Chapter 336 - 214: Calculated Moves

Chapter 336: Chapter 214: Calculated Moves

One step ahead, always ahead!

Besides, Gao Yue had gotten "familiar" with the big boss, Chen Xiao!

Li Xiao, on the other hand, hadn’t even figured out where to begin.

Gao Yue smiled faintly. ’Xiao Xiao should take a class on "The Importance of Information!"’

She didn’t let Li Xiao’s presence delay her work.

Li Xiao and Li Man sat on the sofa, personally witnessing the general managers of two hotels come one by one to report to Mr. Gao. Their cautious and deferential manner made it hard to believe they were the Sect Leaders of a six-star and a Five-star Hotel!

This indirectly reflected Gao Yue’s current status. Li Man’s eyes were filled with little stars; Mr. Gao was so impressive!

Li Xiao, however, was green with envy. They used to be a gossip duo, but after just a few days apart, Gao Yue had transformed into a powerful businesswoman.

She couldn’t stand watching any longer. "Ah Yue, you seem really busy. I won’t keep you from your work today. Let’s meet up again in a few days when you’re free!"

Gao Yue stood up and said apologetically, "I’m so sorry. As you can see, I have a constant stream of people here. A lot of it is urgent work that I have to handle personally."

Li Xiao just grunted in acknowledgment. ’I just want to get out of here,’ she thought. ’Why stick around while she shows off? I came to hang out, not to be reminded of the gap between us!’

Li Man also said her goodbyes. With her business concluded, it wasn’t convenient for her to stay and take up more of Mr. Gao’s time.

In the operations department of Wanhong Square, a gloomy cloud hung in the air.

Miao Lei sat in the main seat, his face grim. The head of the operations department and several supervisors kept their heads down, not daring to speak.

"This is unbelievable. Wanhong Square can’t even give away money?"

To win back customer traffic and spending, Miao Lei had arranged in Tuesday’s meeting to invest 50,000 in SP funds for a cash subsidy event, meant to counteract the impact of the two Junxiao Square locations.

The 50,000 was a small amount, but Miao Lei’s goal was simply to create an event that the mall could use for promotion. It was bound to attract some customers.

At the same time, he demanded that the brands participating in the event lower their prices to the same level as Junxiao Square, hoping to reverse some of their decline.

It was a good idea, and it would have been perfectly achievable in the past. That’s why everyone thought the plan was feasible when he proposed it.

But problems arose during implementation.

First, if the 50,000 in SP funds were used for "100 off every 1,000 spent" coupons, even if the mall and the brands split the cost, the entire mall would only have 1,000 coupons. What good would that do?

How many would that be for each store? And on top of that, you’re asking the brands to lower their prices to match Junxiao Square.

Here was the problem: Junxiao Square required its brands to have the absolute lowest prices in the entire city. No exceptions.

Moreover, Junxiao Square showed its sincerity by directly investing 2 million in SP funds at each of its malls, supplemented by PR events to drive traffic.

This one-two punch directly caused many brands’ sales to double.

Under these circumstances, if a brand lowered its prices for Wanhong Square’s event just for a handful of coupons, there could only be two outcomes.

Either the price at Junxiao Square would have to be lowered further to maintain its city-wide lowest price status, or the brand would be disqualified from participating in Junxiao Square’s promotions.

Faced with that choice, even a fool would know what to do.

As for whether they would offend Wanhong Square? What a joke. If they had to choose between offending Wanhong Square and offending Junxiao Business Management, they would gladly offend Wanhong Square to death.

And so, Wanhong Square was in a tragic situation. Very few brands were willing to participate in the event for the 50,000 worth of coupons. The only ones that did were those without a store in Junxiao Square.

This was an outcome Miao Lei obviously couldn’t accept.

Given the current situation, if they were to go to war with Junxiao Square, their only option was a head-on confrontation. But 2 million in SP funds per month? The thought alone was a massive headache.

And it wasn’t just about the 2 million in funds anymore. Junxiao Square’s "lowest price in the city" requirement was now forcing brands to choose a side.

Wanhong Square was formidable, but it was still far from being a match for Junxiao Business Management. After all, they had six prime locations, two of which in Jiangzhou were on par with Wanhong Square.

But in terms of potential, Wanhong Square wasn’t even worthy of carrying Junxiao Business Management’s shoes. This was an entity that had acquired six malls in just two months and was still buying up prime properties everywhere.

Believe it or not, if Junxiao Business Management gave the word, these brands would dare to pull their stores from Wanhong Square directly. The choice between one store and an entire management company was just too easy to make.

This was the first time Miao Lei had felt such immense pressure. The pressure from that group seemed to blot out the sky, casting a deep shadow over his heart.

Junxiao Business Management’s wolf pack tactics were working.

If they hadn’t acquired Tianlong Square, a single Junxiao Square launching this war would never have had such an effect. But now, the two malls were siphoning off Wanhong’s customer traffic from both sides. If they didn’t respond in time, it would bring a fatal blow to Wanhong Square.

"This won’t do. Consumer shopping habits can shift completely in half a year at most! If we let them keep this up, we’ll be finished in less than three months!"

Miao Lei knew he couldn’t blame the operations team. The only one to blame was Junxiao Business Management for being too aggressive. This brutish tactic of just throwing money at the problem was both shocking and impossible to counter.

"Meeting adjourned. I’ll request instructions from headquarters."

After the operations team had all left, Miao Lei lit a cigarette and seriously contemplated a way to break the deadlock.

’Form an alliance? With whom? Jiangzhou Economic Development Zone Wansheng?’

’That dump isn’t even worthy of a seat at the table. Even if we brought them in, what could they possibly do? If Wanhong Square also starts running major promotions, Jiangzhou Economic Development Zone Wansheng would be the first to die!’