2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 487 A man is a boy until he dies

Children who don't have to go to school are lucky; if their families are well-off, they are even luckier.

However, little Tan Jinyue did not get to see the first snow in the capital. The beauty of the first snow in the Forbidden City was destined not to be seen before her third birthday.

The family of five took several sets of photos in Hanfu (traditional Han clothing), and Boss Tan and Boss Gu even uploaded several of these photos to their respective social media accounts.

The Ming-style flying fish robe paired with the horse-face skirt that accentuates a woman's figure was a very avant-garde style for this era.

At the same time, in an era when Japanese and Korean styles were very popular and Korean culture almost dominated domestic popular culture, the two of them actively promoting Chinese culture also aroused a lot of heated discussions.

The apparel business of Flash Group, managed by Zhang Xupeng, has always maintained a clear distinction from existing non-mainstream and Korean culture since they started doing foreign trade.

The main focus is on freshness and naturalness. The reason why Tan Jincheng remembers the GXG brand is because he was used to the brand's freshness in his previous life, without too many fancy things.

Since the second half of the year, Hong Kong and Taiwan stars have probably been unable to stand the situation of the Korean wave taking over the market. Stars including Jay Chou have begun to call on fans to pay more attention to the Chinese music scene.

For every person who likes K-pop, there is someone who dislikes it. GXG's clothing brand targets people who are not into K-pop. Its appearance and style are very different from those of K-pop, and its mid-range pricing perfectly hits the consumer psychology of this group.

Going against mainstream culture and openly promoting it is definitely not an option. You have to understand that the people who like K-pop and those who are not mainstream are all young people, and they are also potential users of GXG in the future. We can't afford to offend them.

Years later, when they enter society, and popular culture changes along with their mature thinking, they will feel ashamed when they open QQ Space and see the childish Martian language they used to use. That will be the time when they prefer simplicity and freshness.

Therefore, marketing cannot play against their psychology; it must be subtle and gradual. GXG's current marketing strategy follows this approach. Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing usually wear GXG, actively recommending it.

In addition, they frequently update their social media accounts with trendy elements, and with their already outstanding physical appearance, coupled with tailor-made clothes, they look very beautiful and handsome.

The term "non-mainstream" simply represents their thoughts and behaviors at a certain point in time. It doesn't mean they lack aesthetic judgment; they can also feel envy for handsome appearances.

Marketing that works subtly and quietly may not seem to have much effect now, but over a longer period of time, its terrifying power becomes apparent.

"When Lao Zhou shouts 'Chinese style is the coolest' on the podium, that's probably when FlashChe Apparel's philosophy will reap the rewards," Tan Jincheng thought to himself, staring at Gu Qingqing's photo on his computer.

"This horse-face skirt looks quite pretty on, but a thinner version would probably show off your figure even more," Gu Qingqing said casually to Tan Jincheng while fiddling with her camera.

This was also the first time she had ever worn this thing. To be honest, the whole family was just lucky to have Xiao Jinyue. If it weren't for Xiao Jinyue, Tan Jincheng really wouldn't have bothered with all this.

The consequence is that, in addition to the existing GXG brand, Jinpeng has also created a children's clothing design group and a Hanfu design group. The children's clothing design group has already developed very sophisticated design and production capabilities.

Zhang Xupeng has established a large number of garment manufacturing plants in Zhili. If he had more energy, he would have liked to promote his own children's clothing brand this year. However, Jinpeng's own children's clothing brand is already under construction.

Zhang Xupeng's plan is to fully promote his own children's clothing brand once GXG is almost ready.

As for Hanfu, it's too niche and can't be promoted until a certain time is right. Moreover, it's much more complicated to make than regular clothes, so it's very difficult to promote before the circle expands.

In my memory, Hanfu only became particularly popular around 2020.

“Each has its own beauty. If you’re not satisfied, we can take another set when it gets warmer, or we can take Chinese-style wedding photos.”

"Who wants to take pictures of that stuff with you? But if we're talking about how good it looks, it's definitely more flattering on kids like Jin Yue. She looks especially cute in it."

"Hehe, once Lao Zhang has some free time, these clothes won't just be hers anymore. Lao Zhang has been eyeing these children's clothes for a long time and has wanted to promote them for a long time. In his words, this is his old profession."

Zhang Xupeng single-handedly developed the children's clothing export business, and he is indeed proud of it. Now he wants to have his own children's clothing brand and be able to establish himself in the market.

"I just don't know if Jin Yue will feel ashamed when she sees the brand you registered when she grows up. You are a good brother to her, but you can be quite mean sometimes."

"Haha, what's so shameful about that?"

