Chapter 372: This Is Not Scientific

The first news to come back was from the supply and marketing cooperative in Gui City, one of the ten cities in Hanxi. This time, the 5 million lighters trial-produced by the Torch Group, of which 3.5 million were distributed within the province, and the remaining 1.5 million were transported to surrounding provinces and cities.

Among them, the Pingyang Cigarette Factory subscribed to 500,000, and the remaining 3 million were distributed to ten city districts within Hanxi Province, with each city receiving an average of about 300,000, and the local supply and marketing cooperatives undertaking the main sales force.

In addition, supermarkets, restaurants, train stations, and other places also had goods distributed. But the fact that the Gui City supply and marketing cooperative could sell out in one day still exceeded the expectations of the Torch Group. It should be known that the Gui City supply and marketing cooperative, as well as the county, town, and village supply and marketing cooperatives under Gui City, had a sales volume of at least 60,000 to 70,000 lighters. That they could sell out was indeed unexpected.

"The supply and marketing cooperative in Gui City sold out of lighters?!"

Zhang Xiaocheng couldn't help but confirm with the marketing manager who answered the phone. The heart that had been hanging could finally be slightly put down.

"They really sold out!"

After confirming again and again, the Torch Group's marketing manager said to Zhang Xiaocheng with a spirited expression, "The supply and marketing cooperative in Gui City has indeed sold out of lighters, and they want us to ship another 200,000 lighters there as soon as possible!"

A burst of noisy sounds came from the conference room, but whether it was the people from the Pingyang Municipal Government, the Hanxi Provincial Government, the Provincial Department of Industry, or the people from Yanjing, all showed excited expressions on their faces. For the Torch Group, this was definitely a good start.

Regarding the Gui City supply and marketing cooperative selling out of lighters in one day, Li Dongling thought about it slightly and guessed the reason.

Although the supply and marketing cooperatives are now declining, they still have powerful channels spread throughout the entire city, county, town, and rural areas. Some supply and marketing cooperatives have changed their signs and become supermarkets, shopping malls, and the like, but a considerable portion of the supplies for these retail stores is still distributed and supplied by the supply and marketing cooperatives.

Tens of thousands of lighters, for a city-level supply and marketing cooperative, perhaps, distributing dozens of lighters to hundreds of retail stores, is basically done.

And lighters, for people nowadays, are not only a demand for smokers, but also for daily needs like lighting fires for cooking. Lighters are much more convenient than matches and much more durable. Between matches and lighters, anyone can tell the difference in quality.

Lighters for many families nowadays, especially families in towns and rural areas, are equivalent to a rigid demand. And the price of one yuan, even for families who are calculating carefully, is affordable, which makes the demand for lighters in these areas even more vigorous than imagined.

As for the supply and marketing cooperative, for every lighter sold, they can get 20% of the profit. It seems not much, but in one day, the Gui City supply and marketing cooperative got a commission of 12,000 yuan!

This made the supply and marketing cooperative recall the scene when cooperating with the Shangguan Town Component Factory, the predecessor of the Torch Group. At that time, the supply and marketing cooperative was almost crazy with profit.

12,000 yuan, for a city-level supply and marketing cooperative, naturally doesn't count for much. But if lighters can maintain a certain sales volume, what is the sales volume of lighters in a month, half a year, or a year, and how much commission can the supply and marketing cooperative get?

Lighters are consumables after all. They might run out of gas, or be damaged, lost, etc. A smoker uses at least a dozen lighters a year. Plus the needs of the family, the annual consumption of lighters in a city starts at a million, and even far more!

10,000 yuan, the Gui City supply and marketing cooperative might not care, but when the sales commission of lighters can bring 100,000, 300,000, or even 500,000 or a million in profit, can the supply and marketing cooperative still remain indifferent?

The supply and marketing cooperative in Gui City also saw the popularity of lighters. As long as the goods are distributed, they can be sold. Naturally, they are working hard to promote them, wanting to earn more!

After the news from the Gui City supply and marketing cooperative came back, the lighter sales volume in other city districts in Hanxi Province was also reported to the Torch Group headquarters one after another.

These sales volumes will definitely have deviations, but the approximate sales volume can be estimated. When the Torch Group's marketing department calculated that today's lighter sales volume in Hanxi Province exceeded 400,000, a burst of applause sounded in the conference room.

"Prepare to start full-scale mass production. In addition, the personnel department needs to start recruiting and training personnel to prepare for production increases!"

Zhang Xiaocheng said to the Torch Group executives. He was familiar with this aspect. After the satellite dish went on sale back then, the sales volume was also extremely hot, and the component factory was desperate to increase production capacity.

