Forcing Me to Be Reborn?!-Chapter 689 - 481: Is This the Extent of Your Sincerity?

Three days quickly passed by.

The Youu Tea’s Bayberry series sold exceptionally well, of which the most explosively popular were the shaved ice "Stepping in the Snow to Look for Plums," and the regular fruit tea "Moistening the Heart in Anticipation of Plums."

Mei Changsu and Lin Shu’s collaboration’s cartoon character standees were trading at prices around ten to twenty yuan, and some even reached thirty yuan on the secondary market!

There was no helping it, the wait for a cup of milk tea was too long.

For some people, their time was very valuable, and they didn’t care about a small amount of money.

Therefore, Cheng Zhu even slyly introduced a so-called "Lucky Edition," in which the cartoon character standees were of finer quality, with slight differences in clothing, controlled at a ratio of 100:1.

This "Lucky Edition" was hyped to sky-high prices in the secondary market, but the prices fluctuated wildly and were not stable.

Such operations were truly wreaking havoc in the fan circles.

Cheng Zhu was very aware that money from fan circles was easy to earn.

Because not only were they willing to spend, they also enjoyed comparing within their circles.

After showing off their purchases, the envy they elicited from others made these wealthy women feel as if they’d already recouped their investments.

In his past life, he remembered that Zhou Jielun once gave away a Dior jacket he wore at a concert to fans, and someone was willing to pay two million for it!

So horrifying, truly horrifying!

And for many drama enthusiasts, whether it was Mei Changsu or Lin Shu, they were the untouchable moons in their hearts.

But Cheng Zhu was precisely playing on this kind of psychology.

"It is said that the untouchable moon is invincible,"

"Yet there is something even more invincible than the untouchable moon,"

"And that is the untouchable moon that’s passed away!"

In the afternoon, Zhao Long, a partner of Shendu Capital, specifically made a trip to World Square to compare the current situation of Youu Tea with Yue Tea.

Compared to the bustling scene at Youu Tea, Yue Tea could be described as a pitiful sight.

Zhao Long even went out of his way to find scalpers lurking nearby, stating he wanted to buy a cup of Bayberry fruit tea, only for them to quote him a price of 68 yuan.

This individual, who had a place on the list of the wealthy, of course didn’t care about a few tens of yuan, but still purposefully bargained, "Will you sell for 60?"

The response was immediately a take-it-or-leave-it expression, a demeanor that showed no concern about being unable to sell.

Through this little probing, Zhao Long had his answer.

This billionaire sighed softly.

He suddenly realized he had made a grave mistake.

"Investing in Yue Tea and Chen Yue wasn’t necessarily a misstep."

"Compared with other new forces in the milk tea segment, Yue Tea, which follows the ’milk tea + soft European bread’ model, does have strong competitiveness, and there are many aspects of Chen Yue herself worth investing in."

"It’s just a pity, I somewhat underestimated this college student."

It had to be said, the identity of a ’college freshman’ sometimes caused people to instinctively underestimate them. frёewebηovel.cѳm

How could you find a second Cheng Zhu across the whole country?

In Zhao Long’s view, "Launching co-branded campaigns could be seen as the agility of a young mind, full of ideas, willing to experiment."

"But this collaboration with ’Langya List’ reveals so much more."

"Especially the last wave of new product releases."

This big figure in the business circlet had long recognized the essence of co-branding.

"Traditional co-branding mostly attracts a wave of social buzz."

"Whether it was Cheng Zhu’s initial collaboration with Momo or Chen Yue’s subsequent co-branding operations, they were actually solving the problem of spreading the word."

"It is an act of drawing in traffic, of expanding brand awareness and adding playability to the brand."

"However, most co-branding marketing fails to address the issue of product strength."

"The support for product premium pricing is also somewhat insufficient, and it’s hard to achieve an effect that is jaw-dropping."

"Sometimes Starbucks does a lot in terms of product premium pricing, which, in the eyes of the capital market, indirectly reflects the brand’s value."

"But Youu Tea’s character co-branding this time is completely different."

"No matter if it’s playing the fan circle game or not, but from a series of operations and constantly advancing layouts, he is definitely more than just a flash of genius!"

"His execution power is strong, and his business planning capability is also outstanding."

"Of course, what’s been most impressive all along is his marketing ability and his grasp of human nature."

Zhao Long began to ponder, could this really be someone not yet twenty years old?

Could this truly be a child from an ordinary family?

As time went on, the investment circles’ tycoons gradually developed their own tacit understanding, favoring investments in projects that bring people "spiritual satisfaction."

These two words, "spiritual satisfaction," were Zhao Long’s investment focus for the next two years.

"The improvement in productivity leads to changes in demand."

"The market for spiritual needs will grow year by year, and this is the future’s major trend."

Many of Cheng Zhu’s manoeuvers were precisely on these four words!

Yet in reality, to bring spiritual satisfaction to customers when selling products is quite difficult in practice.

Zhao Long looked at the long line in front of Youu Tea and suddenly felt somewhat annoyed.

"Independently supporting Yue Tea now seems much less profitable than competing for the qualification for the second round of financing for Youu Tea!"

But that wasn’t the most crucial point.

Zhao Long’s main investment focus was currently on the takeout platform, with Yue Tea just being one of his moves.

