Chapter 392: Counsel.
Zhang Duocai was indeed very busy and worried during this time.
Compared to his father that paved the way into the industry, Zhang Duocai was certainly not as aggressive and decisive, and was also less talented in business than his father.
But he worked with his father back then and built Yongxing Supermarket together so few people knew about the supermarket industry as well as him.
At the golden age of supermarkets, Zhang Duocai alone was enough to suppress all the suppliers and other supermarket owners to get the best benefits for himself.
But now even Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Ito-Yokado were losing grounds, let alone supermarkets in China.
More than half of those medium sized supermarkets had closed down now.
Small supermarkets relied on their closeness to the residences but only could keep it on.
The Yongxing Supermarkets that were in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huhai were hit harder than the other supermarkets.
Why?
The free shipping in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huhai!
It arrived on the same day!
So it was more efficient when people shopped online.
People would usually buy it online unless it was a daily necessity like fresh food.
The supermarket had fresh food but the other products were consequential.
The supermarket would never make a profit if they only did fresh food.
The people had the habit of going to the supermarket and only planning to buy a little vegetable but then they passed by the snack area and bought two sacks of chips and beef jerky, then they passed daily necessity and got two more tissues or bought a few pairs of socks… after wandering around, they often wondered at the checkout why did they end up buying so much.
If they didn’t go to the supermarket and only placed orders online, their profit wouldn’t be good.
So the most important point for supermarkets was the flow of people. Without people coming, the business wouldn’t be good no matter what.
Both Costco or Fat East Coming were being supported by their large customers groups.
Yongxing Supermarkets was now experiencing a drastic decrease to their customers flow and it only increased for a few hours during the weekends or night.
That situation was far enough to support their high rent, the many employees and the pressure of the suppliers.
The point was it was getting worse. 25 stores out of the 37 stores were already recording losses and if they had to pay rent instead of owning five buildings, they would have to add 5 more losses to that.
So Zhang Duocai was so overwhelmed by the fact he couldn’t reverse the situation no matter how much thought about it.
The current him and the him back at the Spring Festival, was completely two people.
He didn’t expect the market to deteriorate to such an extent in just around 9 months.
When he returned home in the evening, Zhang Duocai smoked a few cigarettes at the door to adjust his mood before going in with a smile.
It was already 10pm.
His wife asked the maid to heat a bowl of edible bird nest and white fungus soup to him as usual but before he could finish his soup, his daughter who was supposed to be asleep, came to the living room.
“Dad!”
Zhang Yaya shouted lively as she sat near her dad.
“Good girl, what didn’t you sleep yet? Did you have a lot of homework today?” Zhang Duocai asked with a smile.
He saw his daughter holding a folder in her hands and thought it was homework.
“No.” Zhang Yaya shook her head, “I have a plan for the supermarket, look at it!”
“Oh?”
Zhang Duocai laughed as he took it, “It seems that our little Yaya knows how to do business planning huh? Nice! When you grow up, you’ll be at the helm of our Zhang family! And grow our family business bigger and bigger!”
“Take a look at it~~~” Zhang Yaya didn’t act proud as she shook his hand.
“Okay, okay!”
Zhang Duocai was the one who loved his daughter the most and would read it even if it was some theory by a middle schooler.
He couldn’t hurt his daughter’s eagerness.
Zhang Duocai had a slight smile as he read the first page.
Then his expression turned to a surprised one as he read the second page.
Then the third page, the fourth page…
“Aunty Tang, bring me a warm tower please, thank you!” Zhang Duocai suddenly said to the nearby maid who was knitting.
The maid immediately got to work and gave him one.
Zhang Duocai put the warm towel on his face and rubbed it vigorously before picking up the folder again.
His expression was completely serious now.
Zhang Yaya stayed quiet.
It wasn’t until half an hour later she saw her dad took a big breath after reading the last page.
“Yaya, did you write this?” Zhang Duocai asked as he turned his head toward her.
“No.” Zhang Yaya answered before she asked, “What do you think of this plan?”
Zhang Duocai pondered for a bit before he said, “I thought it was someone’s fantasy at first and a madman’s plans. But after seeing the detailed data analyses and the detailed list of products, I felt like this person was from another world and this business model was already done and succeeded in that world.”
Zhang Duocai’s thoughts were similar to Zhang Yaya.
Zhang Yaya felt like a retard after reading that plan, how could she doubt a genius’s plans?
Could they write something like that if they weren’t sure?
Zhang Yaya felt like this plan that came from his mind was like as if he had her family’s supermarket being replaced by this business model, with that distribution method, counter placement and staff routine placed in front of his eyes.
