The Top-Up Promotion

This gathering wasn't just about having a meal—there were still some matters regarding the store that needed to be planned in advance.

First of all, Liu Jing and Chen Hao's investments weren't large. They only held 7% of the shares. Even if this store made two million a year, their earnings wouldn't surpass what they made selling goods on the streets.

So, for the first half-month before the grand opening, everyone in the moving group would come to help out. After that, once the store's operations stabilized, everyone—except for Zhang Tao, who held 20% of the shares—would go back to selling goods outside.

If the store made money, it would be an extra income from their investments. This arrangement made perfect sense to everyone.

Next came the issue of salaries.

Zhang Tao, who was in charge of procurement, would receive a fixed monthly salary of 8,000 yuan. Song Yanxi, responsible for finance and cashier duties, would get 6,000 yuan. These wages were set according to market standards.

As for Chen Pingsheng himself, he would take on the role of store manager with a base salary of 3,000 yuan plus a 3% profit share.

No one had any objections to this setup—it was completely fair.

The arrangement was simple: if the store didn't make money, as the manager, he'd only get 3,000 yuan per month. If the store pulled in a net profit of 100,000 yuan a month, his salary would be 6,000.

It wasn't that the salary was set too high—on the contrary, it was actually quite low.

When it came to money, Chen Pingsheng believed in being upfront. Once everyone agreed on things beforehand, there would be no disputes later.

Liu Fen was slightly surprised to see how well-organized they were in handling these matters.

Of course, this meal wasn't just about deciding salaries. They also finalized details of upcoming promotions and fruit pricing strategies.

According to Chen Pingsheng's plan, the store had too little foot traffic in the early stages.

The priority was to attract customers.

All fruits would be priced with a simple formula:

Cost price + 10% wastage + 5% rent + 5% labor costs = Final price

For example, if bananas were bought for 1 yuan per unit, they'd be sold for 1.3 yuan.

This price was the lowest in Beixian'an—far ahead of any competitors.

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The next day, on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the weather in Beijing remained bitterly cold. The ground was still covered in a thick layer of snow, except for the roadsides, where vehicles had worn the snow down to slush.

Crunching footsteps echoed across the frost-covered sidewalks.

Early in the morning, Chen Pingsheng and Song Yanxi drove their newly purchased Audi A4 to the store. Zhang Tao and Liu Jing arrived shortly after.

The night before, they had already posted special apple discounts in seven or eight neighborhood WeChat groups.

Now, outside the store, they had stacked over thirty to forty boxes of apples, ensuring that customers could immediately grab fresh apples at the incredible price of three for one yuan.

Inside, a team of seven to eight people bustled around, creating a lively and energetic atmosphere.

On the first day of opening, many people were skeptical of the promotions and hesitant to shop. Foot traffic exceeded one hundred customers, with total sales reaching 8,600 yuan.

This was normal.

High-end fruit supermarkets like this often had per-item prices in the hundreds, making the sales figure seem high, but in reality, they were still operating at a loss.

By the second day, the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, foot traffic doubled, and sales rose to 14,000 yuan.

Most customers came for the apples and picked up some cheap bananas on the side.

By the third day, the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, things improved even further.

Over 400 customers visited the store, half of whom bought apples and left. Sales jumped to over 30,000 yuan a day.

By the ninth and tenth day, customer flow stabilized at around 500 per day, with daily sales of 50,000 yuan.

Then, on the Lantern Festival, the store saw a massive boom, with sales skyrocketing to 200,000 yuan in a single day.

Despite the impressive revenue, the low pricing meant they were essentially operating at cost.

However, by increasing turnover, they successfully minimized losses from spoilage.

After more than a week of operations, they had broken even—far exceeding expectations.

Of course, the downside was that their aggressive pricing had put several smaller fruit stores in the area out of business.

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Sitting in his office, Chen Pingsheng contemplated the situation.

Now that foot traffic was established, the next crucial step was customer retention.

There were many ways to retain customers, but the most critical was ensuring that their fruits remained fresh and competitively priced.

Only by maintaining this balance could they convert customers gained through promotions into long-term patrons.

The office door creaked open.

Zhang Tao walked in, flipping through the latest sales report.

Apples remained the best-selling item, while durians accounted for the highest revenue—out of 200,000 yuan in sales, durians alone brought in 40,000 to 50,000.

This was expected—after all, a 4-kilogram durian easily cost several hundred yuan.

"Old Chen, we've built up a solid customer base now. Don't you think it's time to raise the prices a bit?" Zhang Tao suggested.

Under normal circumstances, fruit stores operated on a gross profit margin of at least 30%.

At the moment, their gross profit margin was barely 10%—sometimes even as low as 5%.

The upside was high customer volume, but the downside was minimal profits.

Unless they consistently pulled in over 200,000 yuan in daily sales, they wouldn't be making much net profit.

Zhang Tao's suggestion made sense.

Chen Pingsheng thought for a moment and said, "Price increases are inevitable, but I have an idea. Every time we go to get a haircut, the barber always tries to sell us a membership card, right? I'm thinking we should launch a big top-up promotion before raising prices. This way, we can quickly recover our investment while also locking in customers. That way, when we do raise prices, they won't just leave for another fruit store."

"That's a great idea!" Zhang Tao slapped his thigh in excitement. "But how do we get people to actually top up?"

Chen Pingsheng smirked. "After the Lantern Festival, durian prices will start dropping. Since durians are our best-selling product, we'll keep it simple—top up 1,000 yuan and get a free durian."

"A free durian with a 1,000 yuan top-up?"

The promotion was undeniably aggressive and came at a high cost.

Even at the lowest wholesale price, a single durian would still cost at least 100 yuan.

But without an attractive offer, they wouldn't be able to persuade customers to top up.

Zhang Tao approved of the idea and suggested gathering everyone for a discussion.

They needed to inform Liu Jing and Chen Hao in advance.

After all, this strategy was essentially making money off the future.

Of course, Chen Pingsheng had another thought—if the topped-up money counted as revenue, then the store's profitability potential was enormous.

A quick team meeting was held, and everyone agreed on the plan.

Retain customers first, then raise prices.

The promotion would run for just seven days, ensuring urgency.

The next day, the first day after the Lantern Festival, the Tengsheng Supermarket was decked out with promotional banners.

A giant signboard was placed outside, and durians were stacked into a small mountain.

"Top Up 1,000 Yuan, Get a Free Durian!"

For Beijing residents, where property prices were easily 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per square meter, a 1,000 yuan top-up wasn't a big deal.

More importantly, Tengsheng Fruit Supermarket was the most upscale fruit store in Beixian'an.

Depositing money there wasn't a risk—it was simply taking advantage of a good deal.

After all, a single durian could cost 100 to 200 yuan, and now they were getting one for free?

Not taking this deal would be foolish.

On the first day of the promotion, total revenue hit 260,000 yuan.

"Ding! Detected host income of 90,000 yuan today. Would you like to activate the Random Multiplier?"

It worked!

Chen Pingsheng was ecstatic.

The topped-up money hadn't even been spent yet—meaning it was essentially pure profit.

Since most of the 260,000 yuan came from top-ups, if it counted as daily revenue, then he knew exactly how to run the store from now on.

He had to make money off the future!

Suppressing his excitement, Chen Pingsheng doubled down on the recharge promotion—after all, there were still six days left.