Chapter 124 Price Increase and Work Begins

Chapter 124 Price Increase and Work Begins

Chapter 124 Price Increase and Work Begins

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "It's time. The University of Hong Kong is well-known. We can use this gimmick to officially advertise."

During this period, his main focus is on expanding the production capacity of the new Post-it Note factory, which is the most important thing. As for the Rubik's Cube, there is no rush.

And even if the Rubik's Cube is successfully promoted globally, the scale of the industry may not be better than that of Post-it Notes. After all, one is just a toy, while the other is a consumable that hundreds of millions of people may need for a long time.

He made the Rubik's Cube, but he valued it more as a stepping stone to enter the toy industry. As long as the Rubik's Cube sold well, many toy dealers would come to him, or he would be able to talk to them easily, so he could get a good dealer channel, which was the most important thing.

Compared with the entire toy industry, Post-it Notes are not as impressive. However, this industry is highly competitive and it is not easy to do well, but the potential is still greater.

Wei Zetao said, "Then I will contact newspapers in Hong Kong. Does Mr. Yang have a favorite newspaper? I will place an advertisement there."

"Ming Pao, have you heard of it?" Yang Wendong asked.

"Ming Pao? Never heard of it." Wei Zetao thought about it carefully. He really didn't know, so he said, "Maybe I don't read enough newspapers."

Yang Wendong shook his head and said with a smile: "It's not that you haven't read enough. Ming Pao is indeed a new newspaper. It was just established at the beginning of this year. It's normal that you don't know about it.

However, you must know the owner of Ming Pao, it’s Jin Yong.”

"Jin Yong? The Jin Yong who wrote the novel? The Legend of the Condor Heroes?" Wei Zetao knew Jin Yong's name as soon as he heard it.

"Yes, that's him." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "He has set up his own newspaper and has been writing novels in his own newspaper."

Wei Zetao became interested and asked, "Has Mr. Jin Yong's new novel come out? What's it called? I really like his novels. I've read The Legend of the Condor Heroes several times."

"It's called The Return of the Condor Heroes." Yang Wendong asked back, "Don't you like his novels? Why don't you pay attention to his new novels?"

"Well," Wei Zetao paused and said, "I don't really like to read newspapers. I only read 2000 words a day. It's too tiring. After the novel is finished and the bound volume is published, I will feel more comfortable and have more feelings."

"Oh, that makes sense." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "But if everyone is like you, then who will Mr. Jin Yong sell his newspapers to? He is counting on people to buy his newspapers because they read novels."

Wei Zetao shrugged and said, "There will always be a lot of other people following and watching."

"Okay." Yang Wendong didn't care and said, "You can wait until his new book is finished before reading it."

If history had not changed, then in a few months, the NT plot of Xiao Long Nu would have caused a sensation in Hong Kong, and Ming Pao would have been splashed with paint. By then, it would probably have become even more famous.

Although it is not known why Jin Yong wrote it this way, some historical records say that it was because Jin Yong could not pursue Xia Meng, one of the three princesses of the Great Wall, and some say that it was because someone else wrote it for him. But it must be said that it was also because of this incident that Jin Yong's fame was further enhanced.

Even in the 50s, people had the same requirements for the male protagonist: he could be abused, beaten, and forced to jump off a cliff, but the female protagonist could not be touched. It was just that Jin Yong's writing was too strong, the story was too good, and people of that era had no choice, so in the end everyone just let it go.
Even netizens in later generations have acquiesced to this, but if anyone writes a novel with such a plot, they will be criticized to death.

Wei Zetao said, "Okay, I'll go talk to Ming Pao and see what kind of advertising space would be more suitable."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Well, go find Haoyu. He has done advertisements for mouse traps and rat extermination business before, and he also found Ming Pao."

"Mouse trap?" Wei Zetao thought for a moment and said, "How is the effect of this advertisement? The recent post-it note incident has come to a brief end, and I also want to spend more time on this."

