Chapter 232: The Day Before Opening

Since Li Dong had already made up his mind, Sun Tao no longer objected.

Although Sun Tao was somewhat lacking in decisiveness, he was still swift and resolute in his actions.

Seeing that the situation was inevitable, he immediately said, "The urgent task now is to recruit personnel and secure supply channels. Shall we hold a meeting in a bit?"

Li Dong nodded, "Have the heads of the product and human resources departments come over."

Then he added, "Also, have Shen Qian come as well. We'll meet in the conference room in half an hour."

Sun Tao nodded and quickly left the office.

...

An hour later, Li Dong had assigned the tasks.

The directors of the HR and product departments looked grim, as the task ahead was extraordinarily difficult.

Ten stores were set to open, eight stores were preparing to operate, and the remaining sixteen stores were aiming to open by the end of the year.

With more than thirty stores, supporting this scale required recruiting at least 2,000 employees. For the first batch of ten stores alone, the plan was to hire 700 people, and to prepare for the next openings, nearly 1,000 people needed to be hired in one go.

As it was nearing the end of the year, recruiting this many people all at once wouldn't be easy.

Fortunately, Pingchuan was the provincial capital, and this recruitment didn't require highly specialized talent. By holding several more job fairs and increasing advertising, although the task was challenging, it could still be accomplished with effort.

The HR director complained that it seemed this month would require lots of overtime, possibly even losing their days off.

Compared to HR, the situation was even tougher for the product department.

Recruiting involved only local efforts, but developing new supply channels meant dealing with suppliers scattered all over the country. Since the product department didn't have many experienced staff, the director himself might have to travel personally to secure these channels.

Li Dong didn't care about their complaints, as long as the tasks were completed.

These people were paid well; if they couldn't handle even this, what were they good for?

After dismissing the two department heads, Li Dong turned to Shen Qian and said, "You're not busy lately, right?"

Shen Qian rolled her eyes and said, "What do you mean? Are you saying I'm not doing any work? Even if the PR department has no tasks, I still have to be willing to work. How about you give me a promotion?"

Li Dong coughed and quickly said, "Since you're not busy, I have a task for you."

"What task?" Shen Qian asked warily.

"Nothing too major. I want to take out another loan. You're familiar with the bank, so try to get them to release the funds as quickly as possible."

Hearing this, Shen Qian relaxed slightly.

A loan wasn't a big deal, but Shen Qian still said, "You can't get something for nothing. I don't have that much influence."

"Don't worry, I'll use the land at Huafu as collateral. The land prices have risen recently, and the Huafu land is now valued at no less than 150 million yuan. There shouldn't be any problem, right?"

"No problem!"

Shen Qian immediately confirmed. With collateral, the bank would be eager to grant a loan.

"How much do you plan to borrow?"

"Starting at 40 million, making it an even 100 million. If we can get more, that would be even better; we're really short on funds right now."

Li Dong rubbed his forehead; Yuanfang was running on empty, and they really couldn't function without some reserve funds.

Yuanfang was likely facing a major battle soon, and the other supermarkets were much more financially solid. If it turned into a prolonged conflict, Yuanfang might not be able to hold out.

Additionally, they needed to prepare funds for the distribution center.

Even though negotiations might not conclude soon, it was necessary to prepare in advance.

To cover the cost of the land alone, he needed to set aside some money. The rest could be delayed until next year when Baidu's stock could be sold, at which point Li Dong wouldn't be so anxious.

After assigning the tasks, Li Dong let it go.

Yuanfang had experience with store openings by now.

The only reason this time felt difficult was the tight timeline, but they had done some preliminary preparation.

Though it was challenging, it wasn't impossible.

...

In November 2005, Yuanfang's name once again appeared in the eyes of the people of Pingchuan.

Yuanfang's job advertisements filled the recruitment sections of major newspapers, and promotional ads for the new stores opening could be seen everywhere in the streets.

At various talent markets, Yuanfang employees were almost always present.

The city TV station ran ads for Yuanfang for half a month straight, and people had become numb to hearing the name "Yuanfang Supermarket."

When it came to promotion, Li Dong was willing to spend money.

Initially, the other supermarkets had planned to cause some trouble before Yuanfang's new stores opened, like having the industry and fire safety departments give them a hard time.

However, after Li Dong personally met with several city leaders, those small tactics were quickly abandoned.

After all, Yuanfang had become a major player in Pingchuan.

Just in Pingchuan alone, Yuanfang had forty stores. With the company headquarters also set to relocate to Pingchuan and the distribution center likely to be established there, the Pingchuan government wasn't stupid. They naturally wanted to protect such a significant taxpayer.

Without interference from the government, the other supermarkets knew they couldn't stop Yuanfang's new stores from opening.