Between 2010 and 2015, everyone’s attention wasn’t on takeout platforms; it was the era of the group buying war, which even years later was talked about with relish and could be written into the annals of the Internet.

It was the age of burning money, when a large number of netizens took advantage of the opportunity to snag deals on various group-buying platforms.

But times have changed, and the battle for takeout had begun anew!

All the competitors were vying for quality merchant resources.

There were rumors that a certain takeout platform even required frontline staff to practice combat sports, asserting that if we can’t win the competition, let’s fight it out!

Shendu Capital also joined the "takeout battle," and the stakes were not low.

In such an environment, what about Cheng Zhu?

His Youu Tea, to this point, had not started cooperation with any takeout platform.

...

...

On the fifth day of the official launch of the Bayberry series, its popularity hadn’t waned but rather increased due to the widespread publicity on the internet, climbing steadily!

What truly took it to the peak was a Weibo post from the official ’Langya List’ account, showcasing the Bayberry series and character-related merchandise.

Some supporting actors from the drama, seeing such high popularity, also spontaneously joined in, sharing the Bayberry series fruit tea and consolidating the attention and fans they had gained from ’Langya List.’

For the leading actors, such activities were unnecessary.

But for those supporting actors who were not as popular, that was another matter.

With support from multiple parties, Youu Tea stores across the country were selling like crazy!

Now, Youu Tea had expanded to 58 stores nationwide.

Each store was staffed with several times more employees than an average milk tea shop.

The average daily cup count per store was consistently maintained between 3400 and 3800.

And today it reached a terrifying 3873 cups!

Since the Bayberry series included merchandise, and the co-branded releases were priced 5 yuan higher, it also pushed up the average selling price, taking it directly to 37 yuan.

Cheng Zhu looked at the daily turnover of 8,311,458 yuan with an extremely pleased smile on his face.

"Breaking 200 million in monthly turnover is way too easy!" Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

Over these days, he rejected the invitations from various takeout platforms.

How these platforms got his personal contact information, Cheng Zhu wasn’t particularly clear.

Baidu Takeout was even contacted by their second-in-command.

Yet Cheng Zhu ultimately refused.

— "Polite rejection."

His excuse was consistent, "We’re currently too busy in-store to consider takeout; it’s a saturated operation at the moment. We will not collaborate with any takeout platform."

Some people naturally tried to persuade him, informing Cheng Zhu, "Takeout is the future trend, eventually customers who purchase in-store will be nowhere near as many as those who order takeout..."

Cheng Zhu inwardly responded, do I need you to tell me?

He clearly understood that eventually it would be the era of takeout.

To be specific, the milk tea industry was able to develop better and better in the future, with some brands’ franchises easily reaching thousands or even tens of thousands, thanks to the takeout platforms!

Think about it, how many people would occasionally order a cup of milk tea, or even drink a cup every day?

That kind of population was very small because it was too much of a hassle.

But with the growth of takeout platforms, it all changed.

Drinking milk tea became extremely convenient, whether you were relaxing or working, with just a click, the delivery was at your door.

And a popular internet-famed food brand like Youu Tea naturally became the ’hotly contested spot’ for the military strategists.

Cheng Zhu wasn’t truly uninterested in collaborating with any platform.

He was purely holding out for the highest price.

What he wanted was not just a simple merchant partnership—even now, he would definitely receive the highest tier treatments!

"I want a deep binding!" That was Cheng Zhu’s only plan.

While refusing Baidu Takeout’s second-in-command, Shen Minglang was present, listening to Cheng Zhu’s phone conversation on the side.

After the call ended, he was somewhat astounded.

"Cousin, that seemed really sincere already, and quite a grand gesture, right?" he said.

Shen Minglang knew that eventually Cheng Zhu would have Youu Tea join the platforms, he just always said the time wasn’t right.

With his insight, he felt that with Youu Tea being so hot right now, it was the perfect timing to snag the best benefits, the highest standard of treatment!

Yet, Cheng Zhu retorted, "Just a phone call and you call that sincerity?"

Shen Minglang had already grown numb to his intimidating air.

He was used to his daily arrogant demeanor.

"Then what constitutes sincerity?" he sincerely asked.

Cheng Zhu looked at his future brother-in-law without giving a direct answer, instead retorting, "Don’t you find it strange? Those middle managers from other platforms would always painstakingly persuade me, talking at length about the future of takeout, but this dignified number two didn’t mention a word."

"Ah? Had you not mentioned it, I wouldn’t have noticed," Shen Minglang exclaimed in surprise, "Why is that?"

"Because he’s different from those middle managers, he’s able to figure out what I’m thinking. Making the phone call was just to show an attitude, a formality," Cheng Zhu explained.

Shen Minglang again went: "Ah?"

Seeing his unimpressive reaction, Cheng Zhu felt that if Ningning were here, she would probably have already grasped the concept.

He extended his right hand and gently rubbed his fingers together, saying, "What I want is this."

"Money?" Shen Minglang understood the significance of his gesture.

What Cheng Zhu said next made Shen Minglang gasp in shock.

"Right! Money! I want the capital behind the takeout platforms to compete for the second round of financing spots for Youu Tea!"

...

(PS: First update, ask for monthly ticket.)