Rebirth: The Ascent of a Socialite-Chapter 599 - 240: Forced Seizure
After returning to Mo City, Su Ziceng and her team got busy without stopping. They had to take advantage of the momentum from the show in Shibuya and press on to open the first and second Apple stores in Mo City and Bianjing City.
"Do we need to do additional advertising?" Su Ziceng watched Jim and Sister Mu discussing the details about opening the store. Having these two partners was a stroke of luck; Sister Mu had experience opening stores, and Jim had experience managing chain stores.
Compared to them, Su Ziceng seemed like an outsider, which caused her some worry. She always wanted to find something to do to help and learn from the experience.
"Miss," Jim insisted on calling Su Ziceng "Miss" after knowing that she had attended the Eve Ball. In his eyes, whether Su Ziceng was rich or poor, she was always a true lady, as her temperament would not change, "We don’t have much funding left."
The show in Shibuya had cost a lot of money. In a place like Tokyo where space is worth its weight in gold, they rented a venue for three days. Moreover, as Tokyo is a city known for its high cost of living, besides the venue rental, expenses such as decoration and labor costs were also considerable sums.
"Apple is pursuing a mid-range pricing strategy, and our funds are very limited. We can’t compare with ZARA," Sister Mu explained. She never liked advertising; when she ran "Admiration," she never advertised and relied solely on word of mouth and repeat customers.
It was quite easy to find a location for the new Apple store, which was set to open in the old "Admiration" spot.
Having to open Apple in the old location of Admiration was a necessity. The good spots in the city either had long-term leases or were not willing to sublease, and the original Wine Shop site was too small to serve as a storage warehouse.
Even though the Admiration storefront was not large, it was close to the Sixth District, where they could rent a cheap warehouse; therefore, Espr was eventually settled there.
Shutting down Admiration made Su Ziceng a bit reluctant to let go, while Sister Mu seemed more nonchalant about it.
"Admiration was like a splendid cage that confined my thoughts and growth," Sister Mu said playfully. However, on the day the Admiration sign was taken down, Sister Mu stood at the door of Admiration, facing the sunset, looking wistful, a scene that Su Ziceng still remembers vividly to this day.
The closure of Admiration was just temporary; there would come a day when she would gift Sister Mu with a brand new Admiration.
Once the store location was confirmed, Su Ziceng had some work to do. The financial knowledge she learned from Kelly turned out to be useful. Jim also studied finance, but when he saw the cost accounting results given by Su Ziceng, he still got a shock. He no longer dared to casually address her as "Miss."
"I have summarized the reasons why Espr is losing money," Su Ziceng began to chide Jim mercilessly. She had managed to force Jim to reveal the financial accounts of Espr, which she initially thought would take a great deal of effort to make sense of the old brand with over a decade of history.
To her surprise, after just a cursory glance, she came to the conclusion, "Business managed like this is fortunate not to have gone bankrupt already."
Hearing Su Ziceng’s judgement, Sister Mu laughed so hard she nearly couldn’t stand straight. Jim’s face fell. These two clueless women, one a has-been model from a little store and the other a bankrupt former rich girl, actually dared to scold him.
"My former math teacher once said a maxim that holds true: doing business is about making money, not running a charity. Don’t be upset, Jim. If what I say is unreasonable, you are totally free to interrupt," Sister Mu translated Su Ziceng’s words, upon which Jim grudgingly nodded.
"First of all, cut off everything that doesn’t make money," Su Ziceng gestured at a few items in the Espr balance sheet that were unprofitable, "This is the first time I learned that Espr even makes sports shoes,"
Sister Mu didn’t rush to translate but gave Jim a mocking look first. What a sissy, struggling businessman! Nike and Adidas were popular for their athletic appeal, CAMP for its distinctiveness, and he even wanted a piece of that pie. No wonder the shoes were cold-shouldered by consumers as soon as they were launched, given they provided neither comfort nor unique design.
"Also, let’s put a hold on targeting both high and low-end markets," Su Ziceng furrowed her brows, wanting to cross off a few of Espr’s sub-brands that targeted different market segments.
