Chapter 233: Opening Day Promotion

December 1st, Guanhai District.

Pingchuan is divided into four districts. Apart from Yaohai and Nanjiao, Guanhai District is the true city center.

Among the ten stores that Yuanfang is opening this time, four are located in Guanhai District.

These include one secondary store, one tertiary store, and two quaternary stores.

These four stores are arranged in a circular pattern, surrounding the old employer of Sun Tao—Carrefour.

Early in the morning, Li Dong arrived at the secondary store in Guanhai District.

This store is located on the southern side of the City Center Plaza in a commercial street, occupying three floors of the mall, with a total area of nearly 5,000 square meters.

Originally, Li Dong intended to classify this store as a primary store. After all, in terms of space and location, this store far surpasses other secondary stores.

However, considering that the Longhua store was already a primary store, and the Guanhai store was somewhat smaller, it was ultimately classified as a secondary store.

Even so, this Guanhai store holds a very important position within Yuanfang.

The investment in this store alone exceeded 10 million yuan, not including rent. If rent is included, the investment is not much lower than that of the Longhua store.

When Li Dong arrived, it was not yet 8:00 AM, but the entrance of the supermarket was already filled with flower baskets.

Two employees were setting off firecrackers. Currently, there are no restrictions on fireworks in the urban area of Pingchuan, so the store had prepared quite a few firecrackers for the opening.

The store manager of the Guanhai store is a very young man named Cao Chun, who is not yet 30 years old and just graduated with a master's degree this year.

He was one of the college graduates recruited by Yuanfang in June this year. In just half a year, while he might still be struggling to get a full-time position at other companies, Cao Chun had already become the manager of a secondary store at Yuanfang!

While his classmates were still fighting for a salary of two to three thousand yuan a month, Cao Chun easily earned over ten thousand yuan a month.

Of course, this isn't to say that Yuanfang lacked talent; it's just that Cao Chun was truly capable.

Within three months of joining, he was successfully promoted to store manager. In his second month as manager, sales at the tertiary store he managed increased by 50%.

By the end of last month, Cao Chun had further demonstrated his prowess, winning the sales championship among tertiary stores.

Finally, during the competition for the position of store manager in Guanhai, he defeated several seasoned tertiary store managers and won the approval of several senior executives, including Li Dong, to become the manager of the Guanhai store.

However, Cao Chun was still young and inexperienced, so Li Dong made a special trip to Guanhai to check on the situation.

Li Dong had already notified the store of his visit in advance.

So as soon as he got out of the car, Cao Chun came over to greet him.

Seeing Li Dong and Liu Qi, Cao Chun said with a smile, "President Li, Assistant Liu, the store is about to open. Let's go inside; it'll get noisy out here soon."

Li Dong nodded and entered the mall with Liu Qi.

Inside the mall, everything was ready, and all the employees were in position.

This group of employees was a mix of new and old; some were transferred from other Yuanfang stores, while others were newly recruited.

Regardless of whether they were new or old, all employees were now focused and waiting for the opening.

For this opening, Yuanfang had specially ordered a batch of bright red uniforms for the employees to add to the festive atmosphere.

As soon as Cao Chun and Li Dong entered, all the employees greeted loudly, "Hello, President Li!"

Li Dong glanced at Cao Chun, seeing his pleased expression, smiled, and said nothing.

After nodding to the crowd, Li Dong went up to the second floor, where he received another round of greetings.

Then he proceeded to the third floor, where, just like a military parade, the moment he stepped onto the third floor, a row of employees shouted loudly, "Hello, President Li!"

Li Dong responded with a smile, then said to Cao Chun, "Flattery won't help. Today, the main thing is the sales performance. If you don't perform well, I'll remove you, no matter how much flattery you give!"

Cao Chun smiled and said, "President Li, just wait and see; I guarantee a successful opening!"

"Let's hope so."

Li Dong smiled and stepped into Cao Chun's office.

Looking out the window from the office, he could see the situation downstairs. As it was close to opening time, a considerable number of citizens had already gathered below.

Li Dong didn't look closely but instead focused on the area across the street, slightly to the left, over 100 meters away. That's where Carrefour is located!

Carrefour was also fully prepared today. From a distance, Li Dong could see all kinds of balloons and ribbons floating at Carrefour's entrance, making it look like a festive celebration.

Li Dong asked Cao Chun, "How do you feel? Any pressure?"

Cao Chun replied with a smile, "No pressure at all. With all the discounts and promotions the company has provided, combined with days of advertising, we've beaten the competition in terms of price, service, and activities. If we still lose to them, I might as well resign."

Li Dong laughed, "Alright, I'll remember what you said. Actions speak louder than words; I'll be waiting for your good news."

"Rest assured, President Li!"

After saying this, Cao Chun glanced at his watch and said, "President Li, it's almost time to open; I'm going down to make arrangements."

