Chapter 436: Purchase Order (Medium Cup)

This would allow the Hailufeng Specialty Store app to transform from a seller of agricultural products into a full-fledged e-commerce website.

However, Jiang Miao had no such plans for the time being. The main reason was that Hailufeng Company’s rapid expansion over the past year had led to a bit of indigestion. To avoid overreaching, he chose to continue focusing on agricultural products and their derivatives.

After all, Hailufeng Company had no related industries in electronics, machinery, or daily necessities. Venturing into too many sectors at once would be unmanageable and would very likely lead to product quality issues—a result Jiang Miao was clearly unwilling to see.

However, the three major e-commerce platforms, feeling the threat from Hailufeng Company, finally acted decently for a change and stopped resorting to their usual tricks and senseless promotions from previous years.

But the three major platforms discovered that their sales for this year’s Singles’ Day didn’t see a significant spike. They were about the same as the previous two years, maintaining a lukewarm pace.

After a series of surveys, these e-commerce platforms finally realized the root of the problem. It was a mess of their own making. Having been tricked by the platforms multiple times, many consumers no longer trusted them. Even if they changed their strategies, they couldn’t instantly change such a deeply ingrained perception.

As for the Hailufeng Specialty Store app, it didn’t join in on the Singles’ Day frenzy. The store’s promotional schedule was arranged according to traditional and important holidays.

This included Spring Festival, Women’s Day, Qingming Festival, Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, National Day, and New Year’s Day—collectively known as the “Eight Holiday Events.” E-commerce festivals like Singles’ Day and 618 were not among them.

The reason they didn’t participate was simply that there was no need.

Consumer enthusiasm for e-commerce festivals like Singles’ Day and 618 had long since been worn down. It was better to focus on traditional holidays.

「The day after Singles’ Day.」

A procurement contract was posted on the Hailufeng procurement website.

In Jingdezhen, the young boss of a ceramic vat company, who had just inherited the family business, was boredly browsing various materials online. Faced with over a hundred employees at the factory waiting to be fed, he was suffering from a massive headache.

He took a sip of coffee to perk himself up and went back to looking through the information. Suddenly, a notification popped up from the Hailufeng procurement website he had downloaded earlier.

He casually clicked it open, and his previously absent-minded gaze was instantly captivated.

[Procurement Project: Special Ceramic Box Liners…]

After reading the requirements, he quickly made a phone call.

“Hey, Old Huang, you and Dafeng come to my office.”

“The office? I’ll be right there.”

「A dozen or so minutes later.」

A hurried Old Huang and a middle-aged man with glasses knocked and entered together.

Old Huang asked curiously, “Boss, what’s up?”

“You and Dafeng take a look at these parameter requirements. See if our factory can produce this.”

Old Huang took the freshly printed document, and Dafeng leaned in to look as well. After studying it for seven or eight minutes, Dafeng pushed up his glasses. “Boss, if there aren’t any other requirements, we can meet these parameters. Although we don’t have the technology for producing electro-technical porcelain, their requirements aren’t high. Standard ceramics should be enough.”

“I agree with Dafeng,” Old Huang added, voicing his own question. “But Boss, what are you planning to make this for?”

Tan Gaoming explained, “I just saw that Hailufeng Company is putting out a bid. They want to procure 5,000 well-insulated ceramic liners. The product parameters you’re looking at are for those liners.”

Old Huang tapped the document in his hand. “This thing is a cubic vat. It’ll need a custom mold. With an internal volume of one cubic meter… for 5,000 units, the cost per unit would be around 200 to 300 yuan.”

“Old Huang, Dafeng, you both know the company’s situation. We need to win this contract. Get started on the samples as soon as possible, and make several different versions. Hailufeng Company is buying so many ceramic liners, they might be using them for fermenting food or something similar. You need to take that into consideration.”

Hearing this, Old Huang nodded. “No problem. I’ll get a team on the samples right away. We should have them ready in about a week.”

“Good. I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to us!” Dafeng chimed in.

After discussing the sample production with his two technicians, Tan Gaoming submitted a preliminary bid through the Hailufeng procurement website. He then contacted their dedicated customer service to confirm the details regarding the samples and subsequent arrangements.

「Seven days later.」

Tan Gaoming and Lu Dafeng personally escorted 10 samples to Gongping Town in Hai Feng County, Shanmei City.

Gongping Town’s dairy farm was located in the mountains to the west.

Arriving with the samples on behalf of Tan’s Ceramic Products Co., Ltd., Tan Gaoming and Lu Dafeng immediately spotted a facility next to the dairy farm with a sign that read: “Hailufeng Company Gongping Town Bio-Energy Experimental Base.”

Tan Gaoming got out of his Land Rover and jogged to the gate.

The security guard at the gate immediately became alert.

“Hello, I’m the owner of Tan’s Porcelain. I have an appointment to deliver samples today.”

The guard checked his schedule and confirmed an appointment for a visit from Tan’s Porcelain. He picked up his phone, called the procurement agent they were meeting, and after a brief conversation, called the base manager.

A few moments later, the base manager, Li Guoguang, came out with some people.

“Hello, Boss Tan! I’m the deputy manager of this base, Li Guoguang.”

“Hello, Manager Li.”