Chapter 15 Recharge Event

This gathering wasn't just about eating; some matters concerning the store still needed to be planned in advance.

Firstly, Liu Jing and Chen Hao didn't invest much.

They only held 7%.

Even if the store earned two million a year, that share wouldn't match the income they made from selling goods on the streets.

Therefore, for the half month before the opening, all these people from the moving group would help out at the store.

Half a month later, once the store's operations stabilized,

aside from Zhang Tao, who held a 20% share, the others would still sell goods outside.

If the store made money, it would be considered an additional income from their investment.

With this decision, everyone felt it was very reasonable.

Another point was the issue of wages.

Zhang Tao, in charge of procurement, would have a fixed monthly salary of eight thousand.

Song Yanxi, responsible for financial management and cashier duties, would have six thousand.

These were all set according to market standards.

As for Chen Pingsheng himself, he would initially take the role of manager with a fixed base salary of three thousand,

plus a 3% share of the profits.

Everyone agreed upon this arrangement without any objections; it was quite fair.

Simply put, if the store didn't make money, his monthly salary as manager would be just three thousand.

If the store made a net profit of a hundred thousand per month, then his salary would be six thousand.

One could say that this wasn't setting the bar high, but absolutely low.

Chen Pingsheng always believed in putting financial matters out front first.

Once everyone agreed initially, it would prevent conflicts later on.

Liu Fen was slightly surprised to see them organize these matters so methodically.

Of course, the matters settled during this meal weren't just about the salaries but also included some details of the activities during this period,

as well as issues such as fruit pricing.

According to Chen Pingsheng's plans, there were too few customers in the store at the moment.

The initial phase was all about attracting customer traffic, with all fruits coming in,

priced at cost plus 10% for spoilage, plus 5% for rent,

and then adding another 5% for labor costs, making up the standard pricing.

For example, if a banana cost one yuan to buy, it could be sold for one yuan and thirty cents.

This price was absolutely the lowest in Beixin'an, far ahead of the competition.

...

The next day, which was the sixth day of the lunar year,

the temperature in old Capital City remained cold, with the ground still covered in a layer of white.

Underneath the brilliant white snow, only the curbsides where cars constantly passed had less accumulation of snow.

Walking on both sides of the road, one could hear the crunching noise with each step.

Early in the morning, Chen Pingsheng and Song Yanxi drove to the store in the newly purchased Audi A4.

Zhang Tao, Liu Jing, and others did the same.

The day before, they had sent out messages announcing special apple prices in seven or eight owners' groups.

Today, they piled up a full thirty to forty boxes outside the store,

ensuring that customers could immediately purchase fresh apples at one yuan and thirty cents each upon arrival.

Inside the store, the seven or eight people working together made for a lively atmosphere.

On the opening day, as many people were still unaware of the circumstances or unsure about the authenticity of the activities,

just over a hundred customers visited.

The total sales revenue was around eight thousand six hundred yuan.

This was normal, as in such a high-end fruit supermarket, simply buying some imported fruits would see prices over a hundred yuan each.

Although the revenue seemed not low, it was actually still a loss.

On the second day, or the seventh day of the lunar year,

the customer traffic roughly doubled, and the sales revenue was fourteen thousand yuan.

Most came to buy apples and would take the opportunity to buy some cheap bananas to take home.

By the third day or the eighth day, the situation had improved another fold.

The store served over four hundred customers, with half purchasing apples and leaving.

The revenue rose to a daily total of over thirty thousand yuan.

By the ninth and tenth days, the daily customer traffic was maintained at around five hundred.

Revenue was around fifty thousand.

It wasn't until Lantern Festival that there was a huge surge in sales, which shot up to two hundred thousand in a single day.

Despite the substantial amount, it's important to note that their pricing was extremely low, set just above the cost price.

Essentially, this increased the turnover rate of the fruits, and as a result, controlled the losses.

More than a week after opening, they hadn't made a profit but hadn't incurred a loss either.

