Chapter 81 - 80: Hot Sale
Chapter 81: Chapter 80: Hot Sale
Jiang Miao was buried in his research.
Hailufeng Company’s development was also progressing steadily.
All 100 mu of strawberry greenhouses at Nanhu Farm were fully planted, and 68 mu of them had gradually entered their peak fruiting period.
Many local rural women, using specialized electric harvesters, were rapidly picking one mouth-watering strawberry after another.
However, as it approached ten o’clock, the temperature inside the greenhouses—even without their plastic film covers—was still rising, so the picking work came to a halt.
In the manager’s office on the third floor of the farm office building, Lü Weibin was looking at the recently installed smart agriculture management system. From his computer, he could see the status of every single greenhouse.
The system administrator, Xiaowang, pulled up some data. While staring at the screen, he reported to Lü Weibin, "Based on the time distribution, our farm’s strawberry production has increased significantly since mid-April."
Lü Weibin had worked on agriculture-related projects at a major tech company before, so he was quite familiar with this kind of data.
In March, the farm had 12 mu in production, yielding a total of 3,336 kilograms of strawberries.
In April, the scale expanded to 32 mu, yielding a total of 15,367 kilograms of strawberries.
In May, the scale expanded further to 68 mu, yielding a total of 28,309 kilograms of strawberries.
Lü Weibin checked the numbers for the first half of June; so far, they had already produced a total of 20,341 kilograms of strawberries.
According to sales figures from the e-commerce department, the current average prices were: 83 yuan per kilogram for Vanilla, 81 yuan per kilogram for Cheese Strawberries, and 58 yuan per kilogram for Jasmine Strawberries. The overall average price was 75 yuan per kilogram.
In other words, in just the last half-month, the e-commerce department had sold approximately 1.4 million yuan worth of strawberries.
Next, Lü Weibin inquired about the output of the greenhouses that had already entered their peak fruiting period. "Xiaowang, pull up the data for those 32 mu of greenhouses. I want to see the numbers."
"OK." Xiaowang quickly pulled up the data.
After checking the data, Xiaowang replied without looking up, "Manager, once they enter their peak fruiting period, Jasmine Strawberries can yield 30–33 kilograms per mu per day, Cheese Strawberries 21–24 kilograms per mu per day, and Vanilla strawberries 18–20 kilograms per mu per day. The average daily yield is around 25 kilograms per mu."
After a moment of thought, Lü Weibin gave another instruction. "Run a simulation for next month’s total production. Use the peak period data, but factor in a one-week rest period per mu each month."
Xiaowang tapped on his keyboard.
In a moment, the simulation results were ready.
"The projection for next month is around 52,500 kilograms."
Lü Weibin rubbed the stubble on his chin, made a mental note of the number, and then picked up the phone to call Zhang Xinyi, the manager of the e-commerce department.
RING... RING...
"Hello... Is that Manager Lü?"
"It’s me, Manager Zhang. What’s the situation with the strawberry orders?" Lü Weibin got straight to the point.
"Let me check the backend."
A moment later, Zhang Xinyi’s voice came over the phone again. "We currently have 1,736 unshipped orders."
"What’s the average number of orders per day? Is it an upward trend, or is it fluctuating?"
"Hmm... Let me see. The daily average is currently around 800 to 1,000 orders. Growth was quite significant in the previous two months, but this month, it has held steady in that 800 to 1,000 range."
’Is that so?’ Lü Weibin thought for a moment. He knew that the vast majority of the online store’s orders were for the smaller one-kilogram packages; the two- and five-kilogram orders were less common.
At this rate, the e-commerce department’s monthly orders would be between 24,000 and 30,000, which could only account for about 40,000 kilograms of strawberries.
But next month, all the greenhouses would be entering their peak fruiting period, and the total yield was certain to exceed 50,000 kilograms.
Even though the specialty shop in the city could sell about 1,000 kilograms of strawberries per month, that still left a surplus of over ten thousand kilograms. And while the company’s new strawberry varieties were bred for better transport and storage, it was still unwise to keep too much inventory.
