Chapter 121

This year, Focus Women's Wear has more than 400 stores nationwide, mainly selling mid- to high-end women's wear, targeting young and middle-aged women, who are the ones who control the nation's purse strings.

Over the years, under the management of Jiao Huilan, the sales of Focus Women's Wear have been rising steadily.

She has a down-to-earth personality and is not lazy in her business. She works diligently on design and quality. Even Zhen Zhen admires her and praises her for her craftsman spirit.

As the year draws to a close, it is naturally the peak season for women's clothing sales. The customers of Focus Women's Clothing almost broke down the threshold.

Zhenxin Shopping Mall was even more crowded. I heard that people had queued for two hours and still couldn't get in. Zhenzhen was afraid of accidents, so she quickly mobilized people to maintain law and order and handed out water and melon seeds to customers in the queue, making sure everyone had confidence and didn't get upset because of queuing.

This year, Meng Daguo and Meng Hua both spent the New Year in Nanhai, dealing with real estate matters.

After Sanwa and Mengnan came back, Zhenzhen called everyone in the family together and planned to hold a family meeting.

Jiao Huilan arrived early in the morning. Meng Eryong and his wife were squatting in the corner. Several children were sitting on stools in front of Zhen Zhen. There were also Cheng Su, Meng Pandi and other key employees of the company.

Meng Pandi exaggeratedly took a notebook. Sanwa glanced at her and said, "You are obviously flattering me!"

Meng Pandi laughed, "How do you think I became the general manager? Good brother, learn from me."

Sanwa laughed and said, "I've learned something! The adult world is really complicated!"

Zhen Zhen smiled, looked at the people in the room, and told them that he wanted to launch the Focus women's clothing brand on the market.

Jiao Huilan has been taking various economics courses in recent years and also knows what going public means.

But she had a sense of unreality. She always felt that she was still that cowardly and incompetent country woman, far from the female CEO who dominated the business world.

It's definitely not her turn to go public, right?

"Mom, are you really planning to list Focus? But Zhenxin's sales are much higher than our Focus Women's Clothing. Zhenxin Foods hasn't even been listed yet, so how can Focus Women's Clothing be listed?"

Zhen Zhen's decision to let Jiao Huilan go public was also a well-thought-out decision.

"We didn't mention it a few years ago because we were afraid that Focus Women's Wear's foundation was not stable enough and that we might run into problems if we took a big step. But 1993 is coming soon and the Chinese market is becoming more mature. After more than a decade of development, Focus Women's Wear has a high market share and many repeat customers. Focus Women's Wear is ready to go public."

As for Zhenxin Food Factory, she has no plans to go public for the time being.

The food safety of the Chinese people still depends on the Chinese people.

"But we only have one brand of women's clothing, so it's hard to be favored by investors, right?" Jiao Huilan was quite worried.

Zhen Zhen smiled and waved his hands, "You are right, Focus Women's Clothing has too few brands and is too thin. It just so happens that Meng Nan runs that sportswear brand, three days of fishing and two days of drying nets, and his mind is not used on the brand. Focus Women's Clothing can be acquired. Wouldn't this add another brand?"

Jiao Huilan looked at Meng Nan in surprise. Meng Nan smiled and waved his hands, "Grandma asked me what I think, and I think it's a good idea! To be honest, I was impulsive at first and started this brand with Meng Xi, but I don't know how to run it, and I don't have much interest in clothing. If Focus Women's Clothing is willing to pay for it, I would be more than happy! It's just right for me to use the money to do other things!"

Meng Nan's sportswear brand is called Nanxing, which is very popular among young people.

But Meng Nan had no idea how to operate or design a brand, and he couldn't grasp the market well, so the styles he launched were often unpopular because they were too trendy.

Citizens’ income is not high, so everyone wants basic items and likes clothes that are easy to match.

If Jiao Huilan acquires Nanxing, she will definitely make changes to focus on the mass market.

With Nanxing, Focus Group now has a sportswear brand. By officially incorporating Su Xiu's underwear brand, it is getting closer to a listing.

Only then did Jiao Huilan realize that her mother-in-law was serious.

She looked at her mother-in-law with admiration. Her mother-in-law had been guiding her at every stage of her life.

Without her mother-in-law, she wouldn't know which direction to go.

Since her mother-in-law trusted her, she couldn't let her down. She had to do something to let outsiders know that Zhen Guizhi's daughter-in-law did not embarrass her.

