funbook-pk Chapter 57: Sold Out, Pre-orders Implemented
Chapter 57: Sold Out, Pre-orders Implemented
Back in Lijiagang's office, two hours wasn't enough; some shops said they were out of stock.
After that, the stores kept sending back messages saying they were out of stock, and every time they received a call, it was to request more stock.
After receiving reports from various stores about insufficient stock, he began to think about the next steps and how to solve the problem.
It's clearly too late to temporarily increase the production line; manufacturing alone will take a considerable amount of time, and with transportation time added, it will take at least half a month.
His gaze fell on the Hong Kong map on the office wall, scanning back and forth across the 136 red dots marking the locations of the stores under his and his uncle's company.
His fingertips tapped incessantly on the table.
His three office secretaries, as well as the company's general manager's and deputy general manager's secretaries, were all waiting for his instructions.
Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he said, "If we don't have enough stock to sell, we'll accept pre-orders." He stood up, his voice clear and firm, piercing the silence of the entire office. "Deposits range from five hundred to one thousand Hong Kong dollars. Pre-order customers will receive a 3% discount, and delivery will be made to your door within a week. Remember, have the sales staff emphasize that it's not that the company's production capacity is insufficient, but rather that market demand is too high, and we simply cannot supply it."
"Yes, Chairman."
The secretaries sprang into action.
The sound of high heels striking the ground was like a rapid drumbeat, and a series of instructions were transmitted to every sales shop in Hong Kong like a tide.
Li Jiagang stood by the window, gazing at the street outside. This was the only way he could retain customers, because his factory's production capacity was insufficient.
However, upon careful consideration, he realized that this situation was actually a good thing, as it created the impression that his company's washing machines were in high demand and in short supply.
If all of his company's goods were sold out, he could even imagine the headlines in the newspapers tomorrow.
Shocking! Legendary brand appliances sell tens of thousands of units daily, completely sold out.
"The Legend brand washing machine was in high demand and short supply on its launch day."
Legendary brand washing machines swept across Hong Kong, with tens of thousands rushing to buy them. All stock sold out on the day of purchase, and only pre-orders are now accepted.
"Sold out! Lijiagang creates another legend: washing machines sweep the city, with tens of thousands scrambling to buy them."
If these situations really occur, his washing machine will go from "hot marketing" to "hunger marketing," which will further elevate his product to a higher level, truly creating a situation where supply cannot meet demand and it is difficult to find one.
This is how he got the brand effect he wanted and the opportunity to increase his brand awareness.
It's important to understand that the essence of later scarcity marketing wasn't selling goods, but selling people's hearts and minds.
It wasn't until the afternoon...
In his office, Li Jiagang was looking at the customer reservation data sent back by various shops.
This made Li Jiagang laugh so hard his eyes disappeared, but at the same time he was also panicked.
Worried that it would be impossible to deliver all customers' goods in time within a week, we could only notify each store that the scheduled delivery would have to wait two weeks.
There's nothing I can do...
His company can only produce a maximum of 4000 washing machines a week. If there are more orders, they can only be postponed. What can he do?
Ring ring ring!!
Just then, his office phone rang.
"Hello, I'm Lijiagang."
"Hi Li, congratulations."
"It's Master Shen Bi, what's your congratulations...?" Li Jiagang asked, pretending to be confused.
"Li! You're still pretending to be confused. I've been keeping an eye on your company's washing machine sales since this morning. The market response is strong, and sales are booming. Congratulations!"
"Hehehe..."
"Thanks to Sir Michael Sandberg for hanging up."
"Luck, it's just pure luck."
Even through the phone call, Shen Bi could sense Li Jiagang's joy.
He couldn't help but tease, "Li, you must be secretly thrilled right now."
"Hahaha……"
"President Sir Michael Sandberg, please stop teasing me. The sales performance of this product has indeed exceeded my expectations. I didn't expect Hong Kong citizens to have such strong purchasing power for this type of product. I miscalculated." Li Jiagang's words were not an exaggeration, but the truth.
If he had known, he would have definitely stockpiled more goods before selling them, and at least the current situation of supply falling short of demand would not have occurred. Who wouldn't make money if they could?
Although creating a "hunger marketing" effect might elevate the company's product image and generate greater buzz, making the product more appealing to consumers, he would definitely prefer to keep the money in his pocket rather than accept it directly.
Moreover, Hong Kong has many washing machine manufacturers, and they are very good at imitation. He believes that in two or three months, the market will be full of fully automatic washing machines.
By then, his products won't be as appealing.
At least half of the sales would be taken away, so compared to "hunger marketing", Lijiagang wanted to sell like crazy immediately and seize the first wave of the market.
By the time other brands have copied fully automatic washing machines, he'll have already made his first killing. Let them fight over the rest.
But it's no use what he says now; all he can do is keep the production workshop running 24 hours a day, constantly producing and selling.
