Purchasing goods is a science, and it can even be said to be the most important part of being a clothing reseller. If you purchase goods that are difficult to sell, you will lose all the money.
Da Wa thought about it for a long time but still couldn't decide what goods to import, so he dragged Da Hu and spent the entire National Day holiday at the Qipu Road Clothing Wholesale Market with only one thing in mind, which was to see which clothes were the hottest and most popular.
The two brothers get up at five o'clock every morning, meet at the entrance of the Qipu Road Wholesale Market at six o'clock, eat two goose meat buns to fill their stomachs, and as soon as seven o'clock arrives, customers start to arrive one after another.
Da Wa and Da Hu split into two groups and followed the people. Each of them held a notebook and a pen and wrote down what clothes the people bought. For example, if a customer bought a denim jacket, they would draw a horizontal line under the four words "denim jacket" to make it correct.
I wrote down everything from seven o'clock to twelve o'clock, and almost filled up half a page of paper.
As noon approached, the number of customers gradually decreased, so the two brothers went to the vermicelli soup stall at the entrance of the Qipu Road Wholesale Market. They each had a bowl of vermicelli soup, put away the bowls, and took a short rest on the table.
Around two o'clock, guests came one after another. The two brothers looked at each other, picked up their notebooks and pens, and started taking notes again.
After hanging out at the Qipu Road Clothing Wholesale Market for several days, both brothers got darker.
On the evening after the National Day holiday, Da Wa pulled Da Hu to sort out the things they had written down.
The eldest boy is smart and is good at taking notes.
When recording, spread out the notebook, with the left page for male guests and the right page for female guests. They are also divided into age groups. Eighteen to thirty is one age group, thirty to fifty is another age group, and sixty and above is another age group.
I don't remember those who were too young. Children were usually brought by their elders to choose clothes. In other words, they had no say in what was bought.
These children's clothes must be classified as adults' clothes.
Da Wa and Da Hu studied together all night long and only went back to their respective schools to catch up on their sleep the next morning.
The hard work was worth it, as Da Wa finally made up her mind to buy young women's and children's clothing.
According to his research, women between 18 and 30 are the main consumers of the Qipu Road clothing wholesale market. Most of the women in this age group like to be coquettish and have jobs, so they have plenty of money and buy two or three pieces at a time when they go to the market.
Da Wa and Da Hu followed to do statistics on the guests, half of whom were young girls and wives.
Fortunately, both of them are handsome and look like good people. They are holding notebooks and pens in their hands, otherwise if they follow behind others, people would think they are hooligans.
The best-selling and most popular women's clothing nowadays is the denim jacket, also called a jeans jacket. Female celebrities on TV, especially those from Hong Kong, often wear a white T-shirt inside and a denim jacket and denim pants outside, and then wear sunglasses, and then lean on their grandfather's car, which is so cool.
Young people are following suit. No matter who they are, as long as they have some spare money, they must buy a denim jacket to wear to keep up with the fashion and the trend.
Da Wa had in his hand the two thousand yuan he had borrowed from San Wa, and the entire fortune of him and Da Hu excluding the meal money, which was three hundred yuan, a total of twenty-three hundred yuan.
One thousand yuan was used to buy various denim products, including denim jackets and denim pants, and five hundred yuan was used to buy some fashionable items, such as lace one-shoulder tops, red and black plaid skirts, mock collar shirts, layered sweaters, etc.
The eldest son started reading books and listening to the radio since he was a child. When he grew up, the family got a TV. His knowledge was wider than some people who were slightly older than him. The clothes he chose were natural, generous, stylish and trendy. After all, he watched a lot of foreign movies and TV series.
The remaining 800 yuan was used by the eldest child to buy children's clothes, including embroidered dresses, bell-bottom pants, bat-wing shirts, tweed coats, small suits, green chin shirts, and chess-piece patterns.
Da Hu had nothing to say about the denim jackets and fashionable items. He even thought that Da Wa had good taste and bought a lot of clothes. But? This pile of children's clothes... He frowned and picked up a chess piece. "Can this be sold?"