"Go ahead!"

After Cao Chun left, Liu Qi muttered, "President Li, this guy sure can talk big. If he doesn't do well, I wonder if he'll really resign."

Li Dong glanced at her and said irritably, "Can't you be a little more optimistic?"

Liu Qi chuckled awkwardly and didn't dare to say more.

Li Dong ignored her, keeping his eyes on Carrefour across the street.

At 8:08 AM, the sound of firecrackers echoed from downstairs.

Soon after, two lions, leaping up and down, appeared below, attracting more and more onlookers. Then three brand new cars, adorned with red ribbons, drove up, each with a large sign on top reading "Yuanfang Supermarket Opening Prizes."

Behind the three cars was a team of employees holding various items.

These included mobile phones, computers, cameras, electric scooters, and various home appliances, each labeled with "Yuanfang Supermarket Opening Prizes."

The prepared loudspeaker blared, "Opening Day Specials, 10% Off, Gifts with Purchase, Luxury Cars to Be Won!"

This was just one of the teams. Today, with ten stores opening, Li Dong had prepared five such teams!

Of course, there were indeed 15 cars, but that was just a gimmick. The cars were rented, and only three were actual prizes, shared among the ten stores.

Even so, this was a rare sight in Pingchuan.

The motorcade didn't stay at the entrance for long but instead drove slowly through the streets, promoting the opening. The procession moved slowly, but no traffic police came to stop them.

Li Dong had already arranged this in advance, and the traffic police were well compensated. As long as the traffic wasn't obstructed, Yuanfang's teams were free to promote as they wished.

Li Dong had spent a considerable amount on this promotion.

As for the 10% discount, although promotional discounts had been negotiated with many manufacturers, only a portion agreed. Many items were sold at a loss just to attract customers.

On average, the profit margin would be less than 3%.

Li Dong didn't intend to make much money from this opening; the primary goal was to promote Yuanfang and make its name known. As long as the brand gained recognition and a good reputation, with the scale of Yuanfang's stores, they would eventually crush the other supermarkets.

…

Yuanfang's prize promotion team moved through the streets, catching the attention of everyone who saw them.

This year, Yuanfang Supermarket has indeed made a big splash.

As one of the promotion teams passed by the City Center Plaza, some people there were also discussing Yuanfang and Li Dong.

Today is Thursday, and the International Trade major has no classes.

The four remaining members of Dorm 351 had agreed to come to the city center today to do some shopping.

Having stayed at school all this time, Li Tie and the others were unaware of the opening of Yuanfang's new stores.

It wasn't until they encountered two promotional teams in a row and overheard the surrounding people discussing Yuanfang's simultaneous opening of ten stores that Li Tie and Xu Chen realized how big Yuanfang had grown.

Watching the promotional team slowly move away and the three cars drive off, Li Tie sighed after a long silence, "I really didn't expect this; the gap is too wide."

Xu Chen and the others understood what Li Tie meant, but someone nearby asked, "What gap?"

The question came from Li Tie's girlfriend. After failing to win over Bai Su, Li Tie had shifted his attention to a new target.

Now, as the vice-chairman of the student council, it wasn't difficult for Li Tie to find a girlfriend. This girl was a freshman this year and considered one of the more attractive ones among the newcomers.

Hearing her question, Li Tie didn't respond.

Zhang Hao, beside him, answered, "Do you know who the boss of Yuanfang is?"

The girl,

 surnamed Zhang, shook her head in confusion.

Zhang Hao said with a bit of envy, "He was our classmate. In fact, last year, he was living in the same dorm as us, just one bed away from you, Li Tie. What a huge gap!"

Zhang Tie's girlfriend's eyes widened in disbelief, and she exclaimed, "Impossible! You're just playing with me!"

Li Tie waved his hand and said with a forced smile, "It's true. We were in the same dorm, the same class, and for a while, we even ate together. Now we're still students, but he's already become a billionaire, owning Yuanfang Supermarket. Sigh… the gap is indeed big."

The girl asked in disbelief, "Are you serious?"

Li Tie didn't answer this time; instead, he sighed and said, "He's much better than us. We're all thinking about jobs after graduation, but for him, I'm afraid he doesn't even care about the few thousand yuan salary after graduation."

The girl fell silent, staring blankly at the promotional team of Yuanfang in the distance.

Finally, she shook her head slightly and whispered, "Is this what they call fate?"

The others didn't say anything.

Even for ordinary people, life could be dramatically different depending on their decisions and fate.

But for Li Dong, who started as an ordinary person, the difference was just too great.

Now, looking at themselves, there was indeed a deep sense of powerlessness.

No matter how hard they tried, no matter how talented they were, catching up with Li Dong seemed impossible.

With heavy hearts, Li Tie and the others continued to walk forward.

At that moment, none of them noticed that their journey had taken a slight deviation from their original path.