According to his thinking, his future fellow villager Gu Taohua would definitely launch a price war against Wu Ji.

Unexpectedly, Jufu Supermarket’s prices remained the same as yesterday.

He had already convinced Wu Ren that no matter what Jufu Supermarket’s prices were, Wu Ji had to ensure their prices were lower, and Wu Ren was even prepared to incur losses.

Just to take on Jufu Supermarket.

Honestly speaking, Wu Ji’s customers were indeed snatched from Jufu Supermarket, as these customers originally came for Jufu, but were intercepted by Wu Ji’s lower prices along the way.

Gu Ruinian thought if he were Gu Taohua, he definitely wouldn’t be able to swallow this defeat.

Could it be that Gu Taohua didn’t know Wu Ji’s prices, so she didn’t make any price adjustments?

It shouldn’t be, as many customers who left Wu Ji compared prices at Jufu Supermarket and then returned to Wu Ji.

This kind of situation happened more than once or twice; the clerks couldn’t have kept this information from Gu Taohua.

Jufu Supermarket’s unwillingness to enter a price war could only mean one thing: Jufu couldn’t afford to lose.

Gu Ruinian stood at Wu Ji’s entrance and glanced over at Jufu Supermarket.

Jufu Supermarket had such a large setup, engaging in a price war would lead to significant losses for them.

Gu Taohua, after all, was just a young lady, lacking the courage to engage in a price war.

The business world is like a battlefield, requiring decisive measures; Gu Taohua was still too conservative.

...

By the end of the day, the customer flow at Jufu Supermarket was no less than the first day, and the revenue hit a new high.

Tong Huaqiong was very satisfied with this.

The key point is that Jufu Supermarket would become a benchmark store in Pingchuan County, a store that others couldn’t easily emulate.

Meanwhile, Wu Ji’s business also seemed quite good.

The sales revenue was high.

However, the profit was not satisfactory.

There was no other way; some products were priced even lower than their purchase price, and selling at a loss would reduce the overall profit, especially since most products were half the price of those at Jufu Supermarket.

But overall, it was higher than Gu Ruinian had expected.

Gu Youtian went through the accounts and didn’t say anything; making some profit was better than making a loss.

At least now Wu Ji’s reputation was gaining ground.

"...Uncle Wu, now all the customers know about Wu Ji, this is what we call losing a bit of profit in the early stage to cultivate customers’ habit of coming to Wu Ji."

Gu Ruinian proactively steered the conversation towards Wu Ji’s reputation, fearing Wu Ren might be dissatisfied with the profit.

If this were in the future, today’s results would be a great success, after all, making customers aware of a product’s existence isn’t easy; otherwise, who wouldn’t spend money on advertising and traffic fees?

Now the whole of Pingchuan County knows about Wu Ji, and they know Wu Ji is just across from Jufu Supermarket.

So Gu Ruinian even felt that Jufu Supermarket had provided free advertising for Wu Ji.

Wu Ren didn’t calculate the profits or look at the accounts; he just knew there were many customers today. On second thought, Gu Ruinian made sense, at least compared to yesterday, Wu Ji’s reputation was finally getting out there.

With a reputation comes subsequent business.

Wu Ren said, "In business, where there’s a loss, there’s a gain; customers willing to come is a good thing."

Gu Youtian sneered inwardly, you say that now, but if there really is a loss, who knows how you’ll react.

Gu Youtian then said, "I calculated today’s profit, and there’s still something to gain."

But the prices can’t always be lower than Jufu Supermarket, otherwise, sooner or later we’ll incur losses.

So he said, "Jufu Supermarket hasn’t drastically cut prices, so let’s restore our prices tomorrow."

Gu Ruinian opposed this suggestion, as he had prepared a five-day grand opening promotional poster, if the prices were restored tomorrow, customers probably wouldn’t be happy.

As for what happens when prices increase after five days, he’s not worried.

