Chapter 172: Online Vegetable Shopping Advertising Promotion Plan

Chen Yang thought that offering a heavy reward would quickly complete the business plan to promote online vegetable self-pickup points in Xingcheng, but reality dealt him a hard slap.

After the marketing department spent an entire week vigorously promoting, only twenty community supermarkets and convenience stores were willing to partner with the Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company to set up self-pickup points.

This number is worlds apart from Chen Yang's initial expectation.

Faced with such dismal results, Marketing Department Manager Wang Ziqiang gave Chen Yang feedback on the two key problems behind this promotion's failure.

First, internet development is still in its early stages; even as a provincial capital, Xingcheng has not achieved full coverage. For most ordinary people, buying fresh vegetables online seems extremely unfamiliar and alternative, and they feel it's not real.

Second, many small shops intending to cooperate generally lack adequate hardware facilities: they have no internet connection, and not even a single computer is installed in the store. Under these conditions, even if shop owners want to recommend this new online vegetable service to customers, they are willing but unable.

Chen Yang felt his considerations were indeed insufficient. After all, it's still 2002. At this stage, large e-commerce platforms like some treasure, some east, and many many have not yet appeared. Moreover, the era of smartphones led by some fruit phone has not yet arrived. In other words, promoting online shopping services at this time is like reclaiming new land on a barren wilderness.

Since this is an arduous pioneering journey, the first step taken is naturally crucial.

First, we need to deeply understand market demand and consumer psychology. Nowadays, people's perception of shopping mostly remains at the traditional physical store model, and they may have many doubts and concerns about this emerging online shopping.

Therefore, we must conduct extensive market research to grasp the public's acceptance of online shopping, expected functions, and possible problems. Only by mastering this key information can we formulate targeted promotion strategies, enabling all residents of Xingcheng to better understand the existence of online vegetable shopping and its advantages.

Chen Yang immediately summoned Shen Anna, Wang Ziqiang, Zhao Xiaoxiao, Zhong Feiyan, and Luo Hao to the company meeting room and distributed tasks to them one by one.

"Anna sister, go contact Xingcheng's TV stations; whichever has better ratings, we'll buy a prime-time ad slot to focus on promoting our company's online vegetable business."

"Manager Luo, your network security department's task is to set up online sales services at all company-operated points. You must ensure each self-operated store has at least two computers that can properly run online sales. Additionally, you should develop a computer application for online vegetable shopping. This program should not be too complex; it should guide customers through the online shopping service in the simplest way."

"Manager Zhong, your online sales department's task is to train every employee at each self-operated store to skillfully operate the online sales system. Also, the marketing department needs you to provide corresponding training so that every salesperson can carry out complete promotion services."

"Manager Wang, the marketing department's task is to promote online vegetable business offline. You should hold a meeting, pool ideas, think of some promotional slogans for online vegetable shopping, then produce and distribute advertisements. The focus of ad placement should be Xingcheng's bus company, internet cafes, supermarkets, farmers' markets, and nearby densely populated residential areas."

"Manager Zhao, your market research department's task is to gather public acceptance of online vegetable shopping and to survey the promotional effectiveness of our subsequent series of advertisements."

After assigning the tasks, Chen Yang let the others leave first, keeping only Shen Anna behind.

"Anna sister, Xin sister still owes me a favor. For this online vegetable promotion we need lots of advertising resources. Go ask her if she has any free resources to spare; consider it repaying the favor."

Shen Anna gave a wry smile: "She hasn't been doing well in the stock market lately; I can't even get a meal date with her. Asking her for a favor now might backfire."

Chen Yang sighed; this week Xingcheng Heavy Industry was hammered by deep-hidden short sellers, hitting several consecutive limit-downs, and the stock price fell back to twenty yuan three mao five.

This situation arose entirely because Zhuo Wenyuan and others' insatiable greed! They stubbornly wanted to wait until the stock price doubled before quitting. Who knew a group of deep-hidden short sellers would suddenly appear, unleashing a fierce combo that left them dazed and at a loss.

By the time Zhuo Wenyuan finally woke up from his dream and tried to order everyone to retreat, it was already too late. The market had already descended into chaos, with all kinds of capital and retail investors panicking and fleeing, directly triggering a terrifying stock market stampede.

Now the stock price has fallen to twenty yuan three mao five; their alliance still has one-third of its shares unsold. The trapped funds amount to at least two hundred million.

So Chen Yang dared not provoke Yexin at this time; he could only let Shen Anna, who has a better relationship with her, take the lead.

Shen Anna asked Chen Yang: "Boss, your stock trading skills are higher than theirs; do you have any way to help them out of trouble?"

Chen Yang thought for a moment and said: "At this point there are only two options. First, lie in wait for a while, waiting for other capital's reaction. If they want to keep smashing the price, we pick up some chips below the ten-day line. If they want to push the price up, we go along with it a bit, then gradually withdraw."

"Second, cut losses promptly. Because you don't know how much capital may sneak in during the withdrawal process, ready to bite you. It's better to let them fight each other first, then strike back when both sides are bruised."

Shen Anna never imagined the stock market world could be so complex. She directly called Yexin and conveyed Chen Yang's suggestion.

On the other end of the line, Yexin fell silent for a moment, then replied: "Anna, I'm hungry; when you come over, remember to bring something to eat." Then she hung up.

Chen Yang knew that if Yexin's mood improved, his free advertising problem would be solved. So he instructed Shen Anna: "Buy her more sweets. When people are in a bad mood, eating sweets shifts attention from the cause of negative emotions to the taste and texture of the sweets, which to some extent can alleviate her negative emotions."

Shen Anna looked at Chen Yang with suspicion: "Boss, don't just come up with random ideas. If her mood doesn't improve and she gains weight from eating sweets, be careful—I'll push all the blame onto you."

Chen Yang explained to her: "The sugar in sweets stimulates the brain to secrete dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that brings pleasure and satisfaction, helping to improve mood and make people feel better."

"Okay, I'll tentatively believe you for a moment." Seeing Chen Yang speak so professionally, Shen Anna stopped doubting. Recently she has also grown accustomed to her boss's various astonishing remarks; listening to them, she feels hazy, but upon careful consideration they seem to make some sense.