Chapter 105 Hungry market
The second day that Xu Yi came to Anvilmar City, it was also the first day of the Magicians Guild’s certification exam. When large numbers of magicians came for the Magicians Guild’s certification exam, on the busiest street of the Anvilmar City, there was a giant store that started business.
This store took over a thousand square meters on the most prosperous street in Anvilmar City, it attracted countless luxurious horse carriages with all kinds of noble crests on them when it started doing business, so it attracted many people’s attention.
When everyone saw the sign that hung on that store, they were all stunned. There was a familiar word on the sign which was “Walmart”, but the following “household magic machine shop” while being words that everyone knew, they didn’t understand at all.
That’s right, the name of this shop was actually the Walmart household magic machine shop.
Of course, these people didn’t understand for only a short period and very soon, many people reacted.
This was because half a month ago, the Walmart Chamber of Commerce had already put up advertisements in all the large and small newspapers of Anvilmar City, as well as putting all kinds of advertisements on every street. They even hired people to hand out flyers while also shouting out advertisements.
With such a strong advertising campaign, if the people of Anvilmar City still didn’t know that the Walmart household magic machine shop was opening today, they either came from outside the city or they were death and blind.
As for the concept of household magic machines, although many people in Anvilmar City had some understanding from the reports from the newspapers and the Frestech Brand Sore that Victor’s group had set up, that didn’t make up a large part of the populace and their understanding was too shallow.
But whether you knew about this before or not, this time the Walmart Chamber of Commerce had gone all out, so everyone had some understanding of this matter.
Everyone knew that the so-called household magic machine was a machine using magic that could make people’s daily lives easier.
For example, the Magic Air Conditioner could replace the function of large scale Frost Arrays and Flame Arrays. It allowed one’s home to be at a comfortable temperature in the hot summers and the cold winters.
Then there was the Automatic Magic Rice Cooker. As long as one put the right amount of water and rice inside, after pressing the switch, they didn’t need to care about anything and wait for a bit to get freshly cooked right. 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝒍．𝙘𝒐𝙢
Or for example…...
…...
Because of the advertisements of the Walmart Chamber of Commerce, everyone in Anvilmar City knew about the functions of the household magic machines. Before the Walmart Chamber of Commerce’s store even began doing business, people were already expectant of it.
When they started doing business, early in the morning, the store was already surrounded by a dense crowd. It completely filled the most prosperous street without leaving a single gap.
According to the advertisement of the Walmart Chamber of Commerce, because it was their first day doing business, all the household magic machines would be sold at a 20% discount. The store’s goods were limited, so it would be first come, first serve.
At the same time, the customers that bought a household magic machine would receive a coupon that would give them a certain discount in the Walmart Chamber of Commerce’s grocery store.
So at eight in the morning, the Walmart Chamber of Commerce sent a manager to give a short speech on the stage in front of the story before announcing the opening of the store. The crowd immediately charged through the open doors and it was like a flood that completely filled the doors.
Hank Wilson watched down at the people charging in and couldn’t help praising Xu Yi in front of him, “Chairman Xu, the idea of limited supplies really was good. Look, those people are trying to buy the items as fast as possible and they aren’t even seriously looking over the quality.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “There is a special phrase which is called a ‘hungry market’. It’s to make people feel that they won’t be able to buy something if they’re late and deliberately not meeting everyone’s needs. Adding in the special deals you’re offering, people think that they are getting an advantage, so they don’t care that much.”
“Chairman Xu really understands the thoughts of the customers.” Sitting in front of Xu Yi was a grey haired old man who looked to be around sixty that was in high spirits. He was the Walmart Chamber of Commerce’s current chairman Colmar Rundst, “From all the rumours, I thought that chairman Xu would be more like a magician who was more focused on research. After personally meeting you, I found that chairman Xu is more like an astute merchant.”
“Chairman Rundst is overpraising me.” Xu Yi gave a modest smile, “It’s only a small trick, it isn’t much. The Walmart Chamber of Commerce has developed under chairman Rundst’s lead for all these years to become a first rate company of our Lampuri Kingdom, that is what’s truly powerful. Kennard has often praised you in front of me and he is filled with admiration and respect for you.”
