Chapter 279 - 195: Familiar Faces

Chapter 279: Chapter 195: Familiar Faces

December was drawing to a close. Between the month-end and year-end summaries, there was simply too much to talk about.

At the Yino Group’s national conference, Zhang Shijie proudly reported on the group’s earnings for the year!

Yino Group’s annual revenue had grown by 7% and its profits by 3%. These figures shouldn’t be underestimated; in the current economic climate, many retail enterprises were experiencing double-digit declines!

The fact that Yino Group managed to buck the trend and grow was no easy feat!

What’s more, Yino Group had acquired Sa Mo this year, and the Hanjiang District had taken on the distribution for Ledi. Both ventures were expected to take off next year, contributing significant sales and profits to the group!

At the same time, with Chen Xiao’s help, a design team from Chanel had arrived to reposition and redesign the original Yino brand.

Next year, the Yino brand was sure to be a dazzling success!

With that, the grand strategy of multiple brands and multiple channels had taken shape. All that remained was to see how they would conquer the market next year.

Last time in Jiangzhou, according to President Chen’s plan, Junxiao Square would acquire no fewer than 30 plazas nationwide next year—all of them high-quality properties!

Once Yino Group went all-in with its full portfolio of brands, these 30 plazas alone were projected to generate an additional 1.5 billion in revenue. That would represent a leap of over 20%, even if other channels showed no growth at all!

How could Zhang Shijie not be thrilled!

The Hanjiang District—formerly the Jiangzhou Branch—was doing even more incredible things. Based on current projections, its sales volume was set to reach 700 million next year, a more than 40% increase!

Furthermore, this growth would come entirely from high-end, high-profit brands. The Hanjiang District’s net profit margin was projected to exceed 13% next year—an astonishing figure!

On top of that, Yino Group was in an extremely favorable position: it was flush with cash. Not only had they not used up the 2 billion from President Zhao’s last capital injection, but the amount had actually grown!

Even after paying for the acquisition of Sa Mo, there was still a large surplus.

This was because the second half of the year was the peak sales season, bringing in a strong cash flow. It was a good problem to have!

’No matter. We’ll just pay out higher dividends. Let everyone have a great New Year!’

As Junxiao Business Management had only been established this year, when setting KPIs, they hadn’t aimed for excessively high rental income, focusing instead on the plazas’ overall sales figures.

They poured in huge subsidies in the form of cash coupons. This led to a 50% increase in sales, but it also caused the expense ratio to skyrocket by 1200%. This number seemed terrifying at first glance, but it was mainly because the original Wansheng Square’s monthly budget for sales promotions was only about 50,000. In the short time since Junxiao Square took over, they had already spent 2 million on promotions!

An extra 1.95 million spent in exchange for an additional 100 million in sales—it was definitely worth it!

Although most of the tenants in the plaza were on fixed-rent contracts, meaning their sales growth didn’t directly increase the plaza’s revenue, there were exceptions.

There were also some tenants on a pure revenue-sharing model, like Xia Bin’s Four Seasons Clothing. The increase in their sales did significantly boost the plaza’s rental income!

Most importantly, the recent promotions attracted a new wave of shoppers, helping them form the habit of shopping at Junxiao Square and converting them into a regular customer base.

Right now, both Tianlong Square and Qingyun Wansheng Square were busy changing their names and all related signage and promotional materials.

The two plazas were rushing to hold their grand re-openings simultaneously next Friday, which naturally required another huge investment in promotional events.

Junxiao Business Management wasn’t playing favorites; the 25 million in marketing funds that Xu Jun had promised was instantly approved by the group!

After Lin Ya received the news, she pondered for a long time. Even now, she couldn’t understand why the group was so willing to invest so heavily.

Back when she was with Lifan Business Management, the entire annual marketing budget never exceeded 2 million. They ran on an asset-light model, where every penny spent was a direct hit to the bottom line.

’Twenty-five million... They had never been so lavish!’

Of course, Qingyun Junxiao Square wouldn’t be given quite as much. In terms of both city tier and mall size, it was much smaller than the two Junxiao Squares in Jiangzhou.

But even so, it was still given a marketing budget of 15 million. Liu Nan was so happy he nearly passed out!

’A plaza that collected less than 40 million in annual rent was being given 15 million for marketing? Was there any other management company in the world this outrageously rich and bold?’

’Just how much money did the group have? First, raises for everyone, and now they were carpet-bombing the market with promotional funds!’

At the wrap-up meeting, Xu Jun also reported on the acquisition of three more Wansheng Square locations. They had essentially reached an agreement on the price with Wansheng Group and would push through all the paperwork for the transfer within two weeks.

Everyone at the meeting felt as if they were in a dream. Two months ago, nobody had even heard of Junxiao Square.

Two months later, Junxiao Business Management had already shaken up the entire Hanjiang region. Starting next month, there would be six Junxiao Squares in Hanjiang.

But one group’s celebration was another’s lament.

Junxiao Business Management’s move was like pulling the rug out from under them, snatching away all of Wansheng Group Hanjiang Region’s best properties. Not only was the Wansheng Hanjiang Region left with no prime locations, but its total number of plazas had also been significantly reduced.

From fifteen plazas, they were now left with ten, all of which were still in the development phase. Peng Yu’s standing in the business world plummeted.

Xu Gang also had a great week; he sold 20 Tianqi 01 units. Buyers currently received nearly 80,000 in benefits, which was practically a fire sale.

’They were losing money on every single car, but of course, the policy had been cleared with Xu Wu. The group had to liquidate these cars. What else were they going to do, keep them all for personal use?’

’Without massive incentives, no one would even look at a discontinued model like this. If he reported zero sales for another week, President Xu would probably chew him out and tell him to get lost!’

At the same time, by leveraging a special channel policy from President Xu, they had successfully expanded their network by 20 locations this week, ten of which were snatched directly from Feichi Auto’s sales network.