Waking up, I picked up my phone to check the time; it was already past ten in the morning, and lunch could be eaten in another hour.
"I drank a bit too much last night. This can't go on. As a young man, I can't keep hanging out with these old geezers, or I'll be ruined."
Tan Jincheng rubbed his head.
Last night, Zhang Mingcan set up a gathering, and it was another round of KTV.
He didn't understand why these old men loved singing KTV so much, and they had a particular fondness for KTV's fake alcohol.
Speaking of KTV, it seems it wouldn't be popular for many more years; he didn't know when people stopped going, but in 2005, business was still quite good.
Qian Gui at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain was packed every night.
Without the early mornings and late nights of this stage in his previous life, his biological clock seemed to have changed, and the frequency of drinking had increased.
It was time to make a change; if this continued, he'd be worn out in a few years.
Looking at those famous magnates, regardless of their personal abilities or online reputation, there's no doubt that these people are a group full of energy, and presumably in good physical condition; ordinary people truly couldn't handle that kind of work intensity.
After taking a shower and tossing his clothes into the laundry basket, it was already past eleven by the time he finished washing up.
After a moment's thought, it seemed there were no important matters today.
Lin Yumin and Wu Zhenping had already begun assembling a sales team.
The moment Tan Jincheng arrived in Beicang that day, he immediately informed them of their future work responsibilities.
Each of them would be responsible for one team.
If they lacked people, they would recruit; if they lacked money, it would be provided.
They were to build up their teams as quickly as possible, starting by practicing sales for Jinyi Industry to train the teams.
After Flash Auto was established, they would use their teams to conquer the market.
Whoever performed well would have a higher chance of becoming the marketing manager for Flash Auto in the future, with double the salary and double the power.
There was no need to elaborate on what being the marketing manager of an electric vehicle company with an annual output value of nearly 100 million yuan meant.
After Tan Jincheng left, the two exchanged bitter smiles:
"From this moment on, we are competitors. Old Tan's kid really has some tricks up his sleeve."
"Yes, that 20,000 yuan resettlement fee isn't that easy to earn. But it's good that the boss has some tricks; how long a private enterprise can survive often depends more on the boss's capabilities."
"That's true. If he trusted us with everything and had no defenses, then we'd actually be a bit scared."
"So, Brother Lin, we should compete when we need to. No matter who becomes the marketing manager, remember to treat everyone."
"Haha, no problem, Brother Wu too. This makes me feel like I'm back in my twenties, full of drive!"
"Indeed, I now feel that our adventure this time is already 60% successful."
"I think so too. At least we're not losing money anymore."
Tan Jincheng had originally wanted them to rest for two days, it being the weekend, but these two didn't even think about it.
They immediately got to work, sought out Chen Jinwen, and began recruiting personnel to form their teams.
Since that was the case, Tan Jincheng didn't stop them.
If they wanted to work, they could work; it wouldn't harm the boss.
At the same time, Tan Jincheng also asked Chen Jinwen to recruit a few more salespeople, because in addition to the two teams being formed, Tan Jincheng himself also wanted to lead a team to go out and do sales.
When it came to sales, Tan Jincheng's personal ability was also not bad.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Component testing hadn't been completed yet, and Tan Jincheng, who had originally planned to travel this week, suddenly found himself free.
Since he wasn't very busy, he decided to go check on Jinpeng Trading.
He hadn't been there in a long time and didn't know if Zhang Xupeng was at the company.
He had just checked his room, and no one was there.
Driving to Jinpeng Trading, he happened to run into Li Jinglan downstairs, who was about to buy food.
She was accompanied by a girl Tan Jincheng didn't recognize.
He asked, and Zhang Xupeng was upstairs.
"Get me a meal too; I haven't eaten breakfast or lunch,"
Tan Jincheng instructed, then went upstairs on his own.
Just as he arrived at the company entrance, the sharp-eyed Li Yanning spotted Tan Jincheng:
"Oh, Boss Tan, what brings you here? Have you eaten? If not, I'll call Jinglan to bring you a portion."
"I just ran into her downstairs and told her. Sister Yanning, long time no see."
Tan Jincheng smiled.
At the same time, he glanced around the office.
Jinpeng Trading had changed quite a bit since returning from the Canton Fair.
He didn't see Liu Wenbin, who was probably out.
Besides Li Yanning, there were also three other employees.
The three of them were currently looking at Tan Jincheng with curious expressions.
They had heard that the company had another boss, but had never seen him.
This must be the one, they thought?
Tan Jincheng nodded at the three and walked straight into Zhang Xupeng's office.
"Boss Zhang, long time no see! Where have you been making your fortune lately?"
Tan Jincheng pushed the door open and said loudly.
What was this kid busy with?
Didn't he notice the commotion outside just now?
Tan Jincheng's voice startled Zhang Xupeng, who, with a trembling hand, was about to close his computer screen.
This action truly piqued Tan Jincheng's curiosity.
He quickly ran over to stop him:
"You're not watching films in broad daylight, are you, kid?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? That was a stress reaction from you startling me!"
Zhang Xupeng repeatedly denied.
"Get out of the way, let me see what you're up to."