We'll see what happens to the market in the future.
"Li, I'm not kidding you, I genuinely congratulate you." Shen Bi's serious tone came from the other end of the phone. "Also, there's something I need to remind you about: be careful of Jardine Matheson's actions."
"Jihe?"
Upon hearing this, Li Jiagang frowned.
"Mr. Shen Bi, could you explain more clearly?" Li Jiagang asked.
"There are too many things I can't tell you; it involves a lot of information. Just be careful on your own."
"OK, that's settled then."
Before Li Jiagang could respond, the phone on Shen Bi's end went dead.
Li Jiagang's brows remained furrowed.
"Is Jardine Matheson going to target my electronics business?" Li Jiagang muttered. "But that doesn't make sense. Although Jardine Matheson has manufacturing plants, its electronics business isn't widespread. Why would it target me? Could it be that Sir Michael Sandberg has something else in mind?"
Li Jiagang couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. However, he would definitely be wary of Jardine Matheson, and he believed that Sir Michael Sandberg wouldn't joke about this.
Meanwhile, on Shen Bi's side...
"Li! I've already broken the rules to help you, so I hope you can take on Jardine Matheson's move. This is also a test for me."
Li Jiagang sat in the boss's chair with a sly smile, as if he was waiting for a good show to begin.
Meanwhile, at Jardine Matheson...
Newbijian was also looking at a set of data, his face was extremely dark, and his brows were so furrowed that they could trap a fly.
"Hmph! This kid's really lucky."
He put down the data, pondered for a moment, then picked up the phone and dialed. The call was quickly answered: "Jer, are you busy? Do you have time to grab a coffee?"
"Oh! It's Newwich University, classmate! Sure, where shall we meet?"
"Let's meet at the Mandarin Cafe in ten minutes," Newbigen replied.
"OK, I'll be there in a bit."
After hanging up the phone, he took a document from the cabinet, opened it gently, and the title of the document was "List of Development Projects for the Hong Kong Electric Site".
Looking at the document, Newbijian's lips curled into a slight smile. "Kid, you think you can develop smoothly? Here's a big gift for you to enjoy first."
After muttering to himself, Niubijian put on his coat and left the office.
Besides Jardine Matheson and HSBC paying close attention to the sales of electrical appliances at Li Ka-kong Company, many other people in Hong Kong are also keeping an eye on the situation.
Li Ka-shing is one of them.
At this moment, in the office of Meng Weimin, chairman of "Xinxing Electric Appliances" company.
He was looking at a report on the sales of washing machines from Lijiagang Company that day.
His face was grim, and he could not hide the anger that was overflowing from his face.
"Hmph!" Meng Weimin slammed the report in his hand onto the table. "Just stick to your real estate and power business. Why do you have to dabble in the electrical appliance industry? Do you really think this industry is so easy to get into?" His eyes were bloodshot, with very obvious blood vessels.
"Daddy, what should we do?" Meng Zhousheng, his son, asked from his desk. He too had a fierce look on his face, clearly not an ordinary person.
"I'll handle this. Don't interfere," Meng Weimin warned his son.
But his son clearly wouldn't listen to him; his eyes were darting around, as if he were plotting something.
Meng Weimin was born in 1927. His ancestral home is Panyu, Guangdong Province. In the 50s, he came to Hong Kong with the wave of immigration and started his business from street vending to producing rice cookers and acting as an agent for radio processing.
In the mid-50s, "Shun Hing Hong" was founded, which quickly made money by selling rice cookers and acting as an agent for overseas electrical appliance brands. It established multiple factories for electrical appliance parts, accessories, processing and assembly, and rapidly increased the number of stores to introduce various overseas electrical appliances for sale.
By 78, "Shin Hing Electrical Company" was no smaller than "Ho Kee Hong" owned by Uncle Li Jiagang, and even surpassed it in some areas. It mainly acted as an agent for overseas brands of large electrical appliances such as rice cookers, washing machines, televisions, and refrigerators.
At the same time, it was known as one of the three major electrical appliance distributors in Hong Kong, along with Shell Electric Company and Hutchison House.
The Hong Kong washing machine market has always been regarded as the backyard by the Meng family. Although there are still a few companies selling washing machines, they are all his distributors and have to get their goods from his company to sell, so it does not affect the sales of his products.
But now, with the emergence of Li Jiagang's independently developed "washing machine," breaking his family's monopoly on the Hong Kong washing machine market, how could he not be angry, and how could he swallow this insult?
Meng Weimin had been paying attention to him since the beginning when he was playing games at the Lijiagang company.
He originally thought that since Li Jiagang's products weren't selling well, he could turn a blind eye and there was no need to offend this emerging businessman.
But now, the washing machines from Lijiagang's company are selling like hotcakes, with all stock sold out on the same day, which has directly and seriously affected his company's sales. This has made Meng Weimin unable to sit still any longer.