Xinghai Shopping Mall, three o'clock in the afternoon.
A middle-aged man and a young man walked out of the mall, squatted by the road, and smoked.
The middle-aged bald man, who looked like a leader, took a puff of his cigarette and then profoundly asked the young man next to him:
"Xiao Hu, what do you think after seeing it? Tell me the truth, no flattery!"
"Leader, their shopping mall has a good shopping environment, a wide variety of products, and in terms of price, there isn't much difference compared to our state-owned appliance store."
"Yes, the prices are similar, but the popularity of the malls is completely different. At this time, theirs is packed, while we have only a few customers. The popularity of the two is not on the same level at all." The middle-aged bald man was Director Yang, the person in charge of the state-owned appliance store on Wuma Street in the city center.
Over the past six months, their appliance store's business had plummeted, and Director Yang had been trying to find the reason but couldn't.
After Xinghai Company held its lottery event, Director Yang only then learned that there was an appliance store in Oubei Wharf, and he felt that the existence of Xinghai Shopping Mall had severely impacted the revenue of the state-owned appliance store.
In terms of geographical location, Xinghai Shopping Mall was indeed inferior to their appliance store; their store was near Wuma Street in the city center, where there was a large flow of people.
The prices of electrical appliances in both malls were clearly not much different, but citizens preferred to cross the river to come to this Xinghai Shopping Mall to buy appliances.
They walked around the mall, and this Xinghai Shopping Mall was indeed large in scale, much bigger than their mall, and it had a complete range of electrical appliance categories.
Director Yang took a puff of his cigarette, then took out another one, lit it, and continued to smoke, falling into deep thought.
In reality, he hadn't figured out a few key points.
Due to the system, all goods in state-owned malls were sold from behind counters; customers who wanted to buy goods had to first communicate with the sales staff and then select the goods after they were brought out.
Because the sales staff did not receive proportional compensation, their work enthusiasm and efficiency were extremely low, and the customer shopping experience was basically zero. This was a major problem that had always existed in state-owned malls, but most managers didn't see this issue.
To completely break away from the old mall operating model and prioritize customer experience, the person in charge needed to change their mindset.
However, the goods in Xinghai Shopping Mall were completely open-shelf; customers could look and touch freely, and sales staff provided enthusiastic service, even pouring tea for customers.
What Director Yang didn't understand was why their sales staff were so enthusiastic. If he were to investigate more carefully, he might realize that they received commissions, and their monthly income was not low. Since they were working for themselves, they were naturally willing.
Moreover, Xinghai Shopping Mall had a management model different from other state-owned malls.
Even if Director Yang figured out the management model of Xinghai Shopping Mall and the reason for its popularity, it would probably be very difficult to completely break away from the old operating model of state-owned malls.
He now felt there were only two reasons: the mall's large scale and its comprehensive product range.
Therefore, customers were willing to come here to shop, even if it was just for leisure and not to buy anything, it was still good.
There was another important reason he had guessed, which was the lottery event held by Xinghai Company a while ago, which made Xinghai Shopping Mall famous.
But he hadn't figured out the impact of service attitude and business model on a mall.
If Director Yang broke the old state-owned closed-shelf sales model, removed all display counters, gave customers complete freedom of choice, and then reformed around the standard of service first, perhaps business would be much better.
The young man smoked along, seeing his leader worried, and came up with a bad idea: "Leader, why don't we just let the industrial and commercial department close them down? One step and it's done."
Director Yang glared at him, saying with great dissatisfaction: "You're thinking too much. You probably don't know the background of this mall. If our mall were located here in Oubei, it would be more likely that our state-owned appliance store would be closed down."
"Uh, Leader, I was just saying it casually." The young man wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Don't be impulsive in anything you do. Don't mess around without understanding the situation; you'll dig your own grave without even knowing it."
"Yes, Leader's criticism is right."
Director Yang extinguished his cigarette butt, stood up, and returned.
In reality, it was precisely because of his conservative thinking and lack of drive that the decline of the state-owned business he led was only a matter of time.
Although the state-owned appliance store's business was poor now, the profit per unit was high, so they were still making money.
After a few years, as the profit per unit becomes thinner and more appliance stores emerge, they will end up like those supply and marketing cooperatives, completely declining.