This was already much better than expected; however, the drawback was that they had completely undercut the surrounding small fruit shops.

Chen Pingsheng sat in his office, pondering how to retain customers once the foot traffic to the store had picked up.

There are many ways to lock in customers, but the key is to ensure the freshness and quality of the fruits, as well as to maintain an unbeatable price-performance ratio.

Only this way, the customers attracted by the promotions can be retained.

With a creak, the door to the small office opened.

Zhang Tao came in and looked through the sales reports of the past few days.

Apples were still the best-sellers daily.

Unsurprisingly, durians generated the highest revenue, accounting for forty to fifty thousand of the two hundred thousand.

That's only natural, considering a durian weighing forty pounds could cost several hundred dollars each.

"Old Chen, our foot traffic has increased, do you think it's time we raise our prices?"

The gross profit margin on fruits should normally be at least around 30%.

Only with such margins can there be a profit, yet their current gross profit was barely 10%.

Barely maintaining at 5%.

The advantage of this was the large volume of customers, but the disadvantage was the lack of profit.

Unless they sold two hundred thousand every day, it was impossible to have significant net profits.

His suggestion was both logical and reasonable.

Chen Pingsheng thought for a moment and said, "Raising prices is inevitable, but I have an idea. You see, every time we get a haircut, those Mr. Tonys always tell us to get a membership card. I'm thinking of doing a big card top-up promotion before we raise the prices. Firstly, it can quickly recoup our investment costs, and secondly, it can help us retain customers so they don't go to other fruit shops when we do raise our prices."

"That's a good idea," Zhang Tao slapped his thigh in agreement with the idea. "But how do we convince them to top-up?"

Chen Pingsheng said, "After Lantern Festival, the price of durians will definitely drop. Durians are our best-selling item, so let's keep it simple and have a promotion where topping up a thousand grants a free durian."

"Top-up a thousand and get a free durian?"

This promotion was undoubtedly a huge incentive, with considerable cost.

Even if they could get the lowest price for durians, each would still cost at least around a hundred dollars.

Of course, without a significant promotion, it would fail to attract customers.

Zhang Tao thought the idea was feasible and suggested calling everyone to discuss it.

They also needed to inform Liu Jing and Chen Hao in advance.

In essence, this was about earning future revenue; however, Chen Pingsheng had special expectations. He wondered whether the top-up funds could be counted as profit.

If it could be counted as revenue, then the future utilization scope would be much larger.

Everyone held a brief meeting and unanimously agreed to go ahead with the promotion.

The first step was to retain the customers before raising the prices.

The promotion would not stretch on too long, just seven days, and would end immediately after.

The next day, the first day after Lantern Festival.

Tengsheng Supermarket rolled out banners for the promotion, hanging big signs outside, and durians were piled up like a small hill.

"Top-up a thousand and get a free durian."

To the people of Capital City, where housing prices were easily in the tens of thousands, a thousand dollars wasn't much.

The key factor was that Tengsheng Fruit Supermarket had such a strong reputation.

Beixin'an's most upscale fruit supermarket.

Putting money into a store like this was not a cause for concern.

The main appeal was to snag the deal; after all, buying a durian typically costs a hundred or two hundred dollars.

If you could get one free by just topping up, it would be insane not to take advantage of the offer.

On the first day of the top-up promotion, the total revenue was two hundred and sixty thousand.

"Ding, host detected today's income of ninety thousand, would you like to activate the random multiplier?"

Could it really work?

Chen Pingsheng was overjoyed beyond measure. The reason was simple—the money that had been topped up hadn't even been spent yet.

It was essentially one hundred percent gross profit.

It was as if they had made two hundred and sixty thousand today, most of which was from top-ups.

If this could also count as a day's revenue, then he knew exactly how to run the store from now on.

One must earn future money.

Chen Pingsheng suppressed the excitement in his heart and continued with the top-up promotion. He knew there were six days left before the promotion ended.