"How is Mr. Huang doing? Is he as majestic as when I met him at the beginning of this year? I heard he's encountered some minor troubles recently!" Rob Wal-Mart greeted our Boss Huang with a smile as soon as they met.
"Yes, although he has encountered some minor troubles recently, everything is still within Chairman Huang's control. We will resolve these troubles!" Liu Xiangjiang said with a smile.
In early 2005, Wal-Mart opened its 100th store in Huaxia. To celebrate the opening of the 100th store and to deepen Wal-Mart's business development in Huaxia.
As the CEO of Wal-Mart, Rob Wal-Mart personally came to Huaxia. Not only did he attend the opening ceremony of the 100th store, but he also had friendly exchanges with many business magnates in Huaxia.
At this time, Huang He, who was the most influential in the world within Huaxia and was also known as the richest man in Huaxia, was naturally an indispensable figure for Rob Wal-Mart.
At Rob Wal-Mart's personal invitation, the two had a pleasant dinner together and climbed the Great Wall together.
You might not believe it when I say this, but this was Boss Huang's first time climbing the Great Wall.
In his previous life, Boss Huang had never even been to the capital, let alone climbed the Great Wall. In this life, the Great Wall did not hold much attraction for Boss Huang, so he had never made a special trip to climb it. It wasn't until this time that he completed his first Great Wall climb with a foreigner.
It is worth mentioning that to welcome the arrival of Rob Wal-Mart and Huang He, the management committee of the Great Wall even voluntarily closed the Great Wall for a day, clearing the entire Great Wall for the two to film.
Well, this might sound a bit unbelievable, but if you carefully examine the operational records of the Great Wall, you will find that the Great Wall is closed for almost fifty to sixty days a year.
While a portion of this time is for convenient maintenance of the Great Wall, another part is for receiving visits from important figures.
Rob Wal-Mart, the CEO of the number one company on the Fortune Global 500 list, and the richest man in Huaxia climbing the Great Wall together. These two are undoubtedly the most important economic figures the Great Wall has ever received. It is very normal to give them face.
Thanks to this joint tour, Rob Wal-Mart and Boss Huang He established a relatively deep friendship.
What is meant by "relatively deep" is that with one phone call from Boss Huang, Rob Wal-Mart proactively invited Liu Xiangjiang and Liu Qiangdong to spend a day at his home.
There was also the fact that Hao Jianguo had repeatedly proposed cooperation between Western Wild Horse Wallet and Wal-Mart's e-commerce website, but these were all unhesitatingly rejected.
This is probably what is meant by friends are friends, and business is business.
After some pleasantries, Liu Xiangjiang got straight to the point, "Respected Mr. Rob, we are here today on behalf of Oriental Amazon, a subsidiary of Jiangnan Group, to sincerely propose a cooperation plan. We hope that our two companies can engage in mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation!"
"That's wonderful!" Rob Wal-Mart said with a smile. "But what kind of cooperation is it? If it's the same cooperation as Western Wild Horse Wallet, then there's no need. While I personally like this kind of cooperation, the board of directors finds it difficult to approve. After all, those people on the board hate trouble and increased costs, and it's not easy for me to persuade them!"
"No, please rest assured. This time, we will carry out a deeper cooperation, which will definitely help Wal-Mart save more costs and bring more profits!" Liu Xiangjiang said.
"Then I will listen attentively. What is the plan?" Rob Wal-Mart's smile widened.
"Sir, you know Wal-Mart best, so you must be aware that Wal-Mart's current e-commerce platform is not a true e-commerce platform. It's just a reservation channel for Wal-Mart online. Your members purchase products through reservations and then pick them up themselves from the supermarket. So, this is essentially just a website for pre-purchasing goods, and its essence is still the traditional supermarket shopping model." xxs壹贰
"Our cooperation this time is to help Wal-Mart's e-commerce platform truly evolve into an online e-commerce platform, allowing all users to purchase Wal-Mart's rich product selection from home without leaving their homes!" Liu Xiangjiang said.
