Reborn Tycoon Rise

In the 21st century, people who are accustomed to shopping may not have noticed that the decoration of most supermarkets is extremely simple. Except for some invisible warehousing and logistics investments, some floors have some floor tiles, shelves are arranged, lights are installed, and air conditioners are installed. Once completed, a supermarket can be officially opened for business.

Even some supermarkets in warehouse cities have simple cement floors.

But before the 1980s, all retail supermarkets were exactly the opposite.

In the field of department store retail, Sears is currently at its peak. In terms of decoration, it is extremely luxurious. This is the concept of merchants in this era. Luxurious decoration can attract customers.

At the same time, Sears supermarkets are located in prime locations in the city, and the annual rental investment is an astronomical amount.

Although this business model is expensive, everyone does it in this era. Although there is no malicious monopoly between major supermarkets, an industry rule has been formed in terms of profit margins. In addition, in order to To avoid vicious competition, we will not open a new store near another supermarket, because this method destroys the tacit understanding and will not gain any benefits.

Ordinary people, because the channels for obtaining information are too narrow, have long been accustomed to the prices set by supermarkets, and they don't think there is much of a problem.

Until a man named Sam Walton appeared and discovered that small profits but quick turnover would change the future of the entire retail industry.

So he opened his Wal-Mart supermarkets in the suburbs of all cities, and he didn't care if there were other supermarkets nearby. He also kept everything simple in the decoration of the supermarkets. All business purposes were to reduce costs. In addition, Wal-Mart supermarkets were very good in logistics. We also control costs very strictly, adopt a multi-pronged approach, and then engage in crazy price wars.

At present, except for the rising Wal-Mart, the mainstream supermarkets of this era are similar to Sears, which are crowded in urban centers.

There was no problem with this business model in the 1970s, because before that, the United States had been in the stage of rising urbanization, and all the people wanted to live in the city, which led to all consumption being concentrated in the city. In the city, opening a supermarket in the city center is the right choice.

But after entering the 1970s, urbanization began to develop in reverse, and a large number of people began to return to the suburbs of the city. At the same time, because cars began to spread throughout the United States in the 1970s, traffic congestion in the city made people more interested in going to the suburbs for production activities. , and shopping venues in the suburbs can also provide ample parking spaces, because the operating costs are lower and the products are naturally more favorable.

At present, the same goes for electronic product malls in the United States. They are keen to build them in urban areas. However, due to the cost of rent, most of them are not very large and cannot give customers enough space to choose.

When Xu Zhi decided to create Best Buy, he planned to learn from Wal-Mart's strategies in many aspects. Supermarkets are not hotels, and the most important thing is always lower prices.

When building shopping malls in the suburbs, one is low-cost and can compete for the local market; the other can quickly expand in the United States, compete for the entire market, and develop a reputation to form a large and well-known brand.

Of course, this is a strategy in the United States. Any investment in any place must be based on the actual local conditions. The United States is vast and sparsely populated. In the 1970s, the popularity of the automobile industry increased significantly. This is why supermarkets or shopping malls gradually began to rise in the suburbs. reason.

If placed in economically developed Asian regions, shopping malls and supermarkets must be placed in city centers due to factors such as dense population, low car density, and difficulty in parking.

When the economy of a region develops to a certain level, cars are popularized and people have money in their hands, then shopping habits will change and they will become more inclined to go to places where parking is convenient. Shopping habits will also change from buying what is needed. Purchase enough goods at one time.

In today's United States, electronic products, except for a few novel and expensive products such as computers, and ordinary household appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions, etc., suffer from the expensive labor in the United States. In many cases, it is more cost-effective to buy new ones than to repair them. Therefore, The sales volume of household appliances in the United States is very large. An electrical appliance supermarket with convenient parking, a wide range of choices, and cheap prices will naturally be the best choice for ordinary American people.

Corey thought for a while and nodded and said: "Eric, what you said makes some sense, but it is just a possibility. When there is no absolute certainty, the risk of large-scale investment in this kind of shopping mall is Isn’t it too big?”

