After some informal discussion with Ma Feng, we finally talked about the down-to-earth details of foreign trade procurement.
The few exporter friends Xu Feng introduced to Gu Kun took a bunch of relatively cheap private enterprise products from the East China Sea, ranging from home appliances to Yiwu small commodities, and sold them to Gu Kun. He also categorically said that some of these products were sold internationally.
How much competition is there in the market today?
Gu Kun listened carefully for twenty minutes and refilled Tieguanyin's water twice.
I have to say that the data mentioned by these supplementary exporters are all true.
The products they introduced have indeed achieved good results in other export markets - for example, some are exported to Japan and have received good response, and some are exported to Nanjing and are indeed competitive.
Although there are relatively few examples of exports to Southeast Asia, it doesn’t matter. Useful things, especially daily necessities, can be used everywhere.
However, Gu Kun's procurement scale is not large. He only has one ship. The market he can face is too small, and he does not have his own distribution or even retail channels. It will definitely not end well if he is a mess.
What he needs is to choose the best among the best and focus on a few things first.
He was quiet and explained patiently: "It seems that Boss Xu did not explain my needs clearly. I am not a professional in import and export trade, but because now during the time difference window of exchange rate fluctuations, I think as long as I am not too blind,
, you can make a profit by selling slightly competitive Chinese goods to Lanzhou and Malaysia - if the RMB is completely stable in another six months, I will not do such an extensive business, do you understand?"
Several exporters who were exporters were a little impatient: Gu Kun is a big businessman, he demands a lot, and he picks and chooses...
In 1994, China's foreign trade exports did not have a strong sense of service. They always stuck to "what good goods I have, it depends on whether foreign businessmen want them", and rarely thought from the demand side.
One of the supplementary exporters, who had some background in a state-owned import and export company, began to sarcastically express his words, implying that the scale of Gu Kun's purchase was too small and not worthy of his meticulous attention...
The atmosphere inside the venue was slightly awkward.
"Xu Feng is so different from other people in the industry. Sure enough, he still can't have too high expectations for the exporters he introduced." Gu Kun also secretly gave the other party an evaluation in his heart.
At this time, Ma Feng, who had been there to drink tea after the retreat, saw that the atmosphere was not right, so he intervened:
"Everyone, I generally understand Gu Sheng's appeal. I think that since he came with the mentality of taking advantage of the exchange difference and changing the price to get a bargain, then we should actually do this:
From all the competitive products in the current recommended list, select the categories that have not experienced price increases since December last year, whether due to the merger of planned prices or the merger of exchange rates - in this way, isn't it a good quality product?
Did you choose the best one with the most cost competitiveness?”
The truth behind Ma Feng's words is that everyone is engaged in foreign trade. After thinking about it for a moment, you will know that what he said is right.
A product that was very competitive last year has not gone up even though everything else has gone up after two waves of major changes in national policies. So isn’t it more competitive?
"Who would have thought to go to such trouble to count such things? We all sell whatever flagship products we have. Even if the price increases, the products are not bad. You get what you pay for..." The guy just now was not happy to serve Gu Kun.
The CEO of a state-owned import and export enterprise muttered.
Unexpectedly, Ma Feng said again: "It's okay, it's okay, Mr. Zhu, how can you do this kind of rough work? Before the ministry sent me here, I took the initiative to do some research. I specially conducted some research on our Donghai
The price fluctuation index of various types of home appliances and various products represented by Yiwu small commodities from the end of last year to the present are all calculated here. You can share them together during this Canton Fair."
Ma Feng said, and calmly took out a printed document, which he had prepared himself.
When those exporters saw this kind of dry goods, they felt that they had gained a lot today.
"Chief Ma, your Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs has done a great job. This is a real thing for service export companies. Chief Ma, good officials like you are promoted step by step, which is the blessing of our export companies.
"
Ma Feng humbly said: "Everywhere, this is our duty. Isn't the responsibility of our Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs to serve export companies well? I also said that I don't know how to do business, I can only help.
Others do business.
Last year at this time, I was teaching at a university and running a translation agency that was constantly losing money. Don’t laugh at me. At that time, I used my spare time to travel to Yiwu to sell things back to Ark City to subsidize the losses. So I have a basis for this research.
Gu Sheng’s words of ‘making it easy to do business in the world’ really won my heart, so in terms of consulting services, I will definitely help in any way I can. Can you all make friends?”
Gu Kun applauded: "Chief Ma is bright! I'll give you tea instead of wine! Next time if you need any help, you can always come to me."
He also secretly sighed in his heart: No wonder Ma Feng was able to achieve some success in a few years. Indeed, he already had this kind of matchmaking service awareness when he was still an ordinary deputy section-level clerk in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs.
A person who is the least able to bargain can best understand the truth that "the essence of business is not to bargain, but to find the right person."
A melon that is forced is not sweet. A person who pretends to be in demand will still feel that it is not worth it even if you bargain and give him a discount. A person who wants it in his dreams will still feel happy buying it even if you don't give him a penny of discount.
The biggest iteration of the traditional business model in later generations of e-commerce not only transcends the space and time constraints of transactions. It also uses technical means to classify everyone's urgent needs and separate them step by step. In addition, the more comprehensive the big data will be in the future, the more accurate the classification will be.
.
It's a bit far-fetched, and that's all for another day.
…
After Gu Kun got the market research done by Ma Feng, subsequent decisions became much easier.
They chatted at the morning tea table all morning and basically decided on all the goods they wanted to buy.
For example, several exporters recommended textiles and garments from Yiwu to Gu Kun, saying they were very competitive in price. After a second comparison, they were rejected.