"Yes." The eldest child said firmly, "When my mother was coaxing me, Erniu and Sanwa, she said something like, no matter how hard life is, we can't let our descendants suffer. Have you noticed that when adults, especially the elderly, go to the Qipu Road Clothing Wholesale Market to buy clothes, in addition to buying clothes for themselves, they also remember to buy children's clothes for their grandchildren."
Some elderly people are even reluctant to buy clothes for themselves, but are willing to buy several pieces of clothes for their children at home.
Once the conditions at home improve, most people will choose to improve the lives of their children first, such as giving them more pocket money to buy snacks, or buying them a few more pieces of clothing.
All in all, these children's clothes sold quite a lot.
It’s just that most of the profiteers didn’t discover this business opportunity, and no one paid as much attention to it as Da Wa did.
After hearing what Da Wa said, Da Hu was startled. He immediately picked up the notebook he had written in and looked through it carefully. After reading it, he let out a sigh of relief, "You are really smart. Thanks to you for coming up with this 'recording' method, we were able to find out that the children's clothing sold is not worse than those clothes."
All the clothes they bought could fill seven or eight large sacks. Fortunately, Da Wa and Da Hu were still students and had dormitories to live in. They could just stuff the sacks under their beds without having to rent a place to store the clothes, which saved them a lot of money.
Then it’s time to start choosing a place to set up your stall.
Da Hu asked, "Where are we going to set up the stall? Is it also the Qipu Road Clothing Wholesale Market?"
The eldest boy shook his head. "There are too many people selling clothes there. We can't stand out."
Even if Da Wa has a good eye for clothes and picks a lot of clothes, people will not necessarily buy from Da Wa's stall. After all, there are small stalls selling clothes all over the Qiupu Road Clothing Wholesale Market. Even if the clothes sold in other stalls are slightly inferior, as long as the price is cheaper than that of Da Wa's stall, customers will still be attracted away.
So Da Wa decided to take a different approach. Instead of setting up a stall at the Qiupu Road clothing wholesale market, he went to the gate of a family compound. There are many factories in Shanghai, such as flour factories, toy factories, etc., which have family compounds, and inside are houses allocated to employees.
Da Wa chose to set up a stall at the gate of his family compound because there were many workers living there, who were paid high wages and had a lot of spare money. Moreover, those who were allocated houses generally had children at home, so they would not have to worry about no one buying their children's clothes if they set up a stall here to sell them.
So on the weekend afternoon, Da Wa and Da Hu carried sacks and went to the gate of the noodle factory.
The tarpaulin was spread out on the ground, and all kinds of children's clothing were neatly displayed. Then the store started to shout, "Walk around, take a look, don't miss it if you pass by, we sell beautiful and fashionable children's clothing."
Da Hu was still hesitant at first, looking at Da Wa, who was wearing a pair of bell-bottom pants on her shoulders and holding a plaid skirt in her hands, swinging them around and shouting, trying her best to attract customers. He followed behind Da Wa in a low voice, occasionally shouting a few words.
Seeing this, the eldest boy said, "You can't do this. You can't attract people without calling them. If you don't shout when you sell things, how can they know what you are selling and what's good about your things?"
Da Hu whispered, "I feel a little embarrassed."
The eldest boy was happy, "What's so shameful about this? It's good to make money." He added, "We have saved a month's food money. If we can't sell these clothes, we will have nothing to eat next month. Think about it, which is more important, saving face or having enough to eat."
Da Hu immediately said, "Of course eating well is more important."
After preparing himself mentally, Da Hu relaxed and started to shout with all his might.
It was the time when people were getting off work, and people were coming and going.
The two guys had loud voices, and their hard work was very effective. After a short while, they attracted a group of people.
An old lady holding her grandson in one hand picked up a shawl collar shirt and said, "Young man, how much is this shirt?"
The eldest boy smiled and said in a crisp voice, "Auntie, this dress is eight yuan."
The old lady frowned and raised her voice, "Eight yuan? I went to the Qipu Road clothing wholesale market a while ago, and they sold this shawl collar top for only six yuan. How come yours is two yuan more expensive than the one sold at the wholesale market? Young man, your business is not honest."
Upon hearing this, the people who had been looking towards the stall with their heads raised immediately retracted their gazes. The grandpas, aunts, and uncles who had just picked up the clothes also put them down again.
