184: The tug-of-war with the chairman of the ginseng company!
"The goods are in the warehouse. I didn't bring samples, but I have photos. If you think they look good after seeing the photos, I'll take you straight to the warehouse, and you can spot-check them however you like."
Chen Kai smiled faintly. It was his oversight today; he had actually forgotten to bring samples.
He silently opened his phone to the photos he had specifically taken for spot checks at the Cold Storage yesterday and placed the phone on the desk.
The chairman's face remained unreadable as he took the phone and silently nodded while looking at the quality of the ginseng in the photos.
It was truly like being handed a pillow just as one felt sleepy. Their group was currently severely short on stock, and the inventory of Fresh Ginseng in the factory was almost exhausted, judging by the efficiency of their current production line.
The Fresh Ginseng in their warehouse was only enough for one day. After that, if they couldn't find a new source of ginseng, they would have to halt production.
But for a large factory like theirs, they simply dared not stop production. If they halted for a day, the costs incurred would be pure, unrecoverable losses—all net expenditures.
One had to realize that when they weren't halted, expenses like machinery costs, employee wages, factory rent, and investments in R&D were offset by the products being sold. The daily income and expenditures reached a delicate balance, and they could make a profit.
Normally, when they weren't halted, the sales of Yigenshen Energy Water would generate enough money to subsidize these expenses. But if they stopped for a day, these costs became pure expenditures. It would be equivalent to using the money in their accounts just to support the staff.
Renting a factory and doing nothing meant paying rent for nothing for several days.
He couldn't afford such pure losses. Even if he had to buy Fresh Ginseng at a high price, he could just temporarily raise the product price.
Even if he sold at the original price, he would still make a profit; it's just that the profit would be subsidized into the expenses mentioned above.
In any case, he wouldn't be making a pure loss; it wouldn't be a net expenditure.
It just so happened he was worried about where to buy Fresh Ginseng. Others were either demanding high prices, selling dried ginseng, or had too little stock to even supply a single day's production.
He never expected that a reseller with good quality goods that weren't particularly expensive would deliver them right to his door.
The chairman immediately gave two dry coughs. "This ginseng actually looks quite good, but the price... it's too expensive."
"Our original procurement price was only 8 yuan per piece. Your price of 13 yuan per piece isn't exactly a sincere offer. I think I need to reconsider our cooperation."
The chairman deliberately put on a contemplative look, preparing to drive the price down. Even saving one yuan per piece was profit.
Furthermore, any ginseng dealer who truly wanted to cooperate with them would definitely offer a discount upon hearing him say that, just to secure future cooperation.
When Chen Kai heard this, he smiled indifferently.
Bluffing? You're going to reconsider cooperation? He had figured it out: the Yigenshen manufacturer was currently severely short on stock.
And!!! More importantly, their inventory must be hitting rock bottom. This could be heard from what he had just said—others were selling at very high prices, and he needed to consider his profit margins.
And he was still trying to bluff him here?
If he turned around and walked away to push the limits of this tug-of-war, the first person to panic would definitely be their chairman!
Moreover, the chairman saying this was a tactic used to deal with others. The subtext was: if you want to cooperate with me next time, and if you want to cooperate with me in the future, you have to offer a discount.
But Chen Kai had absolutely no intention of cooperating with him again. He was just here to make a one-time sale; where would a next time come from?
His normal purchase price was eight yuan per piece. If he talked to Zhou Lei about the price, and if they wanted a large quantity, like a long-term contract, Zhou Lei would at most offer a discount down to eight yuan per piece.
He had absolutely no room to make a profit. He wasn't interested in making just one cent per piece, and he might not even be able to make that much.
Eight yuan per piece might truly be squeezing the ginseng plantation to the limit.
On the surface, it looked like he, Chen Kai, was approaching the chairman to discuss cooperation, but in reality, the chairman was the one in the passive position.
The shortage of stock was one thing, and besides, no one could replace this batch of goods Chen Kai had!
If someone had ginseng at 20 yuan per piece and could lower it to 18, and he was selling at 13 yuan per piece without lowering it, could the chairman not figure out that math?
Secondly, he had no intention of cooperating again, so this set of coercive tactics had no effect on him.
Chen Kai was currently in an unselectable state; he wasn't afraid of threats, and the chairman couldn't do without his goods.
"If that's the case, then I don't think you're here to talk sincerely. As for the current market situation, I don't need to say much; you know whether I'm asking for an exorbitant price at thirteen yuan per piece."
"Furthermore, the goods on the market that cost over twenty yuan really aren't as good as mine. My goods have just been in Cold Storage for two days."
"Your products must use Fresh Ginseng; dried ginseng simply won't work. If you need to consider it, then I'll take some time to consider it as well."
"I haven't been to the factory next door yet, and they are also short on Fresh Ginseng. I'll go talk to them."
Chen Kai smiled faintly and stood up, preparing to play a game of playing hard to get.
He had only taken two steps after standing up when he was already waiting in his heart for the chairman to call him back.
Just as he reached the door, he deliberately slowed his pace significantly, thinking to himself, why hasn't he called me yet?
Just then, the chairman, who was sitting in his seat, suddenly stood up.
"Wait!"
"Let's talk a bit more. Don't be in such a rush. That factory next door has already bought two or three days' worth of ginseng inventory. Don't be in such a rush."
"Come back, come back."
Upon hearing this, Chen Kai paused for a long moment before slowly turning around, and with an indifferent expression, sat back down in the chair in front of the desk.
"Oh? What else do you want to talk about?"
"Ahem... it's about the ginseng. If you give us a discount this time, when the ginseng disease recovers and planting resumes, I'll still place an order with you. How about that?"
"Let's just do 11 yuan per piece. I'll be honest with you: our factory isn't actually that short on ginseng right now; we can hold out for a few more days. If you lower the price, I'll go to the warehouse with you to take a look and buy all your ginseng. How many pieces do you have in total?"
Chen Kai smiled faintly. "I have over 20,000 pieces in my warehouse right now."
"The price cannot be lowered. If you can hold out for a few days, why don't you just hold out? I'll go ask the neighbors if they want my high-quality, reasonably priced ginseng."
The chairman was rendered somewhat silent by these words. Hold out my ass!! They only had one day's worth of ginseng inventory, otherwise, they would have to stop production!
"You... do you really not want to have long-term cooperation with us? I see your ginseng quality is quite good. If you give a discount this time, we can definitely have long-term cooperation in the future."
Chen Kai shrugged indifferently and waved his hand quickly. "Chairman, don't try to paint a big picture for me; I'm not interested."
"It's 13 yuan per piece. If you don't want it, I'll go ask someone else."