Because since January 1994, the price of most fabrics in China has increased. The turnover cycle of this kind of things is too fast.
However, not all fabrics have increased in price. Some niche chemical fibers have not increased in price in the past five months, but they cannot be used to make ordinary clothes.
So, Gu Kun picked out some sub-categories such as stockings, umbrellas, tents, etc. The prices were obviously much cheaper than those currently used in Southeast Asian countries. They were also cheap and high-quality, and he purchased them accurately.
In addition to the category of textiles, some plastic children's toys (such as pirated Transformers) and youth peripherals were also selected one after another. The reason why these are competitive is because China's pirated plastics were rampant in 1994, and the cost was further reduced. Lan Fang and
Malaysia originally bought genuine imported goods in these fields, and the price difference was huge.
Finally, there is another major consumer that accounts for a huge amount of money, and that is TV sets. Among all the major appliances in China in 1994, TV sets were at the beginning of the most brutal price war. This year, Changhong in Shu Province provoked a comprehensive price war.
Fighting, trying to squeeze out some colleagues and let the survivors live a better life. In short, it is a godsend.
I won’t go into details about several other competitive daily necessities stores.
After putting everything together, we soon had a list of imported goods worth millions.
In a word, Gu Kun did not include any personal likes and dislikes in his decision-making process.
He listens 100% to market price data.
The exports sold well last year and were cost-competitive. If the price has not increased this year after the exchange rate fell, he will buy it.
Otherwise, he won't buy it. Even if his intuition tells him that this thing may be profitable, he won't buy it.
This rational way of doing business really opened the eyes of those few exporters.
For the first time, they saw Nanyang businessmen who did business without any personal feelings, personal likes and dislikes, and no preset path dependencies.
After discussing the scope of the purchase, Gu Kun made one last request: "Within these ranges, except for color TVs, all other purchases I make must have a condition attached. I hope to obtain the exclusive agency rights in Lanzhou and Malaysia - also
That is to say, for the Chinese companies and categories I have purchased from, they are not allowed to sell similar products to other importers shipping to Lanzhou and Malay within a certain period of time.
I think this request is very reasonable, because I have seen that none of the manufacturers you serve have successfully exported to Lanzhou or Malaysia before. I am helping you open the market. So the first-hand dividend after opening the market, I
It deserves to be exclusive for a period of time.”
This request is indeed reasonable, but it is undoubtedly a high price.
Soon some supporting exporters retorted: "You are too open-minded. You can only penetrate the Lancang market. Why should we franchise the agency rights in the Malay market to you?"
How big a consumer market can a country with a population of less than 90,000 have?
Gu Kun also knew that this was his weakness, so he had to show off his muscles again:
"The market in Lanzhou is not big, but because there are no import and export tariffs in Lanzhou, many Chinese in Kuching, Malaysia, will also be penetrated by foreign duty-free goods exported to Lanzhou - just like your special zone, Zhucheng
The residents of Xiangjiang and Ao County will also be penetrated by the duty-free goods in Xiangjiang and Ao County. It is the same reason.
Kuching has a population of more than 800,000, which is ten times that of Lanfang. Moreover, the Chinese Town in Sn District of Kuching, which is the Huama sub-city, has half the population, about 400,000. These 400,000 people have been smuggling Lanfang duty-free products all year round.
I have a mature channel, and to tell you the truth, I have a relationship with the Lanfang royal family’s largest official importer behind my back.”
Gu Kunhu's words came out of his mouth to pretend to be powerful, but either the other party couldn't verify it, or the data was indeed objective, which really made people dizzy for a while.
The other party knew that Gu Kun was waiting for them to counteroffer, so they argued back and forth, and finally Gu Kun also took a step back:
He only wants the exclusive agency rights for the whole country of Lanzhou and the two states of Sarawak and Sabah in Malaya.
As we all know, the land of Malaya is divided into two large parts. One is the Malay Peninsula where the capital Kuala Lumpur is located, which is on the mainland, and the other half is the two sandy states on Borneo (Kalimantan Island).
Gu Kun essentially gave up his request for exclusive agency rights in the Malay Peninsula area - in fact, even if they agreed, he wouldn't be able to use it, because the Malays in the Malay Peninsula, even if they want to use duty-free goods, they must come from nearby
Li Jiapo did it.
It would be great if Brunei can penetrate into Sarawak. The neighboring state of Sabah is probably Brunei that has more penetration. Who knows that Brunei is also a free trade port.
As for the period of exclusive agency rights, it has also been compressed to about one and a half years - that is, from the time the contract is signed to the end of next year, December 31, 1995.
Both parties had their own secrets, and both felt that this condition was quite beneficial to them, so they reached a formal contract that day.
The export company began to count the samples and inventory sent for the exhibition that night, and by the way, it allocated some available inventory, and urgently found railway transportation capacity from the East China Sea to Guangdong, so that Gu Kun's new ship could carry the full cargo when it returned three days later.
.
If the capacity is not enough, we can only continue to use diesel to fill up some capacity.
Gu Kun paid 700,000 yuan for the goods and tried his best to default on the remaining payment.
For him, selling some things along the way is not the biggest profit. The biggest profit is the exclusive agency rights he just obtained. With these documents, he can pretend to be powerful again when he returns to Lanfang.
Anyway, his way to rise is to show off to the Chinese people that "I have many secret forces in Lan Fang that you don't understand."
Then he returned to Lanfang and showed off to the locals that "I have people from China's large state-owned import and export company and China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs secretly supporting me."
Let me ask you if you are afraid.
The joke "Bill Gates' son-in-law can become the vice president of the World Bank" is probably going to be based on Gu Kun's deeds in this life.