"I heard it's OK, sales have increased a bit." Yang Wendong said, "We are advertising in Hong Kong to see the effect. If it works, we need to use this data as a basis to negotiate cooperation with exclusive distributors in other regions."

After all, Hong Kong has a population of only 300 million and its market is limited. Any product other than real estate should be exported, and industrial products are inevitable.

However, whether you want to find a distributor or need to negotiate good terms with the distributor, you also need to achieve results in the Hong Kong market.

Wei Zetao nodded and said, “That’s right. From last year to now, our sales model for sticky mouse traps is that we will provide goods to whoever has the money to buy them.

This model is acceptable in the early stages, but if you want to maximize the performance of your product, you will definitely need an exclusive distributor with resources.”

"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "So next, we also need to find capable long-term partners in several major markets, just like 3M cooperated with us to sell sticky notes.

For other small markets, the current model will be sufficient in the short term.”

A perfect channel takes a long time to build. In the early stages, the focus is naturally on those large markets with strong economies, such as Europe, the United States, Japan, etc.

"Okay." Wei Zetao nodded and said, "It just so happens that I have some free time during this period. I will develop the dealer issue and see if I can find a suitable one."

"Okay, this matter needs to be settled as soon as possible, otherwise we will miss the summer in the northern hemisphere again." Yang Wendong followed.

The current scale of the factory can be considered medium-sized in Hong Kong. When the new factory is completed in the future, it will definitely become one of the largest factories in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's industries at that time were mostly small-scale, with few large-scale ones. Only Li Jiacheng became the leader of Hong Kong's industry by relying on plastic flowers.

Even the textile, clothing or toy industries, which may become larger in the future, have not yet formed any large-scale small giants.

Wei Zetao smiled and said, "Okay, there is one more thing. Recently, the old factory over at Liming has become insufficient. He has approached me several times and is also thinking about renting another place.

I was planning to give this place to him later, but I can’t wait any longer.”

Yang Wendong took a sip of tea and said, "It's OK actually. The production of mouse traps mainly depends on people. All you need is a place.

Plans cannot keep up with changes, and it’s a good thing that business is so good.

Then let's rent him a separate warehouse and quickly modify it to produce mouse traps. As for this place, we'll talk about it later."

In the short term, the production capacity of two of his products will explode. Although he and others have plans, many things are impossible to be the same as the early estimates. The sticky mouse board is like this. The sales rate of this thing is too high. It can be sent to any place in the world and it will be sold well. This is the case when the channel has not found a stronger one.

Wei Zetao was silent for a while, and then said: "In fact, many customers have started to pay in full in order to get the mouse traps as soon as possible. Or we can increase the price appropriately, which can also alleviate the current production capacity problem."

"That's fine." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I guess those people who bought our mouse traps will probably raise the price when they arrive at their destination."

Wei Zetao said with a smile: "These are not important, and we don't need to know. As long as we sell well and the supply exceeds the demand, it means that the price is low."

Yang Wendong said: "Yes, during this period of time, our main focus has been on the issue of sticky notes and loans, and we haven't paid much attention to mouse traps.

A price increase is good, but how much should it increase? That’s a little hard to determine.”

Wei Zetao thought for a moment and said, "We are indeed not sure, but we can try the dealer."

"Then what's the reason for the price increase?" Yang Wendong asked again: "Although it is our freedom to raise prices, it's not easy to say it forcefully. We still have to find a reason."

Wei Zetao said with a smile: "Yes, but the reasons are easy to find, just say that the glue we bought from Japan has increased in price, or the cardboard we use has increased in price, these are all fine.

They won't really verify whether it's true or not. Everyone knows what's going on. Even if someone really verifies it, will they really tell it? If such a fool really does this, then there's no need for us to cooperate with such people."

"Well, these people shouldn't be that stupid. They still understand the unspoken rules." Yang Wendong smiled, and then thought of something: "Don't raise the price for Zhao Chengguang and An Yongqiang. They helped me a lot in the past, so this time I'll just repay them for a small favor."

