Chapter 157 - 155: Father-in-law’s Test

Chapter 157: Chapter 155: Father-in-law’s Test

The aroma of food wafted from the kitchen.

After that cheeky joke from Jiang Xia, Lin Gaoyuan, who had initially wanted to say something apologetic to his future son-in-law, changed his mind.

He wasn’t sure why, but he somehow found the young man a little more agreeable.

Jiang Xia, holding Yuyuan, shuffled over bit by bit toward his father-in-law. Lin Gaoyuan eyed him from the side. ’This kid clearly isn’t afraid of me, yet here he is putting on this act.’

"I heard from Yanwan that your father’s a taxi driver?" Lin Gaoyuan asked casually.

"Yeah, he’s been doing it for about twenty years now. He used to drive a large truck, but it was too exhausting, so he switched to a taxi. It’s a little easier," Jiang Xia replied.

Lin Gaoyuan nodded. He didn’t have any prejudice against certain professions; everyone was just trying to make a living. Before he’d made his fortune, he had been a carpenter. It was only after he opened the toy factory that life slowly started to get better.

But now, with the global financial crisis and the economic downturn, the factory was teetering on the brink of collapse. He might even end up losing everything he’d earned before.

So, it just goes to show you that fortunes can turn on a dime. The fishmonger of today could be the CEO of some major corporation tomorrow.

The workings of fate were mysterious and profound; you could never predict them.

"Driving a taxi sounds pretty good," Lin Gaoyuan remarked with a soft sigh.

’If he could, he’d find a stable job right now. But there was no way; he couldn’t get out of it.’

"It really is pretty good."

Jiang Xia wholeheartedly agreed. ’Back then, there were fewer private cars, so the roads were wide open. The starting fare was five yuan, and you could make a decent amount of money in a month.’

"What do you think about the toy industry?" he asked suddenly.

’Although he didn’t think a kid fresh out of college could offer any brilliant insights, he was still curious to hear what a top student from Qingmei had to say.’

The corners of Jiang Xia’s eyes crinkled slightly. ’So,’ he thought, ’the father-in-law’s test is finally here.’

"Throughout history, the market potential for toys has always been huge."

Jiang Xia thought for two seconds, then continued, "In ancient times, you had toys like rattle-drums, bamboo-copters, tangrams, and puzzle locks. In the modern era, the information age has broadened everyone’s horizons. Toy factories have sprung up like mushrooms, and there’s a constant stream of new and different toys."

Lin Gaoyuan frowned slightly. ’What Jiang Xia said isn’t wrong, but it’s not what I want to hear. These are just obvious truths anyone would know.’

"What about in the current environment?"

"It’s tough."

"Oh? Go on."

"Modernization means greater productivity. So while there are many types of toys on the market, there are also a ton of similar, competing products. When quality and appearance are pretty much the same across the board, consumers will naturally pick the cheapest option. And that’s not even mentioning the current economic downturn. The low-end toy market is already saturated with massive amounts of inventory. Making a profit is incredibly difficult; you’re doing well if you can just avoid losing money."

Jiang Xia was deliberately talking about the low-end toy market. Toys in this sector are easy to imitate, have no real technical complexity, and the barrier to entry is extremely low. If you have a bit of money, you can just buy a production line and get in the game.

And his father-in-law’s toy factory was exactly this type. It mainly produced children’s toys. Sales had been good for years, and he’d made some money, but as soon as the financial crisis hit, the drawbacks became apparent.

Lin Gaoyuan remained silent. Jiang Xia’s words had struck a chord. Wasn’t this exactly the predicament he was facing? He couldn’t land new orders, and his existing inventory wouldn’t sell. Even if he tried to fight a price war, a small factory like his wasn’t even in a position to compete.

"Hmm... So, do you have any good ideas? I mean, for getting out of this current mess."

Jiang Xia paused from rubbing Yuyuan’s belly and began to tap his fingers habitually.

’As for a solution, he actually had one. Livestream e-commerce, for instance. They could make some viral toys based on popular internet memes, which could drive up sales.’

’If he remembered correctly, the very first Double Eleven shopping festival was held in 2009. Right now, personal computers weren’t yet commonplace, and "online shopping" was still a novel term in China. Many physical retailers were still adopting a wait-and-see attitude.’

’As someone who had been reborn, Jiang Xia knew very well that e-commerce, riding the tailwinds of 4G and 5G, was about to enter a decade of explosive, untamed growth. Anyone who got in early and capitalized on this trend would make an absolute fortune.’

"Uncle Lin, have you ever considered putting the toys you manufacture on an online shopping platform to sell? You wouldn’t need to go through distributors; you could sell directly to consumers," Jiang Xia said.

"You mean Taobao, right?" Lin Gaoyuan thought for a moment before saying, "Yanwan mentioned it to me a long time ago. I’m usually too busy to spare the time, so she’s the one who’s been handling it."

"How have the results been?"

"So-so. It makes a little money, but not a lot," Lin Gaoyuan said, shaking his head.

’He didn’t think much of that small amount of money; it was barely enough to cover Yanwan’s tuition fees. If his daughter hadn’t kept insisting, he would’ve stopped already. Shipping packages every day is such a hassle.’

Jiang Xia furrowed his brow. ’This isn’t the result I expected. And Lin Yanwan never mentioned any of this to me. Is it because she wasn’t making much money?’

’He didn’t doubt his girlfriend’s intelligence for a second. She’d started on this a long time ago, and she knew all the marketing strategies from his past life. Logically, this shouldn’t be the result.’

’If Lin Yanwan’s execution was flawless, then where was the problem?’

The truth was, Jiang Xia was working off a preconceived notion. He had overlooked the state of e-commerce at the time, assuming that simply opening an online store at this juncture would guarantee a profit.

But he had forgotten that in 2009, the entire domestic e-commerce market was only worth a little over two hundred billion yuan, and that figure even included the Double Eleven shopping extravaganza.

The first half of the year probably accounted for only a few tens of billions, and when spread across the national market, it was very, very little.

In later years, the Taobao platform alone would exceed five hundred billion yuan in sales on Double Eleven. It was easy to imagine just how dismal the current e-commerce landscape really was.

However, if an individual opened an online store to sell toys and arranged for the manufacturer to handle dropshipping, they could operate without any upfront costs, simply earning the markup. You could make a bit of spending money each month that way.

But that bit of money was practically negligible compared to a toy factory’s overhead. With all the costs for labor, materials, maintenance, utilities, and rent, expenses could easily exceed a hundred thousand yuan per month.

Once he understood the crux of the issue, it all clicked for Jiang Xia. At the end of the day, the e-commerce market as a whole just wasn’t strong enough yet. Trying to sustain a factory through online sales was, indeed, a bit of a stretch.

"Uncle Lin, if I’m not mistaken, Yanwan has probably only opened a single online store so far, right?" Jiang Xia said suddenly.

Lin Gaoyuan thought for a few seconds and nodded lightly. "That’s right."

"Then what if you opened several more of these stores? A dozen, even? Or what if you found people to promote for you? Let them open their own zero-cost online stores to help you sell your goods. For every toy they sell, you give them a cut of the profit. If they manage to sell it for a high price, that’s a credit to them. If they don’t sell anything, you don’t lose anything either. It’s about taking the principles of physical retail and applying them to the internet—small profits, high volume. What if it works?"

At these words, Lin Gaoyuan’s eyes gradually began to light up.