Jiao Huilan nodded vigorously, "Mom, I'll listen to you, let's go public!"

Zhen Zhen smiled and said, "Since it is a family business, all members should raise their hands to vote. Those who support listing, please raise your hands!"

Everyone raise your hands!

Zhen Zhen glanced at Tao Aihong, "Aihong, do you have any opinion?"

Tao Aihong was afraid that her mother-in-law would pay attention to her, so she quickly covered her face with her hands and said, "I have no opinion!"

Meng Eryong laughed: "I listen to my mother! I do whatever she says! I am her workhorse, moo, moo!"

Just as Meng Eryong finished speaking, he heard the sound of a truck coming from the door.

I saw a small red truck towing a heavy machine, and the driver was turning around by looking in the rearview mirror.

"Mom, what is transported on this truck?" Meng Eryong asked.

"Rotary machine."

"Climbing machine?" Meng Eryong lent a hand to the workers who were lifting the machine. Several people lifted the machine into the newly built yard of the Meng family. The workers were busy cleaning the machine, assembling the machine, installing wires and so on.

After the installation was completed, Zhen Zhen called an old master over, "Master Jiang, please try the machine to see if this rocking machine works well."

Master Jiang agreed and immediately sat down next to the machine. As the strands of yarn crossed each other, they gradually spun out shapes.

Meng Eryong finally figured out what was going on. "Mom, this rocking machine is used to make wool sweaters? We want to sell wool sweaters?"

Focus Women's Wear's wool sweaters have always been processed by OEM.

Last year, some customers reported that the sweaters produced by Focus Women's Wear faded in color after being put into the water, so Jiao Huilan urgently retrieved the sweaters.

After testing, it was found that the discoloration of the wool sweater was caused by a problem in the dyeing process.

After this incident, Zhen Zhen felt that outsourcing to others was always unsafe.

There are many tricks involved in making wool sweaters. She wondered if she could open her own wool sweater factory, so that she could start a brand selling wool sweaters and also do wool sweater processing for Focus Women's Wear.

She contacted many people and bought a rocking machine from another place.

At that time, without the automated equipment of later generations, a tumbling machine would take ten days to half a month to make a wool sweater.

Jiao Huilan touched a handful of wool and was amazed by its feel.

"This wool strip is so comfortable. It will definitely be very comfortable when it is made into a combed wool sweater!"

"This is Australian Merino wool, so it naturally feels good."

"It's from Australia, no wonder! It feels much better than the wool in our country!" Tao Aihong exclaimed.

Nowadays, Chinese people are obsessed with worshipping foreign things, so it is normal for Tao Aihong to have such thoughts.

Jiao Huilan frowned. "Merino wool has to be imported from abroad. The raw materials must be very expensive, right? The price is naturally not low."

"Wool sweaters are expensive, but we Chinese people love good things!" Zhen Zhen said, "Our Xinyao County has annexed several surrounding counties. There are too many poor people in the county, so the county has introduced a policy to attract investment. Investing in new industries can reduce taxes, which is very good for us."

Although Xinyao is a county town, under the leadership of Zhen Zhen, after years of development, the per capita income of the county is almost catching up with that of big cities.

Xinyao County has a strong business culture, and several poor counties have also learned from Xinyao people to grow peppers and medicinal herbs.

However, the market for chili peppers is limited, and if people from other counties grow this, it will inevitably make people in this county unhappy.

Zhen Zhen was thinking that he could help develop some new industries in the county.

We cannot rely on importing all wool, we also have to use domestically produced wool.

But good wool needs to start with growing grass. If the grass is good and the sheep eat well, the wool will be smoother.

Zhen Zhen visited several cashmere goat breeding bases last year and felt that the breeding problem was not serious, the main problem was the sales channel.

If Focus Women's Wear establishes a wool sweater brand and signs an acquisition agreement with the locals, naturally some people will be willing to raise goats. Then, Focus can purchase cheap wool tops and the locals can also have enough food to eat, killing two birds with one stone!

Meng Nan felt inexplicably ashamed as he watched her grandmother talking.

Everything she does is short-lived. She started a sportswear brand with Meng Xi, which could obviously be very successful, but she didn't work hard and the brand's development was mediocre.

If she had her grandmother's tenacity, she would have become a billionaire long ago!

Meng Nan sighed: "My grandma is really amazing! She is almost 60 years old, but she is still so energetic and is still planning the IPO of Focus Group."

