On November 24, 2001, while the fierce battle between oo and QQ was still raging, Huang He did not appear at the headquarters to oversee affairs. Instead, he traveled to Shanghai, the "Magic City," for the opening ceremony of Jiangnan's first physical store: the Jiangnan Blind Box Flagship Store.
This was the first physical store under the Jiangnan brand, and it represented the first attempt in Jiangnan Group's national strategy to sell blind boxes in a retail setting. It was also one of the fruits of Huang He's hard work over the past two months.
After leaving Hangzhou, Huang He's most important task, besides assigning strategy to Leng Zhimeng, was to work with Leng Zhiruo on upgrading the entire blind box sales strategy.
Huang He was well aware that a blind box business could not truly grow strong and powerful relying solely on leather goods. After all, the market for leather goods was too small, a fact evident from the sales figures of leather good blind boxes across the country.
After more than half a year of blind box sales, market performance had begun to decline month after month. For instance, in the Northeast market managed by Shen Yuequn, the sales performance of a single stall had dropped by over 30% compared to the previous month – a frightening rate of decline.
However, the overall performance of the Northeast market had actually increased. Following the meeting in August, and with Leng Zhiruo continuously establishing subsidiaries in various regions, these subsidiaries began to recruit merchants. Within three months, they had attracted over 600 different entities or individuals, and the number of mobile stalls had increased by more than 2,400. Following Huang He's directive of four stalls per county, ten stalls per prefecture-level city, and over fifty stalls per major city, they rapidly covered many areas previously unreached by Jiangnan.
The local populace in these regions had never encountered the blind box concept. Coupled with the fact that it was not yet the internet era, and people were not as keenly aware of products from other regions, these newly integrated regions and cities were like undeveloped gold mines, naturally bringing in immense profits. This caused the overall performance of blind boxes to soar.
Thus, even though the performance of some older stalls plummeted, the promising growth of newly added "leeks" led to an astonishing overall performance for Jiangnan.
In October alone, the total sales revenue for blind boxes exceeded 200 million RMB, with a net profit of around 80 million RMB. By November, the total sales revenue had surpassed 300 million RMB, and net profit reached 120 million RMB. This single surge in profit easily recouped all the money Huang He had invested in oo servers.
Concurrently, all of Jiangnan's dealers were beaming with joy, displaying a vibrant and thriving appearance.
However, Mr. Huang was not blinded by this bustling and prosperous scene. He knew very well that the money he was making was from "leeks," and this performance was likely to decline sharply in 2002. Therefore, his most crucial task now was to find a way to introduce new blood into the blind box business, bringing back those "leeks" who had accumulated too many leather goods and left, so they could be "harvested" on the chopping board by Mr. Huang.
In this regard, Pop Mart, a company from later generations, provided an excellent example by launching dozens, or even more, new blind box series every month, thus collecting revenue from users' wallets.
Yet, Huang He held a dismissive view of this. No matter how many new products Pop Mart released, they were, in essence, just plastic figurines, and they were primarily targeting "fashionable leeks."
But in China, how many "fashionable leeks" were there? Likely not even 1%. In China, the majority of "leeks" were seasoned ones. To harvest these people, one couldn't rely on plastic figurines; more practical items were needed.
Thus, at this very moment, the nationwide inaugural Jiangnan Blind Box Flagship Store, currently holding its opening ceremony, featured twelve new series of blind box products.
Huang He's first flagship store was naturally situated in a prime location, directly on the banks of the Huangpu River, attracting the most tourists. It was also a spacious, rare standalone building with three floors. Rumor had it that it was once the property of Du Yuesheng, with a monthly rent of around 50,000 RMB.
This was the price in 2001. By 2002, the rent for such a store would have risen to approximately 500,000 RMB per month.
However, our Mr. Huang was generous. He directly invested 12 million RMB to purchase this three-story old house by the Huangpu River. At this time, and certainly after the relevant laws were enacted later that year, such old houses would become non-saleable, let alone subject to renovations.
But now, money was king. Huang He bought the old house but did not renovate it, as the approval procedures for renovation alone would have taken at least half a year.
Therefore, Huang He made a very clever modification. He encased the exterior of the old house with glass and sheet metal, and then, designed it to resemble the automated vending machines for blind boxes seen in 2021. He effectively transformed the three-story old house into the appearance of a giant blind box vending machine, standing tall by the Huangpu River.
Indeed, such a building might have attracted some trouble from urban management. However, with the assistance of a Shanghai-based store manager and a dealer hired by Mr. Huang, a bit of "greasing the wheels" ensured no one bothered them. After all, such a colossal vending machine was incredibly effective in attracting tourists.
It was obvious how eye-catching such a peculiar structure would be. During its renovation, a large crowd of tourists had already gathered nearby, taking countless photos of the building with their point-and-shoot cameras.
When Mr. Huang arrived for the official opening ceremony and the building stood fully realized, the effect was even more spectacular. Not only was the area packed three layers deep with people, but several television reporters had also rushed to the scene, capturing numerous shots of this magnificent blind box machine. Thus, after Huang He cut the red ribbon with scissors, officially announcing the opening, the frenzied crowd immediately attempted to surge into the store.
Fortunately, Huang He was well-prepared. He had set up queue dividers extending for hundreds of meters at the entrance, notified relevant departments to maintain order, and hired over a dozen temporary security guards to manage the situation outside the store.
"Dear customers, we sincerely apologize, but our store can only accommodate a maximum of fifty customers shopping at any given time. We kindly ask those in line to wait patiently. We will provide you with some snacks and beverages. We appreciate your understanding!" a female store manager, dressed in a manner similar to an air hostess with her legs showcased in black stockings, announced to the waiting customers through a microphone.
Simultaneously, four or five similarly dressed waitresses, carrying baskets overflowing with small packets of crispy rice snacks and cups of lemon water, continuously circulated among the queuing customers, offering these refreshments.
This kind of service, later popularized by Haidilao, was quite rare in that era. It brought a deep sense of warmth to many Shanghai locals accustomed to finding bargains. Grabbing a handful of crispy rice snacks and holding two cups of lemon water, they marveled that this was truly the most humane and best-serviced store they had ever encountered.
Well, the factory procurement price for a basket of these crispy rice snacks was only around 6 RMB. Furthermore, these were specially customized, intensely flavored crispy rice snacks by Huang He.
They tasted good, but after consuming one packet, the body was guaranteed to resist such food that induced dryness and an inexplicable sense of fullness.
As for the lemon water, it was refreshing and quenched thirst. However, after a few sips, one would find it too sour. Most importantly, one lemon could be used to make a whole bucket, and it could be reused several times, making it incredibly cost-effective.