"If you lose money, you have to lower the price. Now is the time to compete with them on price. We will fight to death at the Changlu Saltworks. When the time comes, we can raise the price and make money back."
Cheng Boan smiled and said.
The wool comes from the sheep. If you lose money now, you can still make it back later. The key is to keep your own market and kill the Changlu Saltworks.
"The Changlu Saltworks has to pay two million taels of silver a year. Even if their output is very high, one Changlu Saltworks can reach ten ordinary saltworks. Calculating their salt, the cost of a pound of salt is impossible.
It’s less than 20 cents. If you include shipping costs and so on, they are already making a loss at a loss by selling a pound for around 20 cents.”
Cheng Boan said very confidently.
He has already calculated the salt production at Changlu Saltworks and clearly calculated the cost of salt at Changlu Saltworks. It will definitely not be less than 20 cents per catty, and it will be even more expensive after shipping costs are included.
As long as the price falls below this price, the salt from Changlu Saltworks will lose money, and the premise is that the salt from Changlu Saltworks must have a certain sales scale and reach a certain sales volume.
If the sales volume is not good, Changlu Saltworks will suffer even more losses. The tax of two million taels of silver a year is definitely a heavy mountain, which can crush Changlu Saltworks to death.
This is why he is confident that he can defeat Changlu Saltworks in a price war. According to his calculations, the cost difference between the two parties is too big.
"But this is not enough. What we have to do is to make it impossible to sell a pound of salt from the Changlu Salt Farm, so we have to lower the price and continue to lower it. If our salt only sells for a few cents a pound, I don't think Changlu
How can we sell the salt from the salt farm?"
Then Cheng Boan smiled and said again.
If you want to kill the Changlu Saltworks, you have to make it impossible to sell even one kilogram of salt from the Changlu Saltworks. Naturally, the two million taels of silver tax per year can kill the Changlu Saltworks.
"How much is a pound?"
"Then don't we have to give the salt to the middlemen below?"
When Cheng Xuan heard this, he thought for a while and said, if the salt sold in the market only costs a few pennies per catty, this means that the salt from Cheng Boan's side will be given to the middlemen below for free, and the middlemen will make a few pennies.
Then forward it to the final terminal provider.
If Cheng Bo'an sells it to a middleman for a few cents per catty, the sales price of this terminal will definitely exceed ten cents per catty, and there is no way to lower it.
"Yes, for free~"
Cheng Bo'an nodded, then thought for a while and said: "Send invitations to middlemen from all over the country for me and ask them to come to Nanjing to talk about it. Now is a special period. Everyone earns less. A pound of salt is symbolic.
It’s enough to earn a few cents, and when the Changlu Saltworks is destroyed, we will raise prices together to make back the lost money.”
"Hmm~"
Cheng Xuan nodded and started to do things.
Cheng Xuan left, and Cheng Bo'an calmed down and thought carefully. He would definitely lose blood if he gave the salt to the middleman in vain.
The Cheng family manages at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year. People in the court must manage the money well so that they can help them explain, give them information, and provide them with protection.
Officials in the local areas below, officials in the salt field, etc. also need to be fed. Only when they are fed will they work for you so that you can get the salt smoothly and the salt can be transported to various places smoothly.
.
But it doesn't matter, the Cheng family has a big business, so this little money can't be lost, and as long as the market is still there, he can easily make millions of taels of silver back in a year.
At this time, it was far from reaching his bottom line, because he had already raised one million taels of silver from other salt merchants. Once the price at Changlu Salt Farm continued to decrease, he would also lower the price accordingly.
At that time, he is going to provide sales subsidies to middlemen and terminal dealers. Of course, he does not plan to do this now, because in the past, those middlemen and terminal dealers made a lot of money with him.
This time in the war with Changlu Saltworks, he naturally wanted to involve them and let them join in the fight. He couldn't just shoulder it by himself, Cheng Bo'an.
He will pull big salt merchants like Zhu Benduan and Feng Xiang to act together. Naturally, he will not forget to draw middlemen and terminal merchants to act together, so that they will also bear the losses this time.
