Chapter 69 - 67: President Min, I’m Here to Help You
Chen Yansen was just about to head back to his seat to rest when Zhang Yifeng walked over with a middle-aged man. "Brother Sen, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Min Jie, the general manager of Meiters’ online channels. President Min, this is my boss, Mr. Chen Yansen, the founder of FoxTao."
"President Min, a pleasure to meet you!" Chen Yansen extended his right hand and shook the other man’s.
Min Jie was in his thirties, wearing a royal blue jacket and a neat, short haircut. His expression was resolute, but a hint of worry clouded his features.
"President Chen, I heard from Yifeng that FoxTao did 20 million in sales during this Double Eleven. Congratulations! Truly a young talent. When I was your age, I didn’t even know what a computer was."
Min Jie said, holding Chen Yansen’s hand, his words carrying a subtle tone of flattery and ingratiation.
"President Min, you’re too kind. You entered the industry early and are full of experience. It’s a privilege for us young people to be able to talk with you."
Chen Yansen narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment, then gestured for them to find a place to talk in more detail.
In 2010, Meiters was not having an easy time. Reckless expansion, combined with the late arrival of winter this year, had caused their inventory pressure to skyrocket. A staggering 30% of the company’s total assets was just clothing stock piled up in warehouses.
To alleviate the inventory pressure, the headquarters had pulled together over 300 people to build their own online e-commerce platform—Meigou Network. Min Jie was the person in charge of this new project. He was attending the channel partner conference mainly to find external traffic for the platform.
Coincidentally, he had overheard Zhang Yifeng mention that FoxTao had over one million daily active users, which immediately piqued his interest, and he took the initiative to ask for a meeting with Chen Yansen.
The group left the main hall and went into a private room.
"President Chen, our group’s self-operated e-commerce platform is scheduled to go live in the middle of next month. When it does, we’d like to integrate with your company’s CPS interface..."
As soon as they sat down, Min Jie got straight to the point.
At this time, for a shopping guide e-commerce site to cooperate with a B2C platform, it first needed to integrate a CPS interface. This was necessary to enable ad link redirection, order data transmission, and performance tracking, which in turn ensured accurate commission settlement.
"President Min, opening up the CPS interface is no problem. But have you decided on the base commission rate for the store? Different commission rates mean different traffic resources allocated by FoxTao."
Chen Yansen agreed readily before asking a question in return.
He naturally welcomed a cooperation request from Meiters. Once upon a time, this fast-fashion brand had been all the rage, from Jinling Road in Hu City to eighteenth-tier towns. Although it was now showing signs of decline, it still had a considerable fan base in third-tier cities and below.
But you get what you pay for. If Min Jie wasn’t willing to offer a good profit margin, Chen Yansen would at most place the redirect link for Meiters on a secondary page and wouldn’t allocate any extra resources to it.
"For all categories, a universal commission of 10%."
After hearing this, Min Jie fell silent for a long time before finally speaking slowly.
"President Min, we could try a different cooperation model. Clothing is a visual product; sufficient exposure is what boosts order volume. Why don’t we start with your company’s Taobao flagship store and jointly run a special brand event? I can drive a million-plus-level of traffic directly to you."
In response to the rate Min Jie offered, Chen Yansen just smiled without saying anything, instead changing the subject and proposing a completely new method of cooperation.
’A million-plus-level of traffic?’
’A special brand event?’
Min Jie frowned, mulling it over seriously. Chen Yansen’s proposal was incredibly tempting, but he knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. The other party was bound to have some harsh conditions.
"What are your requirements, President Chen?" Min Jie looked up and asked, staring directly at Chen Yansen.
"Yuncheng, show President Min the resource package for the brand group," Chen Yansen said, not answering directly but instead giving an order to Song Yuncheng.
Song Yuncheng nodded, took a laptop out of her bag, opened a PPT file on the desktop, and began to introduce the brand group’s resource package to Min Jie one by one.
Website pop-up: once a day, 1 million average daily PV, 300,000 average daily clicks, list price of 600,000 yuan.