“Admiration and respect for me?” Chairman Rundst gave a soft snort, “I’ve watched that kid grow up and I saw that he was intelligent since he was young, as well as interested in doing business, so I planned on training him as my successor. I wanted him to run the Walmart Chamber of Commerce for the Emma Family, but I never thought that after training him to a good point, he actually ran off to your Frestech Chamber of Commerce to be that…..general manager? It really angers me to death!”
Xu Yi couldn’t help secretly laughing. Was this chairman Rundst blaming him for picking the fruit that he worked hard to grow?
“This…...Chairman Rundst, I think that Kennard shouldn’t be working at our company forever. Letting him stay at our company to learn a different structure and to gain experience will be good for his growth, don’t you think so?”
Chairman Rundst looked at Xu Yi before giving a slight nod, “Those words are quite right. Chairman Xu, there are many unique things about the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that you run, so letting him study at your side is a good choice. But chairman Xu, you should know that it is impossible for Kennard to stay at your company, but you’re giving him important work, will there not be any problems?”
“Not doubting useful people and not using doubtful people.” Xu Yi said with a faint smile, “Since I chose Kennard as the general manager, then I believe that he will finish the work I give him. As for when he will leave in the end…...Changing workers is inevitable for every company, I just need to take care of everything before that happens.”
Chairman Rundst slowly shook his head and said with a sigh, “For that kid Kennard to meet a chairman like you, it really is his luck. Alright, let’s not talk about that kid, let’s talk business. Hank, give chairman Xu the plan to read.”
Hank Wilson on the side replied before giving a plan to Xu Yi.
Xu Yi carefully looked it over and found that written in the plan were the main cities that the Walmart Chamber of Commerce was planning to open household magic machine stores in.
According to this plan, if the sales numbers in Anvilmar City were good, the Walmart Chamber of Commerce would be implementing this plan. Their ultimate goal was to set up a store like this in every city of the Lampuri Kingdom.
Of course, to open these stores, naturally it required the support of the companies producing magic machines led by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce from Banta City.
So in the plan, it proposed some requests for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the other companies.
After Xu Yi looked it over, he thought about it for a bit before saying to chairman Rundst, “Based on today’s situation, I’m not worried about the sales numbers of this store. But chairman Rundst, I feel that this plan is a bit too optimistic.”
“Oh? Where?” Chairman Rundst asked back.
“The reason why this store is so popular, although it seems to be because of the opening day deals and the attraction of the household magic machines themselves, in fact the most important thing is that the people of Anvilmar City have this consumption power.”
“Consumption power?” Chairman Rundst thought over this phrase for a bit before giving a nod, “Un, that’s right. Anvilmar City is the capital of our Lampuri Kingdom, so naturally the people here will be richer than the people in other places.”
“So that means that we can’t use the situation here as a reference and apply them to other places. Compared to Anvilmar City, the consumption power of people in other places aren’t as strong. Perhaps they want to buy these household magic machines, but there are many people who can’t even eat their fill, so they don’t have sufficient financial resources.” Xu Yi said, “Although the household magic machines aren’t considered that expensive, each one still takes several gold coins and some even take more than ten gold coins, so normal families won’t be able to afford this.”
Chairman Rundst thought about it for a while before asking with knit brows, “But chairman Xu, based on what I know, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic machines have sold astonishing amounts in Banta City and Banta City is one of the poorest cities in the kingdom. Since this many household magic machines can sell in Banta City, then there shouldn’t be a problem in other cities.”
“There’s still a difference here.” Xu Yi said, “The main problem is the problem of transportation. Our Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s household magic machines can sell well in Banta City because they are locally produced products that don’t include transport fees, so it’s not a problem to sell them for a bit cheaper. But if you want to transport them to other cities to sell, because of the increase in transport costs, the price can’t be kept as low.”
“Transport costs……” Chairman Rundst knit his brows even tighter, “I have also considered this problem before, but chairman Xu, based on what I know, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s profit margin is very high. Can’t you just lower the selling price and exchange it for higher sales volume?”
Hearing this question, Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. After this chairman Rundst circled around for a while, he finally couldn’t help revealing his real goal.
Chapter 106 Street shopping
“And then? Did you agree to him?” Still asked Xu Yi with a curious look on her face.
