Several days later, the unmanned stores of Persistent Visit opened in six communities in Hang City.
The products inside were quite comprehensive, even including one-size-fits-all QQ underwear.
Moreover, the overall retail prices were consistent with those in online stores, without deliberately raising prices because they were brick-and-mortar establishments.
This gave them a certain price advantage compared to other QQ physical stores.
You see, QQ underwear that sold online for just a few tens of yuan each were being sold for several times that price in many physical stores.
Compared to the factory price, the retail price in QQ physical stores could be more than ten times higher!
Overall, the emergence of online stores had a huge impact on such physical stores.
And the unmanned stores that Cheng Zhu had now opened were no exception!
In the afternoon, Cheng Zhu took Wang Anquan to the unmanned store in the Zhongxing District.
Zhongxing District was his most important pilot area.
The reason was simple, it had the highest number of residents.
This was related to the housing layout of the area.
When the landlords in this area were building their houses, they made the rented apartments on the lower floors into small units.
That is to say, many buildings housed two or three, or even four families on one floor.
Given that the Zhongxing District was quite large, the unmanned store was able to serve a broad group of people.
More importantly, Cheng Zhu drove Wang Anquan around the area and discovered many foot massage parlors nearby.
It was expected that some technicians might live nearby in the Zhongxing District.
Some regulars might not go to the parlor for minor or medium services but would opt to go directly to rented rooms for major services.
It’s possible these people could also boost the consumption at the unmanned store.
At this moment, Cheng Zhu took out his mobile phone and randomly snapped a few photos of the store.
"I will post these photos on our official WeChat later to do some preliminary promotion," Cheng Zhu said.
"That should bring some people to check in," Wang Anquan replied with a smile.
Cheng Zhu nodded slightly, which was inevitable.
Some internet celebrities were very eager to leverage the store’s traffic and even wanted to come to the store to be QQ models, being all too obliging.
He could even predict the actions these people would take.
Of course, these subsequent chain reactions were not something he needed to consider in these couple of days.
In the QQ field, he now had a significant early advantage.
Due to creating an internet-famous store, he suddenly felt that the franchise model of unmanned stores might have more potential than he had originally thought.
The franchise fee would definitely not be too high but set at just tens of thousands of yuan.
But whether it was vending machines or other equipment, there was still a markup to be made.
Not to mention the subsequent designated sources.
Since it was a franchise, he got to decide what products were sold.
After giving Cheng Zhu their money, these people would also continuously purchase from his factory.
"If I could open up to 1000 stores nationally, that alone would bring in tens of millions in franchise fees."
"And that’s in addition to some hidden income and subsequent product profits."
"If well managed, this could be a deal worth over a hundred million!"
"It’s both profitable and enhances the brand’s visibility."
"Many birds with one stone!"
"I really am awesome! The Legend of the Condor Heroes should have cast me."
Now the key was to see if the traffic would explode.
And... how can it be exploded?
"As you mentioned the unorthodox traffic, I will only guide it," Cheng Zhu looked at Wang Anquan seriously, "I’ve handed over many tasks to you now, remember this point."
You can’t personally get involved in this kind of channels.
Everything done leaves traces.
It could lead to big trouble in the future.
Whether it’s selling QQ underwear or QQ toys, fundamentally it’s a legitimate and sincere business.
But he must not set himself up for failure.
Moreover, regarding these internet celebrities, Cheng Zhu was all too familiar!
He knew well that a little guidance was enough.
Hearing this, Wang Anquan saw that Brother Zhu looked very serious and immediately nodded.
He carefully recalled that Brother Zhu had indeed always taken bold actions but had never done anything too outrageous.
In Cheng Zhu’s eyes, all these women were just his tools.
Tools should be treated as just tools.
Remember not to get too personally involved.
At night, Cheng Zhu promoted the six unmanned stores in Hang City on the official WeChat of Persistent Visit.
After doing this, he didn’t make any further moves.
Wang Anquan was somewhat puzzled by this.
"Brother Zhu, hadn’t you already prepared a comprehensive marketing plan? Why aren’t you implementing it now?"
Cheng Zhu looked at him and said, "Let’s first see the natural situation in the community."
He was curious, back in 2015, without applying too much external promotion, whether this type of QQ unmanned store had any prospects in the community?
If going the franchise route, that would certainly mean aggressive marketing to get more people to queue up to join.
But Cheng Zhu’s intention wasn’t really about just making a quick buck from new franchisees.
He hoped that the franchisees could make money.
And for this reason, he wanted to observe a little longer.
Wang Tao, who had just finished working overtime, rode his electric scooter back to the Zhongxing District.
He entered the convenience store in the community and bought a rice ball and a can of beer.
This was his little routine after every overtime shift, treating himself to some late-night snacks to properly reward his tired self.
A rice ball with beer for a treat indeed seemed a bit shabby and pitiful.