It was like Tan Jincheng returning to this era to buy Moutai Winery stock; even knowing how much it would eventually rise, he couldn't understand why it would fall for a month straight after he bought in, trapping him badly.
If Tan Jincheng had stared at the stock trends every day during that first month, or if he had suddenly run out of money, even knowing the trend, he might have cut his losses.
That's how leeks are, always thinking the next purchase will earn back the money lost from cutting losses.
Doing business is the same.
Everyone knows that exports make money these days, but many in this industry also lose money, and even more try to rebuild after losing (cutting losses), hoping to make a comeback.
Essentially, starting a business and trading stocks are not that different; there are countless people who do the wrong thing in the right industry at the right time.
This year's Canton Fair is a small-scale reshuffle for the apparel industry.
Unexpectedly, many small business owners are likely to lose money, sell equipment, and switch careers to start anew this year.
Taking the textile industry as an example, the biggest change in this year's Canton Fair compared to last year is the setting of a threshold: enterprises with an annual export value of less than 1 million USD are not allowed to enter, just like the entry thresholds for ChiNext and STAR Market in stock trading.
This 1 million USD threshold can severely disadvantage many companies that have been preparing for several months or even a year, not to mention this year's rising raw material prices and various restrictions from Europe and America.
Additionally, Tan Jincheng also heard a piece of news from Cheng Yongjun: this Canton Fair will strictly investigate intellectual property infringement, strengthen intellectual property protection, and implement an accountability system.
If this news is true, things could get very interesting.
Although such checks happened before, an accountability system would definitely make a difference.
Most business owners at the beginning of the millennium came from humble backgrounds, with no real concept of intellectual property.
In their eyes, if your product sold well, copying it was a perfectly normal behavior, especially for the small business owners in Zhejiang Province.
Without realizing the seriousness of the problem, the consequences could be severe.
—
In the evening, the voice of staff echoed through the exhibition hall, which resembled a small construction site:
"Let's go, everyone out, we're clearing the hall!"
To prevent anyone from hiding in the exhibition hall overnight, staff were immediately dispatched to inspect and clear the area.
These days, whether entrepreneurs or workers, they can be truly ruthless; staying overnight in the exhibition hall is no big deal for them.
All of a sudden, chaos broke out in the exhibition hall.
Zhang Xupeng had already been there for several days and was accustomed to this situation.
He slowly packed his things while explaining to Tan Jincheng.
"Don't rush too much, pack slowly, and we'll leave when they call us."
Human nature is like this; whether one can gain any benefit by staying inside is debatable, but those who leave first definitely gain nothing, and might even face risks.
What if someone watching you takes the opportunity to cause trouble?
The staff won't bother with such things.
Therefore, no one was willing to leave voluntarily; they would only reluctantly comply when called.
"Alright, you've learned quite a bit,"
Tan Jincheng chuckled.
Without Zhang Xupeng's explanation, Tan Jincheng could also understand the ins and outs of it.
"Of course, don't think I don't understand anything, okay? By the way, what's the new company called?"
"Jinyi Industrial."
"Hmm?"
"We'll talk about it later."
After about half an hour of dawdling, Tan Jincheng, Zhang Xupeng, and their group of four exited the exhibition hall and walked towards the hotel.
Zhang Xupeng complained as they walked:
"Damn, the hotels here are so expensive, even worse conditions than the one we stayed at in Beicang the first time, but the price is more than triple. My heart aches from staying in hotels these past few days."
Tan Jincheng let out a chuckle.
This was nothing; compared to rooms that cost 200 yuan selling for 2000 during Golden Week in later generations, today's merchants were much kinder.
However, because the period from booth setup to the end of the exhibition was exceptionally long, for Zhang Xupeng, staying here for 40 days, the daily food and drink expenses for three people started at a thousand yuan, which was truly not a small sum.
This was just a small team of three; if there were more people, the expenses would be even greater.
Therefore, how exhibitors save money each year is also a major highlight of the Canton Fair.
That evening, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng naturally shared a room.
The two discussed some details of the booth setup.
The exhibition was officially opening in a few days, and these few days were the most stressful for exhibitors.
For direct competitors with similar products, if they couldn't prevent some foul play during these days, they would truly have nowhere to cry.
Jinpeng Trade was exhibiting for the first time in a real sense this year, and its competitors were not yet familiar with it, so the pressure was slightly less.
But they couldn't be careless.
After all, the threshold had been raised this year, and those who could officially enter were all of comparable strength.
"Oh, by the way, do you know about the strict intellectual property checks?"
While chatting, Tan Jincheng remembered this matter.
"Yes, I heard a few exhibitors nearby talking about it before. What's wrong with it?"
"What did they say?"
Tan Jincheng asked, looking at Zhang Xupeng, who was lying on the other bed.
Just like their first trip to Beicang, the two were sharing the same standard room again.
"They said they do it symbolically every year. I also asked Uncle Cheng's people who came to help us before, and they said it wasn't a big problem," Zhang Xupeng said.
Zhang Xupeng didn't know much about intellectual property, nor did he have much understanding.
"What's wrong? Why are you asking about this? Is there a problem?"
Tan Jincheng smiled.
Of course there was a problem, but it was a problem for competitors, not for them.
As a person from later generations, Tan Jincheng knew too much about infringement, especially in the context of exports.
Why are the quality standards for most exported goods much stricter?
Intellectual property is a very important part of it.
Foreigners have used this loophole to make countless ill-gotten gains, and many manufacturers have even been driven to bankruptcy.
Therefore, except for a few borderline cases with Jinpeng Trade in the initial orders last year, Tan Jincheng had been very careful ever since.
The sample designs were all personally supervised by Tan Jincheng, so there was naturally no infringement.
Some applicable patents had also been filed.
Although clothing patents were not very useful, they could at least prove that the designs were original and did not involve infringement.
If the information Cheng Yongjun provided was true, they could use it to their advantage.
Although doing so might be a bit unscrupulous, from another perspective, it was also helping them.
What if a foreigner sued them?
Wouldn't they lose even more?
Waving Zhang Xupeng over, Tan Jincheng whispered in his ear:
"Listen, I'll teach you a method. When the exhibition starts, you arrange for Old Sun to..."
(End of Chapter)
---------------------
Support me on P@treon
[email protected]/charaz
$3 -> 15 chapters in advance
$5 -> 30 chapters in advance
$10 -> 60 chapters in advance
Check my pinned post on P@treon