The Industrial Giant Reborn

In order to attract potential users, Costco tacitly allows all people to be members in the first week, and they can come in and spend freely. On the first day, if the consumption reaches a certain amount, they can get a certain percentage of coupons for nearby gas stations.

In this country on wheels, gasoline is always a hard currency, and even dollar bills are bound to gasoline. You can participate in cheap shopping and get discounts on gasoline. Who would not want to come here?

As for how to promote it? Naturally, through the most primitive methods: advertising and handing out leaflets.

American TV stations, like the mainland in later generations, also have local TV stations. For example, Los Angeles has several local channels. However, under pure commercial competition, the ratings of local TV stations are not as good as NBC, CBS and other local TV stations. The gap It is very large, and because the current TV channels are mainly charged, many people will not open local channels, only some packages will come with some extras, so the effect of advertising on local TV stations is very low, but the price is also high. It's not expensive, and Pierce arranged seven or eight advertisement positions at different times every day in one breath, and played them non-stop.

As for large-scale TV stations, I never considered it at all. Red Bull is suitable for advertising on large-scale TV stations like NBC in the United States, and regional supermarkets are fine. meaning of delivery.

In addition to TV, it is naturally newspapers. The Los Angeles Daily, which sells the most locally, has placed Costco’s opening advertisements for several consecutive days. Scale flyers.

Chen Zhiwen's strategy is to hire local high school students to post. Many of them just want to earn some pocket money to buy condominiums. They don't have enough knowledge of the society and they are cheaper, but they are stopped by Pierce because he has more money. way.

Pierce arranged for someone to find a newspaper deliveryman in Los Angeles, and directly asked them to distribute leaflets to every family that subscribed to the newspaper. In the United States, basically anyone with some economic conditions would subscribe to the newspaper. This has almost covered the non-poor people in Los Angeles. At the same time , because the newspaper delivery person has to deliver things to each household every day, and sending one more leaflet is just a little more burden cost.

Chen Zhiwen originally planned to spend a budget of 30,000 US dollars on leaflets, but in the end, he changed this method, and 5,000 US dollars was enough. Ginger is still old and spicy. Of course, Chen Zhiwen did not expect this, and it may also be because he does not understand the operation of American society. In Hong Kong, newspapers are bought by themselves.

The purchase of goods in the supermarket is naturally in charge of the Pierce team. The main suppliers are from Fedmart, and a few are cheap clothes from Hong Kong, such as socks, hats, slippers, toys, etc. These Hong Kong goods are cheap, even According to Costco's pricing, it is also a very big discount for many people, especially socks, which are sold by the dozen (12 pairs), many of which only cost $0.69, and the quality is very good.

Everything was ready. On November 11, 1974, on the day Chen Zhiwen specially chose, Costco in Los Angeles, California, USA officially opened, and it was also the first in the world.

There is no crackling of firecrackers, and cultural differences are secondary. The main thing is that crackling anywhere in the United States can scare everyone into flying dogs and fleeing everywhere, like the end of the world.

Cheap items are always attractive. In order to ensure the flow of people, Pierce deliberately launched a lot of limited cheap products, such as high-end red wine, electrical products of well-known brands, etc., only a few hundred or a few thousand a day, which is enough to force Let everyone come over early, because if it is too late, it will be gone.

At 8:55, a group of people had already gathered outside the gate of Costco. Fortunately, Los Angeles in November was neither too hot nor too cold, with an average temperature of more than ten degrees, otherwise it would be a crime.

Several security guards huddled in the crowd sweating profusely to maintain order. The words they shouted could not be heard at all, and they were covered by the hustle and bustle of voices after a while.

"Good guy, the number of people here is bigger than the opening of a supermarket in Hong Kong. I thought that Americans are very rich and wouldn't care about such a small bargain?" An Qi, who was on the second floor, looked at the dense crowd below, Can't help but say.

"There are many rich people, but there are more poor people. I really think that the United States is full of gold." Chen Zhiwen smiled and shook his head.

Compared with other non-developed countries, the standard of living in Europe and the United States is naturally much higher, but this is only the reason for the global wealth obtained under the massive ZM economy of the past century and the earlier development of science and technology. The increase in overall productivity has benefited the people at the bottom, but regardless of In any society, the big fish eat the small fish. The good life of the people at the bottom is also controlled by the upper class. In order to make more profits, the upper class must do their best to suck blood from the small fish. This is not only material, but also spiritual.

Credit card culture, which enjoys the present and spends the future, is actually a higher blood-sucking method, because the existing blood of the small fish can no longer satisfy the big fish.

Before the economic development was very good, everything formed a balance, but after the oil crisis, the manufacturing industry avalanche, and GDP showed negative growth.

Many people have no concept of GDP growth. To put it simply, in later generations, an annual GDP growth rate of 8% can make many people live comfortably, but once it drops to 4%, countless people will find it difficult to do business. Prices are soaring, but GDP is plummeting, that is hell on earth.

Of course, this comparison is for the previous life. It is difficult to change from luxury to frugality. People who are used to luxury life feel that they are not as good as Africa when their life is a little bit sad. It is not the same as Europe in a certain year in later generations. Natural gas, just that you can’t eat popsicles in the winter house like before, but various protests and marches have attracted the attention of the global media. At the same time, a famine broke out in Africa in southern Europe, and tens of thousands of people starved to death. No one knows, no one cares.

The current economic situation in the United States is even worse than that of Europe in 2022. Inflation has skyrocketed, and a large number of small-profit businesses have closed down. Many people have fallen into a crisis of bankruptcy after spending their future income, and have to start cutting down on food and clothing.

At this time, it is the best time for changes in the retail industry. People's living habits have never cared about prices, cared about service convenience, and are truly pragmatic. This is the opportunity for Wal-Mart and Costco.

Soon after 9:00, the gate of the supermarket opened, a group of people rushed in, some went to buy red wine, some went to buy cheap clothes, some went to buy food, but more people rushed to the daily necessities area , The toilet paper was robbed like crazy.

"???" Chen Zhiwen had a question mark on his face, although the price of toilet paper is a bit cheaper, you don't have to be so crazy, right?