Chapter 425 Expanding the Market
"It seems that we still need to hire more workers! We obviously don't have enough sales staff. We didn't expect to encounter such a situation after the economic crisis broke out." said the human resources manager of Austria's Hechingen Tobacco Company.
As a tobacco giant that has just emerged in recent years, Heixingen Tobacco Company is facing an economic crisis for the first time, so it lacks experience.
"Yes, market research shows that after the economic crisis, workers' unemployment pressure and living cost pressure have greatly increased, the social environment has become increasingly depressed, and the uncertainty of future expectations has greatly increased people's demand for tobacco and alcohol, especially the sales of cheap tobacco and alcohol products. Now, as long as we have enough cheap raw materials to produce enough low-priced products, we can make more money."
"However, we should set up more sales outlets, especially street stalls, rather than professional salesmen. Smokers don't want someone buzzing in their ears at this time."
"It's like this. The current social atmosphere is not very good. If we hire professional salesmen, I'm afraid it will have the opposite effect."
Being a salesperson is definitely a job that is easy to arouse disgust. Under normal circumstances, when the economic situation is good, people are more tolerant and it is not a big deal. But now the whole society is in an unstable mood, and those salespeople with average eloquence will only cause conflicts.
After the economic crisis, the Austrian Hechingen Tobacco Company lived a quite comfortable life. The demand for cigarettes among the spiritually empty Austrian unemployed increased significantly. The situation was the same as that of the Hechingen distilleries, especially the cheapest vodka, which saw a huge increase in sales.
Before the economic crisis broke out, the employees of the Heixingen Tobacco Company were quite panicked because all walks of life were laying off employees and cutting salaries, and there was wailing everywhere. They were afraid that their company would follow in the same footsteps.
There is still an impact. The emergence of a large number of unemployed people has indeed lowered wages, especially for unskilled positions. The competition is very fierce. This forces company employees to put in more energy than usual and work hard, for fear that their jobs will be taken away. Now having a stable job is better than anything else.
The company certainly would not lay off employees arbitrarily, after all, old employees have more work experience, but the company also welcomes competition. Some old hands who used to be good at slacking off have begun to actively work, which has greatly improved the efficiency of Heixinggen Tobacco Company.
"Since we had our own tobacco leaf production area, we have discovered how profitable tobacco is. The prices of raw materials sold to us by foreigners were too high."
"That's not the case. Tobacco growing areas are concentrated in tropical and subtropical areas, which require a lot of investment. However, many tobacco producing areas are colonies, and the labor costs in colonies can be almost negligible. If these colonies did not exist, the price of tobacco leaves in the market would have been reasonable."
"We don't care about colonies or not. We will buy raw materials from whoever has cheaper prices and better quality."
"That's not true. Now our raw materials are actually delivered free of charge from East Africa. We don't have to compare prices from three different suppliers and haggle over every penny like before."
"Haha, this is exactly our advantage. The company is still expanding production in Africa. In a few years, we will be far ahead of our peers. Unfortunately, our tobacco farmers in East Africa have much less experience in tobacco planting than those in other traditional tobacco producing areas, so the taste of tobacco is also worse than that of other tobacco producing areas."
"There is no need to worry about this. East Africa is large enough, the tobacco fields are large enough, and tobacco has been grown for some time. The taste and yield have greatly improved. Ordinary people don't know much about taste. They just think that the taste of Heixingen's cigarette brands is getting better and better. This is a great thing for us."
"With the production of East African tobacco in recent years, we have been completely freed from the constraints of tobacco giants in the United Kingdom and the United States in terms of raw materials. When Matabele Plateau tobacco leaves officially enter the market next year, I believe our business will reach a higher level."
“Well, this is a sample of golden leaf produced in the Matabele Plateau. Let me show you.” He then distributed a packet of golden leaf in his hand.
The sample packaging is an enchanting yellow, which looks extremely eye-catching, and the golden gold leaf trademark leaves a deep impression.
As the manager finished smoking the cigarettes in the box, everyone looked closely at the so-called "high-end goods".
"Manager, can I open it and take a look?"
"Of course, there's no problem just trying it directly. You can describe the smell in detail."
The old smokers in the company didn't hesitate to take out their lighters and light their cigarettes, and the whole meeting room became filled with smoke.
Generally speaking, for safety reasons, smoking is prohibited in companies, mainly because of the fear of causing fires. As for the issue of smoking being harmful to health, I'm sorry, people nowadays don't have this concept.
"It feels very soft on the palate, with a strong aftertaste, and the aroma seems too strong. I think this tobacco should be mixed with other tobaccos for a better effect."
“I wonder if we can use this taste alone to produce cigars! In fact, the taste of cigars is just like this. This will greatly enhance the competitiveness of our high-end products.”
"Cigars are an area we have no experience with, and I heard that the manufacturing process of cigars is very complicated and cannot be mass-produced mechanically like cigarettes, so the cost is much higher than that of cigarettes."
"In fact, we don't need to do that at all. People in the market only recognize Cuban cigars, and although the tobacco leaves from the Matabele Plateau are also of high quality, they are not really well-known. What our company should do most is to package the brand, such as Golden Leaf, and make it a perfect high-end product so that ordinary people will be familiar with the Golden Leaf brand."
"In essence, we still need to use high-end products to boost the sales of low-end products. Ordinary people don't usually have access to high-end products, which will give them an illusion that this thing must be good. Then we can use the brand effect brought by high-end products to promote the sales of low-end products."
For products of the same quality and price, ordinary people naturally trust big manufacturers and famous brands more.
"Then increase advertising investment?"
"Of course we have to do this, but not now. At least we have to wait until we are through the economic crisis. Consumers don't have the time to pay attention to advertisements now. We still have to increase our marketing efforts, especially by lowering prices."
Although the tobacco industry has been affected by the economic crisis and has shown unprecedented hot sales, except for the Heixingen Tobacco Company, other tobacco companies are not very happy.
The main one is the Heixinggen Tobacco Company, the sixth largest company, which has absorbed a large market share by relying on independent supply and low-priced raw materials. Originally, no one needed to roll, but now they have to roll inward.
(End of this chapter)
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