Website dynamic floating window: displayed all day, 800,000 average daily PV, 240,000 average daily clicks, list price of 400,000 yuan.
Dedicated brand event page: displayed all day, 800,000 average daily PV, 240,000 average daily clicks, list price of 500,000 yuan.
...In addition, there were resource slots on the search page, personal center, and secondary pages. All told, the total advertising cost came to 2 million yuan.
Min Jie sucked in a sharp breath, his expression turning sour. He hadn’t expected Chen Yansen to be so ruthless, actually quoting a price of 2 million.
"President Chen, Meigou Network is just starting up, and we need money everywhere. It’s not that we can’t come up with 2 million, but you have to convince me that this 2 million can generate 10 million in sales."
Min Jie deliberated for a moment before saying in a calm tone.
"I can waive this 2 million. Consider it a gesture of friendship with you, President Min. But when it comes to the event’s promotional intensity, I’d like to see your sincerity," Chen Yansen said magnanimously with a wave of his hand.
"I understand the brand group model now. For ten limited-edition products, I can give a 90% commission. We’ll cover the remaining 10% with a cash payment to make up the total 2 million in value. For all other regular items, the commission rate will be 30%."
Min Jie was taken aback for a moment after hearing his words, but then he responded.
FoxTao’s special brand event, to put it bluntly, was all about funneling traffic to an event page. The page was divided into blockbuster products and regular products. The blockbusters were responsible for attracting traffic, while the regular products helped the brand profit through the long-tail effect.
"For regular products, I want a 70% commission."
Chen Yansen shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with Min Jie’s answer.
’He’d personally stepped in to negotiate and had even waived the 2 million ad fee. What was the point of a mere 30% commission?’
’If they only managed to sell two or three million, FoxTao would lose face, and the whole brand group project might just fail.’
"70% is too high. Factoring in inventory, labor, and logistics costs, we wouldn’t even cover our production costs. 40% is the most I can do."
Min Jie shook his head repeatedly but didn’t shut the door on the negotiation.
"President Min, I’m here to help you! Clothes piled up in a warehouse are just worthless junk nobody wants. Sell them, turn them into cash, and Meiters can survive."
Chen Yansen leaned back and said nonchalantly.
Meiters’ inventory pressure was pushing the brand to the brink of life and death. For the next decade or so, Meiters would go on a steady decline, never managing to rise again.
’He was absolutely certain he had Meiters right where he wanted them!’
’With this partnership, he was going to make the brand group’s model a massive success.’
Min Jie remained silent, head bowed in thought for a long time. Finally, he sighed and said, "We definitely can’t give a 70% commission on new arrivals. It might be possible for older stock, but I don’t have the authority to make that decision."
"President Min, styles from three to five years ago are fine. I’m not picky. But the quality and condition of the clothes must be guaranteed," Chen Yansen said, showing his understanding while stating his requirements.
"Please wait a moment. I need to step out and make a call." Min Jie abruptly stood up, excused himself, and left with his assistant.
Once the people from Meiters had left, Zhang Yifeng asked impatiently, "Brother Sen, do you think the boss of Meiters will agree? A 70% commission is equivalent to a 70% discount on all their products."
"I was originally going to ask for an 80% commission, but I held back considering Min Jie’s position and authority. Don’t worry. For a clothing brand with such high inventory, it’s either cut their losses or face a dead end," Chen Yansen said with a confident smile.
"After watching *Let’s Go Watch The Meteor Shower*, I actually thought Meiters was some big international brand," Chen Xu said with a chuckle.
"A starving camel is still bigger than a horse. They still do several billion in sales a year. If it weren’t for management’s strategic blunders that created so much inventory, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call them the leading domestic enterprise in casual wear," Chen Yansen commented objectively.
’If they hadn’t shot themselves in the foot, how could he have picked up such a bargain?’
’Customers want to buy high-quality products from big brands at a good price, and clearance stock is the best way to get it.’
An unknown amount of time passed before Min Jie returned with his people.
"President Chen, here’s to our successful cooperation! The higher-ups have agreed to your commission terms." Min Jie raised his hand, palm up.