Given Yang Wendong’s current development situation, he actually doesn’t care much about the local market in Hong Kong, and these two people are not of much help to him now.

But this is where he made his fortune, and he still needs to maintain good interpersonal relationships here. This will also give him a good reputation when he tells others about it in the future. Plus, his future products also need to be promoted in the Hong Kong market first, so they can still be helpful to him.

Besides, he also wanted to give back a little bit to those who had helped him start his own business.

Wei Zetao agreed and said, "Okay, there isn't much of a market in Hong Kong anyway, and our factory still relies mainly on exports, especially to the European, American and Japanese markets."

Yang Wendong nodded, then thought of something else and asked, "By the way, plastic flowers in Hong Kong have also been very popular since the year before last. Have some factories in Hong Kong raised their prices since then?"

"No." Wei Zetao shook his head and said, "Plastic flowers are not made by only one company. Some manufacturers are able to sell them so well, in addition to the good quality and beautiful flowers, the most important thing is that the price is cheap, and they do a very good job in cost control.

So once the price goes up, it will send customers to other people. In this respect, we are different from them. At least from a legal point of view, only we can produce it. "

Yang Wendong asked with a smile: "Is there no patent for plastic flowers?"

“Yes.” Wei Zetao said, “It’s just that this thing has existed for a long time, but it was not made well or the cost was high decades ago, so there is no invention patent.

There are patents for technology or processes, and one company has one, but other companies have other technologies, and there is no infringement on each other. Besides, even if someone steals your technology and uses it in their own factory, and you want to sue him, where is the evidence?

You can’t tell what’s going on from the appearance of this plastic flower.”

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Indeed, it is difficult to protect technology patents in legal terms, unlike our invention patents, which can be seen at a glance."

Technology is certainly important, but the reality is that the cost of protecting rights is very high, especially for technology that is not visible in the end product. The inventor may not even know about the infringement until the patent expires.

Even if you know, you can’t protect your rights. If you want to sue someone, you must have a lot of data from their factory, and this data must be obtained through legal means in court. This is a bug...

Wei Zetao added: “Another reason is that many factories have fixed distributors, and each region has an exclusive distributor.

Many of them are long-term partners, so it is not easy to raise prices. Even if we want to increase prices, we have to wait until the agreed time."

"Yes, it's the same with us and 3M." Yang Wendong nodded.

Exclusive distributors and manufacturers have contracts with clearly marked prices, so it is difficult to raise prices, especially since most of the cooperation is done by distributors with strong power.

Only a company like Coca-Cola can put pressure on distributors, even if it is exclusive.

Wei Zetao added: "I will go and test the dealers in a few days to see how much the price will increase. I will let you know then and we can decide together."

"Okay." Yang Wendong naturally agreed. Raising prices was a huge deal. Even as a boss, he had to discuss it with the people around him.

Wei Zetao put away the drawings on the table and prepared to leave, when he suddenly said, "Oh, I almost forgot one thing, Mr. Yang, you have to go to the new factory in a few days. We have to start work and worship the gods."

“Pray to gods before work starts?” Yang Wendong was stunned. It was not the first time he heard of this term. It was said that the Hong Kong film and television industry liked to do this, and this tradition still existed in the 21st century.

Wei Zetao said with a smile: "Yes, many large buildings in Hong Kong have worship ceremonies when they start construction.

Generally speaking, it is to pray for a prosperous business in the future. For a small factory, it may not matter whether it is done or not, but for a large one, it is better to do it. "

"Okay, okay!" Yang Wendong thought about it and agreed.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Even though he comes from the 21st century, there is no need for him to disobey the rules of Hong Kong in the 50s. It's just for fun anyway.

Wei Zetao asked again: "Should we call other people, or reporters?"

"Forget about the reporters. We are not making a movie..." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "As for the others, let's call some of our business friends who have cooperated with us before."

(End of this chapter)