"Really? There's such a good thing!" Rob Wal-Mart's eyes lit up slightly, then returned to their previous state, and he said in a measured tone, "How do you plan to achieve this?"
"It's very simple. We hope to obtain authorization for Wal-Mart's e-commerce transactions and provide us with real-time inventory data for all Wal-Mart stores, allowing us to list products on the website as soon as possible."
"In addition, we also hope to have a dedicated green channel that allows our staff to quickly access Wal-Mart's shelves or warehouses to pack goods according to orders, and then quickly complete the settlement, etc."
"Our users can directly place orders on the Oriental Amazon platform, and you will pack the goods according to the orders. Then, our Oriental Express delivery specialists will be responsible for transporting them to the users' homes!"
Liu Xiangjiang laid out his plan, or rather, Huang He's plan, in its entirety.
"I see! But I don't think this plan is very new. Our Wal-Mart's e-commerce department proposes the same business expansion applications almost every year, just like the plan you've given me. So, if we directly hire people to deliver, wouldn't it be simpler? Why involve Oriental Amazon as an intermediary?" Rob Wal-Mart's question was quite realistic.
Indeed, the plan proposed by Liu Xiangjiang was very simple. After all, it was just adding a delivery person to the existing Wal-Mart e-commerce website system. Wal-Mart itself had proposed similar plans countless times. So, when Rob Wal-Mart heard this plan, he found it somewhat incredible. This plan was too damn simple.
Why did the people from Jiangnan Group have the confidence to believe that their plan would be approved when their own internal departments had their proposals rejected?
Facing Rob Wal-Mart's doubts, Liu Xiangjiang was very calm, as if he had already considered this issue. Therefore, he directly retorted, "Then please tell me, Mr. Rob, since your company has proposed similar plans countless times, why has Wal-Mart never approved these plans?"
"..." Rob Wal-Mart was somewhat speechless.
"Even as an outsider, I can see the reason behind it, which is that this change does not bring much benefit to Wal-Mart, but the cost is enormous!"
"Wal-Mart currently has over 500,000 employees across the United States. If delivery personnel are added, it would likely require another 500,000 employees. This would directly double Wal-Mart's labor costs."
"However, this doubled workforce would not increase Wal-Mart's sales by double. Because Wal-Mart is already the most powerful hypermarket in the United States, dominating over 60% of retail business. Therefore, no matter how much it grows, it would only increase by another 40% at most, not double an additional 60%. As a result, there would be a severe imbalance in income and expenditure, making it impossible for Wal-Mart to approve such a plan!" Liu Xiangjiang spoke eloquently, and Rob Wal-Mart couldn't help but nod.
Indeed, any fool could come up with the plan of adding delivery personnel to deliver goods, but any fool could also see how exaggerated the cost increase of this plan would be.
Wal-Mart, in the future, was a company that grew by offering low profits and prices to increase its market share, and by relying on high sales volume with small profits. If the labor costs instantly doubled, Wal-Mart would be thrown into disarray, and might even incur annual losses. This was something the entire Wal-Mart board of directors absolutely could not allow.
Therefore, even though Wal-Mart's e-commerce website appeared a year earlier than Amazon's, it had always been merely a reservation website for members.
"However, if this task is handed over to us, it will be completely different. I guarantee you here that all the costs of the delivery personnel will be borne by us, Oriental Amazon Group. Of course, in return, Wal-Mart should provide us with products at a price about 5% lower than the retail price, as our profit margin."
"I guarantee you that this 5% profit margin will allow Wal-Mart to increase its sales by at least 30%. After all, many people might temporarily develop a desire to shop, but due to factors such as having to drive out or walk, they give up on the desire to shop and stay at home.
With our website able to fully stimulate the purchasing desires of these people, allowing them to complete their purchases with just a few clicks on the computer, coupled with dedicated delivery service, and our ability to achieve on-time delivery within 5 hours within the coverage area of Wal-Mart stores, I don't think anyone could refuse such a shopping experience!" Liu Xiangjiang said with a smile, and after listening to Liu Xiangjiang's words, Rob Wal-Mart fell into deep thought.
This was good; it meant Rob Wal-Mart was starting to waver.