Chapter 468 Horrible Consumption Power (Please Vote for Me!!!)

"Beauty, is your boss here?" Qu Fang felt that he had seen enough, so he asked the saleswoman.

The saleswoman felt excited and asked cautiously: "Ms. Qu, is there anything I can't do?"

"You misunderstood. In fact, we are friends of your boss." Qu Fang smiled.

"Hold on, you two, I'll go report."

The saleswoman breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to the second floor.

Not long after, the saleswoman invited Qu Fang and Mao Wenchao upstairs.

"Haha, Mr. Mao and Mr. Qu, you are trying to catch me off guard." Qin Hao welcomed the two in with a smile.

Mao Wenchao and Qu Fang looked at each other and smiled: "Mr. Qin is joking, you are our first business order. In order to ensure the quality of promotion, we have to come to serve you personally."

"That would be such an honor for me."

After sitting down, Qin Hao poured tea for the two of them and said in a sincere tone: "Mr. Qu, you are well-informed. I have to ask you to correct me if there is anything I don't do well in this store."

Of the two founders of Xiaohongshu, Mao Wenchao is mainly responsible for strategic direction and financing, while Qu Fang is responsible for products and operations. This is also related to their experiences. Qu Fang graduated from Beijing Foreign Languages ​​Institute and later entered the world. When working for a Fortune 500 foreign company, I often go on official business trips and travel to many countries. I often take advantage of business trips to buy some luxury goods that are very expensive in China and bring them back, which can save money and satisfy my shopping desires.

It can be said that Qu Fang’s control over the content played a major role in Xiaohongshu’s instant success.

Qu Fang waved her hands repeatedly: "Mr. Qin is joking, your store is not inferior even to those big-name luxury goods like LV, and the decoration and product design are also very unique."

"If I have to find fault, with all due respect, the current product categories are still a bit monotonous. Shoes and jewelry are two essential categories for women's shopping, but I see that there does not seem to be corresponding product displays in your store. "

Qin Hao smiled and nodded: "Mr. Qu has good eyesight. We are indeed lacking in shoes. I am already looking for some well-known designers to discuss cooperation. It is expected that corresponding women's shoe styles will be launched in the second half of the year. As for shoes The jewelry will be on the shelves next month.”

In fact, this is all nonsense. The reason why the shoes are not on the shelves has nothing to do with the designer. It is mainly related to the operation model of "Mainasi".

In order to prevent those customers who buy the products from noticing anything fishy, ​​Qin Hao always exports the shoes produced in the mainland to Italy, and then repackages them with nameplates from Italy and sends them back to the mainland. In this way, the customs declaration form, With the invoices complete, customers will naturally think that the products of "Mainasi" are all produced in Italy, and the brand image will be highlighted.

As for jewelry, it's even simpler. The Qin family's main business includes jewelry. Qin Hao specially ordered a batch of jewelry from Cheap Daddy, changed the style and nameplate, and suddenly became "Italian origin", which can be regarded as Qin's. The family has increased extra profits, and Qin Yi can be justified with the shareholders. Of course, the jewelry was bought first and paid later, because Qin Hao had no money on hand.

Later, Qu Fang talked with Qin Hao about some promotion ideas, Qin Hao also provided some ideas, and the two parties quickly finalized the plan.

After the two of them finished talking, Mao Wenchao suddenly said to Qin Hao: "Mr. Qin, last time you said you wanted to invest in Xiaohongshu, I discussed it with Mr. Qu and you are very welcome to join."

"Yeah, that's great. It's a double happiness today." Qin Hao said with a smile.

Mao Wenchao secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Qin Hao had no intention of breaking his promise.

Of course, when it comes to investment, it can't be finalized in just one or two sentences. After some back-and-forth negotiations, it was finally finalized. Qin Hao invested 6 million yuan in exchange for 28% of Xiaohongshu's shares. Logically speaking, this The price is definitely not cheap anymore.

After all, Xiaohongshu has not yet been launched at this time, and its future is unclear. According to Qin Hao’s investment proportion, the current valuation is almost 20 million yuan.

However, Qin Hao is not at a loss. Others don't know the value of Xiaohongshu, but he knows it clearly. According to Xiaohongshu's subsequent valuation of 20 billion US dollars, even if he stops participating in the investment midway, he can at least increase it hundreds of times in the later period. This is the charm of capital markets.

