Chapter 236 The Hot Carrefour Supermarket

Chapter 236 The Hot Carrefour Supermarket

Chapter 236 The Hot Carrefour Supermarket
The service staff said with a smile: "Yes, the goods are all priced. You can take them if you think they are suitable. Just go to the front to pay at the end."

"Okay, thank you." The middle-aged woman said quickly, and the waiter nodded politely and left. Now there were many people who needed them to explain things.

The middle-aged woman said to the people around her: "It's really convenient that you can check the price yourself."

The man said, “Yes, the most annoying thing in the past was going to a grocery store or department store and seeing several things, I had to ask the price one by one;
The shop owner got impatient when I asked too many questions, and I felt awkward. It’s so comfortable to put it outside like this so that we can check the price and buy it ourselves, and we can choose carefully. ”

"Let's go buy some food." The middle-aged woman said, "There are snacks over there."

……

In other places, many people were walking around the supermarket curiously, as if they were seeing a new animal for the first time.

They all have a plastic basket in their hands, which they pick up at the entrance of the supermarket. Everyone can put the products they like directly into their own basket.

This shopping experience is unprecedented.

On the other hand, many people also went to the home appliance area.

Many televisions, refrigerators, radios, and even household air conditioners are placed together, and everything has a price for everyone to choose from.

"So many TVs." A woman was very happy and said to the man next to her, "We just happened to be looking for a TV. Look at all the TVs here. It will be convenient for us to compare them."

The man nodded and said, "Yes, it is convenient. If you go to other shopping malls, you can only look at the shops one by one. Those shops are not close together. It's tiring to run around."

The two of them quickly walked around the TV area, knowing the prices and sizes of the TVs at a glance, and they soon chose a suitable one.

At this time, the service staff came over and said, "You two, today is the first day of our Carrefour supermarket opening. You will definitely get a 95% discount."

"95% off?" the man asked, "Miss, can't you give me a discount?"

The waiter continued with a smile: "Sir, we don't negotiate prices for all the goods in our supermarket, and you can go out and compare them. Our prices are definitely very favorable."

“No bargaining?” The man was puzzled. Even in more luxurious shopping malls, prices can be negotiated.

But he also knew that this price was indeed much cheaper than other shopping malls.

The waiter continued, "We don't negotiate prices because we will show you the most direct prices. If you like it, you can take it. If you don't like it, that's fine. This will save you time."

"Your way of doing business is a bit strange." The man thought for a moment and said, "But it's really convenient."

The waiter added: "Saving everyone's time and energy is the original intention of our Carrefour supermarket. Our prices are all written down. Although they may change, no matter when, as long as you see it, that is the price."

"Okay." The man nodded and asked, "Can you deliver it?"

When the waiter heard that the order was promising, he smiled and said, “Of course, just give us your address and we will deliver it to your home for free within seven days.

But it’s only available in Hong Kong Island, there may be a fee in Kowloon.”

"In Hong Kong Island, it takes seven days just to deliver the goods? Isn't that too long?" the man asked.

The waiter said: "Normally it's three days, but today we're too busy, so..."

"Okay." The man nodded.

At a glance, there are quite a few people around, and many of them are buying electrical appliances. If all of them need to be delivered, it would indeed be very time-consuming.

The waiter was delighted and said, "Which one do you like? I'll register it for you.

For large items, you don't need to queue up at the cashier in front, you can pay directly at our side, and we will give you a stamped receipt as a receipt.

There is also a phone number on the receipt, so you can contact us for repairs if there are any problems."

"Okay." The man nodded.

If it can be repaired, it would be very convenient.

"It turns out that we can really take whatever we want. The prices are all on them." A reporter holding a camera also took the basket and looked at the things while walking, and took a few photos.

"Yes, Brother Li, this is very convenient." A female reporter next to him also said the same thing.

"Ah Zhen, please take more photos of how convenient it is for ordinary citizens to buy things here." Brother Li said, "I want to do a report on the convenience of shopping here.

Although the media has publicized this matter before, the angle is different. We need to describe it in detail again from the perspective of ordinary people."

"Okay." Ah Zhen nodded and said, "Then let's split up into two groups, each taking their own photos, and then we'll put them together later."

"Okay, we can also do some interviews and keep written records." After reminding him, Brother Li looked at the things he had bought and said, "I'll put this aside. No one should take it, right?"