Da Hu's face turned pale immediately and he stammered for a long time without being able to speak. The lady was actually right. Their prices were indeed more expensive than those in the Qiupu Road Clothing Wholesale Market.
But Da Wa was neither angry nor annoyed. He still had a sweet smile on his face and pretended to be exaggerated, "Auntie, you are really slandering a good person." He slapped his face and said, "Do you think I look like a black-hearted person?"
The old lady glanced at him. The eldest boy had thick eyebrows and big eyes. She thought that the young man looked quite energetic. She nodded and said, "Not really." She stretched out her voice and said, "But you can only know a person's appearance but not his heart. How do you explain that your price is higher than others?"
Da Wa curled his lips and said, "Auntie, don't you think about it? The Qipu Road Clothing Wholesale Market is so far away from the flour factory in front of you. We took several trolleybuses to get here. It was a waste of energy. We have to earn some money for the fare, right?"
The old lady thought about it and agreed. The Qiupu Road clothing wholesale market was quite a distance away from here and people from their family compound generally didn't go there. If it weren't for this, there wouldn't be so many people gathering around when Da Wa and his friends set up their stall to sell clothes.
Big Boy struck while the iron was hot and added, "Besides, we sell at a higher price than others because we have a discount."
"Discount?" The old lady's ears moved. "What discount?"
Older people, when they hear about discounts and bargains, their ears are sharper than anyone else's.
Big Boy grinned and said, "That's a discount. Buy five and get one free." He slapped his hands.
"What? Buy five and get one free!" the old lady exclaimed in surprise.
These days, I've never heard of someone getting something for free if you buy too many clothes.
However, the old lady curled her lips and said, "Who would buy so many clothes at one time? Do you think the money came from the wind?"
Upon hearing this, those who had been excited about the discount suddenly felt as if a basin of cold water was poured over them and they suppressed their excitement.
Yes, even if you buy five and get one free, no one can pick so many clothes at one time.
The eldest child did not respond to this conversation, but instead changed the subject and began to praise the aunt's grandson, "Oh, aunt, your little grandson is so cute, chubby and strong."
The old lady was pleased with herself, "Of course not. His father and mother are both good-looking, so he is naturally good-looking. Besides, it is not like our time when we were short of food and clothing. Now there is more money and oil. Children eat well and look good."
"That's right. Now that conditions are good, you have to love your child more." The eldest child blinked and said, "I can see that you are a person who loves children. The season is about to change, and the weather will get colder. The child must buy a few more clothes."
This touched the old lady's heart. She was a little moved, but she didn't show it on her face. "But your clothes are too expensive. Although there is a discount, I only have one grandson. I can't buy five pieces of clothes for him at once. He is so small that he can't wear them all. If I buy them and leave them there, the child will grow fast. If I buy them now, they may not fit him in the future."
The eldest child curled his lips and said, "That's not the way it is said. If the clothes are too small, you can wear them for a long time after putting them away."
He glanced at them and said, "Besides, although your family only has one grandson, there are so many children in the entire flour factory compound. There are definitely more people who need to buy clothes than just your family. You can go and ask and see if there are families who also need to buy clothes for their children. You two can pool the bills and buy five pieces if you pool one dollar. You can give this free piece to anyone. For those who don't get a share, you can take two or three dollars to make up for it. It's not a loss."
An idea suddenly occurred to the old lady. "Yes, why didn't I think of that?" She looked at the eldest boy deeply and said, "You are quite smart, young man."
Big Boy chuckled and reminded, "Auntie, if you want to pay for clothes, you'd better hurry up." He nodded and motioned for the aunt to look at the crowd.
The old lady looked around and saw that many people were already hurrying into the courtyard of the flour factory. She guessed that they had listened to what the eldest boy had said and were preparing to call their loved ones to come together to share the bill. It would be a bargain, and anyone who didn't take advantage would be a bastard!
The old lady slapped her thigh and said to herself, "It's bad." Then she lifted her grandson up and walked quickly back home. As she walked, she reminded the eldest son, "Hey boy, I'm going to go call people now. You have to leave a few good things for me."
The eldest boy smiled and said, "Okay, Auntie, you should go quickly and come back soon. Otherwise, if you are late, they might all be sold out. I don't think I can keep them."
