"Director Zhang, what's your opinion?"
Director Zhang took another look at the two fabrics; both were of very good quality.
“We investigated department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives in the city and the county. The best-selling item was over 6 yuan. Except for imported fabrics, the highest price was 8 yuan. If we set it at 13 yuan, it would be more than double the price of 6 yuan.”
Do you think customers will choose to buy one meter of our fabric or two meters at 6 yuan each?
"It's definitely going to cost 6 yuan. No matter how good the quality is, if the price is so high, people will still hesitate. It's better to price it lower and rely on sales volume."
Song Qing stood up and said, “Everyone knows that our cloth ration coupons are four feet per person per year, and in some years they may be one or two feet more. Most people have to save up for one or two years to make a set of clothes.”
Since it takes so much time to make one set, everyone will definitely try to choose the most expensive and best fabric within their means so that the clothes can last longer.
Furthermore, our production volume isn't exactly low-profit, high-volume; the fabrics we produce are mainly targeted at urban workers, who are generally wealthier and more willing to spend money on clothing.
"Comrade Song Qing, do you know that if we price our products too high and they don't sell, even if we lower the price later, people will only think that our quality doesn't match the price, and who will buy them?"
"Yes, what if we really can't sell them? How will we recoup our costs?"
The two sides held their own views and argued endlessly in the office.
Song Qing felt that the original target customers were workers, who cared more about the quality and comfort of the clothes than the price.
"Alright, alright, stop arguing. Let's go to the department store again. They should have the largest order volume. Let's see how much they're willing to pay."
Then the two groups of people left.
Shen Chunjiao stayed in the office with Director Zhang. She also had a headache, as both sides had some merit.
"I took another look at the raw material list for these two fabrics, and the cost is indeed not low. Let's make a trip there first."
When Song Qing returned to the workshop, the technicians immediately surrounded her.
"What was the final price, Sister Song Qing?"
"Our material is of such high quality, we can't set the price too low."
These materials are like their children, gradually taking shape under the care of technicians before being put into production.
In their eyes, their own fabrics are naturally the best of everything.
"It's not decided yet. We'll talk about it when Director Shen comes back."
Before leaving, Shen Chunjiao called Song Qing, saying that some questions could only be answered by technicians.
Upon arriving at the city's largest department store, the manager led them into the office. Shen Chunjiao had visited several times in recent days and had become familiar with everyone.
"Director Shen, do you know how the fabrics our factory produces are? Did you bring them?"
The person in charge also hopes that the city's own textile factories can produce good quality materials, so that they don't have to purchase from other cities and can get better prices.
"I brought it with me, and I hope you can take a look at our materials and see what you think."
"That's definitely good. I trust the quality of your textile factory."
They were just saying polite words until Song Qing took out the two pieces of fabric. The person in charge took them and his expression immediately became serious.
He touched it and pinched it, then looked at Shen Chunjiao.
"This was just produced in our factory?"
Previously, textile factories produced only unfinished fabric, which needed to be dyed before it could be used, so department stores didn't order much of it.
"These are two pieces of fabric that were dyed after our dyeing workshop was established. What do you think?"
The person in charge pondered for a moment, "The material is very good, it's rare to find material that's both firm and thick, and not too scratchy."
He just rubbed it a little and then unfolded it again; there weren't many wrinkles.
"Not pure cotton?"
"Of course it's not pure cotton. Pure cotton fabric will be all wrinkled after you crumple it like that."
The manager, having worked in this industry for so many years, certainly knew his stuff. After a while, he looked up. "So, what price are you planning to set?"
Shen Chunjiao and Song Qing exchanged a glance, and Song Qing looked at the person in charge.
What price do you think would be appropriate?
The man chuckled, leaned back in his chair, and spread his hands. "You set the price. If the price is right, we'll order more; if not..."
There are two models for selling goods in department stores: one is that the department store buys the goods directly at cost price and then resells them; the other is that the goods are sold at the manufacturer's price, and the two parties split the profits proportionally after the sale.
The first option earns more, while the second option is more secure.
"Our target price is 13."
"13?"
The man sat up straight immediately. "You're really fearless, comrade. What kind of fabric on the market is selling at this price now? You're not going to be stuck with this stuff?"
Song Qing wasn't intimidated by him; instead, she started analyzing the situation with him.
“We’ve observed that most of the people buying things at the department store are city workers, especially young workers. They’re willing to spend money on clothing, and these two fabrics of ours are perfect for them.”
“Young comrade, you have money, but you’re not a sucker. If the price is set at 13, the purchase price will be too high. Our department store can’t afford it.”
"As long as we put our fabrics out alongside other fabrics, I believe most people will know which one to buy. If department stores think the purchase price is too high, then we'll operate on a profit-sharing model."
The person in charge knew that the fabric was good and believed it would sell, but he just wanted to lower the price. He didn't expect them to directly say that it would be based on a percentage of the profits.
"If we can't sell them by splitting the profits, what if our labor costs are waived? Your price is too high. How about this, you give me the cost price of 7.5 yuan, and we'll order a few rolls directly."
One roll of fabric is 100 meters.
"No, 7.5 yuan is too low. We will stick to the price of 13 yuan."
In the end, no one could convince anyone else. Not to mention Song Qing, even Shen Chunjiao was unwilling to sell the goods to them at the price of 7.5 yuan.
"Well, there's nothing we can do, young man. The price is too high; we can't afford it."
Song Qing pondered for a moment, "How about this, you just rent a piece of land to us, our factory will be responsible for sales, and you can just collect the rent."
The person in charge clearly hadn't considered this model: "I'll rent the space to you, and you can sell it yourselves?"
"Yes, we'll take care of it ourselves, so even if we don't sell them, you'll still receive rent."
After thinking for a while, the person in charge felt that this model would guarantee him a profit from the rent without any risk. "Have you thought this through, young man? Our rent is not cheap."
Song Qing nodded, while Shen Chunjiao frowned. They could try her idea first, and if that didn't work, they could negotiate with the department store at cost price. However, by then, they would no longer have the upper hand.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
