Chapter 260: The Greedy Merchant Li Dong

Li Dong's foray into e-commerce wasn't a sudden whim.

Back in 2005, Li Dong was already preparing to enter the e-commerce supermarket sector. However, with limited capital at that time, he had to hold off and delay it until now.

Now, in 2006, Li Dong had accumulated some capital.

Although his cash reserves were still limited, by the end of the year, Yuanfang's monthly profit should reach 50 million.

A monthly profit of 50 million translates to an annual profit of 600 million.

Even if fifty new stores were opened next year, it wouldn't cost that much. Li Dong naturally wouldn't let the remaining money sit in the bank earning interest; it's better spent.

In the coming years, the real profitable industries would be the internet and real estate.

Real estate involved too many complexities, so Li Dong was not interested in getting involved for now.

As for the internet, whether it's search engines or other aspects, Li Dong lacked experience and the necessary strength.

The only exception was the e-commerce platform. This was actually not too difficult and was closely related to the supermarket industry he was currently in. Doing e-commerce would naturally be easier and less out of place.

Of course, although it was not difficult, setting up the platform was not a simple task.

Handing it over to Shen Qian didn't mean that Shen Qian could handle it alone.

Building a good and efficient e-commerce platform required a large technical team's support.

Even assembling the team would take a significant amount of time, and Li Dong didn't expect Shen Qian to complete it quickly.

However, compared to before, IT elites were easier to find now, and there were mature e-commerce platforms in the domestic market for reference, making the process much easier than before.

When Shen Qian accepted the task, she looked eager and excited, appearing somewhat impatient.

Seeing her excitement, Li Dong couldn't help but dampen her enthusiasm, "First handle the annual meeting, if you can't even manage a small annual meeting, don't expect me to entrust the e-commerce platform to you."

Shen Qian raised her fist confidently and said, "Don't worry! There's nothing that can defeat Shen Qian!"

Li Dong shook his head, unsure if his decision was correct.

But compared to Sun Tao and Wang Yue, Shen Qian was indeed more suitable because she was younger and better adapted to the internet. Sun Tao and Wang Yue, though not old, had too little understanding of the internet.

Li Dong's idea of setting up an e-commerce platform might not mean much to Shen Qian.

But if he told Sun Tao and Wang Yue, they would certainly have different opinions.

In their view, rather than spending so much money on an intangible virtual network platform, it would be more cost-effective to open more branch stores.

Currently, the largest e-commerce platform in the country—Taobao—was thriving, but most physical retailers didn't pay much attention because the market share of e-commerce was still too small to be significant.

In this era, if anyone had the most confidence in e-commerce, it would be Li Dong.

Even the founder of Taobao, Jack Ma, wouldn't have more confidence at this time than Li Dong.

---

January 15.

The ten Yuanfang stores returned to their original prices, and the daily revenue dropped from 15 million to just over 8 million.

Although revenue had nearly halved, the profit was incomparable.

Previously, these ten Yuanfang stores were losing nearly 1 million a day. But on the 15th, the profit barely reached 1 million.

After repeating this, Yuanfang's net income increased by about 2 million in one day.

Meanwhile, other stores also showed growth trends, and everyone at Yuanfang was delighted.

Li Dong and the senior management, including Sun Tao, also breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't because of the profit, but because Carrefour and Tesco still hadn't delivered new goods.

This indicated that these two supermarkets were likely to withdraw from the Jiangbei market.

Losing three competitors at once was even more exciting to Li Dong than earning 10 million.

As for the remaining three stores, Li Dong was not prepared to provoke them for now. Repeated attacks would not only strain Yuanfang but also attract criticism.

Monopolizing the business was profitable, but Li Dong wasn't strong enough to take over the entire Jiangbei yet.

In this case, letting go of some competition and waiting until he had the strength to swallow them later was a better strategy.

---

Xin Xin Milk Tea Shop.

