Chapter 128: Chapter 114: Develop and Develop

Chang Fu and Yang Qian still came on the day of his daughter’s one-month celebration.

Many relatives from Pingsheng’s hometown attended Chen Xinyi’s one-month celebration, and Pingsheng had arranged for them to stay at the Kempinski Hotel with which they had previously collaborated.

It had been over a month since he’d been to the company, and there were actually quite a few things to deal with.

Chang Fu was still planning to do his own live streaming, and he had recommended it to him several times, saying that live streaming was quite profitable.

Pingsheng looked into it but didn’t have much interest for the time being.

Just like “Internet Plus,” everyone knows it’s a windfall, and they swarm into it.

Whether you can make money is mostly up to fate, with a small part relying on hard work.

His wife’s cousin, who got into the shared bicycle business, was now in complete disarray.

Selling several houses from the family for the start-up wasn’t enough; he had to borrow from everyone, and now, with a pile of bicycles bought but no one to ride them,

even if they did, money couldn’t be collected, one just had to break the lock and lift it home, and it became their own.

You must not think that everyone walking outside has high integrity.

Not two months into the business, he’s already on the verge of packing up.

Pingsheng didn’t get involved; he steered clear of projects he couldn’t understand.

“Old Chen, the competition in the supermarket industry is fierce. I think you’d better spend some time getting to know the live streaming industry,” said Zhang Tao.

“Let’s forget about that; as of now, I haven’t seen anyone around who likes to watch live streams,” replied Chen Pingsheng.

“If you’re still interested in doing live streaming, I could invest a few million in you,” said Pingsheng.

“You’re on,” Chang Fu responded.

Chang Fu couldn’t be bothered to persuade him anymore, mainly because the live streaming industry wasn’t big, relying on some little sister dancing provocatively or game anchors to attract traffic.

The field was too small, and it was normal for Chen Pingsheng, already of considerable worth, to look down on it.

“I meant it, if you two decide to stay in Capital City, apart from anything else, when you guys get married, you can pick any car worth a million,” said Pingsheng.

“Brother, that’s powerful,” exclaimed Chang Fu.

Even though Chang Fu drove a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, mainly as a facade, he didn’t actually have much money in his pocket.

He had only about a million in cash, and Yang Qian left with practically nothing after her divorce.

Fortunately, her decisiveness paid off, and her father’s hotel was saved.

The two were starting over and didn’t really want to go back to the heartbreaking place of Sha City.

Actually, Capital City was quite agreeable, where a brick might fall and hit too many leaders.

It’s precisely because officials in Capital City keep a low profile that everyone else does too.

Those high-profile figures are usually the fake princes from some remote, small places.

“Call Taozi and ask them to come over,” said Chen Pingsheng.

Pingsheng himself had quite a few things to handle. He had long known about the challenge of attracting customers to fresh markets, understanding that fruit was only half of it.

The other half consisted of everyday necessities like vegetables, chicken, duck, fish, and meat.

Truth be told, running a small vegetable business is the most exhausting and troublesome, with small vendors in the markets starting their day at one or two in the morning.

After sorting through the incoming vegetables, they begin setting them up for sale.

Moreover, the shelf-life of vegetables is extremely short; if not sold by the end of the day, by afternoon they’re no longer fresh,

or they’re left damaged and unsaleable after being picked over by customers.

Doing well across all fresh food categories requires someone who really understands the business and is willing to work extremely hard.

Every supermarket in the country wants to do well with vegetables and fruits, but 99% of them handle it terribly.

In the end, it’s good enough if they don’t drive customers away, let alone attract them.

A supermarket that sells fresh produce well is already halfway to success.

It’s no exaggeration.

At least, from what he’d seen, there were very few that could do it well.

He aimed to create a large-scale, full-category marketplace, and the complexity was extreme.

Having money alone wasn’t enough; mainly, there was a lot he didn’t understand—things that only existed in theory.