"Who's going to take it if we haven't paid yet?" Ah Zhen said with a smile, "It's different here. If it were in other department stores, you would have to hold it in your hand."

Brother Li nodded: "That's right, we need to compare it with the department store later, so that we can get a better feel for it."

"Okay." Ah Zhen looked at the dense crowd around her and said, "Then I'll go to the east and you go to the west."

"Okay." Brother Li also started to act.

Holding the camera, I looked for the right expression among the crowd. Camera film is relatively expensive, so I can't just take pictures randomly.

On the other side, several people gathered together, holding up a camera with the word "Rediffusion" projected on it.

"Shoot well. It will be on the news tonight. Once you're done, go back and edit it at noon." A middle-aged man called out to his younger brothers.

One of them said, "Brother Wei, don't worry. We have a plan in mind and will definitely get it right."

"Yeah." Brother Wei nodded, and then said, "You know what, this store called a supermarket is really convenient. I just want to take some things home, and I don't need to ask prices one by one like in other stores. It's so annoying."

"Yes, here you can see a lot of things at once and buy whatever you want." A young man said with a smile: "I don't want to go to other places to buy things anymore."

Brother Wei shook his head and said, "It's just too far from home. Although it's convenient, it's impossible for you to travel halfway across Hong Kong Island just to buy something, right?"

The younger brother said, "Brother Wei, it is true now, but the man behind this Carrefour is Yang Wendong. This store is doing so well, he can't just open one store. In two years, there will be one near our home."

"That's right." Brother Wei nodded and said, "Even if he doesn't build it, other financial groups will probably do this kind of business."

"Mr. Yang can't possibly make such a mistake." The younger brother whispered, "I heard that Changxing Real Estate has recently acquired large-scale single-story or double-story properties in places like Central, Admiralty, and Wan Chai. It must be for the purpose of building another Carrefour."

"How come you pay attention to something like this?" Brother Wei was a little curious.

They work in the media, so naturally they have many connections, but there are so many real estate transactions that generally only large-scale property transactions attract attention. As for the others, there are so many of them every day. Who would be interested in knowing more?
The younger brother paused, touched his head, and said awkwardly: "My property was chosen by Carrefour."

"Your family?" Brother Wei almost dropped his jaw in shock. Did he meet a hidden rich second generation who came to ATV to experience life?

The younger brother smiled and said, "Brother Wei, let's take a good photo shoot, shall we? This is such a great shopping environment, and we have to report back after we finish taking the photos. I heard that Mr. Yang specially invited us here, and the higher-ups attach great importance to cooperating with him."

"Yeah, okay." Brother Wei nodded.

The people at ATV naturally knew who Yang Wendong was, and this was the first time the two parties had worked together.

The top executives at ATV also wanted to get close to this rising Chinese star. After all, television stations also need to make money.

The younger brother said again: "Brother Wei, let's go to the cashier counter. There are a lot of people over there."

"Okay." Brother Wei nodded, and then followed.

When I got to the checkout counter, I immediately noticed that there were about 20 people checking the goods, and there was another person sitting next to them, calculating the prices with pen and paper.

"Business is really good, but the bill is a little slow." Brother Wei said with a smile: "The camera is pointed."

The younger brother also said: "It is a bit slow, but there are people queuing up, that's because the business is good enough, so many people are eager to get in."

"Yes." Brother Wei nodded and said, "We will interview a few people later to see what the citizens really think and choose one to go on TV."

"Yes." The younger brother agreed.

In the center of the Carrefour supermarket, two foreigners looked at the crowd around them. One of them sighed and said, "Lincoln, we are a step late."

Lincoln sighed and said, "Yes, it's a pity. We are not the only smart people. I just didn't expect that a Chinese would be able to do it.

But there is also an advantage. If this Carrefour store can grow bigger in Hong Kong, it will drive the development of the supply chain, and it will be much easier for us to run supermarkets in the future.

You know, we were undecided about whether to open a supermarket in Hong Kong because the supply chain was too complicated and the cost could not be reduced. "

"That's true, but I'm worried that the boss behind this Carrefour has much more financial resources than Watsons. Now all our company's businesses are losing money, and we don't have much working capital. Once they really expand rapidly, it may be too late for us to get in." The foreigner opposite sighed.

"This is beyond our control." Lincoln nodded and said, "I heard that Hutchison wants to acquire our company."

