Chapter 444 - 403: Sweeping Changes (Part 2)

Chapter 444: Chapter 403: Sweeping Changes (Part 2)

Next, Zhao Lin turned his gaze to Gu Dezhao.

"The fourth improvement: We’ll section off two tea rooms in the central hall and decorate them to be quiet and elegant. One will be for receiving honored guests, and the other will be for cultivators to sample our prefecture’s Spirit Tea and Spiritual Honey for free."

"Elder Gu is a master of the tea ceremony. He can introduce them to its subtleties. I’m sure that with his eloquence, he’ll have no trouble convincing our guests to open their wallets."

Everyone laughed upon hearing this, and even Gu Dezhao couldn’t help but crack a smile.

"Fifth, we’ll place a small display counter at the intersection of the front and central halls, dedicated to selling discounted items. We’ll call it... the Daily Special!"

"We’ll rotate all our out-of-season, flawed, or slow-moving items onto it, offering them at a 10 to 30 percent discount. This will attract cultivators who love a good bargain."

"Once they get into the habit, they’ll pop in to take a look whenever they’re free. Even if they don’t buy anything, it will increase the shop’s foot traffic."

"Sixth, the checkout counter shouldn’t be empty. We’ll stock it with small, inexpensive items that have a decent profit margin, like Fasting Pills, Nourishing Essence Pills, and warning talismans. Customers can easily grab one or two as they’re paying."

When he finished, the crowd was silent for a long moment. They never imagined that once Zhao Lin decided to act, his changes would be so bold and sweeping. Moreover, his methods were surgically precise, with every move designed to sway the customer’s mind.

Of course, they didn’t know that these were all business strategies Zhao Lin had adapted from the supermarkets of his past life, tailored to the local situation based on his visits to other shops over the past few days.

After quite a while, Gu Dezhao finally came to his senses. He praised, "Shopkeeper Zhao, your methods are truly unexpected—far beyond what an ordinary person could conceive. Based on my experience, all these improvements will benefit the shop. I’m truly impressed!"

"You flatter me, Elder Gu."

Zhao Lin said modestly. He flipped open his notebook for a glance, remembered one more thing he hadn’t mentioned, and turned to the accountant. "Elder Wan? Elder Wan..."

Wan Jingsheng was old and frail, and his energy was failing him. Thinking his part was over, he had secretly dozed off. He jolted awake at the sound of his name and sat up straight. "Shopkeeper Zhao, what are your orders?"

Zhao Lin, of course, knew he had been dozing off but didn’t mind. He smiled and said, "Elder Wan, I’ll need you to make some purchase vouchers."

Wan Jingsheng asked in confusion, "What’s a purchase voucher?"

Zhao Lin explained earnestly, "A purchase voucher is just a paper slip. We’ll write a date on it and stamp it with the shop’s official seal. It doesn’t need to be complicated, just difficult enough to forge."

"The slip will read something like: ’Spend 100 Spirit Coins, get 10 off,’ or ’Spend 200 Spirit Coins, get 20 off,’ and so on. We can finalize the exact wording after this meeting."

Gu An, thinking he understood, chimed in, "Shopkeeper Zhao, so a purchase voucher is just a discount ticket, right?"

Zhao Lin nodded slightly, then shook his head. "Something like that, but not exactly."

"To get a purchase voucher, you first have to buy a certain amount of goods. Plus, the vouchers can be categorized, have time limits, and will automatically expire after three months."

Gu An asked, puzzled, "How are they categorized? And why the time limit?"

Zhao Lin patiently explained, "The vouchers can be divided into categories: store-wide, pills, magical treasures, talismans, and so on. The advantage is that this allows us to control the sales of specific goods."

"For instance, if the end of the year is approaching and we have a stockpile of unsold magical treasures in the warehouse, we issue more magical treasure vouchers. If we have a surplus of pills, we issue pill vouchers."

"As for the time limit, without one, cultivators would have no reason to hurry back to the shop. But this way, if they want to use their discount, they have to return within three months!"

He paused for a moment before adding with a smile, "And when they come back, we give them *another* voucher. If we keep the cycle going, won’t we get more repeat customers?"

"Purchase vouchers have all sorts of wonderful uses. If we use them correctly, we can sell anything we want."

The crowd was utterly dumbfounded, staring blankly as if they were carved from wood.

Gu An scratched his head. "Shopkeeper Zhao, your methods are truly brilliant... even if I don’t completely get it."

’And that’s as it should be.’

Visions of the massive shopping holidays from his past life flashed through Zhao Lin’s mind. ’And there are plenty more tricks where those came from,’ he thought.

Suddenly, a question occurred to Gu Dezhao. "Shopkeeper Zhao, you mentioned setting up a discount counter. If a customer uses a purchase voucher on an item that’s already on sale at the discount counter, wouldn’t we be taking a loss?"

Zhao Lin replied nonchalantly, "That’s where our pricing strategy comes in. As long as we ensure a sufficient profit margin before any discounts are applied, we won’t lose money even if it’s discounted twice."

"Besides, to meet the spending requirement for the voucher, customers will inevitably buy things they didn’t plan on, allowing us to make an extra profit."

"In short, the only thing we have to fear isn’t them using the vouchers—it’s them not showing up at all!" ℯℯ𝘭.

Gu Dezhao gave him a thumbs-up in admiration. "These purchase vouchers are truly formidable!"

Zhao Lin showed no hint of pride on his face, simply waving his hand. "These measures should increase the shop’s revenue, but it’s hard to say by how much. Elder Gu, do you have any other good ideas?"

Gu Dezhao was thoroughly convinced now and didn’t dare to answer hastily. After a moment of deep thought, he said, "The problem with our shop is that we don’t have any true signature products."

"Our Silken Magic Robes, Songyu Peak tea, and Hidden Sword Cold Fish are only famous in the surrounding few prefectures. Very few people here have heard of them, and they aren’t essential for cultivation."

"As for our other goods, they can be found in any other shop. To sell them, our only option is to compete on price to attract customers."

Zhao Lin nodded as he listened, knowing this was indeed the reality of their situation.

This world had no concept of a supermarket. Cultivators typically went to specialty shops for their needs. For example, they’d go to the Beast Taming Pavilion to buy a Spirit Pet, or to West Talisman Hall to buy talismans, and so on.

A shop that sold everything was seen as a mere general store. There were a few similar shops in the market, and none of them were doing well.

Gu An cut in, "Cultivators often come in and ask what we sell. I tell them we sell a bit of everything. And you know what happens? They turn right around and walk out."