It wasn’t some random ideas and it was as if it already existed.
“Do you think this bold and somewhat ridiculous plan has a chance to succeed?” Zhang Yaya asked her father again.
“It’s hard to say, really hard to say.” Zhang Duocai had a hesitant expression, “I think this is a never done before plan and would bring us forward but the problem was what would happen if this crazy plan didn’t work? It would not only completely destroy our supermarkets’ huge investment and completely erase our bottom line.”
The bottom line Zhang Duocai was talking about was the 5 supermarkets they had in the five buildings they owned that were worth 20 billion Yuan.
Even if they didn’t operate supermarkets anymore, the five buildings’ rent would still net them 300-500 million Yuan in income each year.
A family that had 500 million was already a very rich family, let alone a family that could get that sum each year.
So Zhang Duocai didn’t have much worry about the future of their family and the inheritance for his daughter.
But if they followed this plan, they had to close the 32 supermarkets out of the city, not to mention they had to do a large scale renovation on their remaining five supermarkets that needed a large amount of funds. This wasn’t some joke.
The Zhang family would be under a great deal of pressure if they couldn’t recoup that investment and was likely to sell one or two buildings, or even three or four to repay their debts.
Would it be worth it?
With their bottom line gone, how would his daughter and future generation live?
Zhang Yaya saw through him.
Her father was interested but the price was so great that he didn’t dare to try.
But to Zhang Yaya, that price was nothing.
Even if her family didn’t have a penny in the future, she, Zhang Yaya, would definitely be able to earn a lot of money in the future with her own ingenuity, which her parents could use.
She was very self-confident.
“Dad, I think we can give it a try.” Zhang Yaya persuaded, “The supermarket is the lifeblood of grandfather and you. Now, we have such an opportunity in front of us and if we succeed, we can rise even higher and truly become one of the big supermarkets in the Jiangnan area and even open a store in Huhai! You’re still so young, why not fight for it?”
Zhang Duocai laughed and patted his daughter’s head, “You silly girl, you don’t understand…If I was single now, you don’t even have to persuade me, I’ll go try my best… but now there’s you and your mom, I can’t make it hard for you two!”
After a pause, he shook his hand to stop her from talking and said, “I’ll consider it, you don’t have to worry about it, alright? Just study hard and live your life happily.”
Zhang Yaya knew her father.
While Zhang Duocai said that, he had already made his decision.
And that decision was certainly the one she wanted.
“Dad, do you know who drafted this plan?” Zhang Yaya asked.
“I don’t know but it must come from a very good manager with ten or twenty years of experience in the industry, right?” Zhang Duocai exclaimed, “Yaya, you really are motivated! If it weren’t for the fact that the supermarket industry is going downhill, I would’ve really wanted him to become the general manager of our Yongxing Supermarkets!”
“No, this isn’t from some wise middle age guy.” Zhang Yaya said, “It was written by Chen Huan.”
“Chen Huan?” Zhang Duocai felt that this name was quite familiar.
“He’s the pride of Lin’an, the great mathematician, the great songwriter and the little basketball prince!” Zhang Yaya informed him.
“Oh, the childhood sweetheart of Shui Qianyu!” Zhang Duocai finally realized who it was.
“He’s a real genius so I think we should give a try.” Zhang Yaya said, “Chen Huan had never done anything he was unsure of so he must be sure that it would work since he wrote it! Dad, why don’t you bet on a genius, the chance of success is very high!”
“I don’t dare.”
Zhang Duocai admitted so quickly that Zhang Yaya felt like punching him.
“But I can consider the fact we have to close the supermarkets outside of the cities.” Zhang Duocai continued, “It would be meaningless to keep them open since those supermarkets keep losing money. I might as well as save my strength and wait until the market is more promising. It wouldn’t be too late to expand at that time.”
With 5 supermarkets left, Yongxing Supermarkets wasn’t completely closed down.
It was from their own properties anyway and didn’t have to pay any rent at all so they could save a lot of money while operating their supermarkets.
When her daughter grew up, she could take over those five supermarkets if she wasn’t unwilling to get a job or start her own business and live the life of a lady boss.
How great would that be?
It was better to work from dawn to dusk to repay mortgage, earn money for school, medical or pension expenses.
Zhang Yaya couldn’t help but glare at him.
She didn’t expect this, for her father to give up so easily when hardship and pressure was on him now.
Of course, she also knew the reason for this.
To leave a way out.
From the perspective of her father, all in to try to find a way out was nowhere near as good as leaving a rich inheritance to assure his daughter’s future.