"Hutchison? That's not bad. It's much better than letting Watsons be half dead like it is now."

In every corner of the Carrefour supermarket, everyone was shocked by this new shopping model, it was so convenient. They started shopping happily, this experience was unprecedented.

Yang Wendong was also walking inside the Carrefour supermarket, with a few friends around him. Others who came to enjoy the event basically said goodbye and went home after the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

After looking around, Zheng Yutong asked, "Mr. Yang, your supermarket is really attractive to people. There are so many people."

Yang Wendong said with a smile: "This is a new way of shopping. In addition, I have had the media promote it for a long time, so naturally more people came."

The biggest advantage of controlling some of the media is that you can concentrate your efforts on publicity when needed. This is not a resource that can be purchased with money.

Zheng Yutong added: "Yes, it is really convenient to come here to buy things without asking the price, and it can also save labor."

“We can’t save much on labor. It takes a lot of manpower to label each product and make sure there are no mistakes,” Yang Wendong said, shaking his head.

Although barcodes have been around for a long time, there was no hardware to scan them and no corresponding data processing equipment, so everything was in vain.

Historically, barcodes were not used in large quantities until the early 80s.

It was not until the 21st century that it became popular, because it was not just a matter of equipment and computers, but also required a unified supply chain to print barcodes during production and so on.

Before this, supermarkets could only adopt the traditional "artificial intelligence" model: affixing price tags.

This is also very laborious. It requires a lot of people to post it, and someone is also needed to check whether it is posted correctly.

Zheng Yutong nodded and said, "Yes, so many labels are a waste of manpower, but it is worth it to be able to bring such a good shopping experience.

If I were to buy daily necessities, I would rather buy them here even if they are a little more expensive.”

"Yes." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "This is the advantage of the supermarket."

In fact, the prices in Carrefour supermarkets are not much cheaper than those in other department stores. The reason is that there is only one store and there is no way to control costs. If the property is not owned by the store, no normal person can do this business.

Only when there are more supermarkets and the scale of purchasing and transportation is larger can the cost be reduced.

Zheng Yutong thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Yang, my mall will probably open in June next year. I originally wanted to bring in a small department store. How about you open a store at your Carrefour?"

"How much area can you give me?" Yang Wendong asked back.

Zheng Yutong replied, "5000 square feet, how about that?" "5000?" Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "That's too small. Look at our supermarket now, it's 1.5 square feet."

In the past, supermarkets in mainland China were often tens of thousands of square meters, or even larger.

But the areas of supermarkets in Hong Kong are naturally incomparable. In the past, supermarkets in Hong Kong were not large, basically medium-sized, and this was also due to the unique environment.

Of course, in this era, supermarkets of tens of thousands of square meters can be built in non-bustling areas.

But even in Central, 5000 square feet is too small. Carrefour needs to expand its scale to attract more people and reduce operating costs.

Zheng Yutong asked: "My shopping mall is not as big as yours. What is the minimum area required for a Carrefour supermarket?"

"1 feet." Yang Wendong said.

"It's still a little too big." Zheng Yutong frowned and said, "8000, I'll try to get two floors."

"How about this, I'll ask someone to go and take a look first." Yang Wendong also knew that land in Central was extremely valuable.

"Okay." Zheng Yutong agreed.

A few people walked to the cashier and saw a camera filming.

Zheng Yutong said with a smile: "Mr. Yang, if it is on TV, then Carrefour will become even more famous."

"Yes, there are still not enough people in Hong Kong who own televisions," Yang Wendong nodded.

He specially invited people from the TV station to increase exposure.

However, television sets are relatively expensive in Hong Kong today, and the cable fee of ATV is even more expensive, costing HK$25 a month, which is really unaffordable for the average family.

But the good thing is that people who own a TV are truly wealthy, and can be accurately pushed to high-value customers.

Zheng Yutong added: "I heard that many foreign countries are setting up wireless television stations. I think Hong Kong will be soon."

"It's possible." Yang Wendong nodded.

After a while, Zheng Yutong also said goodbye and left. Yang Wendong looked at Jin Yong, the only one who hadn't left, and said, "Mr. Cha, how about we find a place to eat in this mall?"

"Okay." Jin Yong said, "Wait for me to settle the bill."

Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Mr. Cha, among the people I invited today, you are the only one who came here for real shopping."

