Chapter 65 I Regret Taking Off The Soft Care Shampoo!
Pengcheng Wansheng Department Store Supermarket Chain Headquarters.
General manager Zhou Lihong looked at last month's sales report normally.
At the beginning, the sales reports of the two stores were normal, and there were no major problems.
But as soon as I opened the sales report from the third one, I immediately noticed something was wrong.
Zhou Lihong was accustomed to looking at the total amount at first glance, and he immediately discovered that the total sales amount was a lot less than the October bill.
In terms of percentage, it was at least nearly 30% less. He immediately started to look at the detailed sales situation.
After reading it again, he took out the report of this store last month from the drawer under his feet and compared it.
This comparison immediately revealed the problem.
Although all categories did decline, for example, the fresh food category, which has been very stable, dropped by nearly 8%~.
Although drinks, snacks, etc. have all declined to varying degrees, the degree of decline is not very serious.
The real big ones are toiletries and oral care products in the daily necessities category.
These two categories have always been high-profit products for supermarkets, with gross profits exceeding 30%.
It is only slightly lower than the gross profit of fresh food and mineral water. After all, the gross profit of mineral water basically exceeds 40%.
However, a bottle of mineral water only costs one or two yuan. In fact, very few people come to chain supermarkets to buy mineral water, and most of them buy it directly from small stores.
As for shampoo, toothpaste and the like, the price is often ten or twenty, and the first-line brand shampoo and shower gel is even more profitable, which is frighteningly high.
Comparing the two reports, he immediately discovered that the sales volume of daily chemical products in October was nearly 7% less than that in October.
Now that he found the reason, Zhou Lihong immediately took out the report of this branch and put it aside, and continued to look down.
The more he looked at him, the uglier his face became. After reading all the reports from more than a dozen branches, he pulled out as many as six reports.
Although some profits fell, it was not too serious and he did not take them out, but he knew that there were also problems with daily chemical products in those branches.
"Xiao Zhang, come in!"
Zhou Lihong rubbed his eyebrows with one hand and dialed his assistant's number with the other to ask him to come see him.
In less than a minute, Zhang Shaoqun came to the office and stood watching Zhou Lihong.
"Please inform the store managers of these six branches to come to the headquarters to see me immediately."
"Okay, I'll do it right away!"
Taking over the branch name circled by Zhou Lihong, Zhang Shaoqun answered immediately.
An hour later, six people were already standing in Zhou Lihong's office, including four men and two women.
Seeing the six people bowing their heads in silence, with obvious guilty looks, they knew why they were called here.
"Tell me! What happened? Why did the sales of your branches drop so much?"
Zhou Lihong put the elbow of one hand on the desk, lowered his head and rubbed his eyebrows, and said in a low voice.
Six people, look at me, I see you are all trying to get others to speak.
After waiting for nearly a minute, no one came forward to explain. Zhou Lihong pointed a finger impatiently.
"Speak first!"
The person who was pointed out could only bite the bullet and come out and tell the problem he discovered.
"Manager, in fact, our business has been taken away by the new Tesco supermarket!"
"Go on, what tricks did he use to steal it!"
Seeing that he did not continue, Zhou Lihong shouted impatiently.
“For general merchandise, they come back with great intensity during their opening activities. The coverage area of my branch overlaps too much with theirs, so most customers are attracted there.
As for the sharp drop in sales of daily chemicals, the reason is that the other company has added a few products from a manufacturer called Tiansheng Daily Chemicals, and their supermarket gave away a large number of trial packs.
Those consumers felt that the experience was very good after using it, and they were attracted to buy these four products. After purchasing these products, they will naturally not come to us to buy other products.
I have bought several of these products and tried them out at home. At present, our family has thrown the products of the Procter & Gamble Group into the garbage.
After listening to what the other party said, Zhou Lihong began to analyze it carefully. After nearly five or six minutes, he looked up at the others and asked:
"Is the situation in your branches similar to what he said? Tesco has also opened a store near the branch?"
Several people nodded quickly and said that this was indeed the reason.
At this moment, one of the younger men looked very dissatisfied and said:
“At the beginning, our supermarket also had a gentle care shampoo. Although the sales volume was average after it was put on the shelves, after using it, I felt that the potential was very good.
However, I suggested to the sales department that we discuss with the manufacturer to do some activities to increase our visibility. Unexpectedly, what we waited for was not an activity but products being removed from the shelves.
I, the manager of the purchasing department, made a suggestion not to remove the products from the shelves, but the purchasing department insisted on removing them all. Otherwise, we would not have been so passive this time.
Zhou Lihong immediately caught the important information and asked: "You said the purchasing department asked these products to be removed from the shelves?"
"Yes, it was useless even if I, the store manager, objected at the beginning, the purchasing department insisted on taking it off the shelves.
"Xiao Zhang, call the purchasing manager to come see me!" Zhou Hong immediately asked his assistant purchasing manager to come over.
