Chapter 219: Secure the Interior Before Expelling the Exterior

The level of a country's development depends not only on GDP but also on the comprehensiveness of its national healthcare system. Clearly, in 1993, China was far from being a developed nation. It could barely be considered a developing country.

Visiting a hospital was still a significant matter for many families; in other words, before the establishment of a healthcare insurance system, not every salaried worker could afford a hospital visit. Health checkups at various units often only scratched the surface.

In rural areas, severe illnesses were often left untreated while minor ailments were managed with painkillers. In cities with better medical conditions, hospitals were not yet overcrowded with elderly people who had an excess balance on their healthcare cards. Many women, even if troubled by gynecological issues, generally relied on antibiotics.

It wasn't until a few years later, in 1998, that gynecological diseases began to receive real attention—the signal of this attention was the attitude that "if it's good for him, it's also good for me."

So, Hengyuan's business staff did not realize that the gynecological lecture they were organizing for women had inadvertently become a landmark event.

Prior to this, there had never been a large-scale, truly meaningful promotion of women's gynecological health knowledge—even for commercial purposes.

The health lecture organized by Hengyuan was quickly confirmed. Such events were still rare, and with sponsorship fees involved, the hospitals contacted were very enthusiastic.

Especially the experts, who scrambled eagerly for such a high-profile and profitable opportunity.

Expanding into the second-tier market is not something that yields immediate results; deep cultivation represents gradual market development.

Yet, the "Weiyu Protective Wing Sanitary Napkin Large-Scale Free Gynecological Expert Lecture" genuinely stirred up a wave of excitement!

In Bingcheng, at the Medical University, the large auditorium was packed. Originally meant for 2,000 people, it was crammed with 4,000 attendees.

The crowd at the lecture was generally young, mostly college students or female employees from various units.

The lecture proceeded like a specialized report meeting.

After two gynecological experts from Harbin Medical University explained the dangers of gynecological diseases, improper menstrual care, and the adverse effects of poor sexual hygiene, many women in the audience were frightened to tears.

During the free clinic segment, the scene almost got out of control as hundreds rushed the stage, nearly pushing the experts off, reminiscent of the recent tragic event in Japan where a celebrity was trampled to death.

Fortunately, the security and medical students at the scene managed to organize the situation and avert a crisis.

But because the scene was too chaotic, the originally scheduled one and a half hours for the lecture and clinic stretched to six hours!

By the end of the lecture, the experts' voices were hoarse.

The terrifying aspect of women is their almost extreme social networking ability and their unique capacity to escalate a minor issue to a major one, or even to an apocalyptic level.

After the first day of the lecture, as the first batch of attendees spread the word about the seriousness of gynecological diseases to their schools and workplaces, and with the newspaper coverage of the lecture, the next day, the gynecology outpatient department at Harbin Medical University was overcrowded, with performance increasing fivefold!

Meanwhile, the market for sanitary napkins surged.

As the sponsor of the lecture, Weiyu Protective Wing's sales skyrocketed, outperforming any previous distributor activities. Within just two days, the average daily shipment in Bingcheng, which used to be around 20,000 pieces, surged to over 70,000 pieces!

The shortage of inventory among distributors led to Weiyu Protective Wing sanitary napkins running out of stock in the market.

In other areas already covered by Hengyuan distributors, similar situations were unfolding.

After the expert lecture, Weiyu Protective Wing's daily sales in Shenyang reached 85,000 pieces, surpassing even its primary market in Pushi.

...

This upheaval left Heng'an, which was aggressively promoting in first-tier cities with the aim of pushing Weiyu out of the market, deeply unsettled.

The market for sanitary napkin brands was no longer as sparse as a few years ago. In fact, apart from several domestic state-owned brands, Procter & Gamble's Always had already started production in China, and Kao's Laurier and Kimberly-Clark's Kotex, which had a certain market base through import, had also announced plans to build factories in China.

Such capital involvement was not good news for Heng'an.

Recently, Xu Lianjie had been feeling anxious.

Among all competitors, for some reason, he was particularly concerned about Hengyuan Weiyu.

In his subconscious, this brand, which had suddenly risen from obscurity, felt like an unruly force with a big knife emerging from the roadside, creating a strong sense of crisis.

Moreover, the slippery and elusive market behavior of the competitor also gave him a headache.

Promotional activities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen were going smoothly. After a few days, with advertising and promotions, Anle Protective Wing had successfully become the leader in protective wing sanitary napkins in first-tier cities, surpassing Weiyu and even challenging Anle, with daily sales averaging 400,000 pieces.

The problem was, despite a nearly 10% drop in Weiyu Protective Wing's sales in first-tier cities, the sales in second-tier cities had increased nearly fourfold!

Xu Lianjie felt as if a giant tree, capable of collapsing his house, was rapidly growing right next to his property.

He was uncomfortable.

In the meeting room, the Heng'an management team, after reporting the performance of the past week, did not see the expected satisfaction on Xu Lianjie's face and felt somewhat at a loss.

"Mr. Xu, are you dissatisfied with the results of our promotion?"

In the meeting room, the sales manager asked hesitantly.

"Secure the interior before expelling the exterior."

Xu Lianjie seemed not to have heard the question and quietly said, "What do you think we should do to suppress this disruptive force from Weiyu?"

Facing this question, everyone in the meeting room looked at each other.

After a while, the vice president, Shi Bowen, who was most attuned to Xu Lianjie's thoughts, brushed the dust off the desk.

"Now we are the market leader. We have the funds, the customer base, and a complete distributor network that aligns well with us. It's actually quite simple to deal with competitors."

"Bowen, elaborate," Xu Lianjie finally snapped back to attention, glancing at his deputy and tapping the desk.

"Just do what they're doing."

Bingcheng.

On the fourth floor of the Zhengtai Hotel, which housed Hengyuan's offices.

All departments were bustling with activity, and the phone lines in the sales department were constantly ringing with calls from distributors requesting products. With such chaos below, even Li Xian was personally answering calls.

Just after he had dealt with a distributor desperately begging for supplies, Si Yang hurriedly approached him.

"Mr. Li, damn it, Heng'an has started holding expert

lectures and free clinics too!"

"Ah? Where?"

"In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and even in second-tier markets! Their distributor network is larger than ours; they're doing everything we've done and even expanding into areas we haven't touched!"

Ah ha?

Hearing this news, Li Xian's hand holding the phone froze.

What's going on here? I've let you have the first-tier markets and moved into second-tier markets, and now you're trying to outdo us?

Hengyuan had always operated independently without stepping on others' toes, never poaching competitors' territory!

"Mr. Li, what should we do? We originally planned to take advantage of the impact of the first batch of free clinics and then launch our next move once the effects have been absorbed. But now, Heng'an is stepping in and taking advantage of the situation!"

Si Yang was furious.

Li Xian clicked his tongue, realizing he had been somewhat naive.

He understood the market but had underestimated the essence of human nature and commercial competition.

In the arena of fame and profit, peace is a myth. Greed and plunder are the eternal themes.

"Learn from me, white hair green. White hair green, eat dog shit."

He smirked, letting out a set of vulgar phrases from his youth.

"Mr. Li, stop cursing. What should we do now?"

"If they want a fight to the death, then let's give it our all."

Li Xian hung up the phone, grabbed his suit jacket, and asked, "How much money do we have left on the company's books?"

"We're running low. With recent factory expansions and equipment purchases, our profits have been used up. We currently have about a million or so, which is the recent payments from distributors."

"Okay," Li Xian thought he had a handle on the situation.

He was, after all, a bit short on cash.

"Prepare it. From the looks of it, we need to go all out."