Chapter 504 Entering the British Supermarket Industry

Chapter 504 Entering the British Supermarket Industry

Chapter 504 Entering the British Supermarket Industry
Although influenza is unlikely to have much impact on young people, there is no need to gamble even if the probability is 1%, and this influenza pandemic is not an ordinary one.

Furthermore, there are children, babies and elderly people in his family, and their risks are relatively much higher.

In the face of this kind of mass-transmitted disease, individual defense is important, but overall defense is also important. If the overall defense is stronger, everyone will be safer.

But life still has to go on. Under the premise of trying to defend as much as possible, it is still necessary to do what needs to be done. In June, Yang Wendong went to Europe for some business activities. The first stop was naturally the UK.

"Mr. Yang, this is the residence that the group has prepared for you." Lin Youcheng, who is in charge of Changxing Group's overseas business, brought the Yang family to a villa and said, "This is also a well-known wealthy area in the UK. It is very safe and private."

"Have we bought this house?" Yang Wendong asked after looking around.

Lin Youqi said, "It has been bought. The total price is 27 pounds. I bought it last month. If you or your family come to the UK in the future, you can live here."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Buy a house in several major cities in the United States, France, and Germany. I may visit these countries or cities frequently in the future."

In the first ten years after his time travel, although there were huge markets and investments overseas, his core industries were in Hong Kong;
Now that his wealth has grown to a large scale in Hong Kong, his focus in the next ten years will inevitably be overseas, including Europe and the United States.

If you go to a city you visit occasionally, you can just stay in a hotel, but if you come here frequently, you can buy a house of your own. The housing prices in these places will definitely increase in the next few years, although this is not important to him.

Lin Youqing agreed: "Okay, then for the United States, I will choose Los Angeles and New York first?"

"Okay, we can add other cities later." Yang Wendong was also concerned and asked, "How has the British economy been in recent years?"

“Very bad.” Lin Youqi replied, “London’s largest port missed the opportunity of containers and lost its market share to Norway, resulting in tens of thousands of people losing their jobs and indirectly affecting at least 10 people. Even though the London government tried every means to attract foreign investment, it is basically impossible to absorb so many people.

In addition, the colonial equality laws promulgated in the early years led to a large number of Indians and Africans entering the UK. These people have poor working ability and are very destructive, costing the government billions of pounds every year;

Externally, the pound has depreciated massively. Many countries no longer trust the pound and have even run on the vaults of British banks. The downward pressure on the pound is huge. Mr. Yang should also know this in Hong Kong. "

"I know." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Recently, the British government required Hong Kong to hold a portion of British pounds in its foreign exchange, which aroused opposition from many Chinese legislators. Hong Kong's political circles are very lively."

The decline of the British Empire began in the 40s, but the empire is still alive and well. Even in the 50s, the United States, the new global leader, had to give Britain some face.
But after the 60s, the economy could no longer hold out. Many colonies became independent one after another. Those that did not become independent were only called Commonwealth colonies. They were crushed by the "free trade" of the United States, and the Commonwealth gradually stopped being a dumping ground for British goods.

The economy within the UK was naturally a mess. Europe's largest port missed the container revolution, and various industrial technologies developed only mediocrely. The automobile industry was forced to establish the Leyland Group, which controlled all cars in the UK, and then closed the UK's internal market and started to be self-sufficient. However, the technology was not good and exports were getting worse and worse.

In this situation, in order to stabilize the economy, Britain began to think about its colonies again, wanting each colony to hold a certain amount of pounds and British government bonds to stabilize the exchange rate, which naturally caused a lot of dissatisfaction.

Lin Youqi said: "Yes, this is the current situation in the UK. Compared with France and Germany, the growth rate is still far from enough.

However, thanks to the rapid economic development of the whole Europe, the quality of life of many people is still good, but the UK's global influence and economic share are getting worse and worse, and even the number of naval warships is getting smaller and smaller. "

"This is also good. It's suitable for me to buy at the bottom." Yang Wendong nodded, looked at Wang Zhiqun beside him and asked, "Old Wang, how are the contacts with those companies going?"

