I See through Everything

Over the course of the afternoon, the group inspected the three properties for investment.

They returned to the headquarters in Magong Town.

It was exactly 4:30 PM.

Before they knew it, the end of the month had arrived, and it was time for every department to summarize and report on their business operations.

Ye Meijing, the manager of the finance department, was the first to knock on his door. She came in to report on February’s financials.

Jiang Miao opened the blinds facing the hallway as he listened to her report.

"Boss, the company’s total revenue in February was 175,273,528 yuan. This is the detailed revenue statement."

He sat back down, took the file from her, and began to look through it carefully.

The company’s largest source of income in February was the final patent licensing payment from the Japan Kagoshima Eel Company, which amounted to 105 million yuan.

Then came the 70.27 million yuan from the sale of eel fry.

Canned eel, on the other hand, only accounted for 350,000 yuan in sales.

Ye Meijing then detailed the company’s total expenditures. "The company’s total expenditure for February was 24,393,614 yuan. Here is the breakdown of expenses."

Jiang Miao looked over this report carefully as well. Aside from relatively fixed expenses like employee salaries and benefits, office supplies, and rent, the bulk of the costs came from purchasing eels, construction projects, and equipment procurement.

Hailufeng Company’s financial situation was currently excellent, making it imperative to increase the scale of their investments.

After reporting February’s financials, Ye Meijing tactfully excused herself. The managers of the other departments were already lining up outside the door, ready to report on their own affairs.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK...

"Come in!"

Li Zhou entered, a hint of worry on his face. "Boss, here is the sales department’s report for the month."

"Just put it there. I need to finish with this file first."

Li Zhou set down the file and subconsciously rubbed his lower lip. "Boss, our salespeople from various regions have been reporting some troubling developments. I feel I must bring them to your attention."

"Oh? Are some of the eel farms unhappy with our prices?"

"You’ve hit the nail on the head, Boss," Li Zhou said, deeply concerned. "After the news broke that our technology was stolen, eel farmers and cultivation companies all over have been getting restless. They think the current price for eel fry is too high and are hoping we’ll lower it."

Jiang Miao smiled as he signed the file. He then took a sip of mango leaf tea from his cup and, with complete confidence, offered Li Zhou some reassurance:

"Don’t worry. If they aren’t willing to accept our price, then let them wait for West Sea Company’s fry."

"But... Boss! Won’t that hurt our sales?" Li Zhou asked, confused.

Jiang Miao didn’t elaborate. "Just focus on sales. Leave the rest to me. But if the regional sales teams gather any useful intel, feel free to report it."

"Oh, okay. I’ll head back to my desk then."

Although Li Zhou didn’t quite understand where his boss’s confidence came from, since his boss wasn’t worried about the threat from West Sea Company, he naturally wouldn’t get hung up on it.

A few minutes later, Zhang Xinyi, the online store manager, knocked and came in.

"Have a seat."

"Boss, here’s the online store’s sales report. I’ve also brought the marketing plan, the product advertising proposal, and the first draft of the product page design."

Jiang Miao looked at them one by one.

After a moment, Jiang Miao looked up. "Xinyi, your pricing is on the low side."

"On the low side? Boss, my thinking was that for the initial promotion, we set the price at 50 yuan per kilogram," Zhang Xinyi quickly explained.

"Right now, large Dandong Strawberries are generally selling online for around 90 yuan per kilogram. The quality of our strawberries is no worse than Dandong Strawberries, so even for a promotion, we can’t do it like this."

"Then what did you have in mind, Boss?" Zhang Xinyi asked, a little apprehensive.

"Raise the price to 99 yuan per kilogram. Then, send generous coupons to every customer who’s bought our canned eel. We’ll also run a promotion for anyone buying strawberries, something like ’get 30 yuan off for every 100 yuan spent.’"

Zhang Xinyi hadn’t expected her boss to employ the strategy of raising the price first, only to then offer coupons.

But she had to admit, the plan was perfectly logical. It managed to be promotional while still preserving the strawberries’ premium price point.

