Chapter 382: Chapter 305: You Don’t Know Shit About the QQ Industry

Cheng Zhu knew very well that the explosion in exports was expected to happen around 2015.

After he opened “Persistent Visit” on Taobao, he played a lot of clever tactics, so the traffic came quickly.

But for exports, he didn’t plan on it, relying solely on his own volume and price advantage, of course, as well as the new styles that were released every now and then.

In the face of absolute price advantage, all the fancy tricks seemed feeble and weren’t necessary.

“Just let it ferment slowly,” Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

“From the king of QQ lingerie on Taobao to the king of QQ lingerie in the world, that’s a big step.”

After chatting a few more words with Wang Anquan, who nodded as if he understood something, Cheng Zhu then gave him another task, “Also, get me another set of data, the export figures for different countries.”

“Okay,” Wang Anquan nodded, indicating he would get on it.

After delegating the work, Cheng Zhu didn’t rush him off but asked, “We haven’t made any significant moves in domestic e-commerce for a while; what direction do you think we should go next?”

“Ah?” That really threw him for a loop.

He had been following Cheng Zhu closely, learning from the series of clever maneuvers Brother Zhu had executed before.

He did grow quite fast, but in reality, he didn’t have much foresight.

Cheng Zhu looked at him and continued, “Let’s not talk about what to do next. First, let me ask you, what do you think is the most basic rookie approach to doing QQ e-commerce?”

Wang Anquan answered immediately, “Copy other people’s designs, make some changes, and then engage in price wars, selling at a cheaper price.”

“And what about a step up? A little more advanced, how would they do it?”

Wang Anquan thought back and remembered the early days when he and Brother Zhu ran “Buyer Show.”

“Borderline operations,” he quickly replied again.

He had learned the term “borderline operations” from Cheng Zhu.

He remembered the summer after graduating high school, still a naive young man.

Then, his brother Zhu took him under his wing to run the shop’s “Buyer Show.”

Every day was spent frantically looking at pictures, trying to come up with images on his own to give to buyers to post.

Thinking back, he still found it thrilling, perhaps even… exhilarating?

Among all the QQ lingerie shops on Taobao, the “Buyer Show” section of “Persistent Visit” definitely had the raciest pictures, but they were also the most premium!

Other shops at most would show real customers’ actual feedback images.

Under Brother Zhu and his management, “Persistent Visit’s” Buyer Show was filled with internet celebrities; it was a gathering place for those online goddesses!

This alone could set the shop apart from the crowd.

Borderline operations were the traffic password for this kind of store category!

Cheng Zhu looked at him, nodded slightly, and then seriously asserted, “But I can tell you that the control over this will become stricter.”

“Even to the point where, one day on e-commerce platforms, our QQ lingerie shop won’t show buyer shows, and the comments section won’t have these pictures.”

“Ah?” Wang Anquan had never thought in that direction.

He just felt that for a store like ours, a rising star, this would be like cutting off an arm!

“What’s so surprising about that? Think about it, doesn’t it seem inevitable?” Cheng Zhu spread his hands.

The QQ sector had been easy to work with these past years partially because people of this era were shyer, preferring to shop online, and also because regulation wasn’t as tight.

Wang Anquan thought for a moment and finally said, “It seems… possible.”

He recalled the comment section of their shop, boy oh boy, those long-winded comments were like novels, not to mention the buyer show pictures.

The comment section of “Persistent Visit” wasn’t much different from those websites where you had to click “Persistent Visit” to continue browsing.

And when you look at those sites, they feel fake.

But listen to me, brother, if you come to our comment section, doesn’t the realism suddenly become much stronger?

Because all those posts are made by customers themselves!

It’s all memoirs, all keepsake albums!

So, if one day the platform really starts to clamp down on this, our store would be the first to get hit.

Wang Anquan began to feel nervous at the thought.

“Then let me ask you, what would an expert level above the borderline high hands do?” asked Cheng Zhu.

“Create a unique model, lead market trends?” Wang Anquan was a bit uncertain.

“What do you think would be a unique model?” Cheng Zhu asked.

“Uh…”

“At the end of the day, it’s about selling emotions.” He came up with an answer.

Cheng Zhu sat with his legs crossed in his chair and went on, “If you really think about it, behind many excessively profitable industries, what they sell isn’t the product. What they sell is — pleasure!”

“Our QQ lingerie industry is the same.”

“When I launched ‘Unity of Man and Manga,’ hiring artists to create a distinctive style of artwork, it provided a kind of visual pleasure.”

“Designing some trendy products, letting those regular QQ lingerie customers experience a unique joy, feel unprecedented experiences — that’s pleasure too.”