Chapter 392: Counsel.
Zhang Duocai was indeed very busy and worried during this time.
Compared to his father that paved the way into the industry, Zhang Duocai was certainly not as aggressive and decisive, and was also less talented in business than his father.
But he worked with his father back then and built Yongxing Supermarket together so few people knew about the supermarket industry as well as him.
At the golden age of supermarkets, Zhang Duocai alone was enough to suppress all the suppliers and other supermarket owners to get the best benefits for himself.
But now even Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Ito-Yokado were losing grounds, let alone supermarkets in China.
More than half of those medium sized supermarkets had closed down now.
Small supermarkets relied on their closeness to the residences but only could keep it on.
The Yongxing Supermarkets that were in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huhai were hit harder than the other supermarkets.
Why?
The free shipping in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huhai!
It arrived on the same day!
So it was more efficient when people shopped online.
People would usually buy it online unless it was a daily necessity like fresh food.
The supermarket had fresh food but the other products were consequential.
The supermarket would never make a profit if they only did fresh food.
The people had the habit of going to the supermarket and only planning to buy a little vegetable but then they passed by the snack area and bought two sacks of chips and beef jerky, then they passed daily necessity and got two more tissues or bought a few pairs of socks… after wandering around, they often wondered at the checkout why did they end up buying so much.
If they didn’t go to the supermarket and only placed orders online, their profit wouldn’t be good.
So the most important point for supermarkets was the flow of people. Without people coming, the business wouldn’t be good no matter what.
Both Costco or Fat East Coming were being supported by their large customers groups.
Yongxing Supermarkets was now experiencing a drastic decrease to their customers flow and it only increased for a few hours during the weekends or night.
That situation was far enough to support their high rent, the many employees and the pressure of the suppliers.
The point was it was getting worse. 25 stores out of the 37 stores were already recording losses and if they had to pay rent instead of owning five buildings, they would have to add 5 more losses to that.
So Zhang Duocai was so overwhelmed by the fact he couldn’t reverse the situation no matter how much thought about it.
The current him and the him back at the Spring Festival, was completely two people.
He didn’t expect the market to deteriorate to such an extent in just around 9 months.
When he returned home in the evening, Zhang Duocai smoked a few cigarettes at the door to adjust his mood before going in with a smile.
It was already 10pm.
His wife asked the maid to heat a bowl of edible bird nest and white fungus soup to him as usual but before he could finish his soup, his daughter who was supposed to be asleep, came to the living room.
“Dad!”
Zhang Yaya shouted lively as she sat near her dad.
“Good girl, what didn’t you sleep yet? Did you have a lot of homework today?” Zhang Duocai asked with a smile.
He saw his daughter holding a folder in her hands and thought it was homework.
“No.” Zhang Yaya shook her head, “I have a plan for the supermarket, look at it!”
“Oh?”
Zhang Duocai laughed as he took it, “It seems that our little Yaya knows how to do business planning huh? Nice! When you grow up, you’ll be at the helm of our Zhang family! And grow our family business bigger and bigger!”
“Take a look at it~~~” Zhang Yaya didn’t act proud as she shook his hand.
“Okay, okay!”
Zhang Duocai was the one who loved his daughter the most and would read it even if it was some theory by a middle schooler.
He couldn’t hurt his daughter’s eagerness.
Zhang Duocai had a slight smile as he read the first page.
Then his expression turned to a surprised one as he read the second page.
Then the third page, the fourth page…
“Aunty Tang, bring me a warm tower please, thank you!” Zhang Duocai suddenly said to the nearby maid who was knitting.
The maid immediately got to work and gave him one.
Zhang Duocai put the warm towel on his face and rubbed it vigorously before picking up the folder again.
His expression was completely serious now.
Zhang Yaya stayed quiet.
It wasn’t until half an hour later she saw her dad took a big breath after reading the last page.
“Yaya, did you write this?” Zhang Duocai asked as he turned his head toward her.
“No.” Zhang Yaya answered before she asked, “What do you think of this plan?”
Zhang Duocai pondered for a bit before he said, “I thought it was someone’s fantasy at first and a madman’s plans. But after seeing the detailed data analyses and the detailed list of products, I felt like this person was from another world and this business model was already done and succeeded in that world.”
Zhang Duocai’s thoughts were similar to Zhang Yaya.
Zhang Yaya felt like a retard after reading that plan, how could she doubt a genius’s plans?
Could they write something like that if they weren’t sure?
Zhang Yaya felt like this plan that came from his mind was like as if he had her family’s supermarket being replaced by this business model, with that distribution method, counter placement and staff routine placed in front of his eyes.
