Zhenniang: The Three of Us (Sixteen)

Then there was the grocery store, a small shop that didn't stand out in the bustling commercial district. When it opened, nobody took it seriously at first.

Everything changed when a housewife walked by, bought a bottle of sesame oil, and won a free bottle in a raffle.

...

I don't know when it started, but the newsboys running around the city streets, who used to shout that they were selling newspapers, suddenly started shouting: "More sesame oil! Another bottle! Buy one, get one free!"

The people on the street were all preoccupied with their own affairs, their expressions numb, and they didn't give the newspaper boy a second glance.

But the significance of advertising lies not in everyone listening to it, but in forming an impression in people's minds.

People don't bother to remember things that don't concern them, but when they have a need, the impressions that have formed in their minds will replay.

The unknown represents insecurity, and people tend to choose what they are familiar with. When there is a need, creating a familiar impression for the customer is the goal of advertising.

"I've heard of a sesame oil called 'Re-Come Sesame Oil.' What kind of sesame oil is it? Bring it to me so I can see it."

Before the shop opened, Zhao Zhenniang traveled all over the world with her sesame oil, promoting it to each shop and explaining her sesame oil philosophy.

They even promised not to charge money, but to give the merchants ten bottles to sell first, and then discuss cooperation after they sold them!

Some shops treated her like a fraud and kicked her out, while others found her intriguing and kept her around.

You don't charge money, right?

Let's set it up and give it a try.

Whether it's something that's left behind or not, it's definitely left an impression on your mind. If someone asks, you'll immediately remember it.

The person who confiscated the goods quickly assured the customer, "I've heard of it, I've heard of it. If you want some, I'll ask around. I also have other good brands of sesame oil. You can take this one first."

Once you've collected it, you can sell it, and while you're at it, tell the customers how affordable this oil is.

The sesame oil bottle stopper is engraved with floral characters. If you draw a flower, it means "thank you for your patronage." If there are numbers in the flower, it means "good fortune awaits when you open the bottle." You can take the stopper to the "Return Shop" to exchange it for another bottle.

Upon hearing about the great deal, people immediately abandoned other brands and chose Zailai sesame oil instead.

Although I don't know if the prize is real or not, since I'm buying sesame oil anyway, I'll definitely buy one with a chance of winning.

The first batch of oil sold to the shops included quite a few prize bottles. When customers opened the bottles at home, they saw the decorative characters on the stoppers. What did that mean?

He excitedly went to the shop to ask the owner, who was also surprised to find that there was a prize inside. Remembering what the salesman had said, he picked up a receipt, wrote down the number on the bottle stopper and his shop name, and tore it in half.

"Take this half ticket and go to the Relai Goods Shop next to the foreign firm on the fifteenth of each month to exchange it for a prize. The people in the shop will give you a new bottle of sesame oil."

Although mixing the oil is quite troublesome, it's a bottle of sesame oil and twelve pounds of millet. Even if it's troublesome, someone will go and exchange it!

Not only are customers willing to exchange it, but over time, some people will definitely want to counterfeit it. It's not easy to make a fake sesame oil, but it's easy to make a fake bottle stopper. A fake bottle stopper can be exchanged for a bottle of sesame oil. Such a huge profit margin must be guarded against.

Furthermore, the production date is engraved on the stopper of the sesame oil bottle; one is for quality management, and the other is for anti-counterfeiting purposes.

The winning bottle stoppers are all printed with numbers from 01 to 50. When someone wins, a receipt is issued first, and the customer keeps half and the shop keeps the other half. When someone comes to restock and collect the goods, the winning receipts from the shop are collected.

On the one hand, it makes it convenient for shops to purchase goods and recycle expired oil; on the other hand, you can tell whether it is a genuine bottle stopper by looking at the numbers and tear marks.

If even with such precautions, counterfeits can still be made, then those who make counterfeits should be the ones making a living from it.

He works so hard; if he used that talent anywhere, he could achieve great things.

However, while counterfeiting can be prevented, it's impossible to prevent the shopkeepers from drawing the prizes themselves. Therefore, Jian Yu'an instructed the villagers to place the prizes at designated locations, and this could only be done for the first few days. After that, all the prize-winning bottle stoppers would be mixed with the regular bottle stoppers.