"To a successful cooperation! President Min, choosing FoxTao will absolutely be the smartest decision you make this year."
Chen Yansen shook his hand and said with great confidence.
Min Jie smiled, then called over the operations manager for their Taobao flagship store to hash out the details with Chen Xu, Zhang Yifeng, and the others regarding product selection, launch time, launch schedule, after-sales service, payment periods, and the security deposit.
After all, commission settlements for B2C stores relied entirely on financial accounting. If the other party delayed payment, FoxTao’s only recourse was to sue, a process that could easily drag on for a year or more. Meanwhile, they still had to pay out rebates to users, meaning they’d be fronting more and more money, a situation that could easily lead to being bled dry by a bad partner.
Furthermore, the estimated order volume for this brand event was huge. Without a security deposit, if Meiters were to temporarily change prices, alter prices after the event ended, or if there were issues with product quality, it would severely damage the user experience.
Therefore, even though Min Jie argued with him for a long time, Chen Yansen didn’t back down an inch. He insisted on a security deposit of 800,000 yuan. If the other party tried to pull any tricks, he would use that money to compensate the users according to the terms of the contract.
"President Chen, I really can’t win against you. Alright, let’s set the event for November 28th. I’ll leave everything that follows in your hands."
Min Jie sighed lightly and agreed with a look of resignation.
"President Min, I know the Taobao Platform has a lot of promotions, but you must do a good job with price protection. Otherwise, I won’t show any mercy and will deduct the price difference from your security deposit to compensate the users."
Chen Yansen stood up and continued chatting with Min Jie and the others as they walked.
"Don’t worry, I’ll make the proper arrangements," Min Jie immediately promised. From Chen Yansen’s expression, he could tell the man wasn’t joking.
"Once the event is over, President Chen, you must come to Hu City. Let me be a proper host, and we can have a good drink together," Min Jie said enthusiastically.
"It’s a deal then! Just don’t let me find your phone turned off when the time comes!" Chen Yansen joked with a smile.
Min Jie laughed heartily, slinging an arm around Chen Yansen’s shoulder. The two returned to the banquet hall, talking and laughing.
That evening, as the largest external channel for Taobao’s Double Eleven, FoxTao won the "Best Partner of the Year" award.
Chen Xu, Zhang Yifeng, and Song Yuncheng held the trophy, grinning foolishly as they posed for souvenir photos.
"So damn stingy. Didn’t even give us any real benefits," Chen Yansen muttered, pursing his lips as he looked at Zhang Yong and Hu Zhilong on the stage.
Fortunately, the trip wasn’t a total loss. The deal with Meiters had instantly rekindled his entrepreneurial passion.
The next day, the four of them went their separate ways in Hang City. Chen Xu and Zhang Yifeng returned to Hu City with Min Jie’s group. Their purpose was threefold: first, to select products offline; second, to control product quality; and third, to learn from industry experience.
The two of them were quite sharp, but if they wanted to develop further in the industry, they needed to go deep into the source of the supply chain. They had to figure out everything about clothing fabrics—materials, prices, quality, and so on.
Chen Yansen took Song Yuncheng to a hot spring hotel in Jinling to relax for a day. After two straight days on a business trip, they naturally had to enjoy themselves a little.
Unfortunately, Song Yuncheng absolutely refused to put on a swimsuit, which became his one major regret of the trip.
Late on the night of the 17th, the two finally returned to Xucheng Academy.
"The dorms closed a long time ago. What are you going to do? Want to crash at my place for the night?" Chen Yansen suggested.
"Boss, can I just stay in a hotel?" Song Yuncheng asked cautiously, pushing her suitcase.
"Sure. I’ll head home then." Chen Yansen waved and turned to leave,
"Huh!? Boss, you’re not going to reimburse me?" Song Yuncheng scurried after him.
"In your dreams! The business trip is over. Are you still trying to fleece the company?"
Chen Yansen shot her a look and said irritably.
Song Yuncheng stood frozen on the spot. After a brief internal struggle, she followed after Chen Yansen.
’Making her pay for a hotel out of her own pocket? That would be the death of her!’