It wasn’t some random ideas and it was as if it already existed.
“Do you think this bold and somewhat ridiculous plan has a chance to succeed?” Zhang Yaya asked her father again.
“It’s hard to say, really hard to say.” Zhang Duocai had a hesitant expression, “I think this is a never done before plan and would bring us forward but the problem was what would happen if this crazy plan didn’t work? It would not only completely destroy our supermarkets’ huge investment and completely erase our bottom line.”
The bottom line Zhang Duocai was talking about was the 5 supermarkets they had in the five buildings they owned that were worth 20 billion Yuan.
Even if they didn’t operate supermarkets anymore, the five buildings’ rent would still net them 300-500 million Yuan in income each year.
A family that had 500 million was already a very rich family, let alone a family that could get that sum each year.
So Zhang Duocai didn’t have much worry about the future of their family and the inheritance for his daughter.
But if they followed this plan, they had to close the 32 supermarkets out of the city, not to mention they had to do a large scale renovation on their remaining five supermarkets that needed a large amount of funds. This wasn’t some joke.
The Zhang family would be under a great deal of pressure if they couldn’t recoup that investment and was likely to sell one or two buildings, or even three or four to repay their debts.
Would it be worth it?
With their bottom line gone, how would his daughter and future generation live?
Zhang Yaya saw through him.
Her father was interested but the price was so great that he didn’t dare to try.
But to Zhang Yaya, that price was nothing.
Even if her family didn’t have a penny in the future, she, Zhang Yaya, would definitely be able to earn a lot of money in the future with her own ingenuity, which her parents could use.
She was very self-confident.
“Dad, I think we can give it a try.” Zhang Yaya persuaded, “The supermarket is the lifeblood of grandfather and you. Now, we have such an opportunity in front of us and if we succeed, we can rise even higher and truly become one of the big supermarkets in the Jiangnan area and even open a store in Huhai! You’re still so young, why not fight for it?”
Zhang Duocai laughed and patted his daughter’s head, “You silly girl, you don’t understand…If I was single now, you don’t even have to persuade me, I’ll go try my best… but now there’s you and your mom, I can’t make it hard for you two!”
After a pause, he shook his hand to stop her from talking and said, “I’ll consider it, you don’t have to worry about it, alright? Just study hard and live your life happily.”
Zhang Yaya knew her father.
While Zhang Duocai said that, he had already made his decision.
And that decision was certainly the one she wanted.
“Dad, do you know who drafted this plan?” Zhang Yaya asked.
“I don’t know but it must come from a very good manager with ten or twenty years of experience in the industry, right?” Zhang Duocai exclaimed, “Yaya, you really are motivated! If it weren’t for the fact that the supermarket industry is going downhill, I would’ve really wanted him to become the general manager of our Yongxing Supermarkets!”
“No, this isn’t from some wise middle age guy.” Zhang Yaya said, “It was written by Chen Huan.”
“Chen Huan?” Zhang Duocai felt that this name was quite familiar.
“He’s the pride of Lin’an, the great mathematician, the great songwriter and the little basketball prince!” Zhang Yaya informed him.
“Oh, the childhood sweetheart of Shui Qianyu!” Zhang Duocai finally realized who it was.
“He’s a real genius so I think we should give a try.” Zhang Yaya said, “Chen Huan had never done anything he was unsure of so he must be sure that it would work since he wrote it! Dad, why don’t you bet on a genius, the chance of success is very high!”
“I don’t dare.”
Zhang Duocai admitted so quickly that Zhang Yaya felt like punching him.
“But I can consider the fact we have to close the supermarkets outside of the cities.” Zhang Duocai continued, “It would be meaningless to keep them open since those supermarkets keep losing money. I might as well as save my strength and wait until the market is more promising. It wouldn’t be too late to expand at that time.”
With 5 supermarkets left, Yongxing Supermarkets wasn’t completely closed down.
It was from their own properties anyway and didn’t have to pay any rent at all so they could save a lot of money while operating their supermarkets.
When her daughter grew up, she could take over those five supermarkets if she wasn’t unwilling to get a job or start her own business and live the life of a lady boss.
How great would that be?
It was better to work from dawn to dusk to repay mortgage, earn money for school, medical or pension expenses.
Zhang Yaya couldn’t help but glare at him.
She didn’t expect this, for her father to give up so easily when hardship and pressure was on him now.
Of course, she also knew the reason for this.
To leave a way out.
From the perspective of her father, all in to try to find a way out was nowhere near as good as leaving a rich inheritance to assure his daughter’s future.
