49: Purchase price

Manager Sun scurried into the boss's office.

"Boss, something terrible has happened!" he shouted as he ran.

Yamazumi Arimatsu sat in the boss's chair.

"I already know," he said with a grim expression, "Now, go recruit people immediately!"

Manager Sun replied, "Boss, it's not a matter of recruiting people, but that our salaries are too low, and the employees are unwilling to work!"

"Employees already had grievances before; many of them jumped ship to Feihuang Supermarket."

"I heard Feihuang Supermarket is still hiring now, and they all have different ideas!"

"If we don't raise salaries, we might not be able to recruit anyone, and even if we do, we might not be able to retain them!"

Yamazumi Arimatsu took a deep breath.

He felt very uncomfortable.

"The salary in Han City is only three thousand, why can Feihuang Supermarket offer employees eight thousand!" Yamazumi Arimatsu cursed loudly.

Feihuang Supermarket was engaging in malicious competition.

If they raised employee salaries so high, how could he exploit them?

More importantly, now that Feihuang Supermarket was hiring, what would their employees think?

Feihuang Supermarket's workload was only half of theirs, but the salary was several times higher; anyone would feel uncomfortable in that situation.

Yamazumi Arimatsu gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Then raise the employees' salaries to eight thousand."

"Also... let's recruit a thousand people too!"

"We absolutely cannot lose to Feihuang Supermarket!"

Yamazumi Arimatsu was very clear: it only needed one month.

If customers got used to going there, they would only go to Feihuang Supermarket, and there would be nothing left for Yongnian Supermarket.

This was a matter of life and death; he absolutely could not be timid, he had to fight to the end.

"Yes!" Hearing that they would match Feihuang Supermarket, Manager Sun finally smiled.

Soon, Yongnian Supermarket's salaries also rose to eight thousand.

To achieve the same service quality as Feihuang Supermarket, Yongnian Supermarket was also frantically recruiting people.

"Also, clear out our warehouse, renovate it, and expand the supermarket to ten thousand square meters!"

To be on par with Feihuang Supermarket, Yamazumi Arimatsu went all out!

Manager Sun said with difficulty, "But our account is already out of money!"

Hearing that they were running out of money, Yamazumi Arimatsu's heart ached.

As the saying goes, a single cannon shot costs ten thousand taels of gold.

Competing with Feihuang Supermarket required money everywhere.

"I will invest another fifty million, so you can go ahead and do it boldly!"

"We must expand the supermarket in the shortest possible time!"

Yamazumi Arimatsu said.

"Yes!" Manager Sun nodded.

...

The two sides went back and forth, fighting for ten days.

Qian Ziyong was very anxious inside the supermarket.

Zhu Daqiang, standing beside him, was also scratching his head in anxiety.

"Boss, the supermarket is losing money every day now, relying entirely on Heli 撈 Hotpot for subsidies. This can't go on!"

Feihuang Supermarket used to be profitable, but now it had started losing money.

Qian Ziyong asked, "How much do we lose every day now?"

Zhu Daqiang calculated and said, "Our supermarket loses over one hundred thousand a day, and the Hot Pot Restaurant makes about one million a day!"

Li Lian, who was beside them, was not very anxious: "It's fine as long as we're profitable overall."

"Yongnian Supermarket should be losing even more than us!"

"However, I'm worried that once Yongnian Supermarket is fully staffed, it will have a huge impact on us!"

Qian Ziyong, who had been very anxious, heard Li Lian's words and, surprisingly, became less anxious.

"So, you mean, after a period of time, our supermarket will suffer huge losses?" Qian Ziyong asked.

Li Lian shook her head: "Boss, you don't need to worry."

"Our Feihuang Supermarket has a first-mover advantage. Even if Yongnian Supermarket is fully staffed, it will be a long process to defeat us."

"What I'm most worried about is that they will make a move on the Hot Pot Restaurant!"

Hearing that it would be a long process, Qian Ziyong became anxious again.

Could he lose money or not!

He had waited until his patience wore thin.

A long process!

He couldn't afford to wait!

There was only a little over a month left until this cycle settled.

He estimated now that he still needed to lose fifty million to barely be in the red.

In other words, he had to lose one million every day!

And this was only the minimum standard to reach a loss.

His goal was for the supermarket and Hot Pot Restaurant to go out of business.

Even if they couldn't go out of business, he wanted to lose tens of millions.

This way, he could also fleece tens of millions from the system.

So, he had to lose at least two million a day!

This was his goal.

But now?

He was still making over a million a day!

He couldn't wait any longer.

Qian Ziyong was extremely anxious.

He felt that Yamazumi Arimatsu was not effective enough.

"Fame is often undeserved; Yamazumi Arimatsu's ability is too poor!" Qian Ziyong shook his head in loneliness.

He still had to make a move himself.

Yamazumi Arimatsu was unreliable.

He had sent people to Yamazumi Arimatsu and given him plans, and this was the result of his ability?

His expectations were wasted.

"Boss, don't be careless!" Li Lian reminded him.

However, in her heart, Li Lian greatly admired Qian Ziyong.

A newborn calf fears no tiger.

That phrase refers to people who are inexperienced and new to society.

But Qian Ziyong was different.

He reached his peak upon debut.

A series of combination punches left Yongnian Supermarket only able to parry.

Although they were losing money now, Yongnian Supermarket was losing even more!

"Forget it, since Yamazumi Arimatsu isn't making a move, I will!"

"From today onwards, the Hot Pot Restaurant will lower its prices to match those of ordinary Hot Pot Restaurants."

"Also, the supermarket's goods will be further reduced in price!"

After thinking for a moment, Qian Ziyong felt this was too troublesome.

He said directly, "Label the purchase prices for me. No matter what the product, write down its cost."

"We need to let customers know what the cost of our goods is and how much we earn after they buy!"

Hearing Qian Ziyong's words, Li Lian turned pale with fright.

"Boss, you can't do that!"

"You absolutely cannot label the purchase prices!"

"This is a big taboo!"

Li Lian repeatedly tried to dissuade him.

Qian Ziyong was curious: "Why not?"

He didn't understand why labeling the purchase price was not allowed.

Li Lian explained, "From ancient times to now, merchants have never told others their purchase prices!"

"Because once you tell customers your purchase price, customers will feel that you made money off of them!"

"Everyone dislikes having their money earned by others!"

"So, when bargaining while selling things, the boss will usually say, 'I'm selling this to you at a loss.'"

"For example, on the street, shops that claim to be having a 'loss-making clearance sale' generally do quite well in business."

Hearing this, Qian Ziyong looked thoughtful.

So that was why there were so many 'loss-making clearance sales' all over the streets.

They claimed to be losing money, but in reality, they were making a fortune.

He also understood why costs couldn't be labeled.

Customers always liked to buy at extremely low prices. If the costs were labeled, what money would the merchants earn?

However...

Did he want to make money?

No!

He was just afraid of not losing enough.

Since that was the case, what was he waiting for!

"I've decided, label the purchase prices for me!" Qian Ziyong declared with a wave of his hand.

Li Lian and Zhu Daqiang were both stunned.

You just said so much, and you didn't hear a single word!

Li Lian said, "Boss, you will lose money this way!"

Qian Ziyong said with heroic spirit, "My friend, you don't need to persuade me anymore. No matter what you say, I will label the purchase prices."

"I've already made up my mind!"

"I want to be the first in the world to dare!"