They don't even know which shops have prizes; let the people downstairs open their shops if they want.

Of course, these are all very extreme assumptions. There are bored people in the world, but not that many. Most merchants still saw business opportunities in this and went to Zailai Goods Shop to purchase goods.

I feel like this brand is going to be a hit.

Sesame oil, a daily necessity, sells well not only in foreign trading companies but also in small shops in alleyways. People used to buy it from foreign trading companies, and now they can buy it from any other shop without any problems.

The profits are the same, but the after-sales service at this store is even better; it's the first store to offer guaranteed buyback of expired goods.

If the product doesn't sell by its expiration date, it can be recycled, which reduces the store's losses, maintains its reputation with customers, and also provides a buy-one-get-one-free gimmick.

Merchants are protected, customers get good deals, and everyone is happy.

When Zhao Zhenniang went to deliver goods to the shops, she repeatedly reminded them to make sure the prizes reached as many customers as possible.

Customers get more benefits and buy more often. The main store covers the extra costs. The more you sell, the more you earn. Sesame oil is not a dead-end business. It's all about making a steady, long-term profit.

As for how much they can take in, do your best and leave the rest to fate.

If you buy sesame oil at the main store, you can open the lid at the counter and exchange it directly if you win a prize.

The distributor is dishonest; he artificially lowers the winning rate. Just consider it as him driving traffic to the main store.

The main store was located near the foreign firm, and sesame oil wasn't something that needed to be bought and consumed immediately.

The shop's promotion was small in scale but comprehensive. Not only did these small shops start to attract customers, but Lan Shuyan and Zhang Ying's patriotic promotion among their classmates also had an effect.

In those days, it was mostly women who took care of the household chores, such as cooking, cooking, and cleaning. When a female student came home and told her mother, the mother who cooked immediately recognized the brand.

However, mothers who manage the family's meals generally don't choose a particular brand because of patriotism. They simply compare prices from different vendors and buy the most affordable items for the least amount of money.

When we went to the foreign company to restock, we saw a long queue in front of a shop and asked the rickshaw driver, "What do they sell there?"

The well-informed rickshaw puller grinned and said, "That's the day the prize for the 'Re-Bring Sesame Oil' is being claimed! The winner is here to collect their prize!"

Upon hearing that there was a prize, the woman stopped in her tracks to see what it was.

When I heard there was a chance to buy one bottle and get one free, I bought it without being told.

...

While her daughter was promoting various patriotic domestic products, her mother had already made a purchase. She was overjoyed to see an extra bottle of sesame oil. These little things constitute the happiest rhythm of her life.

A bottle of sesame oil can not only be used for cooking, but according to the current market price, it can also be exchanged for four kilograms of white rice, because the government has been in arrears with wages and her family has not eaten white rice for a long time.

I really wanted to open the package and see if it contained another bottle of sesame oil, just in case she got lucky.

However, the demand for white rice still exceeded that for sesame oil, so the woman eventually took the bottle of sesame oil she had obtained for free and exchanged it for white rice.

In such a chaotic situation, sesame oil, as a relatively stable commodity, could be used for barter.

However, bartering is subject to price fluctuations and is not always strictly regulated. In the end, I only received three and a half pounds of rice.

The woman was happy no matter how much oil she got for free, and happily took the rice home.

That unopened bottle of sesame oil constantly entered her heart.

Could it also be a "buy one get one free" offer?

If so, that would be such a huge loss...

...

Space is expensive in the city, and residents live quite close together, so news about daily necessities travels faster than you might imagine.

At first, they boldly ordered 500 bottles, and the villagers were worried about whether they could sell them. Unexpectedly, they sold out in an instant, and new orders kept pouring in.

Because that generous "buy one more bottle, buy one more bottle" sesame oil is so popular now, every shop is asking if they have any sesame oil.

They used to ignore them when they came to sell their products, but now that sesame oil is so popular, the shops can still afford it.

Distributors are the arms of suppliers, so how can we offend them? Besides, the shops provide a one-stop service from supply to receiving, serving us exceptionally well.

In this era, because of the clear class distinctions, even those in the service industry, because they had capital, acted like big shots and were arrogant. But the service spirit of the general store was just too good.

