Chapter 967: Competition

October 1, 1993, the 16th day of the eighth lunar month, Friday!

The three-day Mid-Autumn Festival celebration at RT-Mart was on its second day. Many products had even greater discounts than when it opened, especially soybean oil.

5L small-packaged Jiuzan soybean oil was 8.9 yuan, and the discount on 5L barrels of Jin Longyu soybean oil was even greater than at the opening, at 11.8 yuan per barrel.

Many citizens were like they were stocking up, buying eight or ten barrels at a time to take home. Because Jiuzan was cheaper, even cheaper than the bulk oil outside, they sold 47 tons on the first day.

Of course, another reason citizens recognized Jiuzan was that on the packaging of Jiuzan soybean oil, it was very eye-catchingly printed: "Jiuzan Soybean Oil Strategic Partner, RT-Mart Retail Group!"

And since its opening, RT-Mart had been open for a month and a half, perfectly executing the service philosophy of "Integrity First, Customer Supreme."

Within seven days, any product purchased at RT-Mart could be returned or exchanged unconditionally.

Large items were delivered for free, home appliances were installed for free, and there was free maintenance for three years.

This made RT-Mart's reputation grow larger and larger, and its word-of-mouth better and better. In just a month and a half, not only in the capital, but even in surrounding cities like Jinmen, Baoding, Tangcheng, and Qinhuangdao, people had heard of RT-Mart.

And the thing that brought RT-Mart's reputation and word-of-mouth to its peak was an incident that happened on September 8th.

An old man bought an imported radio at the Jinghua Self-Service Mall, and it developed problems in less than half a month.

The old man went to the mall, but the mall didn't acknowledge it. When he took out the shopping receipt, the mall said it had been half a month, so they wouldn't return or exchange it, but they could repair it, with the cost borne by the customer.

Because the radio was imported and cost over 100 yuan, the mall wouldn't return or exchange it, so the old man could only agree to the repair.

But he never expected that a part inside was broken, and the repair fee would be over 40 yuan.

This made the old man furious. An imported radio broke in half a month, they wouldn't return or exchange it, and the repair fee was over 40 yuan—why didn't they just rob him?

The old man made a scene at the mall, and the police were called. The final result was that it was left unsettled.

After all, an arm couldn't twist a thigh. With no other choice, the old man took the radio to a repair shop.

Regrettably, the radio was imported and had no parts; he checked several repair shops, and the results were all the same.

After the old man went home, he was so angry he nearly had a heart attack. When his daughter came home from work and asked, she was also furious.

But the radio had to be repaired, otherwise, wouldn't the 100-plus yuan be thrown away for nothing?

She said she would take the money to repair it, but the old man wouldn't agree; spending over 40 yuan in repair fees was really being a sucker.

At this time, the daughter remembered that RT-Mart provided free maintenance for home appliances.

But the radio wasn't bought at RT-Mart. Would they repair it?

Seeing her father shaking with anger, the daughter was afraid the old man would have an accident, so she went directly to RT-Mart to seek help.

The matter reached Tang Bei, who unhesitatingly had the after-sales department send someone over to take a look and try to repair it.

After the after-sales staff arrived, introduced by the daughter, the old man was very happy and took out fruit candies to treat them.

In the end, it was determined that it couldn't be repaired without replacing the part, and it was still the same problem—no parts.

Although the old man was very disappointed, he still expressed his gratitude to the maintenance staff.

The daughter asked to go to the Jinghua Mall for repairs, but the old man was stubborn and wouldn't spend that unjust money.

What they didn't expect was that on the third day, RT-Mart's after-sales department brought the parts to their door and repaired the radio for free.

It turned out that RT-Mart's after-sales department contacted the radio supplier, and when the supplier heard it was RT-Mart asking for parts, they sent them over for free.

The old man was moved to tears, and the daughter was also extremely grateful, insisting on keeping the young maintenance worker for a meal.

The next day, the old man took a banner to RT-Mart to express his gratitude, and then went to the newspaper office.

Now RT-Mart's reputation was very large. When the newspaper office heard the old man's account, they immediately realized the value of this news.

After reporting to the leadership, an article titled "A New Pattern for Retail Enterprises Centered on the People!" was published.

The entire article was over 5,000 words, praising RT-Mart without sparing any language, and of course, criticizing the behavior of a certain mall without mercy.

However, it didn't mention the name of the certain mall. After all, it was state-owned, so they had to leave some face. But the scene the old man made that day was not small, and once this article was reported, many people knew it was talking about the Jinghua Mall.

Following that, other media also reported it one after another. The old man became a celebrity, accepting media interviews every day.

And RT-Mart was no exception; major media outlets were lining up to interview them.

So, after this incident, RT-Mart became the mall most trusted by the capital's common people, and its reputation and fame reached their peak.

In the RT-Mart food court, Gu Minglan was holding Su Su and feeding the child porridge. Jian Zhengxue picked up a steamed bun, took a bite, and then looked up at the surroundings.

Gu Minglan asked with a smile: "How does it feel?"

Jian Zhengxue swallowed what was in his mouth and said very seriously: "I need to talk to that kid."

"Clatter, patter!"

Su Su wasn't being well-behaved, and with a swipe of her little hand, she knocked over the bowl of steamed egg custard, which fell to the ground.

"Oh my, my little grandmother."

Gu Minglan hurriedly checked if the little one's hands were scalded. After finding out she was fine, she moved the porridge bowl and other things further away.

Jian Zhengxue also took a handkerchief and wiped the little one's mouth.

"She's at the age where she's very active, you have to be a little careful."

Gu Minglan rolled her eyes at him: "What are you going to talk to Zhou Andong about?"

"Talk about what?" Jian Zhengxue said with some dissatisfaction: "RT-Mart opened in the capital, doesn't he know that Fengjing is his hometown?"

Gu Minglan smiled: "Why do I feel a bit of a sour taste?"

Jian Zhengxue ignored her and said to himself: "The second RT-Mart must be opened in Fengjing."

………………

At the same time, the management of Jinghua Mall was holding a meeting.

Although RT-Mart and Jinghua Mall were not close, it still brought a considerable impact to Jinghua.

Especially the radio incident that happened a while ago, which brought irreparable negative impact to the mall.

General Manager Gong Zhensheng scanned the few people below: "Everyone, speak up, how should we deal with RT-Mart's competition."

Compete with RT-Mart? How to compete? From decoration to management to service, how could Jinghua compete with them?

No one below spoke. Gong Zhensheng also knew the gap between Jinghua and RT-Mart. To compete comprehensively, they could only carry out comprehensive reform of Jinghua and learn from RT-Mart's business model.

But this wasn't something that could be done overnight, and the invested funds were also a difficult hurdle; the leadership above definitely wouldn't agree.

"What, no one has anything to say?" Gong Zhensheng frowned.

"The only thing we can do now is lower prices." The deputy general manager looked at the procurement department manager, "Many of RT-Mart's suppliers and our Jinghua suppliers are the same."

"RT-Mart can negotiate discounts, I think Comrade Lan Minghai can negotiate them too. This way, Jinghua's prices will also come down. When that happens, we'll also hold a benefit-the-people event, and we'll definitely be able to stabilize our existing customers." ===== CHAPTER 968 =====