A week later, Qin Hao arranged for an accountant to be stationed in Xiaohongshu, and on the same day, RMB 6 million was transferred to the corresponding corporate account.

Neither Qu Fang nor Mao Wenchao had ever seen such a cheerful investor, and their favorable impression of Qin Hao increased.

At the same time, after having money in their hands, Mao Wenchao and Qu Fang were both confident about the upcoming launch of Xiaohongshu, and worked overtime to make final preparations for the launch.

On June 25, Little Red Book was officially launched. On the one hand, Mao Wenchao spent money on a lot of publicity on the Internet. On the other hand, Qu Fang published a lot of foreign travel guides on the foreign Internet, showing exotic customs in the form of pictures and texts. It quickly gained the favor of many users.

Within 24 hours of Xiaohongshu being online, the number of registered users exceeded 50,000, and within 48 hours the number of registered users reached 80,000. In 2013, this was definitely a big achievement for a brand new software without any PC background.

After all, smartphones these days don’t often have 1T of memory like later. Many mobile phones have only 16G or even 8G of memory, of which at least 2G is occupied by the system, leaving extremely limited space for users to load apps.

All major Internet manufacturers are racking their brains to find ways to "occupy" users' mobile phone memory.

At the same time, one of the most popular articles on Xiaohongshu is a soft article promoting "Mainasi". This article was written by Qu Fang himself.

As a soft article, Qu Fang did not directly brag about how good the "Mainasi" brand is from the beginning. Instead, he led users to visit Italy from the perspective of a tourist. When the user was eating, drinking and having fun with the tourists, he was most relaxed. , began to talk about the last project "purchase".

In Qu Fang's article, "Mainasi" has become a brand with the same "noble Italian origin" as big-name luxury goods such as Prada, Fendi, and Gucci. However, because "Mainasi" takes a low-key route, it is It will lose its reputation in the mainland.

It wasn't until the end of the article that Qu Fang began to finish, telling users in a surprised tone that there was a "Mainasi" store in Magic City that was about to open, and it was also the only "Mainasi" store in the mainland.

Xiaohongshu currently has a small number of users, and they are everywhere in the world. Logically speaking, it cannot bring much customer traffic to "Mainasi". However, according to the data fed back by salespeople, Xiaohongshu has found Not only do their users have amazing purchasing power, but they are also surprisingly easy to talk to. Basically, when they come here and see something they like, they just pay for it. They are not like those young women who come shopping. Either they have never heard of the brand "Mainasi" or Question the style and price of the product.

I have to admit that Xiaohongshu’s subtle influence on women’s consumption is indeed amazing.

Women who buy "Manasi" find that compared to big-name luxury goods such as LV on the street, "Manasi" is not only relatively cheaper, but also "rare" enough that it is rare to see the same style. When they encounter people who question them, they will tell them about the history of the brand development of "Mainasi" mentioned by Qu Fang in the soft article. Not only can they counterattack perfectly, but they can also show off their erudition and versatility. It is simply Don't feel too superior.

Over time, the first batch of loyal users of "Manasi" were born. Even if someone told them the truth in the future, "Manasi" was just an ordinary domestic brand, they would only laugh at each other's ignorance.

Afterwards, Qin Hao made statistics and found that "Mainasi" officially opened at the end of June. As of June 30, sales exceeded 8 million in just one month. This was even without shoes and jewelry. Sometimes, I have to admire women’s spending power.

Of course, 8 million in sales is only a drop in the bucket compared to LV’s 350 million in sales per store, but as a new brand, this store has undoubtedly successfully established itself.

Qin Hao has not slowed down. On the one hand, he has increased the intensity of online promotion. Not only Xiaohongshu, but also Weibo and WeChat public accounts have increased the placement of soft articles. On the other hand, he has also begun planning to build a second store.

With the experience of the first store, it will be much easier to build a second store. Moreover, with the success of the first store, Qin Hao will be more confident when negotiating conditions for entering some shopping malls.

Just three months later, "Mainasi" opened its second store in Beijing. As of New Year's Day 2014, "Mainasi" had opened a total of five stores, and six more stores were in preparation. middle.