He explained this problem to Zhang Xinyi.
After listening, Zhang Xinyi proposed a solution involving promotions, guaranteeing they would sell 50,000 kilograms of strawberries the next month.
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Xinyi wasted no time and headed straight for the marketing planning office.
"Ah Bin, Sufang, get ready. The 618 shopping festival is just a few days away. I need you to quickly roll out some promotions. Oh, and while you’re at it, solve our canned eel inventory problem."
Ah Bin and Sufang in the marketing planning office exchanged a look, not daring to agree so readily.
Ah Bin, who wore glasses, pushed them up his nose and quickly asked, "Manager, what are the specific requirements?"
"Just one requirement: we can’t do an explicit price drop. We have to maintain the brand value of our strawberries. Let’s aim for a discount equivalent to about 10 yuan per kilogram."
The three of them began to discuss.
Soon, they had drafted a few initial proposals.
For example, one idea was a free gift with purchase: customers who ordered one kilogram of strawberries could choose between a free 100-gram pack of Jasmine Strawberries or a free can of eel.
In terms of value, it was an easy choice: the 100 grams of Jasmine Strawberries were only worth about 6 yuan, whereas a can of eel was worth 14 yuan.
Staring at the inventory of over 80,000 cans of eel, Zhang Xinyi felt she had no choice but to move them this way.
Another promotional idea was a "Group Up" model. If a customer could get others to place an order with them, the price per unit would drop by 3% for each additional person, up to a maximum of five people, for a total possible discount of 15%.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Xinyi made a decision. "Let’s go with the first plan for now. We can still manage this month’s strawberry output, so let’s prioritize reducing the canned eel inventory."
"We’ll see how things are next month and decide whether to use the second promotion then. Oh, and Ah Bin, head over to the tech department later and have them develop a mini-program to support that second plan."
"No problem." Ah Bin nodded.
After giving out her instructions, Zhang Xinyi glanced at her watch. Seeing it was almost noon, she returned to her office, downed the rest of the black coffee in her cup, and then quickly tidied up the documents on her desk.
The time was exactly twelve noon.
In the first-floor lobby, people were lining up to clock out and head to the cafeteria for lunch.
To make dining more convenient for the employees, a new steel-framed, tin-roofed building had been constructed a few days prior in the small, seaside plaza out back. It could hold over a hundred people.
The old cafeteria hall could seat fifty to sixty people, and the employee cafeteria over in the research wing could hold another hundred.
All told, they could seat nearly three hundred people at once.
As quitting time arrived, a steady stream of electric scooters and motorcycles pulled up to the parking lot at the company entrance.
The number of workers at Nanhu Farm had increased significantly, now totaling nearly forty. These workers were all from Nanhu Village or the nearby town, so instead of going home for lunch, they came to eat at the company headquarters.
Meanwhile, the three daily meals for the cannery and the eel farm were delivered directly by staff from the headquarters’ cafeteria.
Zhang Xinyi clocked out, went straight to a table where boxed lunches were sorted by category, and picked up an "Office Worker’s Three-Entrée Combo."
Huang Qiuyue, who was overseeing the distribution of the boxed lunches, enthusiastically called out to her. "Xiaozhang, come here. Company business."
Looking at the small food container and the form Huang Qiuyue handed her, she was completely confused. "Auntie, what’s this?"
"It’s a new product from the cannery. Manager Li wants everyone to try it and write a review."
It finally clicked for Zhang Xinyi, and she quickly took them. "No problem."
Huang Qiuyue picked up another container and handed it to the next employee in line.
In reality, Jiang Miao knew nothing about this. Li Xinhua had privately asked Huang Qiuyue for help with this task. After all, when the boss’s own mother personally hands you a test product, do you dare refuse it or neglect to fill out the review?
Huang Qiuyue was in a state of semi-retirement at the company, generally just supervising sanitation and the cafeteria. Everyone, from the top down, showed her a great deal of respect.
Before long, every employee who came to the cafeteria for lunch had received a test product and an evaluation form.