Chapter 445: Warehousing

After hearing his sister’s explanation, Jiang Miao agreed that it was a good model. It was especially suitable for the suburbs of first-tier cities, where new locations could serve as both distribution centers and supermarkets. This would solve the issues of limited stock and small store sizes that plagued their urban locations.

However, when it came to adding fast-moving consumer goods, Jiang Miao thought for a moment and decided to hold off for now.

The main reason was that the fast-moving consumer goods market was just as treacherous as the produce market.

Besides, he couldn’t ignore the fact that the current giants in the domestic consumer goods market were primarily foreign-owned corporations. The capital backing these companies belonged to Jiang Miao’s sworn enemies.

Even if they couldn’t assassinate Jiang Miao, who was under heavy protection, they could still use the consumer goods market to cause trouble for Hailufeng Company, or even deliberately set them up.

As for the so-called domestic brands, they were either hopelessly incompetent, ridiculously arrogant, or simply too weak.

This included beverage and dairy companies, every single one of them riddled with issues.

Jiang Miao was worried that cooperating with them would be like playing with fire, and he would be the one to get burned.

Instead of taking on such uncertain risks, it was better to continue developing his company’s own brands step-by-step.

Take Hero Dairy, for example. As Hailufeng Specialty Stores popped up everywhere, its product sales were also skyrocketing.

They had even restarted the production lines for their previously discontinued pasteurized milk, yogurt, and ice cream products, and had even added new ones.

Thinking of Hero Dairy sparked an idea in Jiang Miao’s mind.

‘Actually, I don’t have to build factories from scratch to expand our product categories. I can also acquire other companies to get their brands, factories, production lines, and skilled workers.’

Jiang Miao chatted with his sister for a little while longer before hanging up.

Since Jiang Haibo was away at the Monan Branch for a few days, he summoned Qin Hanming, the head of the Market Research Department, and Ye Meijing, the head of the Finance Department, to discuss the matter.

As he poured tea, Jiang Miao said casually, “Meijing, I plan to take out loans from banks in Peng City, Shanghai, the Capital City, and Yangcheng. I’m aiming for a total of 20 billion.”

“Twenty billion?” Ye Meijing wasn’t fazed. Hailufeng Company currently had 9.7 billion in cash on its books. After accounting for operating costs, they still had nearly 8 billion in available capital.

Furthermore, their capital was growing at a rate of two to three billion yuan per month.

“Is that a problem?”

Ye Meijing shook her head. “No problem at all. With our company’s profitability, borrowing 20 billion will be a piece of cake.”

“In that case, have the Finance and Legal departments form a temporary task force to secure the loans from banks in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Of course, you can also consider smaller banks in regions like Monan and Gannan. The goal is to scrape together 20 billion.”

Ye Meijing quickly asked, “Boss, what’s the official reason for the loan?”

“Acquiring factories to diversify the company’s product lines.”

“Understood.” Ye Meijing jotted it down.

Jiang Miao turned to Qin Hanming and said slowly, “Hanming, I need your department to pull some people together and investigate struggling fast-moving consumer goods and beverage companies across the country.”

“So you want to acquire consumer goods and beverage companies, Boss? Are there any specific requirements?” Qin Hanming asked, sitting up straight.

“First, their shareholder structure must be simple. I don’t want companies with a complex web of owners.”

“Second, the company can’t have any major legal disputes.”

“Third, they should ideally have some brand recognition, but not for negative reasons.”

“Fourth, their production lines must be relatively well-established.”

After noting down the requirements, Qin Hanming asked, “Boss, are there any specific industries we should prioritize?”

Jiang Miao nodded. “A few. First, textile mills with production lines for wool, cotton, and linen. Second, paper mills, especially those that produce toilet paper. We can also look into acquiring sugar refineries, instant noodle factories, biscuit factories, potato chip factories, beverage plants, and condiment producers.”

He felt he had no choice. He really couldn’t trust many of the domestic companies. Rather than dispatching people for daily inspections and supervision, it was better to just buy a factory and produce the goods himself.

He planned to produce all food-related consumer goods in-house.

However, for other types of products—like disposable tableware, kitchenware, and small hardware—there was no need to operate his own factories. These items were relatively easy to inspect, and since they weren’t things people ate, stationing a supervisory team at the supplier’s factory would be sufficient.

As for chemical-based consumer goods like shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, skincare products, and cosmetics, Jiang Miao planned to acquire one or two companies and start his own R&D. He wouldn’t be expanding their production lines so quickly, though.

In truth, Jiang Miao had a natural advantage when it came to researching chemical-based consumer goods, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself in that area just yet.

Qin Hanming looked up. “I’ve got it all down, Boss. But it will take some time. I estimate it will take about a month to complete the initial investigation for one of these smaller sectors.”

“Okay, you handle the arrangements.” Jiang Miao then asked about something else he had assigned to the market research department. “Hanming, how’s the investigation going on that other matter I assigned you?”

Qin Hanming paused for a second, then recalled. “We’ve made some headway. That company’s shareholder structure is rather complex, and it includes several mysterious offshore shareholders. With our current footing in Hong Kong, completing an acquisition might be very difficult.”

“It doesn’t matter. Just keep someone watching them,” Jiang Miao said, his expression calm.

He had his eye on a publicly listed company in Hong Kong that would be a crucial link in Hailufeng Company’s supply chain.

If a company like that didn’t have problems, Jiang Miao wouldn’t have targeted it in the first place.