“Of course not.” Xu Yi shook his head, “He kept on talking and in the end, he just wanted our Frestech Chamber of Commerce take the lead in dropping the price, then the other companies in Banta City would all follow suit and reduce their prices. Like this, their Walmart Chamber of Commerce could lower their inventory costs and lower their prices.”
“If their purchase price decreases, the selling price in the store would also decrease.” Still said, “I feel that chairman Rundst is right, if the price is lowered, the sales amount would be increased. With this, it is very likely the overall profit would be increased.”
Xu Yi looked at Still and shook his head as he gave a soft sigh.
Still didn’t understand the market, so she said these words that were so one sided.
First not mentioning if the Walmart Chamber of Commerce would lower the prices if their purchase price was lower, to Xu Yi, this was a very dangerous thing to do.
Just like a phrase that was popular in the stock markets on earth before becoming a common phrase, people bought low and sold high.
If the price of the product could drop, then people’s first thought would be not to be in a rush to buy it. They would think that since it could drop once, it can drop a second time or a third time…...Anyway, there was no need to rush to buy it.
Moreover, once the matter of price dropping began, it would be hard to stop it.
If the Frestech Chamber of Commerce dropped their price, even if Xu Yi didn’t say anything, the other companies producing magic machines in Banta City would also drop their prices.
As long as the Frestech Chamber of Commerce took the lead in this, the other companies will find that this is a good method and will drop their prices even more to increase their sales volume.
If there were many companies that imitated this, it would become a price war like back on earth.
The magic machine industry was a very weak industry. Before this, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had the power of a monopoly, so Xu Yi could implement the ideas that he wanted to implement.
But now under his guidance, the other companies had joined this industry. So now Xu Yi had to consider the development of this industry and he had to consider the effect on the industry for everything he did.
If there was a price war when the magic machine industry was just developing, it would decrease the profit margins of all the companies that were engaged in this industry. It would also make companies that had just entered the industry to lose confidence and interest, which would be a large blow to the entire industry.
So after the Banta City Magic Machine Business Union was formed, Xu Yi and the chairmen of the other companies made the first decision that when any company sold magic machines, they had to consult on a price and couldn’t try to outbid each other.
But now chairman Rundst had requested Xu Yi to take the lead in dropping the price, so naturally he couldn’t agree.
Of course, the Walmart Chamber of Commerce was the most important partner for most companies in Banta City that produced magic machines, so Xu Yi couldn’t refuse chairman Rundst to his face. Although he couldn’t lower the prices, Xu Yi provided another plan which was to build roads.
Since it would affect the most important factor of selling magic machines in other cities which was transport cost, it would also lower the cost of the goods.
In front of chairman Rundst and vice chairman Wilson, Xu Yi took out the examples of the Banka Road and Bansa Road.
According to the data that Xu Yi took out, compared to before those two roads were constructed, the price in transporting the same amount of cargo from Banta City to Karma City and Saltan City had dropped respectively by 34% and 38%.
And then there was also the consideration of taking tolls.
For the Sines Continent that didn’t have a developed transport system, transport cost was the largest hindrance when it came to transporting goods. For the Walmart Chamber of Commerce that dealt in groceries, they understood this better than any other companies.
So when they heard Xu Yi mention the numbers of 34% and 38%, chairman Rundst and vice chairman Wilson were both shocked.
After confirming that Xu Yi’s data was not a joke, chairman Rundst almost immediately decided that the Walmart Chamber of Commerce would invest in building roads.
It wasn’t hard to guess from his appearance that the Walmart Chamber of Commerce wouldn’t just stop at a single road.
“Un, Xu Yi, tell me, why didn’t you agree? I feel that this proposition isn’t that bad.” Seeing Xu Yi deep in thought and not replying, Still couldn’t help speaking up.
“Ah? Ah…...It’s too much trouble explaining this and this matter can’t be decided by me alone, so at least I need to go back to Banta City and discuss this with chairman Rank, so I told chairman Rundst that I would consider it.” Xu Yi simply replied before quickly changing the topic and asking, “Don’t just focus on asking me, I also want to ask you, didn’t his excellency Great Magician say that he would be bringing me to the Magicians Guild’s conference? Why is it that now that I’m here, he’s not here?”
“Oh, there was someone from the Magicians Guild who came looking for grandfather and the grandfather went with him.” Still replied.
“Then did he leave any messages behind? Does he want me to wait here for him or what?” Xu Yi asked.