Jin Yong said, "It's normal. I was invited by you because I had some face. The other people you invited are all business elites or high-ranking officials in the political world. Why do they need to buy things for themselves?"

"That's right." Yang Wendong nodded. He didn't want to buy anything at home: "Chasheng, what you bought today will be free for you."

"No, I don't want to owe you a favor for this." Jin Yong added, "Besides, I'm planning to write an article about how convenient shopping is here. Do you agree, Mr. Yang?"

"Did you write it yourself? And sign your name?" Yang Wendong asked back.

As a celebrity, even if Jin Yong writes an article that has nothing to do with martial arts novels, many people will read it. What's more, Jin Yong's writing style is very strong. The same thing, when written by someone with strong writing skills, will turn out a different story.

Jin Yong said, "Yes, Mr. Yang's supermarket can really bring benefits to Hong Kong citizens and save a lot of time. If your business is good, you can open more and more branches in the future, and shopping will be more convenient for everyone, including me."

"Okay, I'd love to have that." Yang Wendong looked at the things in Jin Yong's basket and said to one of his men, "Aying, help Cha Sheng line up;

Chasheng, shall we go out first?"

"Okay." Jin Yong nodded and said, "I'll pay for it later."

After saying that, he handed the basket to Aying.

Afterwards, they came to the third floor of the mall, which was a place for eating. After Jin Yong saw a shop, he said, "Mr. Yang, the supermarket downstairs is a bit like a buffet."

"Yes, a little bit." Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "Mr. Cha, do you want to eat at the buffet?"

"Forget it, I can't eat anymore. I always eat too much. I can just find a small restaurant." Jin Yong shook his head and said.

"There's a dumpling shop up ahead, how about it?" Yang Wendong asked.

"Okay." Jin Yong said.

Several people came to a Yunji Dumpling Restaurant. At this moment, there were many people queuing in each store. Yang Wendong also used his privileges to find a separate private room.

After everyone pointed out their needs, Yang Wendong said, "Mr. Cha, I asked you to come here today not only to celebrate the mall's opening, but also to tell you something: my Hong Kong Chinese Daily is going to be a regular newspaper."

"Ordinary newspapers?" Jin Yong was not surprised after hearing this: "That's right, you are very successful in the field of high-end newspapers, so you must take the normal route."

"Yes." Yang Wendong also said: "The high-end is to obtain customers with strong precise consumption power, but in the future, the most important market for the newspaper industry is still the mass market."

He had taken the high-end route before, relying on the attraction of color newspapers to enter the newspaper industry. Otherwise, he did not have sufficient capital at the time, so how could he compete with those old newspapers with decades of experience by publishing an ordinary newspaper?
Now the Hong Kong Chinese Daily has become a high-end brand, with daily sales of between 8000 and 10000 copies. In the future, as Hong Kong's economy becomes stronger, sales will increase.

But it is basically impossible to achieve explosive growth again. If my newspaper wants to develop further, it can only explore the ordinary newspaper market with sales volume ten times more.

Jin Yong nodded and said, "Indeed, the largest sales volume is still among ordinary people, and Hong Kong's economy is getting better and better, so more and more people are buying newspapers.

But why did Mr. Yang tell me this? Did he want me to promote your new newspaper in the future? "

"Haha, that's not the case." Yang Wendong explained: "Mr. Cha, you and I are friends. Previously, many of my advertising and publicity needs were handled through Ming Pao.
Now I want to start a new newspaper to compete with Ming Pao. You will know about it in the future, so I might as well tell you first. "

Jin Yong said, "Mr. Yang, you are too polite. From a business perspective, even if you don't make ordinary newspapers, those orders are not necessarily given to me.

In fact, I could have guessed that you would take this step today. Normal entrepreneurs, when they grow big, will try to find ways to expand, and the easiest way is to expand in the original industry. "

"It's true that business is business." Yang Wendong added, "But I will still inform my former partners. And in the future, maybe we will cooperate with each other. It's impossible for my media to take over all my own advertising."

If it were a normal newspaper, even a Galaxy Daily with a daily circulation of tens of thousands would be nothing in Yang Wendong's eyes today;
However, Jin Yong is a special person. He will be very famous in the future, so it is necessary to make friends with him. And most importantly, he has only started writing half of his martial arts novels, and there will be many classic books in the future.