"You go back first!" Since they already knew what the problem was, there was no need for these store managers to keep Zhou Lihong and let him go directly.
Not long after the six people left, the Purchasing Department Manager Zhou Lihai came to Zhou Lihong and said with a smile:
"Brother, are you looking for me?"
"Tell me! What's going on with Tiansheng Daily Chemical?" Zhou Lihong glared at his brother.
"Tiansheng Daily Chemical? What's going on?" Zhou Lihai asked directly without responding.
Seeing his brother in such a state, Zhou Lihong wanted to slap him.
"After the Soft Care Shampoo was put on the shelves, it was purchased and removed from the shelves by the manufacturer, right?"
Zhou Lihong stood up, stared at the other person, and shouted every word, and the sound could be heard outside the office area.
"Soft care shampoo, soothing shampoo." Zhou Lihai Nannan repeated the two sentences before remembering and said quickly: "I remember, isn't this a small manufacturer jointly banned by the Procter & Gamble Group, L'Oreal and Li Hua.
I consulted your opinion when I removed it from the shelves, and I removed it only after you agreed to remove it!"
"Damn it! When did you ask for my opinion?"
"Brother! Although I'm not as smart as you, you can't just blame everything on me. I asked you this when we were having dinner with dad after the day was over, and you agreed!"
Zhou Lihai said very aggrieved when the other party refused to admit it.
As soon as these words came out, Zhou Lihong thought about it carefully and remembered that the other party had actually asked for his opinion, but he didn't take it seriously at all and didn't remember it.
"Okay, you contact the other manufacturer immediately and tell us that our supermarket wants to purchase their products and sell them in our supermarket."
"Brother, you are not afraid of the three giants of daily chemicals! They have ordered dealers to cut off the supply of their company's products as long as supermarkets have them!"
…Please give me flowers…
"My house has been stolen, why do you care what they do! Hurry up and do as I say.
Forget it, you contact their sales manager and tell him that I want to treat him to dinner and hope he will give you a favor.
"Okay! I'll contact you now."
Lu Yan was very different when she received a call from Zhou Lihai, although she had only contacted Zhou Lihai once.
But she still remembered Zhou Lihai's Wansheng Department Store as one of several supermarket resources she developed in Pengcheng.
But later on, the other party also followed the four major distributors and directly removed their own company's products, but the size of the company was smaller.
If you don't dare to withhold the payment and remaining products, and directly return the goods for payment, you will never cooperate with them.
When Lu Yan heard that the general manager of the other company invited her to dinner, she refused and didn't take it seriously.
What she didn't expect was that as soon as she walked out of the company building after get off work the next day, she saw Zhou Lihai running over with a middle-aged man.
Zhou Lihong: "Manager Lu, I wonder if I can give you a face and a meal?"
"Who are you?"
"General Manager of Wansheng Department Store, Zhou Lihong!"
"I'm sorry, I'm very busy. I don't have to eat. If you have any questions, just tell me! I'll see if I can help you!"
Lu Yan directly refused the other party's dinner and asked the other party to directly tell him the purpose of meeting him.
"Manager Lu, I just learned that this guy suddenly removed your products from the shelves without any reason. I actually brought him here to apologize to you.
I have always said that in doing business, you must keep your word and have a structure. It is wrong for your company's products to be removed from the shelves if they are legal and compliant.
I came here this time to discuss the re-listing with you. "
Zhou Lihai immediately bowed his head and apologized in cooperation: "Manager Lu, I did something wrong last time. I hope you can forgive me!"
"Look, Manager Lu, why don't we have a meal together and talk about the new shelves?" Zhou Lihong struck while the iron was hot.
Unfortunately, Lu Yan declined directly: "I'm sorry, I don't care about this matter now. It must be reported to the general manager for review.
If you don’t mind, can I help you draw it tomorrow?”
Zhou Lihai didn't expect that the other party's attitude would change so quickly. However, he remembered that Lu Yan was very humble when she saw him last time and was always trying to please him.
"Then I wonder if the general manager of your company is free tomorrow? I can come and talk to him personally about putting it on the shelves. I guarantee that our supermarket will definitely find the best place to display your company's products!"
Zhou Lihong directly proposed the idea of discussing the matter with Chen Xiran in person.
"I can't make the decision on this. Let me ask you tomorrow. If the general manager agrees, I will contact you?"
After all, Lu Yan didn't know Chen Xiran's attitude, so she didn't show too much indifference.
"According to you, this Wansheng Department Store really wants to put our products on the shelves?"
Li Yu asked directly after listening to Chen Xiran's analysis.
"Yes, otherwise it would be impossible for the other party to be so respectful to Lu Yan." Chen Xiran nodded.
Li Yu said: "Do you have the location layout of all the other stores? If so, show me."
Chen Xiran immediately opened his drawer and handed a map of Pengcheng to Li Yu. There were many small circles on the map.
"Lu Yan gave this to me. She thought it through very carefully."