I Really Didn't Mean to Make Money

“Liu Jie, your plan can indeed boost clothing sales, but this method is unacceptable.”

Chen Mo took a small sip of coffee, his gaze calm as he looked at Liu Jie.

“President Chen, is there a problem?”

Liu Jie looked at President Chen with confusion. This approach had basically become the default tactic in e-commerce; how could there be an issue?

“Of course there’s a problem, and it’s a big one.”

Chen Mo wore a serious expression.

“First, your method of raising prices and then discounting is essentially a form of disguised fraud. Although this approach can increase sales, it ultimately damages the clothing brand’s reputation and credibility. The most important thing for a business is its reputation and credibility. If you can’t maintain these two, how can you grow and strengthen the brand?”

“Second, regarding price cuts, I think not only should we avoid lowering prices, but we should actually raise the prices of the clothes.”

When Liu Jie heard President Chen’s first point, he nodded slightly in agreement—building a brand’s credibility was indeed important.

But the second point—no price cuts, and even price increases—he found hard to understand.

“Maybe you don’t quite understand this approach.”

Chen Mo noticed Liu Jie’s expression and smiled faintly.

“It’s true that major e-commerce platforms are now engaged in price wars, which do attract many buyers scrambling to purchase. But have you noticed how many well-known, widely accepted clothing brands gained their fame through live streaming?”

“Basically, those famous clothing brands all have their own physical stores offline, spread across the country.”

“So if we want to become such a well-known brand, we must also pursue the physical store route.”

“But once you lower prices online, how do you expect those offline franchisees to sell their clothes? If online prices are cheaper, who would still go to physical stores? If the physical stores can’t sell clothes, who would want to join the clothing brand as a franchisee?”

“Lowering prices may seem to increase sales in the short term, but in the long run, it destroys the potential for the clothing brand’s development.”

“So we have to look further ahead, not sacrifice the entire brand for temporary gains.”

Liu Jie felt a bit dizzy. What President Chen said seemed reasonable, but it was somewhat different from what he had encountered before.

“Then, President Chen, how much should we raise the prices?”

“Just raise each item by 20 yuan above the physical store price.”

Chen Mo thought for a moment and gave a figure.

If the increase was too high, it wouldn’t be allowed by the system. Otherwise, he would have liked to raise prices to an astronomical level, but then no one would buy anything.

Twenty yuan was roughly the average transportation cost for customers traveling from home to the store.

So when customers buy clothes at physical stores, including travel expenses, the total cost is basically the same as online prices.

“However, considering that the price increase might affect your live streaming sales, the base salary for all members of your live streaming team will be raised by 1,000 yuan, and the commission rate will be increased by one percentage point.”

Price goes up, sales go down.

But with higher base salary and commission, the overall income from live streaming can be kept at a minimum.

“Thank you, President Chen.”

Liu Jie looked at President Chen with admiration.

He hadn’t expected that while considering price increases, President Chen was also thinking about them.

No wonder the employees at the Clothing Factory all admired President Chen so much. A boss who cares about his employees like this is bound to be loved by them.

Chen Mo heard Liu Jie’s thanks and thought to himself, If you really want to thank me, please sell less merchandise.

“All right, that’s all for now. Go back and change the prices.”

“Okay, President Chen.”

Liu Jie nodded and was about to get up and leave.

“Wait a moment.”

“President Chen, is there anything else?”

Liu Jie looked at President Chen, who suddenly raised his hand to stop him.

“After you change the prices, make the title in the live streaming room more eye-catching. The title should roughly say: ‘Physical store prices are 20 yuan cheaper than live streaming prices.’”

Now there should be even fewer buyers.

Who would buy at the higher live streaming price?

If they want to buy at physical stores, sorry, there are only four agents right now, and they’re still under renovation.

Perfect!

Liu Jie: .........

He felt like President Chen had some grudge against the customers. Although he hadn’t been with the company long, he knew that the Clothing Factory currently had only four agents, all still renovating.

This approach was like going to a noodle shop and being told the noodles next door are better.

Then when you want to go next door, you’re told it’s not open yet.

Isn’t that just annoying?

But since this was President Chen’s arrangement, Liu Jie didn’t say anything more and just followed orders.

Watching Liu Jie leave, Chen Mo finished the last of his coffee in one gulp.

He had been talking so much that his mouth felt dry.

Taking a breath, he took out his phone and called Song Xia.

He wanted to ask about the new store situation. The new store was clearly larger than the previous coffee shop, so why was the rent tens of thousands cheaper?

Why didn’t any of these employees give him peace of mind?

“President Chen, are you back?”

Hearing Song Xia’s voice on the phone, Chen Mo spoke calmly.

“Yeah, I’m back. I looked over the reports from your coffee shop. What’s going on with that new store? Why is it so big but the rent so cheap?”

“President Chen, you mean that? Actually, it’s all thanks to Wu Yu. Without him, there’s no way we could have rented it so cheaply.”

Song Xia hurriedly explained when she realized President Chen was asking about this.

To be honest, Wu Yu had indeed helped their coffee shop a lot this time. Ever since he brought those wealthy ladies to the coffee shop to discuss agency matters, the coffee shop had inexplicably attracted some customers who came because of their reputation, all drinking the 188 Blue Mountain Coffee.

After some inquiry, they found out these customers were recommended by those wealthy ladies.

Although these people weren’t many and not enough to turn the coffee shop profitable, it was still a good sign.

Chen Mo was taken aback by Song Xia’s words—he hadn’t expected even this matter to be connected to Wu Yu.

“What exactly happened? What did Wu Yu do?”

“President Chen, Wu Yu brought over a few agents. The negotiations happened right in our café. One of them turned out to be a landlord who owns multiple storefronts and ended up leasing one to us at a very favorable rate.”

“Those agents seem to have extensive networks. Over the past few days, quite a number of customers have come in thanks to their referrals...”

Chen Mo tightened his grip on the phone, his expression darkening.

In just seven days away from the company, every major development had stemmed from Wu Yu.

Good... very good...