In the future, I will jump from paper media to the screen, whether it is movies or TV. If there are martial arts works by Jin Yong, it will be a qualitative leap.

"Okay, thank you Mr. Yang for your care." Jin Yong smiled.

Considering Yang Wendong's current net worth, telling him such a thing is really giving him face.

"OK." Yang Wendong stopped discussing this topic. If he talked too much, Jin Yong might be confused. In fact, it was not a big deal.

After lunch, Aying brought up some of the things Jinyong had bought earlier. He was holding a canvas bag, which looked a bit old.

Yang Wendong frowned, and Ah Ying quickly explained: "Mr. Yang, I couldn't find a good cloth bag in a short time. I'm sorry."

"Cloth bags?" Yang Wendong then asked, "Do customers bring their own bags to the supermarket?"

Ah Ying replied: "Yes, or a basket."

"What about other places, other shopping malls or department stores?" Yang Wendong asked again.

He also recalled that when he first started his business, he went to the vegetable market to set up a stall and saw that people who came to buy vegetables all brought vegetable baskets or cloth bags.

At that time, he also noticed that there were no plastic bags, but this was not a problem of creativity, but of materials, and he had no way to start in the early days.

Ah Ying replied: "It's the same, but some high-end shopping malls will provide paper bags."

"Okay, let's do this." Yang Wendong couldn't blame his men, as this was something he hadn't expected.
It is indeed difficult to find a suitable bag in such a short time.

Jin Yong obviously didn't care. After taking the bag, he said, "Thank you. How much is this? I'll give it to you."

Ah Ying looked at Yang Wendong, and after receiving his consent, she said, "In total."

Afterwards, Jin Yong said, "Mr. Yang, I'll take my leave now."

"Okay." Yang Wendong also said, "Then let's go to the garage together. I'm leaving too."

"Okay, let's do it together." Jin Yong laughed.

In the afternoon, the flow of people in Changxing Shopping Mall is much less than in the morning, but the total amount is still considerable.

There were fewer people inside the Carrefour supermarket, but there were still many people queuing.

"Old Liu, can the checkout be faster?" Yang Wendong asked.

Seeing so many people queuing up, he became very anxious. If the business was too good and many people became impatient while queuing, then he would lose money.

Liu Huayu said: "Mr. Yang, it is not easy to improve the speed of this single counter, and the people I have found have strong mathematical ability.

Unless we add more counters, the space will be affected a little bit.”

"Then add a little first. At worst, there will be less cargo." Yang Wendong thought for a while and said, "We can make appropriate and flexible adjustments in the future."

In the era without electronic calculators, calculations could only be done by humans.

As for the mechanical calculator, that thing is too complicated, too expensive, and too heavy. It can be said to be the crown of human mechanical industry, but it is not very practical.

"Okay." Liu Huayu agreed and said, "Mr. Yang, Carrefour's business has indeed exceeded my expectations, so I am not well prepared."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "It's okay. How can you not make mistakes when doing business? Besides, this is a good mistake.

Next, you need to find a way to sum up experience and cultivate talents based on this supermarket, and then we need to expand to the surrounding areas. "

"I understand, Mr. Yang." Liu Huayu said with a smile.

Coming to Hong Kong to follow the new boss was also a big gamble for him. Now that he has won the gamble, he is probably happier than his boss and will devote all his efforts to running the supermarket chain well.

……

That night, Yang Wendong stayed here, waiting for the final data.

"Knock, knock, knock..." There was a knock on the door, and Liu Huayu walked in and said happily, "Mr. Yang, today our Carrefour supermarket received a total of 7126 customers and sold a total of 35.6 items. This number has far exceeded Walmart. I guess there are very few such single-day data in the United States."

"35.6!" Yang Wendong said happily after hearing the number: "Okay, let's take all the employees out for a midnight snack tonight and give each of them a small red envelope to celebrate."

35.6, this figure was nothing in supermarkets in the mainland in the past, but in Hong Kong today, it is enough to buy six or seven thousand-square-foot luxury houses in Central.

Of course, we cannot directly compare the housing price multiples, but it is also a very astonishing number.

It doesn't seem to be an exaggeration to describe it as a huge hit.

……

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Today's is a big chapter. I will resume updating twice a day starting tomorrow. The chapters from yesterday and the day before yesterday will be updated at the beginning of next month.

(End of this chapter)