“Even building a trendy store, setting trends, what is that essentially?”

“It’s like turning ‘Persistent Visit’ into a… trendy brand store in the field of QQ!”

“Customers feel trendy, they think their aesthetics have improved, they think what they buy has a higher sense of fashion and class, and that’s pleasure too!”

“We’re selling not just products, but also emotions!”

“That’s also why we don’t have to be like them, stuck in a vicious cycle of price wars.”

“We’re merchants of products, as well as merchants of emotions.”

Wang Anquan was digesting and absorbing Cheng Zhu’s words, nodding all the while.

Cheng Zhu lightly tapped the desk with his fingertips, bringing the discussion back to the initial question.

“So, what should we do next?”

“From being rookies who can only introduce products, to adeptly exploiting desires, to experts who sell emotions, next, we should become… masters.”

“What should a master do?” Cheng Zhu looked at him.

Wang Anquan fell deep into thought.

Cheng Zhu watched him ponder, losing himself in memories.

In his memory, people in his previous life said QQ lingerie was easy to sell, the market was constantly expanding, and the number of people using QQ products globally was skyrocketing, which was indeed true.

Not to mention globally, just domestically, the number of domestic customers using QQ products was skyrocketing every year!

Even after the year 2018, during those special years when everyone was locked at home, the QQ product market was still expanding, and the number of users was still surging!

Lingerie sales were skyrocketing, and so were toy sales.

Couples had to learn to create novelty during special periods, so QQ clothes, buy them!

Singles had to learn to rely on themselves, little toys, buy them!

The market prospects for this industry were that explosive, that promising.

But, in reality, it had also reached the point where only the truly capable could make money.

If you’re still using the same old tricks, then sorry, you’ve been left behind by the times.

You don’t really think that just because an industry has prospects, anyone who enters for entrepreneurship can make money, do you?

Yes, standing in the gust of wind, even pigs can fly.

But what if there are a hundred pigs on this wind, or a thousand?

Thus, people began to work on Little Red Book, TikTok, or “Private Domains”…

But the ones who do well are just a few.

As Cheng Zhu looked up again at Wang Anquan, who still seemed clueless, he asked, “Anquan, among the consumers in our store, are there more men or women?”

“Overall, definitely more men,” Wang Anquan knew the shop’s data like the back of his hand.

Although some female celebrities on social platforms would wholesale at our store as if they were buying dozens or even hundreds at a time to sell their own “original flavor.”

Then, some women would also actively purchase and use them with their male partners.

But in terms of the male-to-female ratio, men still make up the higher proportion.

“So, according to data released by e-commerce platforms, is it easier to earn money from men or from women?” asked Cheng Zhu.

“Brother Zhu, you’re joking, of course, it’s women!”

“It’s said that the money of women and children is the easiest to earn.”

“I just saw the data a few days ago. To be specific, it’s women over children, children over pets, and pets over men.”

Holy moly, in this day and age, poor men, even their e-commerce spending power is lesser than cats and dogs.

Truly, men are worse off than dogs.

“So, we need to both seize the market and expand it!” Wang Anquan’s eyes lit up.

“You got a little bit of it right,” Cheng Zhu gave him a nod of approval.

“A master is someone who outputs value, otherwise why would there be a saying: ‘The master, I have realized’?” Cheng Zhu smiled.

“We need to find ways to increase the number and proportion of female customers who actively purchase QQ products.”

“We can operate online encouraging people not to shy away from talking about sex.”

“For example, we can also establish a concept that women buying QQ lingerie for themselves is an expression of their individuality, a release of their emotions, and not merely to please men, but a win-win situation, and a liberation for themselves.”

“Now, many women feel inferior when wearing these things, as if they are trying to please their partners, and feel very humble.”

“Just this concept alone will lose us a lot of customers!”

“What we need to do is to express our viewpoints externally, and then, those we persuade will naturally become customers, even loyal fans, allowing us to tap into new markets.”

“Why fight over old customers when we can get new ones to join us more comfortably?”

“And many groups, not limited to female groups, are often easily swayed by the concepts you put out to become consumers.”

Later, many people did just that on Little Red Book and TikTok, relying on expressing viewpoints instead of just posting images. This also avoids violating rules and getting banned.

At this, Cheng Zhu gently patted the table:

“To put it simply, we must evolve from experts who sell emotions to masters who foster value recognition!”

…

(ps: First release, seeking monthly votes.

Lastly, I would like to clarify once again that all the “Persistent Visit” stores on major e-commerce platforms have nothing to do with me; they were all played by readers of the book themselves, and they didn’t even give me a heads up. They are still following old models, and it seems they are doing quite ordinarily…)