Watching Meng Qiping and Cheng Nan across from him, feeding each other and showing affection, Li Dong couldn't help but shake his head.

Not long ago, the two were quarreling, and Li Dong thought they were likely to break up.

But young people were hard to understand. In just a short time, they had reconciled and were as sweet as honey.

Seeing them getting more carried away, Li Dong couldn't help but knock on the table to interrupt, "Hey, both of you, mind the impact, okay?"

Cheng Nan's face flushed slightly and she toned it down a bit.

But Fatty grinned and said, "Dong Ge, if you're jealous, just say so. We're all adults here. What's the impact?"

Li Dong rolled his eyes, too lazy to respond.

Fatty continued joking, "Dong Ge, you're really ruthless in business. Just the other day, I went to Guanhai and brought back a box of instant noodles for only 28 yuan a box. At that time, I thought you were the best businessman in Jiangbei, and I praised you for quite a while."

"But when I went to buy it again yesterday, it was 40 yuan a box. What a rip-off!"

"If I'd known you were going to raise the price, you should have given me a call in advance. I could have bought a few dozen boxes of instant noodles and sold them for a small profit. I missed a good opportunity!"

Fatty lamented, bowing his head and looking regretful.

Not just Li Dong, but even Cheng Nan couldn't stand it and gave him a sharp pinch, glaring at him until he quieted down.

Li Dong retorted, "Of course, I'm raising prices. Am I supposed to wait until I go bankrupt?"

"You can still go bankrupt?" Meng Qiping said in disbelief.

Li Dong snorted and replied, "You think? Not long ago, I was losing over a million a day. At that time, did you dare to take advantage? Now that prices have returned to normal, you should be patronizing my business more."

"A million!"

Meng Qiping and Cheng Nan were taken aback. Li Dong was now on a completely different level from them.

When they were still worried about a few hundred yuan in rent, this guy casually mentioned losing a million a day without batting an eye.

Fortunately, they weren't there to talk about money today. Steering away from that topic, Meng Qiping cheerfully asked, "Dong Ge, I heard your company is having an annual meeting soon?"

Li Dong glanced at him and nodded, "Yes, you've heard about it?"

"I heard it from someone. Our school has quite a few people working for your company. They mentioned it when they came back."

"Oh."

Li Dong responded casually, "Why are you asking about this? If you have something to say, just say it directly. Why beat around the bush?"

Fatty rubbed his hands, smiling widely, "Dong Ge, is the annual meeting fun?"

Li Dong gave him a side glance and didn't respond.

Fatty was not deterred, squinting his eyes and grinning, "Dong Ge, I've only heard about annual meetings but haven't had the chance to experience one myself. How about I come and see your company's annual meeting?"

Li Dong was a bit speechless. So that's why this guy came to him today.

But talking about the company's annual meeting indeed had a grand feeling. It wasn't surprising that Fatty wanted to experience it.

After all, he knew the boss of Yuanfang and had a good relationship with him. With Fatty's thick skin, he might even show up uninvited if Li Dong didn't invite him.

Seeing Fatty's eager expression, Li Dong laughed, "Fine, stop pretending to be pitiful. Just come if you want. Actually, there's nothing special about the annual meeting. It's just like a school party. As long as you don't fall asleep, it'll be fine."

Fatty didn't pay much attention to the latter part of the sentence. Hearing the first part, he was delighted, "Dong Ge, you agreed!"

"Yeah, it's on the 22nd at 2 PM in the Tianhu Hotel banquet hall. You can just find the on-site person in charge."

"Uh, Dong Ge, can I bring a few people with me?" Fatty asked, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Li Dong glanced at Cheng Nan, thinking Fatty was referring to her, and nodded, "Sure, but I won't have time to entertain you."

"No need, you focus on your work. I just want to broaden my horizons." Fatty quickly replied.

Li Dong chuckled and said no more.

(End of Chapter)