After pushing Zhang Xupeng out of the chair, Tan Jincheng opened the computer screen, only to see the comment section of their own QQ underwear Taobao store.
"Damn, aren't you bored, kid? You're actually looking at this. You know where these pictures come from."
"It's not what you think!"
Zhang Xupeng argued, his face red.
"Then what is it?"
Tan Jincheng smiled meaningfully.
"Don't look at me like that,"
Zhang Xupeng said, a little embarrassed.
"Okay, to be honest, I'm researching this store. I found that its sales are really good and very stable."
"What's there to research? If you want to know, just go to my place and ask them for the data."
"Um, um, it's a bit embarrassing to say, but I actually want to open a store like this too, so I've been researching it lately,"
Zhang Xupeng said sheepishly, scratching his head.
Tan Jincheng suddenly realized:
"Oh, so you're looking at this for that reason! I thought you had some special hobby. Well, go ahead and open one then. You know where to source goods and roughly how much profit there is."
"Wouldn't that be bad? Like I'm stealing your business?"
"What's the big deal? If you don't open one, others will. One more of you isn't too many, and one less isn't too few. Besides, it's better for you to make the money than for others to. But I'm a bit curious, why did you suddenly think of opening a Taobao store?"
Zhang Xupeng pulled up a chair and sat down:
"Hey, isn't Jinpeng Trading already on track? We've hired enough employees, and besides business matters, there isn't much for me to handle. I figured since I'm idle anyway, I might as well open another Taobao store and earn a bit more."
The business of Jinshang Yidu and Xiao Tan's three stores was truly too good, and the profit margins were extremely high.
This manufacturer-source + Taobao store model was highly lucrative at the moment.
A summer outfit costing 59 yuan had an average cost of no more than 10 yuan, meaning if 100 pieces were sold in a day, there would be a profit of 5,000 yuan.
The profit margin for QQ underwear was even more outrageous; the cost of a few pieces of fabric was almost negligible.
Although sales of this item weren't as high as regular clothing, its strength lay in stability.
Coupled with Xiao Tan's bold marketing tactics, the store's traffic had always been good, and with the added confidential shipping, its sales were much better than other stores.
Another advantage was that this item hardly required after-sales service.
Most customers who placed orders did so secretly and directly, and didn't need to deal with returns after purchasing.
Everything was truly as Xiao Tan had said.
"Go for it, it's fine. While business is good these few years, and we have an advantage in sourcing, earn more. Later, when competition becomes fierce, we won't earn this hard-earned money anymore."
"Then should I open one too? And find something to do in the meantime?"
"Hmm, you don't need to overthink it. You know what I'm busy with right now. These few stores were originally set up on a whim back then, and I don't really care about this profit."
"Damn, what a big talker! A single Taobao store can earn enough for a decent house in a year, and you don't care about it? Go on and brag."
"I'm really not bragging about this. I'm wholeheartedly focused on my electric scooters now. If you're too lazy to open one, I can even transfer that QQ underwear store to you."
"No, no, I'll set one up myself; it's not a difficult thing. By the way, what are you doing here today?"
Zhang Xupeng waved his hand.
Sitting in the boss's chair, Tan Jincheng casually said,
"Nothing really. I haven't been here in a while, so I came to look around and grab some lunch."
This kid still couldn't escape the 'it's so good' phenomenon.
He used to dislike this stuff as vulgar, and now he's secretly researching it.
What Tan Jincheng didn't know, however, was that the Taobao stores he had set up casually, using novel operating methods such as free shipping within Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, discreet packaging, and bold marketing to attract traffic, had led to an explosion in traffic for these stores in a short time, and had already garnered considerable attention among the Taobao customer service staff.
The customer service staff had checked the backend data and found that these four associated stores, all registered with IP addresses in Yongcheng, had some click-farming activities, but it wasn't overly excessive.
The surge in traffic was entirely attributed to their unique operating methods.
The spirit of the internet is inseparable from novelty.
Although Tan Jincheng had not operated a Taobao store in his previous life, his ideas, shaped by the mobile internet era, were over a decade ahead of current operating models, making them a dimensionality reduction attack in the present.
However, he himself didn't realize it.
Ultimately, Tan Jincheng still largely had an industrial mindset; the internet was just something he dabbled in.
And essentially, while people in traditional industries might envy the speed at which the internet makes money, they still, to some extent, despise these "parasites" in their hearts.
In 2005, the "Two Mas" were not yet the titans of the mobile internet.
Old Ma was busy solving mobile payment issues, and his struggle with Yahoo gave him a lot of headaches.
Little Ma was still grappling with how to monetize traffic.
The internet of this era belonged to the three major portal websites and gaming giants like Shanda.
The four newly operated associated stores appearing on Taobao, as well as the sudden large buy order of 100,000 shares in the secondary market on QQ's side, were enough to draw internal attention.
The reason Tan Jincheng hadn't been found yet was partly because those who discovered the issues hadn't reported them yet, wanting to observe the other party's subsequent actions.
And partly because these two companies were currently in a state of chaos, with their founders preoccupied with how to survive, making them too busy to pay attention to such minor matters.
Old Ma's classic quote from his previous life, "We are only three months away from bankruptcy," seemed to have occurred during this period.
(End of Chapter)
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