With her original plan, the low price might not have been enough to win customers over; they might have perceived it as expensive anyway.

But by setting a high price first and then giving out coupons, customers would feel like they’d gotten a bargain. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Besides, the quality of Nanhu Farm’s strawberries was more than enough to justify its premium price tag.

Another issue to consider when selling agricultural products is the competition.

If these high-quality strawberries were sold in large quantities at a low price, it would be a devastating blow to other strawberry growers and have a severely negative impact on the entire industry.

This was also something Jiang Miao had to consider.

’After all, the domestic market is only so big. If he took a bigger piece of the pie, someone else would have to take a smaller one.’

’At this stage, Jiang Miao did not plan to use a low-price strategy to compete, but rather intended to take the premium route, avoiding direct competition with small-scale farmers.’

’Only after Hailufeng Company had laid the proper foundation would he consider producing low-cost agricultural products.’

’Otherwise, it would be like tearing down the old house before the new one is built. How would those small-scale farmers survive? The rural and agricultural economy is already fragile. Acting like this would only lead to mass bankruptcies among them.’

’Therefore, to avoid causing a severe impact, Jiang Miao only planned to take the premium route in the short term. He would use high prices to guarantee profits while simultaneously, bit by bit, building up a series of premium industries.’

’Of course, consumers would definitely have to foot the bill for this.’

’However, this was no big deal. The demographic that could afford strawberries at 99 yuan per kilogram wasn’t short on a hundred or so yuan anyway. Jiang Miao felt no guilt about fleecing the rich.’

’Might as well take the money from these tycoons; if he didn’t, someone else would. After all, when they bought high-end fruits, a lot of their money was ’harvested’ by foreign premium fruit brands anyway.’

’Those foreigners can take their money.’

’Why can’t Hailufeng Company?’

’If Hailufeng Company takes it, at least the money will be reinvested into domestic production and research, and it will also benefit the local farm workers.’

After discussing the marketing plan with Zhang Xinyi, Jiang Miao moved on to the advertising proposal.

"For the advertising, are you planning to ask the Fruit Hunter from B Station to help with the promotion? What’s his reputation like?" Jiang Miao wasn’t familiar with this content creator.

Zhang Xinyi quickly replied, "He’s one of the more professional science-outreach bloggers specializing in fruit on domestic social media these past few years. He frequently accepts fruit-related advertising gigs. His reputation is decent, but the products he endorses tend to be overpriced."

"So he also deals with the premium market?"

"Yes," Zhang Xinyi replied, nodding eagerly.

"Good, we’ll go with him."

Next, he looked at the draft designs for the product page. There were four versions in total, and Jiang Miao looked through all of them.

Jiang Miao simply chose the two designs he found most visually appealing, both with clean and straightforward layouts. "Combine versions two and three. That should do it."

"Versions two and three? Got it. I’ll instruct the design team when I get back."

After Zhang Xinyi left, other managers came in one by one to give their reports. Jiang Miao was kept busy until six o’clock in the evening.

The setting sun had already sunk below the sea.

In the company cafeteria, many employees had already finished their meal.

Jiang Miao, his mom, his older sister, and Shuya sat at a table, just about to start eating.

"Sis, Mom is helping to take care of Xiaomin, and she’s starting elementary school this year. Have you considered working in the city?"

"Do what in the city?" Jiang Xia asked, a little curious.

"The company is opening a gold shop on South City Road. I don’t really trust anyone else with it, so how about you help me manage it?"

Jiang Xia wasn’t very confident. "A gold shop? I’ve never managed one before... I’m worried I won’t do a good job..."

"Sis, you don’t have to worry. This gold shop is mainly for legal tax avoidance, so making money is actually secondary. The key is to have someone I can trust."

Their mom quickly chimed in. "Ah Xia, you should help Ah Miao look after the gold shop. With that much gold, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with a stranger managing it either."

Hearing what her younger brother and mother had to say, Jiang Xia could only scratch her head and agree.