To buy the bottom of the UK, he certainly couldn't buy real estate and stocks. He wouldn't waste money on a country with a weak economy in the future. What he wanted was the patented technology of some British companies.
Even if Britain is gradually declining, that is a process. During this period, some of their manufacturing industries are still good, although not as good as Germany's.

Wang Zhiqun replied: "Mr. Yang, I have already locked onto two companies. One is called GLL, which specializes in speaker audio. Its audio technology is also quite good in Europe. It mainly supplies televisions and high-end radios. It is okay to communicate with them.

Another company, called Beko Appliances and Morphy Electric, is a very large home appliance brand in the UK with good compressor technology and has also expressed its willingness to sell.

But what these two companies are willing to sell is not their latest technology.”

"I don't need the latest technology. I'll solve the existing problems first, and then slowly solve the problem of progress." Yang Wendong said, "Then negotiate with them as soon as possible and buy it."

He attaches great importance to the development of the home appliance sector, especially black and white appliances. This market is too large, but the competition in these two markets is fierce, so it is difficult to succeed. However, if the short-term goal is only in Southeast Asia, it is still easy to achieve.

However, Hong Kong currently has little R&D capability, and it is good enough to be able to produce smoothly. Therefore, for many technologies, the first option is to purchase patents, and then gradually cultivate one's own R&D capability at the same time, so that they can develop smoothly.

"Okay, I will negotiate the price with them as soon as possible." Wang Zhiqun agreed.

Yang Wendong added: "If you are short of any technology in the electrical appliance field, just buy it if you can. Europe and the United States have some outdated technology, which is very advanced in Asia and sufficient for us. Time is the most important thing for us."

The early development of small businesses in small places relied on introducing technology and production lines, and then gradually improving their own technology. The future electronics giant Samsung also went this way, as did Japan's electrical appliance companies in the 50s, and even the mainland after the reform and opening up was the same.

Wang Zhiqun said: "I understand."

"Okay, I won't get involved in this matter. Just give me a reasonable number in the end." Yang Wendong said again.

Purchasing amplifier and refrigerator compressor technology or production lines may cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, but for Yang Wendong, it is enough to know the process and results. He does not need to personally participate in the business negotiations or technical negotiations in the middle. He does not understand them himself, so it is better to leave it to professionals.

"Okay, Mr. Yang." Wang Zhiqun also said.

Yang Wendong continued, "That's it for today. Let's go to London together tomorrow." Wang and Lin agreed and said, "Mr. Wei and Mr. Fang are already waiting for us in London."

This time, many senior executives of Changxing Group came to London to cooperate with the boss to get some business done. After all, it is very rare for the boss to come.

The next day, Yang Wendong and his group arrived in downtown London. Yang Wendong looked around and frowned, saying, "The air pollution in London is also very serious."

Among the accompanying people, Wei Zetao said: "Yes, there are still a lot of heavy industries in London. In addition, there are many power plants, cars, and ships. Sometimes due to some weather and air pressure reasons, these polluted air will fall to the ground and smell very bad."

"It seems that I have to ask Watsons to develop masks to protect against air pollution." Yang Wendong suddenly thought of this.

Because the influenza pandemic is about to come, Watsons' medical mask business will definitely be booming in the next two years, but there will be no business after two years. It seems that it will be a good idea to transform into industrial masks and anti-pollution air masks. The demand is also quite large, especially in Asia, where the industry is gradually taking off.

Wei Zetao smiled and said, "Indeed, it is possible. The plastic factory and mousetrap factory of our Changxing Industrial Group have a strong smell, and they also distribute masks frequently."

The leaders of other departments naturally knew that Watsons suddenly started producing masks, but they did not care. Over the years, several manufacturing industries of Changxing Group have been constantly making new things.

"Aying, remember this and remind me when you get back." Yang Wendong said to the assistant beside him.