The reason why the store dares to provide such good service is that Jian Yu'an is a modern person who pays great attention to employee training.

One is that Zhao Family Village collectively runs a business, so there are really no labor costs. They just need to spare two people from the village to be responsible for delivering and receiving goods.

However, even with the combined efforts of the entire village, manpower was still insufficient, so there was also a third girl, now renamed Zhao Zhenmei, who was responsible for delivering and receiving goods.

Zhao Zhenmei was only ten years old, but she was very quick-witted and learned to read and do arithmetic exceptionally fast. She could calculate accounts very well. When everyone saw this, they had a bold idea: let Zhenmei go!

Zhao Zhenmei and her father went to various shops to deliver goods and collect receipts, and also to the surrounding villages to collect local products.

Rural people are never idle; they have many crops and handicrafts to do.

But because they were all small and scattered, it was difficult to find a way to sell them. Now, when the shops come to collect them in person, the prices they offer are very reasonable.

Whether it's shoes you made yourself, vegetables from your yard, dates, apricots, pears from the trees, homemade pastries and fruits, homemade tofu, or eggs from your own chickens and ducks, the shop will buy them all.

The second store is different from traditional grocery stores; it sells things randomly, and customers buy whatever comes along.

However, due to the immense reputation of the sesame oil, the store saw a surge in customers, with many coming to shop.

Things from the countryside are worthless in the countryside, but they are still in high demand in the city. Families who can afford sesame oil will buy it on a whim.

Surprisingly, the chili sauce and leek sauce that people in the countryside are almost sick of eating are selling very quickly in the city.

In this way, the shop's revenue increased, and the surrounding villages were united. Now everyone knows that Zhao Family Village has become more powerful.

This is also why many girls from Zhao Family Village return home without causing trouble.

Zhao Zhenniang is actually only sixteen years old this year. Her mind is at its sharpest, and she learns to read very quickly.

Flipping through the ledgers and watching the endless stream of income, I was dumbfounded. My second sister truly lives up to her title of Fox Fairy Goddess; she's incredibly good at accumulating wealth!

Once the sales period is over, the suppliers will no longer be provided with goods for free; payment will be made in full upfront, resulting in very impressive accounts.

But the money hadn't been on the counter for long when people from all sides came demanding it.

The person roasting sesame seeds said they didn't have enough pots, the person turning the millstone said they didn't have enough millstones, the person buying goods said they didn't have enough money, the person bottling said they didn't have enough glass bottles, the person labeling said they didn't have enough people, they didn't have enough for anything.

Every shortfall is a reasonable request, and every shortfall cannot be refused, so the money that just came in is spent like water flowing away.

Zhao Zhenniang didn't know why, no matter how big her business became, she could never save any money.

Later, I thought about the fate my aunt had given her: wealth would flow like water, and money wouldn't come in unless it was spent.

Then spend it! Spend it like crazy! Make room for new money!

We need a millstone, buy one! We need a pot, buy one! We need people… let’s go to the neighboring village and hire some farmhands…

The payment is deposited into the account and then immediately used to balance the books, as if walking a tightrope.

Even the villagers were puzzled. How come the business kept growing and the hired laborers were making money, while they themselves couldn't see any?

Fortunately, costs are a bottomless pit only in the early stages of starting a business. Once everything is in place and all the necessary major items have been purchased, costs stabilize.

With everyone focused on the immediate needs and neglecting the aftermath, the shop, built with much difficulty and setbacks, finally reached a point where it was in good working order.

...

Time flies, and the end of the year is just around the corner. As the year draws to a close, people are frantically stocking up on New Year's goods, and everyone is so busy that they can barely keep their feet on the ground.

After the peak season for sesame oil sales during the Lunar New Year, the local shops also close down to liquidate their accounts at the end of the year.

The villagers eagerly went to Zhao Zhenniang's place to ask about this year's harvest.

Zhao Zhenniang, dressed in an indigo floral-patterned jacket, sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) calculating with an abacus, her breath steaming in the air.

After finishing the accounts, Zhao Zhenniang tried to suppress her smile several times, but couldn't.

He looked up at the crowd, his smile almost bursting out of his head—

"This year's harvest at the counter... 1,323 silver dollars!"