Reborn in 08, Public Enemy of Competitors

"Now, a suit with a factory price of 105 yuan can't even earn 4 yuan in profit."

On the other end of the phone, Qin Xinyue's helpless sighs could be heard repeatedly.

"How could this happen!"

Du Manqing was shocked. Although the profit margin for OEM manufacturing is very low, it shouldn't be as low as less than 3%.

"It's good enough if we can make a profit. More than half of the garment factories in Wenzhou are now operating at half capacity."

Qin Xinyue said, "It's all because of the subprime mortgage crisis. Our overseas customers are either delaying payment or defaulting on their contracts and refusing to take delivery of the goods."

Du Manqing asked anxiously, "What about our home?"

Qin Xinyue said, "It's alright. Although a few foreign merchants canceled their orders at the last minute due to exchange rate fluctuations, and suits and skirts are piling up in the warehouse, thankfully we have you and other online stores with their scattered orders, so the factory is still running. Other companies weren't so lucky."

"The factories owned by your dad's friends closed down completely a while ago, and they even laid off all the workers!"

"Ah, it's closed!"

Du Manqing was repeatedly surprised.

"There's no other way; if we can't make money, we have to stop production."

Qin Xinyue said, "We'll resume production whenever we receive an order."

Du Manqing grew increasingly anxious: "I'll go ask Shen Mo if he has any ideas!"

"good!"

Qin Xinyue didn't have high expectations. It wasn't that she underestimated Shen Mo, but rather that she felt that YiTao GO and the garment factory seemed to have no connection.

After ending the call, Du Manqing couldn't wait to call Shen Mo and tell him the whole story.

Shen Mo said, "This isn't just a problem in Wenzhou; places like Yiwu and Dongguan also encounter the same issue."

Du Manqing asked worriedly, "What should we do?"

"Well..."

Shen Mo comforted her, saying, "Actually, the better your online store does, the more beneficial it will be for your parents' factory."

Du Manqing nodded. The reason why the factory was willing to accept orders with extremely low profit margins was not because it was greedy for a few cents, but because it wanted to reduce costs.

The biggest pressure on the factory lies in fixed costs such as equipment depreciation, factory rent, and skilled worker wages. These costs are constantly being burned, regardless of whether the machines are running or not. So even if they only earn 3 cents per meter of fabric, as long as they can ensure the operation of workers and machines and avoid the machines running idle, it's fine.

"I wish I could sell as many as Vancl every day."

Du Manqing pursed her lips.

"Don't worry, although YiTaoGO's group buying activity won't let you sell nearly 10,000 items right away, selling two or three hundred should be no problem."

Shen Mo changed the subject, "However, I might have a better way to help your parents."

Du Manqing's tone was full of anticipation: "What method!?"

Shen Mo said mysteriously, "It's hard to explain over the phone. Let's talk in person at the usual place tomorrow."

Hearing this, Du Manqing felt half relieved. Holding her phone, she gazed at the bright moon, with the occasional chirping of insects in her ears.

………………

The YiTao GO recruitment event is still in full swing, and more than a dozen people have been added, expanding the team to 21 people.

Thankfully, we asked Fan Jin for rooms 312 and 208 in advance, otherwise there wouldn't have been enough room for so many people.

Although the school did not directly allocate innovation and entrepreneurship funds, it provided five business office computers, one printer, several desks, water dispensers, and refrigerators free of charge, which was a form of support within its capabilities.

Shen Mo accepted all offers, after all, Woshou.com had reached the point where it had to be shut down.

Even if Ali doesn't call for help or file a lawsuit, Ali's mother and Taobao's newly updated auditing system are already putting Woshou.com in a very difficult position.

Having lost a stable income of two to three hundred thousand yuan, Shen Mo has to accelerate the development of YiTao GO.

Time waits for no one! Seize every minute!

Shen Mo looked serious as he faced Yuan Hua, Zhong Xue, Xu Kun, and the others.

"Wenbin, Fengzi, keep an eye on the investment promotion team!"

"We need to focus on both the quantity and quality of brands we attract. The monthly target for the number of brands to be introduced is the bottom line, but we must maintain strict standards regarding quality!"

"It's not like we just put any random, shady business in there!"

"Understood, Brother Mo."

Lu Wenbin nodded: "The merchant level is directly linked to our commission rate, and I will definitely keep a close eye on this and never let anyone cheat us."

"There's also cross-departmental collaboration."

