Chapter 331 - 164: Tentacles

Chapter 331: Chapter 164: Tentacles

The development of the domestic logistics system over the past two decades has been decent.

However, the express delivery industry, a product of rapid and chaotic growth, has become excessively competitive, to the point where many regional contractors for the major delivery companies don’t turn a profit at all.

Jiang Miao’s idea was to emulate Gou Dong Express and build out the entire chain himself—from cultivation and aquaculture to deep processing, transportation, and retail.

While this would increase costs, it would give him the most control overall.

He was laying out such an aggressive strategy as a precaution. If a conflict ever broke out with the major tech giants, they could ban Hailufeng Company’s online stores from their platforms or intentionally suppress their traffic.

As long as the physical store division and the soon-to-be-established logistics division could be rolled out successfully, expanding their reach into major metropolitan areas like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, then no other shopping app would be able to suppress Hailufeng Company.

After all, Hailufeng Company currently only produced 50,000 to 60,000 kilograms of strawberries per month. The output for Ginseng Fruit was about the same, while tomatoes were slightly higher at around 80,000 kilograms per month.

Such a small production volume couldn’t even satisfy the demand of the Pearl River Delta Region, let alone Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

But why hadn’t Hailufeng Company expanded its production capacity before?

The reason was that Jiang Miao knew a small boat is easier to turn around. Strawberries, Ginseng Fruit, and tomatoes were not monopoly products; unlike eel fry, White Truffle, specialty feed, fish products, or Vanilla Strawberry Powder, they didn’t have a base of large, dedicated clients.

If they were to clash with other e-commerce platforms...

...the sales of their strawberries, Ginseng Fruit, and tomatoes could plummet.

Therefore, Jiang Miao’s plan was to first open physical stores as a safety net. Once the 50 Hailufeng Specialty Stores in the Pearl River Delta were open, selling 1,000 kilograms of strawberries per store each month might be difficult, but selling a few hundred kilograms was definitely achievable.

Combined with online sales through the Hailufeng Specialty Store app and the physical specialty stores the company had been running in Shanmei for nearly two years...

...they could basically guarantee that these three fruits wouldn’t be left unsalable.

Of course, Hailufeng Company’s plan for physical stores wasn’t just for those three fruits, but also for subsequent products like durian, banana, mango, pineapple, lychee, and longan.

In terms of aquatic products, there were various fish products, live eels, live Egyptian Catfish, various types of live salmon, and eel fry.

Add to that tea seed oil, honey, beef and mutton, dairy products, White Truffle, Morchella, and other valuable edible fungi.

It was basically a small supermarket for luxury agricultural products.

The core customer base for the Hailufeng Specialty Stores was the middle class in major metropolitan areas.

By producing high-quality, luxury agricultural products, they could, on one hand, avoid direct competition with domestic farmers, thus preventing the destruction of related domestic industries.

On the other hand, it could also shatter the "premium" label attached to imported fruits. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

After discussing the layout for the physical stores and logistics, Jiang Miao continued, "Sis, your physical store division needs to integrate further. You can establish a Pearl River Delta property company to manage the local physical stores. The same logic applies to Shanghai and the Capital City."

"I’ll arrange it as soon as possible, but I’ll need cooperation from the HR department." Jiang Xia, of course, understood the necessity of establishing regional subsidiaries to manage local properties. After all, her goal was a nationwide rollout, and she didn’t have the time or energy to coordinate with every single specialty store.

"Mhm, I’ll have the HR manager cooperate with you." Jiang Miao thought of something else, though it wasn’t directly related to the divisions.

He jotted down his thoughts in a memo.

He planned to instruct the cultivation division tomorrow to arrange for personnel to go to the Yangtze River Delta Region and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, establish two subsidiaries, and start growing strawberries, Ginseng Fruit, and tomatoes locally for more convenient sales.

These three fruits weren’t tropical, so they didn’t need to be exclusively grown in the South China Region. Establishing cultivation bases near core markets could effectively reduce transportation costs.

After chatting with his sister and brother-in-law for half an hour, the couple said their goodbyes and went back to the villa next door to rest.

Jiang Miao came out of the study.

He washed his face and returned to the bedroom.

"Finished your talk?" Shuya put down the parenting book she was holding.

"Mhm, I was just giving my sister and brother-in-law some instructions." Jiang Miao took off his jacket, grabbed a pillow, and sat back against the mattress.

Shuya placed the book on the nightstand, gently stroking her slightly bulging belly. "Ah Miao, what are your plans for New Le Kang Pharmaceutical Company?"

"How is New Le Kang Pharmaceutical Company’s General Manager, Yu Jiancun, managing the company?" Jiang Miao asked, closing his eyes to rest.

Shuya replied calmly, "His management skills are so-so. The team sent over by the inspection department didn’t find any major problems."

"How is Youwei’s work progressing?"

"Are you asking about the specific drug project for lupus?"

"Mhm."

"It’s barely usable, but there are still many problems. Through her connections at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, she obtained blood samples from 100 domestic lupus patients. After comparing the relevant genes, she found that while the related target points in each patient had similarities, there were also many differences."

Jiang Miao was well aware of this. "So after she tried to find a common denominator, her specific drug had a hard time achieving the expected results, right?"

"Exactly."

"Her approach was never going to succeed in the first place."

"Then why didn’t you remind her?"

Jiang Miao shook his head. "She’s too stubborn. Let her hit a wall first."

Shuya reminded him, "If that’s the case, how should we plan Xinkangle Medicine’s products? We can’t just keep producing masks and ibuprofen, can we? Those two products can’t even cover the factory’s operating costs."

"How many people have been recruited for the pharmaceutical R&D lab over there?"

"We’ve recruited 20 people. Three have PhDs in pharmaceutical R&D, and seventeen have Master’s degrees in fields like biochemistry and medicine."

Jiang Miao opened his eyes. "Let’s find something for them to do. Yangcheng isn’t suitable for new drug research. Have Yu Jiancun move the R&D center to Shanmei District and establish a high-standard biopharmaceutical laboratory."

"That’s going to be another big investment!"

"Let’s invest 300 million."

"Then what do you plan to have those researchers work on?"

Jiang Miao thought for a moment. He suddenly recalled a natural fungus he had discovered in the desert of Monan some time ago. That thing had decent potential and could be considered for development into a brand-new antibiotic.

But then he shook his head. Artificially cultivating this fungus would be extremely difficult. Unless he and Shuya handled it personally, the research could go on forever without any results.

He didn’t have any free time in the near future, and Shuya needed to focus on her pregnancy, so she definitely couldn’t get involved in fungal and pharmaceutical R&D. As for He Youwei, she was only a dabbler.

After careful consideration, Jiang Miao decided to start with chemical pharmaceuticals instead.