"Okay." After Ah Ying agreed, she wrote down the information in a small notebook.

The group soon arrived in front of a Victor Value store, and Yang Wendong asked, "Lao Liu, is this the supermarket you're interested in?"

Liu Huayu said: “Yes, this Victor Value is a very famous cheap grocery store in the UK. There are 46 stores in the UK, 31 of which are in London;
The company behind this store intends to sell it for business reasons, and my idea is to take it over, so that we will have a foothold in the European region. "

"Go in and take a look first." Yang Wendong didn't ask any more questions;
So the group walked in. It was a medium-sized supermarket with a total area of ​​about 600 square meters. There were all kinds of goods in it, from clothes to toys, from vegetables and fruits to meat, various snacks, drinks and electrical appliances.
In terms of price, it is much more expensive than in Hong Kong, but compared with other British supermarkets, it may be much cheaper.

"How does this supermarket achieve lower costs than other supermarkets?" Yang Wendong asked curiously.

Liu Huayu said: "Low profit and choosing a general location to lower the rent, so more customers come, but because of this, the profit is very low, resulting in no profit; this is also the reason why the parent company behind it wants to sell it."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "After we acquire it, how do you plan to operate it?"

Liu Huayu said: "After the acquisition, the team will still be run by the original team, mainly the supply chain, which will be gradually purchased from Singapore or Hong Kong. I have calculated that even with tariffs, many commodities are still much cheaper than they are now.
Even many products in British supermarkets are purchased by British trading companies from Asian trading companies. If we can achieve direct supply, we can save the cost of two traders. "

"Reducing the number of middlemen is indeed a good idea." Yang Wendong smiled and asked, "What happens next?"

Liu Huayu said: "The next step is to learn from Wal-Mart. As long as our prices are the lowest, we can snatch customers from other competitors, and then continue to grow. With more stores, the cost of shipping from Asia will be even lower.

But there are some differences. The car usage rate in the UK is not as high as that in the US, so we have to learn from Hong Kong and build supermarkets in the city.”

"The cost of the goods shipped from Asia recently is not low, right?" Yang Wendong said again.

Liu Huayu replied: “Yes, shipping costs have increased significantly during this period, but the container terminal in Singapore will be completed next year, so the transportation costs will be reduced a lot;
We also have to rely on the appropriate help from Changxing Shipping, which has cargo ships from Asia to the UK. "

"That's not a problem. Just go and negotiate with Zheng Yuhua." Yang Wendong looked around and asked, "What's the approximate price of this supermarket chain?"

Liu Huayu said: "About 200 million pounds, with an average store value of 5 pounds, excluding real estate. Many people in the UK who open stores do not own the real estate themselves."

"The property doesn't matter." Yang Wendong said, "It looks like this store is okay. If you think it's suitable, put together a detailed acquisition and future development plan, and then negotiate the price, then I have no problem."

Carrefour has now basically monopolized the market in Hong Kong, its scale in Singapore is also growing, and it is expanding towards Malaysia. Other Southeast Asian countries are also gradually seeking cooperation with local giants, but the progress is relatively slow.

As the UK economy is not doing well now, the UK market has some opportunities. At least now the UK is very welcoming to foreign investment.

Compared with Southeast Asian countries, the British Empire is at least very law-abiding. Investing here is much safer. The legal culture is somewhat similar to that of Hong Kong, and the language can be communicated directly, which is much better than Southeast Asia.

At the same time, if we achieve success in the UK market, it will be easier to enter other Commonwealth countries in the future;

It can be said that apart from the long distance, there are still many advantages in other aspects.

Liu Huayu said: "Okay, I will reach an agreement with them as soon as possible."

"Okay, then I'll wait for your good news later." Yang Wendong nodded and said.

In fact, in addition to the direct participation of his subsidiaries, he will also arrange for other people to investigate and then compare the information. Only if they are similar will he give the final approval. This is also to control risks.

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(End of this chapter)