The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead-Chapter 411 - 400: Business is Difficult

The house was all sorted, and the equipment was fully installed.

Shen Manman still felt somewhat uneasy, after all, this was a new thing, and very few people knew about it. Even if some women were aware of it, they might be either too scared to accept it or too embarrassed to do so.

So Shen Manman didn’t hire any workers, but instead went to the printing factory to have five hundred packaging units printed.

With the help of Second Older Brother Yang, the materials were also transported by truck from Shanghai.

All this had cost over two thousand yuan.

Taking advantage of Sunday, Shen Manman called a few people to the workshop, even Yiyi and Xiao Hua came over to help.

Shen Manman had them all put on protective clothing and headgear and instructed, "Cough, cough, we don’t need to aim for perfection these two days, just producing a finished product is a good start. Come on, let’s get started."

Xue Jianian and Shen Manman had been to other sanitary pad factories before and knew the process.

Therefore, operating the machinery was their responsibility; first they used the machine to cut the cotton, then sized it to fit the mold, and did the same with the non-woven fabric on the outside.

The few of them then placed these materials on a leather mold for hot-pressing, arranged everything neatly, covered it, and then stamped it in the hot-pressing machine. After she and Luo Xinyue finished, they passed the products to Yiyi and Xiao Hua.

The two of them placed them into the machine, applied the adhesive backing.

After finishing, they put them into a basket.

Initially, the two operating the machines spent an hour becoming familiar with using the sanitary template on the leather; sometimes it was misplaced and the resulting pads were misshapen and skewed.

By the end of the morning, after doing it more than a dozen times, they became proficient, although their speed was still slow.

Once Jianian and Manman finished with the cutting, they moved on to seal the packaging and found out that they simply couldn’t keep up.

So they sat down to work alongside them.

Over the course of the morning, they made more than a hundred pads, of which more than thirty were unusable, and a dozen or so were not perfect, but usable.

The rest were all good.

Manman was satisfied nonetheless, "Hehe, not bad at all, we did quite well. Ten pieces per pack, we made five packs of finished products. This is just our first day, our very first attempt. As we get more practice, it will definitely get better; two people could make a few hundred in one day without a problem."

Jianian looked at the packaged sanitary pads and asked, "Is one pack enough for one use?"

Luo Xinyue thought for a moment, "One for the morning, two for a whole day, one at night—that’s not enough for three days."

Lu Jingqiu shook her head, "Some people have a heavy flow and need two for just the morning, and at night... it’s better to use toilet paper, this length can easily get onto the bed."

Jianian slapped her forehead, "Why didn’t we think of checking for a longer option at that time?"

Shen Manman said, "There wasn’t one; they only had this one type. But Sister-in-law Xinyue is right, ten pieces per pack is not enough, so let’s put sixteen instead.

This is already quite good. I’m just wondering how we should market this thing. Can it be sold in stores, when I don’t know anybody?"

Luo Xinyue laughed, "That’s why you need to hire a salesperson."

Xue Jianian said, "I know a couple of people at the supply and marketing cooperatives. I’ll take a few packs to them in a few days to let them try, and see if they will take our products."

Lu Jingqiu said, "Sure, I can give a pack to each of my female colleagues."

Seeing that this was possible, Luo Xinyue said, "Then I have a lot more people to give to: my mother’s company, my mother-in-law’s, my sister-in-law’s, my aunt’s... Jeesh, if we do this, it’s going to cost us a lot, isn’t it?"

Shen Manman responded, "We’re not afraid to give them away initially; aren’t we just doing this to make them comfortable? If they feel comfortable, they’ll think of using them again. I’ve already set the price, seventy cents a pack for retail, forty cents for wholesale. Our slogan will be: ’Live as you wish, start with Manshu Mei.’ What do you think?"

Luo Xinyue asked, "Will we make money wholesaling at forty cents?"

Shen Manman replied, "Initially, we won’t make it back, the investment is too big. But in the long term, if it sells well, there will definitely be no problem. Our material costs are very low."

"Good, that’s good. Yiyi, Xiao Hua, when you leave, each of you take two or three packs. If someone sees them at your school, feel free to give one away. Our main strategy is word of mouth."

"Okay."

At noon, they went straight to Lu Jingqiu’s home for lunch, where Aunt Zhang took care of the cooking, so there was no need to worry.

After lunch, they went back to work. There was no time to even take care of the kids.

In the afternoon, they had become much more adept, and made over two hundred pads.

Over Sunday and Monday, they made more than sixty packs in total.

Each person took a share, and on the next day at work, they distributed them to colleagues and friends.

Shen Manman was keeping a low profile; she didn’t distribute any.

In her workplace, she was seen as a diligent newcomer, and nobody knew she was quietly achieving great things.

After work in the afternoon, she simply ate something and then went alone to the factory to work overtime.

Sometimes, when Lu Jingqiu had free time, she would also go to help out.

The current strategy was to do what they could on their own and not hire anyone.

They were spending a lot of money now and had yet to see any returns.

Shen Manman had made several trips to the department store.

She had handed out several packs.

Lu Jingqiu delivered some to Uncle Liang’s family, some to Chen Qingru, and some to her aunt and Aunt Liu.

In short, she gave one or two packs to everyone she knew.

Xue Jianian wandered around the Fish Tail Street Market and noticed several self-operated convenience stores that sold sanitary paper and sanitary products.

The stores were run by an elderly couple.

After talking with them for a while, the couple didn’t understand and didn’t want to stock such expensive items, especially since nobody knew about them.

Niannian mentioned this to Manman when she returned, and although she didn’t think much of it, it opened up a sales channel for them.

That Sunday, they helped with production in the factory.

Manman herself went into the city, entering every convenience store to introduce their products.

Of course, effort always yields results. Two stores placed orders, one for three packs and another for five packs.

When she got back to the factory, she began to boast to everyone, "Looks like we’ve opened for business, huh? Our first deal has started. Heh, although it’s not much, it’s seven packs — two yuan and eighty cents in profit today."

Seeing her happy expression, Lu Jingqiu eagerly praised her, "Good job, good job! This is also a start, isn’t it?"

They took advantage of the Sundays and, over the course of a month, produced over a hundred packs of sanitary pads.

Lu Jingqiu even specifically mailed two packs to He Yu; Wang Xiuya, her mother-in-law, and sister-in-law each got two packs, including Li Yinger and Yun Yuzhi, Zhang Miao, Deputy Editor Yang, and Xinyue from their agency; she had also given them all a turn.

But apart from a few sales at the convenience stores, there weren’t many other orders.

This matter was then put on hold as everyone started to get busy with their own things.

Shen Manman, however, wandered around the city every day after work, having visited the shopping centers countless times.

Including the lower-level supply and marketing cooperatives, now only one was willing to stock her products, and that was just a volume of ten packs.

Moreover, the sales staff didn’t actively promote the products, which also made them hard to sell.

But among those they had given out, some people were seeking to buy more.

That month, they managed to sell over twenty packs in bits and pieces.

Manman also found someone, a young girl, to help watch the stall every day.

It was located in the farmers’ market.

Straight in front of the shop, they put up a sign, "Man Shu Sanitary Products."

Manman went to the printing factory and brought in a batch of toilet paper. All sorts, along with the sanitary pads, marketed directly for wholesale.

Although it wasn’t profitable, seeing how hard Manman was working, everyone silently offered their help.