Starting tomorrow, promote to customers that the prices are only like this during the opening days, so customers will have a psychological expectation that prices will return to normal, and after five days, there won’t be a big backlash.

Moreover, he had a plan ready, in these few days, to spread Wu Ji’s reputation throughout Pingchuan County, then sell products that Jufu Supermarket doesn’t have, without Jufu Supermarket for price comparison, Wu Ji’s competitiveness would greatly increase.

As for Jufu Supermarket, isn’t it just a lower-end version of a modern supermarket, he can handle that too.

Now Wu Ren clearly trusts him, subsequently convincing Wu Ren to invest, he can build Wu Ji into a more modern supermarket than Jufu Supermarket.

Gu Youtian listened to Gu Ruinian’s suggestion to continue lowering prices, looking displeased, scolding, "You think you’re so capable, don’t think today’s customers are all because of your ideas. If it weren’t for me pressing the purchase prices to the minimum, how could you lower prices by half?"

Wu Ren wasn’t aware of these things.

Originally, Gu Youtian had inflated the purchase prices on his books, so he could pocket the difference.

Now, even the price difference was gone.

Therefore, he disagreed with continuing price cuts the next day.

"We’re not raising prices back to the original, just matching Jufu Supermarket’s prices is enough."

Gu Youtian felt that since customers now knew about Wu Ji, there was no need to keep prices too low, as just matching Jufu Supermarket’s prices could maintain the customers.

In the end, Wu Ren respected Gu Youtian’s decision to adjust prices the next day.

He had no choice but to respect it, as he had experienced firsthand in the past two days how difficult it was to attract customers to the shop, his family member Wu Musheng was not yet adept at purchasing, inventory, accounting, or shop management, and still needed Gu Youtian to guide him.

So, before Wu Musheng could take charge, he couldn’t afford to offend Gu Youtian too harshly, to prevent him from walking away.

Gu Ruinian was clever and could come up with good ideas, but he was still young and couldn’t handle all aspects of the business.

On the third day, Jufu Supermarket’s grand opening promotion reached its final day.

The business of the previous two days had established Jufu Supermarket’s position in Pingchuan County.

Fortunately, nothing went unexpectedly wrong during these three days.

As for Wu Ji, Tong Huaqiong never took it seriously.

Gu Youtian and Wu Ren were in a bad mood these past two days.

Due to initially slashing prices too aggressively to attract customers, when prices were restored, customers were not satisfied.

Most customers were visiting Wu Ji because it was cheaper than Jufu Supermarket, so the sudden price hike was unacceptable for them.

If Jufu Supermarket wasn’t there, it would have been easier to handle, but Jufu Supermarket was right next door, and at the same price, Jufu Supermarket had a clean and tidy environment with excellent service; importantly, in these hot days, the store was cool all day with ice and free green bean soup for everyone.

Also, Jufu Supermarket’s products were very diverse, with new varieties every day.

Besides, the young master of Jufu Supermarket was last year’s top scholar, and many wanted to bask in that fortune.

At the same price, only a fool wouldn’t choose Jufu Supermarket.

Therefore, even after the three-day grand opening promotion ended, and the entire store was no longer 20% off, people still preferred to visit Jufu Supermarket, even if just to stroll around without buying anything.

The owner of Jufu Supermarket, Tong Huaqiong, promised that although the 20% off promotion had ended, the store would occasionally offer special deals.

For example, now that the weather was hot, fans, mats, and mosquito repellent were on discount; some items were directly discounted, others were buy two get one free, or three items together had a special offer.

After hearing this, everyone praised Tong Huaqiong’s generosity, calculating meticulously how to buy most cost-effectively, some only wanting to buy one item would team up with neighbors to place a joint order, making Jufu Supermarket’s business thrive even more.

Because Tong Huaqiong would do what she said regarding promotions, many people would visit Jufu Supermarket without any particular purpose, noting which products were on sale and spreading the word eagerly.

It can be said that visiting Jufu Supermarket has become one of Pingchuan County’s regular activities.