Some employees who worked in supply and marketing cooperatives, after understanding the situation, had their family members open small supermarkets, and these people would become rich.
As for those conservative individuals, earning wages would become increasingly difficult, and even making it to retirement would be a struggle.
There were many people like Director Yang who specifically came to Xinghai Shopping Mall for inspection. Some bosses planned to copy Xinghai Shopping Mall's model and open identical malls in other places.
Xinghai Shopping Mall's business was too booming. Some astute individuals estimated that its daily turnover exceeded 50,000 yuan, possibly reaching 100,000 yuan, and it would double on Sundays, with a monthly profit exceeding 1 million yuan.
Many enterprises with hundreds of employees couldn't even reach a profit of 1 million yuan in a year, but one mall could achieve that in a month.
...
One month later,
At 11:30 AM on May 10th, Fang Bai walked out of the classroom, letting out a sigh of relief.
The second mock exam was finally over!
"Fang Shao, skipping class again."
Students who had handed in their papers early and left saw Fang Bai with his satchel slung over his shoulder and greeted him with a chuckle.
"Mm, yeah." Fang Bai smiled. He had already gotten used to the moniker "Fang Shao"; many students called him that, mainly those from other classes.
Students in his own class still called him "Fang Laoda."
"Fang Shao, take care!"
Fang Bai waved back at the students who waved to him, then walked out of the school gate, where a young man with a scar on his face was waiting for him at the security office.
"General Manager Fang, do you want me to carry it?"
"No need, I'll carry it. It's just a few steps. I'm not so pampered that I can't even carry my own satchel." Fang Bai chuckled.
This young man was a newly recruited demobilized soldier from the company named Li Xiaolong, only 23 years old, 1.7 meters tall, with dark skin and a sturdy build. He looked a bit like Bruce Lee, so Fang Bai called him Brother Long.
"The public security hasn't been very good recently. Last night, there was a case of a Fiat car robbery near Wuma Street," Li Xiaolong reminded him. He had been employed for two weeks and was dedicated to protecting Fang Bai.
When he was interviewed, General Manager Fang asked him about his family situation, then explained the benefits and welfare, and finally decided to hire him, having him sign a labor contract and worker's compensation insurance.
If he became disabled during work and could not continue working, Xinghai Company would continue to pay him a basic salary until retirement.
If he was injured or died, Xinghai Company would provide a one-time compensation of five times his annual salary to his family.
This worker's compensation insurance allowed Li Xiaolong to protect Fang Bai with peace of mind, without any worries.
Xinghai Company's salary and benefits were very good. Only after Li Xiaolong started working did he realize that the actual controller of Xinghai Company was this student. He couldn't help but admire him and was very respectful to Fang Bai. Before the interview, he had thought he was going to protect a pampered spoiled brat.
He came from a poor family with five siblings; he was the second oldest. His family had no connections or background, and the job arranged after his military discharge was unstable and couldn't support his family at all. If he had been assigned to a state-owned vehicle fleet, it would have been excellent, but unfortunately, they didn't want him. There were too few cars and too many people, so even if he could drive, he couldn't get a driver's job. Some time ago, he saw Xinghai Company's recruitment poster, so he decided to try it, and after two rounds of interviews, he was hired.
"Mm, public security is still a bit chaotic."
Fang Bai nodded. The public security environment in those years was indeed relatively poor.
Now, Fang Bai had a bodyguard accompanying him whenever he went out. Although his home was less than a hundred meters from the school, who knew if there were any thugs waiting for him?
The family had already bought a santana car, and Li Xiaolong would drive him when he went out for business.
Currently, the company had hired two demobilized soldiers in total and was still continuously recruiting more.
After Fang Bai put his satchel at home, he and Li Xiaolong went to the mall for lunch.
After lunch, Fang Bai went to inspect the progress of the construction site next door.
Xinghai Plaza has one basement level, so the earthwork was dug ten meters deep, and the piles were fifteen meters deep. Currently, the earth excavation and piling work have been completed, and steel bars are being tied in preparation for pouring the foundation.
The excavated soil was directly piled on the vacant land nearby and would be backfilled later.
Fang Bai patrolled once, looking forward to its completion.
According to the project schedule, it could be put into use by May of next year.