Upon hearing this, the old lady's steps became faster.
Da Hu looked at her back and was dumbfounded. "Is this it?"
"It's done." Da Wa was confident. "Just wait and see. We'll be open for business soon."
Sure enough, after a while, a large number of people flocked to the small stall selling children's clothing, asking, "Comrade, how much are you selling this piece of clothing?" "Is it true that if you buy five pieces, you get one free?" "This piece of clothing is still a little expensive, can you negotiate the price a little more?"
The eldest child took a deep breath and shouted, "Don't crowd, don't crowd, let's do it one by one."
Da Wa is in charge of running the business, Da Hu is in charge of packaging and collecting money, and the two brothers help each other and are busy but not chaotic.
As the clothes on the waterproof cloth became fewer and fewer, the bills in the shoulder bag became thicker and thicker. The zipper could not even be closed, and the corners of several bills popped out.
As soon as it got dark, the clothes were sold out.
Da Wa and Da Hu looked at each other and wiped the sweat from their foreheads. They were a little tired and their voices were hoarse, but they were happy to have made money.
The two were packing up their things when suddenly a voice came over their ears, "Do you have any more clothes to sell?"
When Da Wa took a quick look, he saw several men and women in blue work clothes standing in front of him.
There were several other factories' annex yards near the noodle factory. Word spread quickly and attracted many people. These people heard that someone had set up a stall at the door of the factory, but they got off work too late and didn't get a chance to buy any clothes.
The eldest boy smiled and said with regret, "Oh, you came too late. What a pity! The clothes have been sold out."
Hearing this, the woman in blue overalls who had just spoken groaned, stamped her feet, and muttered, "If I had known earlier, I would have swapped shifts with someone else and come here earlier."
The group wanted to leave, but Da Wa quickly stopped them, "Brother, sister, don't be in such a hurry."
A man wearing glasses was a little impatient and adjusted his glasses. "What's the matter? The clothes are sold out."
"Yes, they are sold out." Big Boy said, "But only the clothes I brought today are sold out. We still have a lot. If you want to buy more, just come back next weekend. It's the same buy five get one free. The more you buy, the more you get."
When the man with glasses heard this, he immediately asked, "Really?"
"Really." Da Wa said, "I'm not lying to you, we'll come again next weekend."
The woman in the blue overalls muttered, "Why next weekend? Can't tomorrow be okay?"
Because they have classes from Monday to Friday.
Of course, I can't say this directly to these older brothers and sisters in front of me. Although setting up stalls is not prohibited nowadays, Da Wa and Da Hu are students after all. It won't look good if this matter is made public. I might even be criticized by the teacher.
The eldest child rolled his eyes and said, "Because we have to go buy some new children's clothing made of beautiful fabrics and durable."
The woman in blue overalls nodded. That’s good enough.
"So, sorry to bother you brothers and sisters, come back next week." Da Wa rubbed his hands, "If it's not too much trouble, you can tell your relatives and friends to come and take care of the business."
The man with glasses nodded, "Okay."
The clothes that Da Wa and his friends sell at the stall are new and beautiful in style, and made of good fabrics. Everyone who buys them says they are good, and they have a great reputation. Otherwise, these people wouldn't have rushed over as soon as they got off work.
It doesn’t hurt to wait for a few days for such good clothes.
After bidding farewell to several older brothers and sisters warmly, the eldest child heaved a sigh of relief, rolled up the waterproof sheet, and put it on his back, "Huh, it's finally over."
Da Hu raised his thumbs up, "You are amazing. You have just completed one order and already found the customer for the next one."
After standing for several hours, his legs are still shaking. He didn't expect that selling clothes at a stall could make so much money. He just took a quick look and found that including the cost, they made at least three or four hundred yuan today. Moreover, they have only sold less than one third of the children's clothing they bought, and there is still a batch of goods in their dormitory.
With the agreement between the eldest child and the older brothers and sisters, I believe there will be no shortage of buyers for the children's clothes.
This is three or four hundred yuan. They are both college students now. The monthly student allowance they can receive is only about sixteen yuan. After setting up the stall for an entire afternoon, they have lost all their subsidy money for the next year or more!