Chapter 77: The Issue of Market Share
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As the boss of a breeding base, Sun Yinian could roughly calculate their sales situation from the frequency of purchases from different pet shops. With ordinary pet shops as a reference, it would take about one month to sell ten high-priced boutique cats—this was the average level. Therefore, he did not believe that Zhang Zian would purchase so many pets in one breath. At the scene were all industry insiders; Sun Yinian did not believe it, and Qian Fang even more so did not believe it.
She said very seriously, "Boss Zhang can really crack a joke. Do you know many pets there are?" These few rows of pets in these cages were all that she was preparing to load, to be shipped away together with the pets for Love Lovely Pet. Zhang Zian took a glance and replied with uncertainty, "About eighty." Qian Fang’s smile weakened, stretched out a finger and pointed at him. "Accurately saying, it’s a total of eighty-three! Eighty-three pets, Boss Zhang, you want to take in all of them?"
Zhang Zian did not reply immediately. He went over to the few rows of cages, and squatted down to take a look. They were different from the pets on the truck by the entrance. These pets came closer the moment they saw a human come near, and gathered by the edge of the cage one after another in a pool to beg. Even if some pets were cold and timid, it was unlikely for them to have no reaction at all, and even more so they would not be scared and hide in a corner of the cage. He moved his hand to the edge of the cage, and some lively pets immediately pointed the tip of their noses out of the cage, and sniffed around. Some pets even let out meows as if to please.
If he had a choice, he would not have decided to take in this many pets in one breath. But if he didn’t fight for this breath, Stars would take in these pets, and then he would have no pets to sell in his shop at that time. Pets don’t pop up from the industrial line; babies that were under three months old could not be purchased. He had come here to visit twice already, and generally understood the breeding cycle here. If he lost this batch of pets, he would have to wait at least another three weeks for the pets to be able to leave their mothers and complete their vaccinations. Should he sell for these three weeks? Should he close the shop and go on a vacation? No matter what, he would not choose the cheap pets that Love Lovely Pet offered.
Zhang Zian noted that within these pets that were chosen, the majority of them were cats and dogs, and there were fifty percent more cats than dogs among them. It was very fitting with the sales ratio in the classifications of the pet market. Stars had sold pets for many years, and had mastered very detailed data on sales and customer buying trends. They knew very clearly which pets were easy to sell, and which pets were not easy to sell; it was definitely not a blind purchase. It would certainly be a very difficult war to have such a strong opponent as the enemy. But he could not back down, or else the little capital and reputation that he had finally accumulated would be naught. He said, "Within these pets, I want all the cats. For the dogs, I want the majority of them.
Once Zhang Zian had made his decision, he did not set aside time for Qian Fang to react. He immediately declared to Sun Yinian, "Boss Sun, I’ll make a full payment for half of it, and I will pay a deposit for the other half, is that alright? As for the unit price, with accordance to the previous standards, it will drift up and down by ten percent according to the conditions. What do you say?" For those who understand, don’t try to fool anyone with the issue of condition. Some details could be controversial, but in general, both sides were aware. Sun Yinian was completely shocked into speechlessness by this unexpected development. Qian Fang said, "Boss Sun, what do you mean by this?" Zhang Zian laughed, "In this market economy, one is free to offer a price, free competition. You guys haven’t made a deal yet, so surely it doesn’t mean that I can’t offer a price? Boss Sun, can I offer a price?"
Sun Yinian finally recovered, "Of course! Of course you can!" Qian Fang could choose to follow the price of course, or even crush the price that Zhang Zian had offered, but this had already completely disrupted her plan. At the beginning of this month, when she had reported to the regional manager, a military order warrant had been set. In order to respond to the head office’s decision in preparation to go on the market, she would have to compress procurement costs by ten percent. Although the procurement costs could be compressed, it certainly would not reach the goal of ten percent if she followed the price. This would give a bad impression for the regional manager, and it would affect her future road for promotion.
Another path was to not follow the price. It would take a long time for an ordinary pet shop to sell such a large batch of pets. Although doing this would lose a batch of high-quality supply, it could at least be a deterrence strategy, and let Sun Yinian know the consequences of going against Stars. Her means were not guileless, but standing from Stars’ perspective, she was definitely a talent who could help the boss save money, so she could be in a high position. She took a deep breath, calmed her mood, nodded and said, "Zhang Zian of Amazing Fate Pet Shop, right? Fine, I will remember you." She finished and called the assistant. "Let’s leave!"
After they had left, Sun Yinian carefully observed Zhang Zian’s face and hesitantly asked, "Store manager Zhang…just now you, you weren’t kidding, right?" Zhang Zian waved his hand."Don’t be so courteous, and just simply call me Zhang Zian or Zian. Of course I am serious you also don’t have to thank me. I did not come forward for you, I just came today to make purchases." Sun Yinian whispered nonstop with his hands twisted, "Great…but…" He paused, "But the last batch of seven, you’ve sold them all?" Zhang Zian nodded, "They’re sold, so I’ve came to purchase new ones. Boss Sun, can I suggest a proposal?"
"Please say it, please do say," Sun Yinian replied hastily.
Zhang Zian euphemistically suggested, "Boss Sun, from my point of view, the supply has a bit exceeded the demand in your breeding farm.
"Huh? What does that mean?" Sun Yinian did not understand.
Zhang Zian replied, "Cats and dogs account for ninety percent of the pet market share, and within that, the amount of cats are twice as much as dogs. In other words, in the pet market share, cats account for sixty percent, dogs account for thirty percent, and the rest of all the other pets could only be attributed to as ‘other’." He pointed at the chinchilla and rabbit in the cage. "These are ‘others’."
Zhang Zian continued to speak, "Instead of siring these low profit ‘other’ animals, it’s better to concentrate energy and resources on cats and dogs. Introduce more varieties, introduce more breeds of cats and dogs as to avoid mixing of blood lineage and inbreeding. Competition is intense in this era, and as we are such small businesses, we don’t have to demand perfection. It’s better to have expertise. Survival has to come first before considering development."
From what he saw, the biggest weakness of this breeding farm was that it was excessive but lacking in exquisiteness. They did not have the puppet cat or any other novel and expensive cat breeds. He didn’t say much, and stopped at this point. Sun Yinian was a middle-aged man at this age, and his cogitation would tend to be more rigid; he was not easy to persuade. Just let him think about it on his own. Maybe he could think it through, maybe not.
"All right, let’s not mention things that are too far away. Let’s talk about our business first. I remember that Boss Sun, you have said before that it would be free shipping if it’s a purchase of more than ten pets at once, right?" Zhang Zian laughed, "This time, don’t send me any hamsters or lopped-ear rabbits, I really can’t take care of them. It’s better to just take away a few dollars from me!"