Novel Full 419 419 Marketing
Wolfe looked over the backpacks, which were large, expandable units which could be cinched tight with straps that ran around their diameter to keep everything inside snug against your body. They seemed to be very good designs, and they had been made with care by someone in the village, so he added a Gravity Inscription to the whole stack, designed to make them weigh one kilo no matter how much was stuffed inside them.
“There we go. You will want someone to test that backpack before we sell it, though. The charm should work, but I’m not one hundred percent sure that I got all the parameters right.” Wolfe explained.
One of the soldiers spoke up. “That’s easy enough. It’s so large that I could stuff my current patrol bag into it. The full kit weighs thirty kilos, so it will be very obvious if the weight changes.”
Cassie tossed him one of the bags, and he shrugged off his backpack, then stuffed it in the larger bag and carefully adjusted the strapping to get it to the size he wanted.
“I like the adjustability, both around the outside and from the bottom up. It will be great for the shorter guards and merchants. But can it really weigh nothing?” He asked, then hefted the bag and almost threw it over his head.
He then swung it from one finger with a big smile on his face before strapping it to his body and doing a few jumping jacks.
“Oh, that is marvellous. It really weighs the same as an empty bag. This is going to be a game changer on patrol.” He cheered.
“How many did you bring?” The Elder asked, seeing that the army was going to want a lot of them right away.
“We packed four bales of fifty packs, so two hundred in total. We have recommended pricing on the bales, but I’m not sure how the local markets are these days, so it could be hard to determine the proper price.” Cassie replied with a frown on her face.
That was the biggest problem that they were likely to run into. They had all sorts of great ideas and powerful witches, but it was rare for powerful witches to use their powers in a commercial way, so there really wasn’t a precedent for a lot of the items that they made.
What they had done was take the Myrrh Coven’s standard pricing of a high-quality pack and then triple it. That would give a large chunk of profit to the witches and make the packs a premium item in the eyes of the buyers, they hoped.
The quality alone should be enough to sell them. They just needed to establish proper pricing. The Myrrh Coven was supposed to have another convoy of trucks coming to the river in the next day or two, and they would be selling these to them as well if Wolfe came back to put the Gravity Charm on them. If they had no problems with the price or the quality, then the price would be set.
Myrrh Coven had proven to be their biggest customer, and it was for the most unexpected things. They had been sending merchant convoys every few days this week, and it was all with requests for brightly coloured fashionable clothing with basic enchantments, as well as the usual requests for their upgraded weapons and armour amulets.
The Elder from the village looked Cassie and Priya over with a careful eye, certain that they had done some sort of assessment to determine their pricing, but she didn’t know how much the Fae Forest had been trading or what they had been trading with Myrrh Coven lately.
In fact, she didn’t even understand exactly where the Fae Forest was. She had been given directions, but she had never left the vicinity of the village, so they didn’t mean much to her, so she didn’t realize how close the Myrrh Coven border the Forest was.
The Colonel was the one who stepped forward and examined the stacks of gear that were being unloaded from the plane.
“That’s about three times what the others were charging for a regular backpack.” He explained to the Elder as he looked at the hastily scrawled tag on the bundle.
“No disrespect, Colonel, but how could that not be worth it? These packs are amazing, and the strain that they will reduce on the troops will make it incredibly easy to forage for supplies. We could load an entire team with meat or firewood, and it wouldn’t slow them down at all.” The soldier with the new backpack suggested.
He got a nasty glare for speaking out of turn when the leaders were looking to negotiate, but he was right. The packs were worth the price, and from what the Colonel could see, the swords and bows were only moderately more expensive than a regular unit. With the increase in effectiveness, they could be sold for at least twice as much, giving a nice profit margin.
The fashion stack was definitely not his area of expertise, though.
“Bring someone over who knows the textile market. I know that the merchants are always looking for good fabric and clothing, and there are a lot of them here.” He ordered.
A scout ran off into the village and returned in under a minute with three people, all of whom had been hanging around the edge of town, pretending not to eavesdrop on the meeting.
“I think I have them, sir. This is Morgeth and Elton from the village and the merchant Jora, whose team has been resting here for the week after that attack by bears. Two fashionistas and a proper merchant.” The scout informed them.
“Good enough. I hope you ladies don’t mind if we make a mess of your tidy stacks. Private Marcus, lay out a clean ground tarp for the fashion team to work on so they can assess the clothing.” The Colonel ordered.
The Merchant was the first one forward, as she was the only one of the three with an active aura, so she was the first to realize that the seemingly plain clothes were magical. Her silence seemed like assessment at first, but really, she was shocked at what she was seeing for sale in such a remote place.