Since they couldn't block it, they would have to rely on real skills.

In the following days, the major supermarkets remained quiet, but Li Dong knew this was the calm before the storm.

There was no need to guess that these competitors were planning something. When the opening day came, there was a high chance they would make a move.

After all, if they couldn't take down Yuanfang, there would be no room left for them in Pingchuan. Business was about making money, and Yuanfang was now taking food from their plates. Who would be willing to let that slide?

As each day passed, Li Dong remained on high alert.

This was not the time to relax; who knew what tricks the other supermarkets might pull?

To prevent any dirty tactics, Li Dong even deployed security personnel who hadn't fully completed their training.

Each of the soon-to-open stores now had more than three security personnel stationed.

Li Dong was mainly worried about sabotage. If someone damaged the store the night before the opening, it would be a huge problem.

The opening date had already been publicized, and if the stores couldn't open on time, Yuanfang wouldn't just lose face; it would also damage their reputation for reliability, something Li Dong couldn't tolerate.

Of course, these supermarkets were all reputable companies, and they might not stoop to such actions.

But human nature is unpredictable, and with some smaller supermarkets in Pingchuan, who knew if someone might try to take advantage of the situation?

Li Dong's concern wasn't unfounded.

A few nights later, Li Dong received a call from Zhou Haidong in the middle of the night, reporting that the security team had caught several people attempting to cause damage.

The troublemakers numbered four. In the dead of night, they had brought axes and other tools to the entrance of a new store. While the security team was momentarily distracted, the anti-theft door was broken, and the glass door was shattered.

Fortunately, before they could do anything further, the security team apprehended them.

The offenders were handed over to the police, and Li Dong didn't concern himself with the rest.

The broken glass door was quickly replaced, and Li Dong became even more vigilant. These people were really willing to play dirty.

To be safe, Li Dong deployed all the security department personnel.

Perhaps the initial failure made the perpetrators give up, as no further sabotage occurred.

The opening day of Yuanfang's ten stores was drawing closer.

At this point, Li Dong was no longer nervous. The preparations were done, and now it was all about the results.

...

November 30th, the day before the grand opening.

Although the weather had turned cold, Sun Tao entered the office drenched in sweat.

To ensure everything was ready, he had spent the morning inspecting all ten stores, then rushed back to the company, completely exhausted.

Li Dong poured him a glass of water and asked, "How did it go?"

Sun Tao took a sip and exhaled deeply before smiling, "It's been a while since I've worked this hard. I remember when the first store in Dongping opened—I felt just like this. Later, when Fucheng and Tongshan opened, I got used to it and didn't feel as tense. But now, I'm feeling it again."

Li Dong felt much the same.

When the Dongping store opened, he had been too anxious to sleep.

On the first day of business, he stayed up until midnight, waiting for the sales results. After finding out, he was so excited he couldn't sleep at all.

But after the subsequent store openings, even when Fucheng set a new record, Li Dong didn't feel as excited or expectant.

Sun Tao was just casually sharing his thoughts, and then he said, "The preparations are all in place. There are some minor issues that I had them fix, but nothing major."

Li Dong breathed a small sigh of relief, "Now it's all about the results. If we can defeat those competitors, we can follow the same pattern going forward, and soon we'll be the dominant force in Jiangbei."

Sun Tao chuckled; this was more of an aspiration.

Yuanfang didn't yet have the

 strength to dominate Jiangbei. The other supermarkets had deep roots and extensive networks, and their number of stores was comparable to Yuanfang's.

Defeating them would require more effort on Yuanfang's part.

As they continued chatting, Liu Qi hurried into the office.

Seeing Li Dong and Sun Tao, Liu Qi quickly said, "President Li, President Sun, we've got news."

"What news?"

"Tomorrow, the other supermarkets are all running promotions. They've already started advertising, with significant discounts."

"Just that? Anything else?"

Li Dong asked further. Promotions were expected, and he wasn't surprised.

The same thing had happened back in Qingyang.

But if the other supermarkets had been holding back just to offer discounts, it felt a bit underwhelming.

However, Liu Qi hastily added, "President Li, this time, their discounts are substantial. Our new stores are offering a 5% discount, but they're offering 10% off!"

Li Dong's expression changed. He had anticipated a price war but hadn't expected it to come so quickly.

In the retail industry, especially in supermarkets and hypermarkets, the profit margins were typically not high.

Yuanfang's current gross profit margin was around 20%. After accounting for taxes and other expenses, the net profit margin was barely 10%.

A 5% discount was still profitable, but a 10% discount was almost at cost.

Li Dong quickly asked, "Is it a storewide discount or just for some items?"

"Storewide!"

Both Li Dong and Sun Tao's faces fell. A storewide 10% discount meant they were playing for keeps!