According to financial statistics, in just five months, the company's sales exceeded 180 million yuan. Excluding all labor costs, store rent, water and electricity, and marketing costs, the net profit was close to 100 million yuan, of which marketing costs accounted for more than half.

Of course, the money was well spent. In less than half a year, a brand new luxury brand was created. This kind of "star-making speed" cannot be achieved by any communication media except the Internet.

At the same time, with the popularity of Xiaohongshu, the capital market has also begun to pay attention to this rising star. Mao Wenchao revealed to Qin Hao that Xiaohongshu has decided to skip the A round and go directly to the B round of financing. By then, Xiaohongshu will The valuation will be at least over 100 million.

"Hey, brat, you've been out in the wild for so long, it's time to come back and take a look, right?"

On this day, Qin Hao was still working overtime in the company when he received a call from Qin Yi.

"Dad, why does your tone sound like a resentful woman? Shouldn't you be more chic when I'm not around?"

Qin Yi said with a straight face: "How can you talk, brat?"

"Dad, if you have anything to say, just say it. Don't be sensational. I am your eldest son, not your youngest." Qin Hao replied casually.

Qin Yi was speechless for a moment. He has indeed been more patient with his younger son in recent years, but who made his eldest son quarrel with him as soon as they met. Later, he learned that the eldest son did this on purpose, and then he realized that he had been treating his eldest son more patiently in these years. Much debt.

"Ahem, I have an old friend in the real estate business, Lao Yu. Do you remember him?"

Qin Hao recalled: "Well, I have an impression. Didn't he come to the mainland a long time ago to develop? I heard that his net worth has more than increased ten times. You still keep saying that he is the lucky one. What's wrong?"

"That's right, Lao Yu has recently opened a commercial center building. I heard that your boy's 'Mainas' is very popular. He wants you to enter his shopping mall. Of course, friendship is friendship. The specifics are You should negotiate the terms however you want."

Qin Hao didn't take it seriously and asked casually: "Oh, what's the name of that mall? I'll go check it out later."

"It seems to be called Kerry Center, and his building seems to be called Grand Hyatt Mansion."

Qin Hao didn't take it seriously at first, but when he thought about it carefully, he suddenly realized it.

"Kerry Center? Grand Hyatt Mansion? Isn't this the mansion that the shopping mall in charge of Zhong Xiaoqin's property company broke with Gu Jia and squeezed in?"

"interesting."

Turning around, Qin Hao dialed Lao Yu's phone number.

"Haha, Hao, long time no see. Do you still remember Uncle Yu?"

A voice full of Hong Kong flavor came from the other end of the phone.

Qin Hao said directly in Cantonese with a smile: "Uncle Yu, of course I remember that you taught me how to play tennis."

"Haha, it must be you young people, your memory is good."

After exchanging pleasantries, Mr. Yu mentioned the business center.

"Ah Hao, this project is very important to our entire group, but judging from the current pre-sales situation, it is not very good, especially in the shopping mall. Many big-name luxury brands think that we have insufficient footfall and are unwilling to Settling in, if you are willing to help uncle, you can ask for any conditions."

Qin Hao did not agree immediately. Although Kerry Center Mall will definitely become popular in the future, there is no explanation in the play when it will become popular. The current time is only 2014, which is still five years away from the timeline in the play. If it continues It had to wait until 2018 to become popular. In the past four years, Qin Hao has lost not only money, but also the brand image of "Mainasi".

Why are those big-name luxury goods unwilling to settle in? To put it bluntly, it is to create a situation of scarcity. Although the mainland is so big, many big-name luxury goods only open dozens of stores, making money and maintaining their brand image. , kill two birds with one stone.

"Uncle Yu, I usually don't ask about store openings, but since you have spoken, I will take the time to go to Kerry Center to have a look." Qin Hao did not say anything.

Mr. Yu also knows that this kind of thing cannot be forced: "Okay, let's do this. My son is in charge of the business here in Magic City now. I will push his WeChat to you. If you have anything, you can talk to him directly. You guys Young people also have a common language.”

Qin Hao wasn't surprised either. After all, Mr. Yu's business was so big that he couldn't just focus on such a commercial center property.

That afternoon, Qin Hao came to the Kerry Center for inspection without notifying the old man's son.