Manhattan Reborn 1978

Houston, Texas.

The night is not yet dark

19 Pinewood Avenue, Piney Point Village, Memorial District, west of downtown.

In the restaurant.

After several rounds of mutual probing, David and Kent D. Eisenhower finally reached a preliminary answer that satisfied both parties.

Moreover, Kent also implicitly expressed in his words that one of the real purposes of his special visit was to find more cooperation projects between the two sides in maritime trade in the Far East!

Because there is no conflict of basic interests between the two in business, and they can also carry out deeper cooperation in other areas.

For example, Kent took the initiative to propose the Hanguo Ulsan Industrial Park~

In 76, the country built its first 10-ton petrochemical plant in the newly established Ulsan Industrial Park, filling an important part of its domestic industrial development plan.

This year, a 30-ton petrochemical plant in Ulsan is about to be completed and put into production, and several newly built downstream petrochemical supporting plants will also be completed and put into production soon, causing the country's annual crude oil demand to surge by nearly 50 tons.

David's subordinates Marat, Yuri Orlov, Kihara Nobushige and others opened up the trade channel of Nakhodka Commercial Port in the Far East of Xiongguo this year. The crude oil trading volume is increasing sharply every day, which can just meet the urgent demand of Hanguo for crude oil imports.

However, David had not paid much attention to the news about Marat and his friends in recent days. He did not directly agree to Kent's cooperation proposal, but told the truth that Carnes was also involved, and his friend Bill Gutheran was in charge of all matters on the island country.

friend?

Kent couldn't help laughing when he heard David use this word.

. . .

After the guests and hosts had a great time, in the study.

David invited Kent and de Heumann to sit down, glanced at Carnes who walked to the sofa in the corner by the window, raised his eyebrows, and asked Mr. Heumann.

“You’ve been doing business in California for many years. Do you have business here in Texas?”

"Some." De Human seemed to have obtained Kent's "permission" at this time. He crossed his legs and smiled with a relaxed look.

"Oh... then what kind of business did you do at first?" David took a glass of juice from the butler Ackleid and continued to ask meaningfully.

"..." Mr. Heuman's eyes flickered a few times, he tilted his head and looked at Kent, then said after a moment's silence.

"When I was young, I worked for a nonprofit retail organization in California called Fedco for several years."

"Fedco?" David had never heard of this organization. He looked at Sam and Mag sitting next to him with curiosity.

Sam, who is not yet 30 years old this year, shook his head at David, indicating that he had never heard of it.

Mag, who was older and more experienced, smiled at David, nodded, glanced at de Human intentionally, and continued.

"After the United States declared independence during World War II, the federal government's treasury was quickly emptied by the fierce series of wars."

"Even after the war, the federal government was unable to guarantee that federal employees would be paid on time."

"So during that special period, a non-profit organization for bulk purchasing of daily necessities emerged in California, which was spontaneously formed by 800 postal workers."

“The predecessor of Fedco was one of these organizations.”

"To join Fedco, you need to pay a membership fee of two million yuan per year. A dedicated person will be responsible for running around to contact commodity and food manufacturers or wholesalers to achieve the purpose of centralized bulk purchase of daily necessities and save family expenses."

"As long as you pay two yuan to become a member, you can save money. It will naturally be supported and welcomed by many people."

De Human looked at Mag with a hint of surprise in his eyes, then smiled and nodded and continued.

"In the early 50s, Fedco in California relaxed its membership qualifications and no longer only accepted federal employees as it did at the beginning. It also turned Fedco into a member-owned warehouse wholesale chain supermarket organization with more than a dozen stores in major cities in California."

"At the same time, its products and services have also expanded to groceries, clothing, footwear, cultural and educational products, books, furniture, automotive supplies, willing tools, optical counters and snack bars, etc."

"However, San Diego, one of the largest naval bases in the United States, does not even have a FedCO."

"If someone lives in San Diego and joins Fedco, they have to drive to the nearest downtown Los Angeles to shop."

"So in 54, a man named Sol Price opened a Fed-Mart in San Diego based on Fedco's business model."

Sam's frown suddenly relaxed when he heard this, and he immediately continued, "Fed-Mart is the first large-scale warehouse-style supermarket chain in California to be listed in New York!"

"In 59, the information it submitted to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) showed that its revenue in the first year of operation exceeded the one million US dollars estimated by founder Sol Price and directly exceeded three million US dollars."

"After that, Fed-Mart quickly opened stores in cities such as Phoenix, Arizona, San Antonio, Texas, Dallas and Houston after proving the success of its business model."

Sam stared at de Human for a while, and was certain in his heart that the man in front of him was the one he had heard of.

Then he turned to look at David and explained, "Fed-Mart has been developing very smoothly in Texas, and then launched a low-cost refueling service to its members, so that all members can enjoy high-quality fuel services at prices lower than the market average while shopping at Fed-Mart."

"This allows each Fed-Mart member to save hundreds of dollars each year on daily expenses just for gas."