"Of course there are risks, but once you succeed, the rewards will be very generous." Xu Zhi said with a smile.

Judging from the rise of retail companies in later generations, in the United States and parts of Europe, it is an inevitable trend for supermarkets to open in suburbs not far from the city center, not to mention that now personal computers, game consoles, music During the prime time for the development of players and home video recorders, the market showed a violent explosive trend. Once the layout is completed, at least before the rise of Internet retail, one side can control the terminal sales of the electrical appliance market in the United States to a certain extent.

At the same time, supermarkets have a huge influence on employment. Not only do they create jobs themselves, large chain retail companies can create countless jobs by focusing on purchasing in a region.

In the current United States, the more jobs it controls, the greater its influence.

Curry thought for a moment and said, "Eric, do you mean that you are planning to invest heavily in this model of electronic supermarket chain?"

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "Yes, nowadays, the development of personal computers is changing with each passing day, and products such as DVD players, radios, tape recorders, and game consoles are also being updated crazily due to the rapid development of semiconductor technology. Products bought this year will be replaced the year after tomorrow." will be eliminated, and the electronics industry will become a new driving force for the rapid development of the global economy. The market is definitely worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

At present, many large technology companies are going all out to develop various new technologies, but few capitals have noticed that terminal sales is actually an industry with a bright future. "

"It's not that they didn't notice it, it's just that those who noticed it didn't have the capital, and those who had capital didn't have the confidence." Curry said with a smile. Some large electronics companies must also be aware of the future of the electronics industry, but their energy is focused on their own businesses. on the product.

Today's electronics companies, except for some giants with decades of history, all develop under a capital-light model. How can they have the ability to invest in terminal sales channels.

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "Cori, I intend to invest huge sums of money in more than 300 Best Buy shopping malls in all medium and large cities in the United States. Although they will be built in non-prime suburbs, they still require huge amounts of funds. In this regard, I hope Goldman Sachs can help me raise enough funds!”

Is Midea Company short of money?

In fact, there is no shortage!

Relying on the huge profits from the gaming industry, Midea's net profit last year was as high as US$620 million, but Xu Zhi will not directly invest his company's funds in such heavy-asset projects.

It has been three years since 1980, and Midea's total profits have exceeded one billion US dollars. Part of this money has been used to maintain the company's operations, and the rest has been invested in purchasing some high-quality stocks, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Walmart and more.

These are the stocks with the highest returns in the 1980s, and some can even double several times within a few years.

Although Best Buy Mall is a huge commercial layout, after all, the return rate of the real estate market in the United States is not high. It is a very stupid investment behavior to invest your own money in so many properties.

For heavy asset investments, banks should naturally be entrusted with financing or loans. The reason why Wanda Plaza in the Mainland can develop so fast in the future is to make full use of bank funds.

Goldman Sachs is an investment bank. According to U.S. law, it is not allowed to carry out deposit and loan business. However, it would be naive to think that large companies can only rely on loans for financing.

Among the many clients of investment banks like Goldman Sachs, many are large funds seeking low risk and high returns, and many large companies with stable businesses may not only consider commercial bank loans when seeking financing. The funds in the hands of large funds they Also very interested.

It's just that the risk of direct transactions is too great. After all, many large funds are government-controlled pension funds and labor union funds. These are not professional financial institutions. Therefore, a financial institution is needed between the two parties to bear the risks of both parties and at the same time obtain benefits from them. Benefit.

This is one of the businesses of investment banks. Other aspects, such as stock market fundraising and bond issuance, are all ways to finance companies.

Currie asked: "How much money do you need?"

"The first batch of loans is US$1 billion." Xu Zhi said with a smile: "In addition to building new chain shopping malls, I am also planning to build three cargo distribution centers in the eastern United States. These require a lot of funds."

In the retail industry, in addition to the final investment, the investment in the operation center is also very important and costly.

Currie asked: "The first batch of 1 billion US dollars? How much subsequent funding will be needed?"