Thanks to the magazine sample copies that Yoshiko Takeuchi sent over the past two months.
Thinking about the differences between the advertising industry and later generations, Sun Lifang had an idea.
She asked Wang Ran, "Your family started out in the ocean shipping terminal business, right?"
If I remember correctly, Wang Ran and Zhong Bailuo were among the first entrepreneurs to go to Southeast Asia and start businesses abroad.
The current ports are not like they used to be; the customs clearance procedures on both sides are different, which has made it impossible for manufacturers with a source of goods to sell their products overseas.
Shanghai has a unique geographical environment and project support, and the first group of people who went out used their "knowledge" to start a customs trade business.
This can be understood as a "middleman" in the process of passing through customs.
Helping mainland merchants sell their goods.
Zhong Bailuo works in this line of work—
Take food as an example. The inspection standards vary from place to place, and the process of sending samples for testing and affixing labels is very troublesome.
People like Zhong Bailuo leveraged their cognitive gaps to accumulate a large number of connections and product resources when the market was untapped, thus witnessing the emergence of an industry.
In this mutually beneficial partnership, they, as intermediaries, have also made a fortune through commissions.
Wang Ran was completely baffled by Sun Lifang's question.
She nodded, then heard the other person ask, "What's the best-selling item in the maritime trade right now?"
Since they've already started the business of transferring goods from mainland China to overseas, they won't let go of the business of transferring goods from overseas to mainland China either.
Sun Lifang wanted to create a "blockbuster product".
First and foremost, you need an advantage in the source of goods.
Make the product irreplaceable in the short term.
Wang Ran shook his head. "I don't have any blockbuster products. You want to start a business?"
Hearing Sun Lifang say this, Wang Ran could guess what was going on.
The desire to start a business is admirable, but it's too late.
The market has been monopolized by others.
"As far as I know, overseas products have stable supply chains and distribution chains."
They're all large shopping malls and the like.
"In terms of price, you won't have an advantage if you do it."
Big brands have already squeezed their profits to the optimal level, and they've been partners for many years, so their profit margins are definitely higher than yours.
We have tried individual distribution by purchasing goods in small quantities.
However, doing it this way actually has many drawbacks.
Firstly, it is difficult to manage a large number of small businesses.
Secondly, there are many counterfeit products, and customers feel uncomfortable when they receive counterfeit goods.
Many customers cannot distinguish between genuine and counterfeit products. If they consume counterfeit goods, they may mistake them for genuine products and start to believe that the products are watery. This reduces their desire to buy and also affects the brand's reputation.
If you give it to a large department store, you can at least specify that it's an exclusive authorized brand. If you buy a counterfeit product elsewhere, you can only blame yourself for being greedy for a bargain, not the brand.
So overall, it's really more harmful than beneficial to give it to small businesses; it's not worth it.
After Wang Ran's analysis, he completely blocked Sun Lifang's path.
"It's good to want to start a business, but the path you've considered has already been taken by many others."
As the owner of a shipping brokerage firm, Wang Ran has seen too many entrepreneurs coming to her seeking opportunities.
It's unrealistic to think you can just rely on connections to get goods and start selling them.
You always need to have your own strengths.
As she was speaking, Wang Ran's phone rang. It was someone from the warehouse looking for her. She told Sun Lifang, "I'll call back first. You think about it carefully."
She didn't mean to look down on Sun Lifang; she just wanted to make things clear as a friend.
It's better than taking the goods, not being able to sell them, hitting a brick wall and getting hurt before coming back, right?
Wang Ran answered the call from the warehouse, "Sister Ran, the supplier said they don't want the goods anymore. The cost of taking them back is more than the shipping fee, so they want us to handle it ourselves."
Upon hearing this, Wang Ran paused, "What does that mean? Do they want us to pay for the shipping for free?"
As a shipping intermediary, Wang Ran also has his own warehouse for the suppliers to store goods.
Not all products sell well; those that don't can only pile up in the warehouse.
Now the warehouse manager is calling, asking Wang Ran what to do?
This time, it was a company that makes natural essential oils. Since their market audience was already small, the supplier had a brilliant idea and modified the raw materials for the essential oils.
It has been transformed into derivative products such as lipsticks and face oils.
Wang Ran watched them transport the semi-finished products out and then bring them back in cans.
The brand was hoping to make a fortune, but no one bought it.
When people buy skincare products, they naturally buy what they are familiar with. Who would accept a new brand?
Besides, it's not like brands haven't considered spending money on advertising.
But where did the money come from?
If you invest in advertising and the product is already priced low, how can you make any money from it?
As a result, lipsticks and face oils that had no reputation, no special features, and no advantages were left piled up in the warehouse.
The brand's idea was a last-minute "spur-of-the-moment" decision; they didn't consider how much to make when filling the bottles.
That means we'll make as much as we can.
As a result, Wang Ran's warehouse was filled with thousands of boxes of products.
Everyone said it was a win-win situation, and that just piling things up like this wasn't a solution, so Wang Ran also helped them negotiate with a large shopping mall for cooperation.
But why should they accept your "unmarked" and untested product when they already have their own product line?
Besides, wait until your brand owner has finished the inspection and completed the trademark process before coming back.
These thousands of boxes of products should all be expired by now, right?
When they were in a dilemma, the shopping mall offered an idea—
Otherwise, we'll reluctantly accept it.
Extremely low price, even lower than the cost price.
Wang Ran did not accept.
I've seen enough of malls trying to drive down prices, I can't bring myself to ask for that.
What if, after this incident, someone asks you for unwanted "waste products" again?
Once it changes hands, no matter how much money the other party makes, it has nothing to do with you.
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