…
Beijing Salt City, Li's Hui Salt.
Li Cai, the boss of Li's Huiyan, came to his store very angry, with a livid face and a very ugly face.
Because he had just returned from attending a party, the middleman who supplied him asked Li Cai to lower the sales price to nine cents per catty.
Nine cents per pound of salt had never appeared before. He had never encountered such cheap salt in his entire life in the salt business, let alone heard of it.
Of course, this is not the reason why he is angry. The reason he is really angry is because the middleman above only allows him to sell it for nine cents per catty, but he needs five cents per catty to get the goods, and he has to pick up the goods himself.
He can only earn four cents from a pound of salt.
Earning only four cents per pound of salt, he was going to drink the northwest wind.
You must know that salt is not like grain. The consumption of grain is large. The amount of grain sold by any grain store in a year is also a very huge number. This salt store is different.
Although salt is also indispensable, an adult cannot eat more than a few kilograms of salt in a year, so the sales volume is actually not large, far from being comparable to food.
Now the superiors require him to sell a pound of salt for nine cents per pound, and it costs five pennies per pound to get the goods, and he has to pick up the goods himself. Calculated, the profit is not even four pennies per pound, even if he is short of another pound or two.
, silt seepage and the like, the profit margin is also pitifully small.
You must know that in the past, a pound of salt could easily earn more than ten cents per pound if it passed through his hands. Now, a pound of salt cannot even earn four cents. Do you think he is angry?
The rent of the store, the hiring of workers, and the cost of transporting salt all require money. Now you can't even earn four cents from a pound of salt. If the sales volume is not good enough, the loss will be even greater.
"Hmph~ We are sharing weal and woe, life and death are at stake, our lips are dead and our teeth are cold. No matter how low the price is, I can't make a penny. Isn't it just a waste of money to follow you? It's just a price war."
Li Cai was extremely talented. Although he had a small fortune, he was far from being able to compare with those big salt merchants. They could go a year and a half without making a penny, but he couldn't.
"Shopkeeper, Zhang's Snow Salt Store across the street has lowered the price again. Should we continue to lower the price?"
When Li Cai was extremely angry, the waiter in the store also hurried over and said.
“The price has been reduced again?”
"Are they crazy?"
"How low has it dropped?"
When Li Cai heard this, he couldn't sit still and asked quickly.
"Fifteen cents per catty~ Their salt is only sold for fifteen cents per catty."
The guy replied quickly.
As soon as Li Cai heard this, he hurried to the door of the store and saw that the Zhang's Snow Salt Store opposite had posted a price of fifteen cents per catty, and it also said there would be no shortage of catties and no sediment.
.
"This is denying us a way out and forcing us to die!"
"Such good salt costs fifteen cents a pound."
Li Cai couldn't help sighing. He knew and had seen the salt from Changlu Salt Field. It was definitely of high quality. In the past, it sold for one or two hundred yuan per pound, but now it only sells for one or two hundred yuan per pound.
Sold for fifteen cents a pound.
"Down to nine cents per catty~"
Without hesitation, Li Cai also ordered his men again, as mentioned above, only by defeating the Changlu Saltworks can everyone live the good life in the past. Otherwise, with the Changlu Saltworks in one day, everyone will
Don't even think about making a fortune from salt anymore.
So even though he lowered the price again, he didn't have much profit at all, but he had to continue to lower the price. They also agreed with what Cheng Bo'an said.
After defeating the Changlu Saltworks, they can still raise the price. When a pound of salt is sold for a hundred coins, they can soon make up for their losses.
"Adjust that scale again and change it to a scale of seven ounces."
"You need to seep in more sand~"
After thinking for a while, Li Cai gave instructions to his waiter again.
There is no way to continue to lower prices, but you have to make money, and you still have to make a little bit. If you are short of weight and seep sand, you will naturally have to continue to work.
"There is no other choice but to imitate Sun's salt shop regardless of shame."
Li Cai sighed, that's how Sun's salt shop works. The price is low, but the price is very low, and there is a lot of sand and soil seeping out. Now that the price has dropped, he has to be more ruthless.