a long time, then decided to act immediately, searching online for a Cold Storage location in advance.
He planned to go rent the Cold Storage first thing tomorrow morning, then go buy the ginseng.
After finishing his tasks, time slipped by to two o'clock.
Chen Kai quickly set his alarm and fell into a deep sleep.
...
...
The next morning, around eight or nine o'clock.
Even though he hadn't slept for many hours, Chen Kai got up quickly, washed up, and hurriedly changed his clothes.
The matter of the 200,000 worth of ginseng could not be delayed.
He might not even be able to secure the Cold Storage today, so he had to hurry.
After getting dressed, Chen Kai went downstairs, drove his mercedes-benz car, and headed toward the location of the Cold Storage he had seen for rent yesterday.
...
Less than half an hour later, Chen Kai parked his car in front of a long row of Cold Storage units.
As soon as he got out of the car, he noticed other tenants of the Cold Storage busy moving goods into their units.
There were roasted whole lambs, roasted lamb legs, various vegetables, and various fruits.
Everyone was waiting for logistics to load the trucks or preparing to go to the vegetable market for wholesale sales.
Chen Kai frowned slightly and walked slowly toward a brother who was unloading goods nearby.
He took a cigarette out of his pocket and proactively handed it to the tenant who was unloading goods.
"Brother, I'd like to ask you something. How do you rent these Cold Storage units?"
The man was stunned for a moment, then took the cigarette, "You rent them from the warehouse owner, of course!"
Chen Kai smiled awkwardly, "I wanted to ask, what is the rental price? And how long do you have to rent it for?"
The man who took the cigarette nodded, a look of sudden realization on his face, and gave a sheepish smile.
"Oh, you're asking about that. What are you planning to put in the Cold Storage? The rent is definitely different for different cubic meters."
Chen Kai chuckled, "I want to rent a 12-cubic-meter Cold Storage. How is the rent calculated?"
The man calculated casually, "This stuff is cheap. The daily rent is only about fifty or sixty yuan. There's a seven-day minimum rental period. How many days do you want to rent it for? Shall I help you contact the landlord?"
"That would be great!"
Chen Kai immediately pulled another cigarette from his pack and handed it to the man.
The man nodded in satisfaction, "You're sensible. I'll contact him for you right now; the landlord is nearby."
After saying this, the man immediately put down his work, took out his phone, and started calling the landlord.
"Hey, Brother Li, there's a new tenant who wants to rent your Cold Storage."
"Ah, yes, yes, yes. We are at Warehouse No. 3 right now. Come over."
"Alright, alright. The two of us will wait for you here. Okay, come on over."
Afterward, he hung up the phone and patted Chen Kai on the shoulder, "Just wait here. The Fatty coming over in a bit is the landlord."
"I'm going back to work; otherwise, the goods won't be delivered to the owner on time."
Chen Kai nodded repeatedly, "Alright, brother, I'll go and wait."
Chen Kai smiled faintly, walked back a few steps, lit a cigarette, and calculated silently.
Renting for seven days was definitely enough; he had to sell the ginseng within seven days.
After renting the Cold Storage, he would go find sellers of Fresh Ginseng. Surely, he could scrounge up 20,000 ginseng roots on the market.
It was just that the ginseng from the farmers who supplied the large ginseng consumer goods factories had suddenly gotten sick.
This led to the large factories raising their prices, which in turn led to the sudden need to change fixed suppliers—that was all.
Just then, a little Fatty holding a bunch of keys walked slowly in his direction.
Chen Kai immediately went to meet him, wearing a smile.
"Hello, are you the landlord?"
"Yeah! I am. How big of a Cold Storage do you want to rent? Is it for refrigeration or freezing? Freezing is expensive, refrigeration is cheaper. Seven-day minimum rental period."
The little Fatty swung the keys in his hand casually, looking completely indifferent.
"I want to rent a 12-cubic-meter one. Refrigeration will do. Renting for seven days, how much would that be?"
"Oh, 12 cubic meters, huh? Only Warehouse No. 9 is 12 cubic meters. Do you want to go check it out?"
"For 12 cubic meters of refrigeration, how about 400 for seven days!"
Chen Kai nodded immediately, "No need to check. I'll pay right now; I'll scan your code."
The little Fatty landlord was also stunned, "Good, straightforward! Here are the keys. You can go take a look yourself in a bit."
"I have some other things to do, I'm heading off."