Shen Mo continued, "The cooperation between the merchant recruitment team, the operations team, and the price comparison team must be smooth, and the efficiency of resolving customer complaints must also keep up. Otherwise, if merchants come in but the operations team can't promote them, the price comparison doesn't match, and no one takes care of customer complaints, then recruiting more merchants will be useless."

Upon hearing this, Lu Wenbin, Qin Feng, Yuan Hua, and the others stopped their joking and nodded solemnly.

"Furthermore, for any merchants with whom we have in-depth cooperation, especially those participating in group-buying activities, we must ask them to send us samples."

"Follow the script I taught you, and the samples can be returned; we'll cover the postage."

"If they still refuse, throw the data from YiTaoGO in their faces. Unless they're stupid, they'll definitely agree."

He looked left and right in silence.

These days, what e-commerce platforms lack most is visible traffic. As long as it can be proven that YiTaoGO has a customer base and traffic, they will naturally be willing to cooperate.

"Our next goal is to exceed 10,000 daily orders, over 10 million monthly sales, and 100,000 daily active users, all by the end of the year."

Shen Mo didn't use any rousing slogans or make any tempting promises; he simply stated his position calmly, his eyes brimming with undisguised confidence.

Even so, Zhong Xue, Xu Kun, and the others were still excited and were thinking that they might as well continue working with Shen Mo after graduation!

How many users does YiTao GO have now?

"Boss, YiTao GO has a total of 22.4 registered users, 2.6 active users yesterday, and a weekly retention rate of 11.6%."

Zhong Xue pushed up her glasses.

Chen Bo said embarrassedly, "Brother Mo, I'm sorry, I've tried all sorts of ways to improve the retention rate, but..."

"Users on shopping guide platforms are naturally drawn together by profit and disperse when there is no profit."

Shen Mo said seriously, "So we need to focus on the word 'profit.' YiTao GO can hold a daily one-yuan flash sale event, preparing some items for users to grab..."

Yuan Hua slapped his forehead: "Yeah, it's just like the daily sign-in event in a game."

"It's not just daily, it can also be weekly or monthly. The higher the value of the item, the more attractive the 1-yuan flash sale becomes."

Shen Mo smiled and said, "Besides, if YiTaoGO grows bigger in the future, we won't necessarily have to buy the prizes ourselves; we might be able to get them for free."

"For example, the samples that merchants send may not need to be sent back later."

Zhong Xuexin understood immediately and said, "This will save warehouse space in Room 206 and also boost DAU and MAU with the 1-yuan flash sale."

Shen Mo said, "How's it going, Chen Bo? Is everything alright now?"

"No, Brother Mo!"

Chen Bo let out a breath, feeling the pressure ease instantly, and readily accepted the task.

Young people in their early twenties don't have the word "coward" in their vocabulary.

………………

The sun is shining brightly outside the window; the lingering heat of late summer is still quite strong.

Shen Mo found an excuse to go downstairs to a small supermarket not far away, where he saw Du Manqing holding an umbrella and carrying soda water and iced cola.

"for you."

Thanks.

"If you want to thank me, just tell me what you should do."

Du Manqing raised the umbrella high, covering the two of them. "I was so anxious last night that I couldn't sleep all night. I kept thinking about my parents."

"Actually, it's simple in a way."

Shen Mo took a sip of cola. "Those suits and skirts in the factory, the foreigners broke their contracts and didn't want them anymore, so why not just take them out and sell them?"

Du Manqing blinked. "Sell? How much? There are tens of thousands of these in the warehouse!"

Shen Mo retorted, "Have you forgotten the event you're supposed to attend?"

"You mean...?"

A sudden inspiration struck Du Manqing.

"Have your dad bring some clothing samples to Hangzhou, then we can sit down and have a good chat about how to clear out the inventory quickly and effectively."

Shen Mo smiled. There was more than one way to solve the problem of excess inventory in the garment factory.

For example, Vipshop's model involves paying around 15% in advance to buy out the surplus inventory of brand owners or OEM manufacturers.

If we organize another limited-time flash sale like Vancl, and gradually expand the scale and gain more bargaining power, we can attract more brand partners, and even return unsold goods directly.

However, this means that YiTaoGO will have to transform from a shopping guide platform into an e-commerce platform.

Moreover, to transform from a light-asset to a heavy-asset model, it is necessary to build warehouses to stockpile goods, which is not suitable for YiTaoGO with limited financial resources.

Therefore, Shen Mo came up with a new strategy.

It can help factories struggling due to the subprime crisis clear their inventory, bring both fame and fortune to YiTaoGO, and might even attract angel investment...