David smiled and put down his juice cup, expressing his understanding. He nodded and said, "The one-stop shopping experience provided by Fed-Mart has not only changed the consumption habits of all members, but also enabled countless merchants who continue to adhere to the traditional sales model to see more possibilities for their own transformation and development."

"That's right!"

Sam looked at David for a few seconds, conveyed his meaning with his eyes, then turned to look at De Human and said with a smile.

"Seventy years later, the number of Fed-Mart stores in the country exceeded 70, with annual sales exceeding million US dollars."

"But its biggest competitor in the industry, Wal-Mart, has more than 2.4 stores and an annual turnover of more than million US dollars."

"Sol Price, the founder of Fed-Mart, after careful consideration, finally decided to introduce external investment to increase Fed-Mart's cash flow and implement a faster store expansion plan."

"But~"

"In recent years, a new hypermarket retail model has become popular in Europe, with France's Carrefour as a typical representative."

"Wollman imitates Carrefour's hypermarket marketing model, using a large business area to sell a wide range of merchandise categories such as daily necessities, electrical appliances, and fresh food."

"Sol Price, who brought in Hugo Del, an external investor to Fed-Mart, believed that Fed-Mart should learn from the hypermarket sales model of Carrefour, Wal-Mart and Metro, but was strongly opposed by Sol."

"Saul believes that if Fed-Mart's warehouse wholesale sales model is changed to a hypermarket model, it will be no different from its largest domestic competitor, Wal-Mart."

"And a hypermarket like Wal-Mart can have nearly 10,000 SKUs, but Fed-Mart only has more than 3,000 SKUs."

(Note: SKU, the full name of which is Stock Keeping Unit, is the basic unit for measuring inventory in and out, which can be in units of pieces, boxes, pallets, etc. It is a necessary method for logistics management of DC (distribution center) of large supermarket chains.)

"Haha~" David suddenly smiled and shook his head under the gaze of Kent and de Human, and continued.

"Sol, who has run Fed-Mart for more than 20 years, feels that since members have chosen to trust Fed-Mart and paid membership fees, they don't need to worry about which products to choose."

"Sol has selected all the good products for its members. Fed-Mart does not need to provide its members with more alternative brands of similar products."

“On the contrary, hypermarkets, such as Carrefour, will provide customers with a wide variety of products and a more comprehensive one-stop shopping experience.”

"But why can't Wal-Mart catch up with Fed-Mart in terms of sales when it has far more stores than Fed-Mart?"

David saw the thoughtful look in Kent's eyes and deliberately paused for a few seconds before saying, "Because large supermarkets that adopt the hypermarket business model combine the operating advantages of supermarkets and discount stores, have a full range of products, and meet customers' needs for one-time shopping."

"Today's large supermarkets are getting bigger and bigger, with more and more products. Well-known brands and no-name brands are sold together, and domestic and foreign products compete on the same stage. In the end, no matter how well-known brands and no-name brands fight, the biggest winner is still Wal-Mart."

"But if Walmart's purchasing department fails to do a good job of quality control at the purchasing end, some low-quality, miscellaneous brand products will be put on the shelves and just happen to be bought by a media reporter. "

“That would be a major disaster for Wal-Mart!”

"Ha~ Could there be such a coincidence?" Kent asked David with a strange expression.

"The world is big, anything can happen," David replied with a shrug.

"If large supermarkets like Wal-Mart cannot control product quality, service and price, they will lose their most important core market competitiveness and gradually become prey in the eyes of others."

"Dang Dang Dang~"

Just as David was speaking, the butler Aclaid knocked on the door and interrupted him, whispering, "Ada's brother is here to pick her up."

"Oh... sorry everyone, I'll go out and take a look." David glanced at Kent and the other man, then stood up and walked out of the study.

. . .

Living room door.

Senator Pushker's second son, Jeb, stared at his sister Ada, who was protesting silently, with wide eyes, holding up the car keys in his hand and sighing bitterly.

"My mother asked me to take you home..."

"..." The short-haired little girl Ada shook her head stubbornly and looked at David who had just walked out of the study, with anticipation glittering in her eyes.

David smiled and walked over to the two of them, glanced at Jeb, and asked, "Where's Marvin? Isn't he here?"

"Don't mention that bastard..." Jeb grinned, rolled his eyes and sighed.

"His classmate got a video game console from somewhere, and Marvin played it for the entire afternoon. He hasn't been seen since."

"Hahaha~ It's normal for young people to like playing games."

"I also want to have some time to try out the latest fun games on sale..."

"Haha~" Jeb, who is a few years older, looked at David, who is about the same age as his younger brother Marvin, and suddenly felt a strange sense of powerlessness in his heart.

They are the same age, but my younger brother Marvin still does nothing all day.

But David in front of them has gradually become a person that all the brothers look up to.

Seeing Jeb's silent attitude, David turned to look at Ada and said with a smile: "Go home with your brother. I will stay in Houston for a while, and there will be many opportunities for us to meet."