Still shook her head, “Grandfather didn’t say anything. It seemed like he was in a rush, I don’t know if something happened or not.”
“In a rush?” Xu Yi was a bit confused, “The old man has only come here from Banta City for a few days, what rushed matter happened at the Magicians Guild that he had to go for?”
“I don’t know about that.” Still shrugged her shoulders, “Grandfather is a Great Magician in the end, if something big has happened at the Magicians Guild, since he is in Anvilmar City, they would definitely contact him.”
Xu Yi thought for a bit and found that he had too little information, so he could only give up.
“Then what do we do now? I’ve already left this morning open, but now that his excellency Great Magician is busy, I have nothing to do.” Xu Yi spread his hands.
“Isn’t that perfect?” Still hooked Xu Yi’s arm with a smile and pulled him out, “It’s rare that we’re in Anvilmar City together and we have some spare time, so if we don’t take a stroll, it would have been a waste to come here. Come, I’ll take you for a walk around Anvilmar City. From what I heard Viscount Leslie say, when you came last year, you were busy with all kinds of things and didn’t have spare time at all. Really, it’s hard enough to take this trip and you don’t have time to play, that really is a pity! Today, this miss will lead you on a scenic tour of Anvilmar City!”
Xu Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he was pulled along by Still.
Because today was the first day of the Magicians Guild certification exam, the magicians participating in the exam were all at the test site outside the city. Even those magicians not participating went along to watch, so the city wasn’t completely filled with magicians like yesterday and it was rather peaceful.
Of course, as the capital of the Lampuri Kingdom, Anvilmar City would be busy no matter what the time was. No matter where the two of them went, there were people all around them.
Still had studied at the Lampuri Royal Academy for four years and had stayed in Anvilmar City for four years, so she was very familiar with this place.
Under her lead, the two of them avoided the most crowded places and passed through the streets of Anvilmar City. From time to time, they went into a store and appreciated the goods that were inside. After a while, they rested by the Rhine River that ran through the city, appreciating the red leaves falling by the bank of the river, while having a street artist drawing their portrait.
Seeing how happy Still was, Xu Yi let go of all his thoughts and accompanied Still in happily wandering the city.
For that time, it was like he was back on earth when he was young and a female colleague had dragged him around window shopping.
After the two went around the city, Xu Yi suddenly told Still that he wanted to see the Lampuri Royal Academy.
Still looked over, “I think that you don’t want to see the school, but rather the students studying magic, right? Be honest, you are planning to convince those students to work for our company after they graduate, right?”
Xu Yi laughed, “I do have this idea, but they are graduating from the top academy in the country, so I’m afraid they won’t care about our small company.”
“That isn’t certain.” Still gave a soft snort, “Didn’t you even get an outstanding student like me to work for you? Isn’t it the same with Evita and the others? Let me tell you, with how good our company treats our researchers, I think that not only do the students of Baron Rickto Magic Academy want to join our company, it’s the same for the students of the Lampuri Royal Academy.”
“Of course it would be good if it was like this. But right now I feel that it isn’t the best choice for those students to come work for our company.” Xu Yi shook his head, “IF possible, I want to build a school that will specialize in teaching magicians magic mechanical engineering theory. The magicians that graduate from a school like this would be a real magic mechanical engineer that I could use.”
“Do it if you want.” Still said with a relaxed expression, “Anyway you aren’t lacking in money right now and you have the support of the Lord City Lord and her highness, so there should be no problem with the procedure. Not to mention that grandfather can take a role in the school which will attract many people to come study there.”
“Un, not bad. After you said all this, I feel that this idea is possible. Alright, when we head back, I’ll discuss this with the Lord City Lord. As for right now, let’s go to the Lampuri Royal Academy. I’m very curious how they trained an outstanding girl like you.”
“Humph, that is my natural charm, it doesn’t need to be trained.” Still gave a soft snort. When she grabbed Xu Yi’s hand and was about to head in the direction of the Lampuri Royal Kingdom, her feet suddenly stopped.
Xu Yi was a bit surprised and pulled at the unmoving Still, but he found that she was looking at a path on the opposite side and she looked stunned.
Xu Yi followed her gaze and found that on the other of the path, there was a young couple.
The young man was also staring right at still with his eyes filled with shock and greed.