Extraordinary Genius
Chapter 608 – To be the market leader (Part 1 of 2)
Screw it. Even if history was changed and Feng Yu could no longer predict the future, with his wealth now, he could still do whatever he wants. Furthermore, Russia had developed quickly, but it did not affect international affairs. Feng Yu decided to ignore all these and let nature takes its course.
“Manager Feng, Manager Feng? You do not agree with my plans for the company?” Zhong Qingxian felt that his plans were well thought out, but why Feng Yu did not have any reactions?
“Oh, sorry. I was thinking about other things. You said that you want to expand the dairy and tea beverages products, and lower the production of Children’s health supplement drinks?”
Zhong Qingxian nodded. Although he was curious why Feng Yu was in a daze just now, he did not ask him.
“You can decide on these matters. I will agree with you. But the Rising Sun Group had introduced canned tea beverages. Will Lehaha also do the same?”
“Of course. But canned drinks are not as popular as plastic bottled drinks. Bottled drinks can still be kept if the customer could not finish the drinks and does not need to afraid of it spilling. If it’s canned drinks, once opened, it had to be finished. Furthermore, our tea beverages are not carbonated. Their canned drinks should be copying our tea beverages and Jianlibao. But I feel that they would not do well.”
Zhong Qingxian had belittled the Rising Sun Group, and Feng Yu does not like it. If the Raising Sun Group could develop, Lehaha will not be able to beat them easily. But luckily Zhong Qingxian had been monitoring them closely. There should still be enough time for him to deal with the Rising Sun Group if they were developing rapidly.
“Have you considered the fruit and carbonated beverages I told you previously?” Feng Yu asked.
“My men had conducted market research on this. The carbonated drinks market is matured. If we were to introduce our Lehaha brand of carbonated drinks, our sales should still do well. Although the fruit juice beverage market still has room for growth, other companies had introduced such beverages before. Other than coconut juice, no other juices had done well.”
Coconut Tree brand of coconut water was one of the legendary beverages in Feng Yu’s previous life. It was a canning factory converted into a beverage company. Feng Yu had forgotten about them. But now, this company was already developed. Natural coconut water. It was even served at the National Banquet last year. The company also own several patents.
Feng Yu had asked Zhong Qingxian to go and speak to them. He wants to buy over or invest in the company before it grew too big.
But the leaders at Hainan firmly rejected them. Coconut Tree brand of coconut water was already exported to several countries in Asia. They will be targeting the European market this year. This company was profitable and would bring credits to the leaders there. They will never allow anyone to own a stake of the company.
You offered such a high price for a stake in our company? That means you are confident of our coconut water. If not, why are you willing to pay such high prices?
Since Lehaha could not buy over the company or own a stake in it, Feng Yu decided to stop this company from developing new products. He wants to make sure that this company could only sell canned coconut water and nothing else. Lehaha will introduce all the other products produced by this company in Feng Yu’s previous life before them. The products include different types of fruit juices, Eight-treasure porridge, etc.
Eight-treasure porridge was one of Lehaha popular products in Feng Yu’s previous life. Eight-treasure porridge was not easily produced. Although many people know the recipe, it was not easy to make them delicious in canned form.
Zhong Qingxian and his men had conducted experiments on this Eight-treasure porridge and felt that it can be done. But they still need to improve the taste and storage life. They should concentrate on developing their beverages first.
Feng Yu did not object to this. But Feng Yu was worried that if Lehaha did not enter the carbonated beverage market soon, the market would be taken over by Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Pepsi and Coca-Cola sales in China had been increasing.
Feng Yu remembered that in his previous life, there was a famous carbonated beverage called Fen Huang Coke, also known as ‘China’s own Coke.’ When it was introduced, it focuses its sales in the villages around the cities. It was very effective and was very profitable at the start.
But after Coca-Cola and Pepsi joined hands to lower the price of coke, increase the volume of their bottles and getting top celebrities to endorse their products, Fen Huang Coke disappeared from the market.
The strategies used by Coca-Cola and Pepsi were straightforward. They only need to spend tons of money!
No matter if it was a price war, increasing the volume of their bottles or celebrity’s endorsement, the companies need to spend a lot of money. There was no way for Fen Huang Coke to compete with these two MNC.
Lehaha could also afford to use this strategy. The current Lehaha’s worth was much higher than Feng Huang Coke at their peak. If it were a price war, Lehaha would not be worried. In fact, Lehaha could start a price war anytime. Lehaha had better distribution channels, and their labor and transportation cost were much lower than the two coke companies.
If a price war was really started by those two companies and those two companies dare to sell their products below their cost, Feng Yu will sue them for trying to monopolize the market. This was China, Lehaha’s home ground. There was no way for Lehaha to lose the suit.
The first carbonated drink Zhong Qingxian wants to introduce was coke. In the past, Pepsi could succeed against Coca-Cola. Although it was partly due to the Anti-trust laws, Pepsi had grown to be a successful company.
If Pepsi was possible, then there was no reason for Lehaha to fail. Lehaha had asked his R&D department to look into the Pepsi formula. Zhong Qingxian does not need his coke to taste the same as Pepsi, but it must be as tasty as them.
Anyway, the patent protection for Coke was over. But no one knew what their formula was. However, all their ingredients were written on the labels. What was unknown was the proportion of the ingredients.
“Other than coke, have you considered others? For example, other fruits flavor carbonated drinks, like apples or grapes? I remembered that the most popular drink in China was orange juice.”
Feng Yu felt that people will not remember Lehaha carbonated drinks if they only introduce Coke favored. People will also think that they were trying to copy those two companies. Lehaha should introduce a carbonated beverage which Pepsi and Coca-Cola did not introduce in China. This will allow Lehaha to gain market share faster.
“Fruit-flavored carbonated water? Like those soft drinks sold by those small factories?” Zhong Qingxian was hesitating. Almost every provinces and city have their own factories selling this type of soft drinks.
“They are producing soft drinks. What we produce will not be called soft drinks. We can call it cool refreshing water. Don’t forget that we are the top Chinese beverage brand in China. Even if it is a bottle of water, the value will be different if Lehaha is printed on it!” Feng Yu smiled.
It was the same as Chinese Gooseberry. Those that were imported from other countries were called Kiwi fruit. Basically, both were the same. The carbonated drinks sold by those small factories were called soft drinks. But it’s different if it was produced by Lehaha!
Zhong Qingxian nodded. “Manager Feng, are you asking me to introduce this drink with our coke before 1st May, the summer season?” This drink was named Cool Refreshing. It was most suitable to drink in the hot summer.
“That’s what I am thinking. You all can sort out the rest of the details. I feel that fruit juice is a good option for us to explore. Also, our AD milk. Why can’t we introduce bigger bottles like the other drinks? We can introduce a wide variety of beverages. You can get your men to research on this. Our target is to become China’s beverage market leader within the next 5 years!”
Translator’s notes:
Eight-treasure porridge