"Sister," Wu Wa patted Meng Nan's shoulder, then turned around and patted San Wa, "Brother, you all have to work hard to make money! I'm not good at studying, and I don't have much brains, so I'll rely on you to give me money in the future!"

"You little rascal!" The older brothers and sisters messed up Wuwa's hair.

Wu Wa chuckled, "Except for Xiao Liu, I am the youngest child in our family. If I have no food to eat in the future, I will go to your house to beg for food. You must take me in!"

Tao Ai's eyes turned red and she almost fainted!

How come she gave birth to five children with such rubber faces!

Tao Aihong twisted Wu Wa's little ear fiercely, "How dare you say that? You failed the exam again! Go back to your room and do your homework!"

Wu Wa covered his injured ear and ran away, "My mother is a tigress!"

"You little bastard, get beaten!"

When Xu Wei heard that Zhen Zhen was going to start another business and build a large factory of tens of thousands of square meters, which would boost the sheep breeding and hand-pulled cashmere industries in the entire county, he was extremely excited!

"Sister, my dear sister! If you want a piece of land, just tell me! We will give you the biggest tax discount! By the way, why did you want to start a cashmere sweater business?"

Zhen Zhen speaks frankly: "Focus will launch a cashmere sweater brand next year. It is ready to be launched on the market."

"Go public?" Xu Wei was so excited. If Xinyao County had a listed company, it would be a huge honor! It would also be a great political achievement! Xu Wei almost knelt down to Zhen Zhen, "Big sister, you are really my noble lady! Half of our Xinyao's tax revenue is supported by you."

Zhen Zhen did not deny it either, "We want to be a mid- to high-end brand and export in the future."

"I understand! You have high requirements for wool quality, right?" Xu Wei didn't understand what he said. "Don't worry, the government will endorse it, formulate wool purchasing standards, and invite technical personnel to provide guidance to help farmers grow grass and feed sheep, so as to solve your worries!"

With the endorsement of the county leaders, Zhen Zhen feels more at ease. After the wool sweater brand is launched next year, the launch process of the Focus women's clothing should go smoothly.

As promised, Sanwa brought Zhen Zhen a pager, which was indeed a bright red one.

"Grandma, this is a sticker. You can put any stickers you like on your pager, and you can also hang a keychain on it."

It has to be said that Sanwa has a keen sense of the market and knows how to please female customers.

This pager is available in not only black, but also various colors. I heard that it has been selling very well in stores in electronics malls!

"My pager, including the network fee, costs less than 1,000 yuan, which is half the price of the MotoMoto brand! It looks good, and the screen is bigger than the MotoMoto brand. Customers give it high praise!"

Sanwa took advantage of the popularity and made some quick money. He was lucky and smart. The stocks he bought on the Shanghai Stock Exchange recently increased by 260%, which multiplied his and Si Ya's capital several times.

Zhen Zhen looked at the pager and couldn't help but say that young people really know how to play drums.

"My mistress is so amazing! She is worthy of being grandma's little pride!"

The third child was bloated and his chest was sticking out high.

Meng Nan pouted, "He is your little pride, what about me?"

"You are grandma's princess!"

Meng Nan smiled contentedly. Si Ya came over and asked jealously, "Then what am I?"

"You are grandma's little cuties. Grandma can't live without you for a day!"

The third brother's child came over and hugged Zhen Zhen tightly.

In addition to the pager, Sanwa also collected some bowls and plates in Beijing and gave them to Zhen Zhen. He knew that grandma liked these.

Meng Nan gave his grandmother a bag. Zhen Zhen took it and looked at it. Wow, it’s Hermès!

Si Ya gave her grandmother a new camera. "The camera my uncle gave you is outdated. I asked my friend to buy this Canon film camera. It has a wide angle and can zoom. Grandma, let's take more photos this year!"

The New Year of 1993 was celebrated with great excitement. Several children even prepared a program, saying that they were going to host the Meng family's Spring Festival Gala.

Meng Nan sang, Meng Hao danced, and Sanwa and Wuwa did somersaults.

Jiao Huilan sang a duet and taught herself to twirl a handkerchief, which made Zhen Zhen laugh out loud!

Meng Eryong played the suona and almost deafened Zhen Zhen's ears!

Tao Aihong is good at clapper talk and crosstalk, and you can tell she has a real talent for languages. No wonder she never loses an argument outside!