"I'm going to deliver some goods later, so I'll see then," Lin Qi said as he put two bags of underwear on the back of his bicycle and rode out of the hospital gate.
"Xiao Lin is here," the supply and marketing cooperative clerk greeted him with a smile as he entered.
Lin Qi smiled, "Sister Wang, how have the underwear been selling lately?"
"I was just about to tell you about this. Take a look. Someone is selling underwear identical to yours. They're giving me a three-mao commission, and they only sell it for two yuan and eighty mao, which is two fen cheaper. Everyone prefers to buy theirs."
The clerk looked at Lin Qi expectantly. Since she had revealed everything, and knowing how popular her cooperative was, if Lin Qi could give her a four-mao commission, she would naturally promote Lin Qi's goods.
Lin Qi's heart skipped a beat when he heard her words, but he didn't show it. He smiled and said, "Sister Wang, can I see their goods?"
Clerk Wang readily brought out the other person's underwear. Lin Qi took it and examined it closely. When he saw that the underwear also had a brand label, but it read "Mei Ting," his eyes flickered.
"They are indeed very similar," Lin Qi returned the underwear and smiled, "I understand. I'll tell Sister Chen when I get back, and I'll let you know the final decision later. For now, I won't be putting any more goods here."
Clerk Wang nodded, "After all, we've been cooperating for so long. It's best to continue the cooperation."
Lin Qi nodded, turned, and walked out of the store. He then visited all the supply and marketing cooperatives where he had delivered goods and found the situation to be the same as the first one.
...
After two consecutive days, the exams were finally over, marking the end of the semester and the impending start of summer vacation.
Chen Lishu was packing up her belongings in the dormitory, preparing to go home, when she suddenly heard the dorm supervisor calling her to the reception room to take a phone call.
She hurried to the reception room, and soon the phone rang again.
"Hello?"
"Sister Chen, it's me." Lin Qi glanced at the woman eavesdropping beside the phone booth, shifted his body, cupped his hand around the microphone, and then, as concisely as possible, whispered the situation.
"Mmm, I understand. We don't need to deliver any more goods for now. Since I'm on vacation, I'll buy a ticket to go back tomorrow."
After hanging up the phone, Chen Lishu returned to her dormitory.
"Lishu, how's your packing going?" After being away for half a year, Zhang Xue was eager to go home and had already packed her things, ready to catch the train home that evening.
"Mmm, I'm almost done packing." Chen Lishu picked up her shoulder bag and went out with Zhang Xue. As she left, she glanced at Yang Lili, opened her mouth, and finally said, "Sister, we're leaving first."
Because of Sun Ling, Yang Lili had failed two subjects consecutively. She couldn't bear it anymore and hid in her bed to cry bitterly after the exam.
Sun Ling and Jiang Yuwei, who lived in the city, had left as soon as the exams ended. In the end, it was Chen Lishu and Zhang Xue who managed to comfort her.
After leaving the school and parting ways with Zhang Xue, Chen Lishu took a car back to the residential area.
After staying home for a day, Chen Lishu took a car to the train station early the next morning.
Because she didn't have a letter of recommendation from her work unit, she couldn't buy a sleeper ticket and had to sit in a hard seat. After a day and a night of suffering, Chen Lishu finally arrived at the county town in the afternoon of the next day.
As soon as she got off the train, she saw Lin Qi's figure waiting at the exit in the distance.
"Sister Chen." Lin Qi quickened his pace when he saw her and took her bag.
After traveling by train all day, coupled with the hot weather, the carriage was stuffy, hot, and had a strange smell. Chen Lishu couldn't eat anything and looked exhausted.
Lin Qi swallowed what he wanted to say.
The two of them arrived home. Gu Xingping and Chen Liyuan hadn't returned from school yet. Chen Lishu washed up quickly and finally felt refreshed.
Sitting on the sofa, Chen Lishu looked at Lin Qi and said, "Tell me what you found out."
Lin Qi nodded, "After I found out about this that day, I specifically made inquiries. The person who copied our product is a woman named Liu Xiaoting, who works at the clothing factory."
Chen Lishu's eyebrows rose when she heard Liu Xiaoting's name, but she didn't say anything, instead gesturing for Lin Qi to continue.
"Her price is two fen cheaper than ours, and she gives the supply and marketing cooperatives a three-mao commission. None of the goods we put in the cooperatives have sold in the past few days."
As Lin Qi spoke, he handed Chen Lishu the imitation underwear he had bought back from the cooperative. "Except for the brand label, everything else is identical."
Chen Lishu opened the brand label and glanced at it. It clearly read 'Mei Ting.'
"Sister Chen, the profit margin on underwear is quite large. Why don't we also lower the price?"
Chen Lishu looked up, "Lower the price? By how much?"
Underwear itself had little technical content, yet the other party's quality and style were identical to theirs. If they lowered the price to match, they would have no advantage.
Moreover, the market share in the entire county was limited, and underwear was a consumable, not a necessity. Naturally, people would buy from whoever offered the lower price.
The other party was clearly trying to engage in a price war with her. Liu Xiaoting worked at the clothing factory and likely had even lower costs than her. She couldn't afford to just keep lowering prices.
Lin Qi also felt that unilaterally lowering prices was unwise, but he hadn't come up with a good solution after thinking for two days.
"The county is our stronghold. We definitely can't lose the market."
Chen Lishu thought for a moment and said, "Just lowering the price won't work. We can offer discounts."
"Discount promotion?"
Chen Lishu nodded, "Without changing the unit price, we can design a few more styles of underwear. One piece is three yuan, two pieces get a 10% discount, and three pieces get a 15% discount. This will encourage others to help us pull in customers."
Lin Qi's eyes lit up when he heard her words. A 15% discount on three pieces meant each piece was only two yuan and fifty-five fen, which was a very attractive price.
"What about the commission for the supply and marketing cooperatives?"
"It remains one mao as usual. If they can do the math, they should know how to choose. If they are too greedy, then we'll just take back the goods."
With a plan in place, Lin Qi stood up, "Okay, Sister Chen, I'll go and tell everyone now."
Watching Lin Qi leave, Chen Lishu checked the time. It was still too early for Gu Xingping and Chen Liyuan to be back from school, so she decided to go back to her room for a nap and then wake up to cook.
After leaving, Lin Qi went directly to the supply and marketing cooperatives where he had delivered goods and informed them of Chen Lishu's decision.
Most of them felt that this deal was quite profitable.
Although the commission remained one mao as usual, with the discount offer, selling one person was equivalent to selling three. Moreover, with the comparison between the two businesses, customers had more choices, and they would still make a profit regardless of which they sold. However, some people only pursued immediate gains and felt that Liu Xiaoting was giving three mao while Lin Qi's commission was only one mao, which was too unfavorable. Intending to make things difficult for Lin Qi, they refused his proposal.