According to the first-day sales volume, the Torch Group's marketing department believes that it will take about two or even three weeks to sell out the 5 million trial-produced lighters.

After all, even if they are consumables, it's impossible to buy them every day, right? And the initial sales volume of lighters is large. In a few days, the sales volume might slow down. So, selling out 5 million lighters in two to three weeks, the Torch Group's marketing department analyzed, shouldn't be too far off.

So, there is no urgency to increase production capacity, and it is proceeding step by step. But whether it will proceed according to the marketing department's expectations, it is unknown...

The Pingyang Municipal Government, the Hanxi Provincial Government, the Yanjing Economic and Trade Commission, and other places, after hearing the first-day lighter sales volume reported by the Torch Group, also let out a long sigh of relief. This sales volume basically met expectations.

But for the retail points like supply and marketing cooperatives, shopping malls, supermarkets, train stations, and hostels that sell lighters, they might be slow to realize the changes brought about by lighters, but after checking the accounts on the second day, they still discovered the clues.

"Didn't calculate wrong, right? Yesterday, the store's income increased by 600 yuan?!"

In the supermarket where Qiao Caidan was, the couple looked at the accounts, eyes wide and mouths agape. Now the price level is not comparable to later generations. A supermarket's daily turnover is thousands of yuan. For the supermarket of Qiao Caidan and her husband, the daily turnover is only two or three hundred yuan.

The couple relies on the supermarket to earn hard money. Earning 1,500 or 1,600 yuan a month is already not low, much higher than the income of many state-owned factory worker families.

But yesterday, the store's income suddenly tripled, which gave Qiao Caidan's husband a big fright.

"Shouldn't have calculated wrong. I, I calculated it five or six times," Qiao Caidan, who used an electronic calculator to calculate several times, also didn't dare to be sure. "Mainly cigarettes and lighters. Golden Monkey cigarettes have been sold out, and lighters have also been sold out!"

Tobacco is very profitable. Not only does the tobacco company earn money, but the store selling tobacco can also earn money.

But the Golden Monkey, which gives away lighters when buying cigarettes, can sell so fiercely, which really exceeded Qiao Caidan's expectations. And lighters, basically as long as she promotes them, they can be sold!

Qiao Caidan and her husband looked at each other. Her husband swallowed his throat and said to Qiao Caidan, "You go get the money, I'll go stock up. We need to stock up on another batch of lighters!"

Just past 11 o'clock in the morning, the phone for booking tables at Qi Minghai's restaurant rang non-stop. By noon, it was almost full, with no empty seats at all.

The smile on Qi Minghai's face almost never stopped. Although he had invested quite a bit of advertising fees to the Torch Group's advertising department for printing advertisements on lighters distributed in the county.

In addition, every time customers finished eating and were about to leave, Qi Minghai had to give away two or three lighters. But Qi Minghai is now happy to do so.

Even if advertising on lighters, plus giving lighters to customers, is a not-so-small expense, compared to the customer flow brought by lighters and the restaurant's daily soaring revenue, this little expenditure is almost nothing at all!

"What? Shangzhong sold out?"

"The provincial capital also sold out?"

Inside the office of the marketing manager of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory, Xu Boen was sweating profusely while answering the phone that kept ringing.

When he received the first call in the morning and heard that the goods of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory in one area were sold out, although Xu Boen was surprised, he still transferred another batch of goods to the local area. Selling out is rare, but it's not like it hasn't happened before.

But next, the ten city districts in Hanxi and the counties and districts under them, and even dealers in other provinces called in a hurry, demanding the Pingyang Cigarette Factory to ship goods. Only then did Xu Boen feel something was wrong.

The Pingyang Cigarette Factory didn't sell out in one city, but sold out in the entire Hanxi. This kind of thing had never happened before.

"Old Wei, the production department should speed up shipments. It's sold out in the province, and it's out of stock outside the province!"

Xu Boen first called Wei Minghui, the production section chief of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory, and asked him to quickly increase production capacity. Wei Minghui, who received the call, listened to Xu Boen's anxious tone, was stunned for a moment, and then reacted, knowing that something must have gone wrong. He cursed secretly, and then urgently called people, calling everyone in the production section back to work overtime.

After calling Wei Minghui, Xu Boen hurriedly ran to the office of the factory leaders of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory. Xu Boen felt that he couldn't handle this kind of thing, although he was still a bit confused and didn't know what was going on.

Half an hour later, inside the factory director's office of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory, it was also a mess. Several leaders of the cigarette factory all rushed over.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 373 =====