Jinpeng's children's clothing brand is named "Yueyue" in Chinese and "YY" in English. The logo is a cartoonish little figure based on Tan Jinyue, which is simple and cute. Tan Jincheng is quite satisfied with this brand image.

For children's brands, the simpler and cuter the better, like Balala the Fairies or similar brands—basically, the cuter the better.

I wonder what Tan Jinyue will feel when she grows up and looks at her own name and the children's clothing brand designed with her childhood image. Speaking of which, this was all a prank by Tan Jincheng. If it were really about copying the names of some well-known children's clothing brands from later generations, not to mention anything else, Mr. Tan still remembers the names of a few children's clothing brands under Metersbonwe that don't exist yet.

"You previously said that you felt ashamed to see your old QQ nickname from high school. How do you know she isn't ashamed? That was her cartoon character."

"Then it's none of my business. We'll just pin it on Brother Zhang and say that it was his idea."

Gu Qingqing was speechless. Sometimes she really couldn't understand her husband. When he was mature and calm, he was really fascinating, but sometimes he would do some things that seemed very childish.

Actually, creating a children's clothing brand using your younger sister's image is something to be very proud of. Firstly, it shows that you have the ability, and secondly, it demonstrates your love for your sister and adds depth to the brand.

But in his mind, he just wanted to play a prank on his younger sister and see if she would feel ashamed when she grew up and saw her childhood cartoon image appear on other children.

This could be considered fun or a joke, but speaking of this trip to the capital, there was something even more bizarre, and it wasn't just my own family member who was bizarre, Wang Wei was also quite bizarre.

This trip to Beijing did not involve any plans to establish a northern base, but that does not mean that SF Express and Orange Products will not have such plans in the future. At the very least, they will not give up the market around Beijing.

Even if ZJS Express is the strongest, we still have to compete with them. Finding suitable land and locations in advance is one of our objectives at this time.

In the north, there are many bare trees in winter. While looking for land, they found a straight dead tree. Gu Qingqing didn't know who found it. She just saw the two of them arguing over the dead tree, each insisting that they were the first to find it.

In the end, with no other option, the two decided to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would get the withered tree, and Tan Jincheng unfortunately lost.

Gu Qingqing still remembers Tan Jincheng saying with a regretful expression, "Never mind, you're too old, I'll give you the honor because of your age."

Wang Wei was quite eccentric; he actually shipped the stick back.

"Men are boys until they die, you don't understand. Maintaining this youthful spirit not only brings joy to oneself, but sometimes it is also a benefit to the company."

In the mobile internet era, no one likes an entrepreneur who is greasy, loves to spout nonsense, and constantly lectures young people on how to be a person. On the contrary, entrepreneurs who are approachable, down-to-earth, and can get along well with young people are very popular.

It's not just Lei Jun; since the advent of the live streaming era, many companies that can connect with young people have gained a lot of development opportunities. Tan Jincheng was particularly impressed by the old men at Vitality 28.

Starting with no knowledge of the internet, he quickly won the favor of young people with his unpretentious behavior, revitalizing a company on the verge of bankruptcy.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that the product quality is up to standard.

"Shouldn't we contact the investors and discuss the Series C funding?"

It's been two days since I returned from Beijing, and Tan Jincheng still hasn't mentioned the Series C funding. During the seven and a half days of the Double Eleven promotion from the 11th to the 18th, the publicly announced GMV was 1.87 million yuan, averaging 103.88 million yuan per hour.

The website has 10.12 registered users, and 8.25 users have actually made purchases and become members. Orange Products has a membership mechanism where users automatically become members of the website after making a purchase.

Members will receive various benefits such as promotional offers, orange coins for purchases, store privileges, birthday surprises, and door-to-door return services, all without any membership fees.

Selling 100 million yuan in one hour was a peak performance on the first day, but maintaining that level for an extended period would be difficult for Orange Products in its current state.

However, while the actual figures for these two crucial data points are somewhat exaggerated compared to the publicly released figures, they are not excessively so.

Organizations have their own channels to obtain Orange Products' key data. They don't care about the amount of GMV; what they value most is the number of registered users on Orange Products. In just one week, nearly 10 people registered.

Conservatively speaking, it won't take more than two months for Orange Products to have more than 20 registered users, which is much more impressive than Taobao was back then.

Of course, market environments differ, and the benefits of successive generations are not universally applicable, but this does not prevent Orange Products from being sought after by capital.

Although Shen Nanpeng and the other two didn't know why Tan Jincheng and his companion had gone to the capital during the crucial period of the Orange Products Promotion, they were certain it wasn't for the sake of setting up a courier network, as he had claimed. There's no time when you can't do something like that.

In summary, this kid is up to something, and it's going to be big trouble!

(End of this chapter)