Chapter 48: Children fear stupidity, women fear ugliness, men fear poverty, and the elderly fear

The next day was Wang Baichuan's first day on the job. After completing the onboarding procedures, Qin Hao brought him to the Procurement Department.

"This is Manager Wang. I went to great lengths to bring him on board. From now on, you won't have to spend all day acting in front of me; just perform for him instead," Qin Hao teased.

The employees of the Procurement Department all laughed. In truth, this was good news for them, as Qin Hao had been managing the department on his own proxy until now.

Working directly under the boss had both pros and cons. The advantage was that good work would be noticed by the boss; the disadvantage was the constant fear that one wrong move could lead to being fired.

The compensation here was excellent, and the company had a reward mechanism in place. Even an ordinary employee in the Procurement Department could earn around 200,000 yuan a year, which was not an easy job to find.

Wang Baichuan also gave a brief self-introduction: "Hello everyone, my name is Wang Baichuan. I will be working with all of you from now on. As I am new here, there is much for me to learn, and I hope we can cooperate well to get the job done."

Afterward, Qin Hao led Wang Baichuan to his office.

The dozen or so employees in the Procurement Department watched their retreating figures, whispering among themselves.

"Who is this Manager Wang? The boss personally came to back him up?"

"He looks quite young. I hope he isn't some greenhorn."

"To be placed in this position, he must be someone the boss trusts. We'd better behave."

"Anyway, regardless of who he is, we just need to do our own jobs well."

Inside the office, Qin Hao took out a planning proposal and handed it to Wang Baichuan.

"Take a look first. We'll talk after you've read it."

Wang Baichuan flipped through it carefully. After a long while, he closed the folder and let out a long breath.

"President Qiu, who made this small appliance proposal? It's absolutely brilliant."

Qin Hao smiled without answering. He poured a cup of tea for Wang Baichuan and said seriously, "This is our 'Strict Selection Store,' our most important project currently. Procurement is the cornerstone of it. I will personally lead you through this project. How much you learn will depend on your own intuition."

In 2015, the small appliance market had not yet begun its explosion, but it already had a sufficient foundation.

Previously, public attention had mostly focused on large appliances like televisions, refrigerators, and air conditioners.

However, as the economy developed and people accumulated savings, their pursuit of quality of life naturally moved up the agenda, and small appliances gradually entered the public eye.

Soy milk makers, water purifiers, hair dryers, robot vacuums, and more all fell into the small appliance category. This was a blue ocean market; given the domestic market scale, this sector was worth trillions. Even capturing just one percent of the cake would mean a market worth tens of billions.

The "Strict Selection Store" that Qin Hao wanted to build was not merely about sourcing other people's goods to sell. Instead, it aimed to use big data to analyze consumer preferences and create small appliances that matched their needs in terms of category, style, and functionality.

That afternoon, Qin Hao took Wang Baichuan to Shunde Industrial Fifth Road. The 806-square-kilometer industrial zone was home to a massive concentration of OEM factories for small appliances, as well as some well-known domestic appliance manufacturers such as Midea, Galanz, Ronshen, and Vanward.

Qin Hao and Wang Baichuan arrived at the entrance of a factory. After obtaining the factory manager's phone number from the security guard, they explained their purpose. Upon hearing that someone wanted to discuss orders, the manager politely invited them in.

"President Qiu, Manager Wang, please have a seat. Here, have some water."

Wang Baichuan exchanged pleasantries with him before suggesting a tour of the factory. The manager was more than happy to oblige and led the two down to the workshop.

"President Qiu, Manager Wang, I'm not bragging, but in terms of technical strength, our factory is among the best in all of Shunde. The coffee machines we are making now are exported to Europe and America; the quality is absolutely top-notch..."

The manager introduced the facility incessantly.

Wang Baichuan was clearly experienced in dealing with factories. He inquired, "Manager Li, does your factory only produce coffee machines?"

"Of course not. Our technical reserves are very extensive. We can make hair dryers, shavers, rice cookers—anything. We are just rushing this current batch of orders, which is why we switched the production line to coffee machines. As you know, the downside of foreign trade orders is that the deadlines are extremely strict. If we breach a contract, we face massive compensation," Manager Li explained hurriedly.

Wang Baichuan nodded. "Since you are so busy right now, do you still have enough capacity to take our orders?"

"Yes, of course! We will finish this batch by the end of the month. After that, we can handle whatever volume of orders you throw at us!"

Manager Li then led Qin Hao and Wang Baichuan on a tour of the factory. Qin Hao gave Wang Baichuan a meaningful look, and Wang Baichuan understood. He said to Manager Li

"How about this, Manager Li? Please provide us with your factory's profile. We will report back to the company after we return. If we decide to cooperate, we will contact you again."

"Alright, alright. I'll leave it in your hands then."

Manager Li respectfully saw them to the door.

At a nearby small shop, Qin Hao bought two bottles of water and handed one to Wang Baichuan. The two sat down on chairs by the entrance.

Qin Hao asked casually, "What do you think of this factory?"

"It's a qualified OEM, but it's still quite a distance from meeting our specific needs," Wang Baichuan said seriously.

"Oh? Tell me more." Qin Hao looked at him with interest.

Wang Baichuan spoke eloquently: "This factory has very complete production equipment, but there is one issue: it has no R&D department. It can only do pure contract manufacturing. What we are looking for are factories capable of independent industrial design and functional design. Otherwise, we would have to do all of that ourselves, which would require too much capital investment and severely compress our profit margins."

"Mhm, you're right. It seems hiring you was the right choice," Qin Hao nodded appreciatively.

Wang Baichuan smiled. "I've had plenty of contact with factories over the years; I've picked up a bit of expertise."

"That's why every experience in life is a valuable asset. Let's go. On to the next one."

For three full days, Qin Hao and Wang Baichuan swept through the entire industrial zone like a scanner, visiting every single factory that did contract manufacturing.

The harvest was significant. Among them, over twenty factories met Qin Hao's requirements, possessing the strength to handle independent appearance and functional design.

"Let's test the waters with two products first: electric toothbrushes and electronic beauty devices."

After returning to the company, Qin Hao convened a meeting with the management team and selected these two products as their entry points.

The reason for choosing electric toothbrushes was that the technology was relatively simple, and there was sufficient market space. In 2014, the domestic market for electric toothbrushes reached 2.65 billion yuan, and by 2018, the market size had more than tripled, reaching 9.3 billion.

As for electronic beauty devices—any product that looks like a "tax on intelligence" usually avoids the pitfalls of four core human vulnerabilities

Children fear being stupid, women fear being ugly, men fear being poor, and the elderly fear death.

As long as you grasp one of these points, you won't have to worry about selling the product.

(End of Chapter)