That wasn’t enough for him to run a large marketplace successfully, so he decided to spend half a year studying how to break down and research the large-scale supermarket.

Zhang Tao and the others had arrived; they all started from wholesale markets and understood vegetables and fruits.

“Currently, the investment per Tengsheng Fruit Supermarket ranges from 1.2 to 1.5 million. I plan to carry out a brand upgrade for Tengsheng Fruit by maintaining existing stores as they are. Any new stores will become Tengsheng Fresh Supermarkets, creating full-category fresh produce marketplaces.”

Zhang Tao and the others could accept this since they had already dealt with selling vegetables and other fresh produce and even sold them from tricycles for a while.

Zhang Tao asked, “Old Chen, are you preparing for this expansion beyond Capital City?”

“You could say that.”

Pingsheng said, “We all know that vegetables are the biggest crowd-pullers since they’re an everyday necessity for families. Vegetables are indeed a tough business, but luckily, Tengsheng has already grown. Now, trying vegetables just means hiring more people and expanding the stores a bit.”

“It’s not that easy, though. Speaking of it, there are many more types of vegetables than fruits.”

Zhang Tao said, “Take fish for example. If you only want to keep it simple, stocking common kinds like crucian and carp would suffice. But if you want to offer a full selection, you’ll need at least ten different varieties.”

Of course, Pingsheng knew this, and he had his own ideas.

“If we only sell a few kinds, we might as well not bother since we can’t compete with the vegetable market. My point is, if it’s going to be full-category, we should have everything that the markets have. And if they don’t have it, we can offer it. We should also ensure our prices are lower and our products fresher and cleaner than those at the vegetable markets.”

Zhang Tao gave a wry smile, “You’re really thinking big.”

Pingsheng asked Lin Jia to pass him a cup of water, “We’ve already sold fruits with a monthly turnover exceeding 200 million. If we don’t think bigger, would there even be any point in asking you all to come and discuss this?”

Zhang Tao nodded, “That’s true. If we really want to do it like you said, bigger than the average vegetable market, then a single store will need to be over 500 square meters, and the investment probably won’t be less than 2 million.”

“Is 2 million really such a big deal?”

Pingsheng knocked on the table, “Full-category fresh produce is essential to our future development. Tao, I’m entrusting this whole thing to you.”

“You can count on me, brother.”

Zhang Tao said earnestly, “If it wasn’t for you, we’d still be out on the streets selling durians off tricycles. Anything you order, Chen, we’ll complete without compromise.”

These people had truly struggled and worked their way up. He could only be somewhat at ease handing over the tough job of vegetables and fresh produce to the likes of Zhang Tao.

Pingsheng stood up to shake his hand, “If it weren’t for being so tied up here, I’d definitely be researching with you. Now, I can only leave it to you. Taozi, success in this is not just a dream for the future.”

“As I’ve always said, I trust you.”

Zhang Tao and his crew arrived quickly and left even faster.

Next was the establishment of a dedicated team and department to study how to excel in full-category fresh produce including vegetables, poultry, and meat.

After they had left, Pingsheng continued, “Lin Jia, keep talking about the traditional supermarkets.”

Lin Jia paused for a couple of seconds before continuing, “In traditional supermarkets, fresh produce is the biggest draw. Next come daily consumer goods. This category mainly competes on price, followed by home appliances, apparel, and customer-drawing services like entertainment and dining.”

A large marketplace involves a very diverse range of items, and for home appliances, there are giants like Gome and JD.com.

To drive down prices, he’d have to achieve great scale, otherwise, it simply wasn’t feasible.

Collaboration seemed like the best option.

As for apparel, it mostly relies on attracting brands to set up shop.

Then, there’s also the option of self-operating.

No need to mention catering; Fei Yangyang was already doing that.

It just meant recruiting a few more establishments.

Pingsheng still decided to simplify things and to explore step by step.

Once Tengsheng Fresh was well established, the traditional supermarket would be the next focus.

He would take it one step at a time towards building the super-sized marketplace.