Chapter 1857: Chapter 1859: Carefully Consider Customer Targeting
"Oh my, Mother is insinuating again that I’m not as smart as my brother." Yangyang covered his face. "Just because my brother hasn’t been tricked, does it mean the rest of us will definitely be?"
"Shut up!" Ye Zi’an knocked on his head, "You’re always so talkative."
"Alright, I’ll shut up."
Yangyang stopped talking, and Yang Chuxia shook her head, thinking this son must be a comedian sent by monkeys.
She turned back to Lele and continued, "Regarding your business, I won’t stop you. However, whatever you do, I hope you’ll inform me. Initially, I thought of letting you handle things without interference, allowing you to explore. If something goes wrong, your father and I would clean up the mess. But today, I realized it’s better for me to guide you. My son can follow the straight path, why take a detour?"
"Mother, even if you hadn’t said this, I was already planning to discuss things with you in the future." After this incident, Lele felt he really needed to properly learn the ways of commerce. Even the smallest aspects have many intricacies.
"That’s good." Yang Chuxia patted his head and said, "Tomorrow, I’ll help you reprice the furs. Your store can reopen after a few days. Furs sell better in late autumn, so you’re actually selling a bit early now. Today’s sales success was mainly because the furs were priced below the usual market rate, which ordinary wealthy families can’t easily afford. With such a drastic price drop, it’s naturally a rush to buy."
"But in the Capital City, the market for ordinary wealthy families isn’t as large as that for high officials and nobles. Firstly, wealthy families have weak purchasing power. Today, you sold three hundred pieces, at least a hundred people bought them, averaging one or two pieces per person. If your store targets high officials and nobles, one family could buy dozens of pieces, then raise the price. How many nobles are there in the Capital City? Have you calculated this?"
"The purchasing power of high officials and nobles is large and strong. You sell quickly and earn a lot, thus shortening your time to recoup costs." Yang Chuxia continued, "Once the money is recovered, you can put it in the bank to earn interest or use it for other things, making more profit. That’s how money begets money. Businessmen all want to quickly recoup costs, so they have cash on hand to seize other business opportunities."
"So that’s how it is." Lele rubbed his head, "I just thought of earning money, didn’t even consider the time to recoup costs."
"You’re young, it’s normal not to think about these things."
Yang Chuxia continued, "Another thing I want to tell you is, before selling anything, you must consider your target customer group. That means, think about whether you’re selling to ordinary people, wealthy families, businessmen, officials, or nobles. Is what you’re selling suitable for the target group? Also, what’s the price for ordinary people versus nobles? Just like with your furs, they’re clearly not suitable for ordinary people. For ordinary wealthy families, they may or may not be suitable. But for officials and nobles, they’re definitely suitable."
"Mother, what do you mean by suitable yet not suitable?" Lele’s big eyes were full of confusion.
"When I say suitable, I mean they can barely afford second-rate furs at their income level. Not suitable means they can’t afford top-grade furs. Mixing second-rate and top-grade in your sales is evidently harming your own interests. It’s beneficial for the wealthy families!"