Free Web NovelChapter 44: Chapter 44: Promotion Brewing
「Two days later.」
Fruit Hunter Yang Yang’s social media account posted the first collaborative promotional video for Hailufeng Company’s strawberries, which debuted on the Ah B Platform.
The company accounts managed by the e-commerce department also posted a promotional video and followed each other’s accounts.
In addition to the Ah B Platform, various promotional materials were also released simultaneously on platforms like the Yinfu Platform, WeChat, the Little Sweet Potato Platform, and others.
However, the e-commerce department hadn’t started the paid traffic campaigns yet, because there was still about a week until the strawberries were officially launched.
On the Ah B Platform, the comment section of the video posted by Fruit Hunter Yang Yang was already buzzing with fans and casual viewers browsing and commenting.
New comments were popping up every few minutes.
[Rat-slaying Manor: Already bought some. The kids love it (｡･ω･｡)]
[Durian King: Dandong Strawberries are the GOAT! Fight me if you disagree!]
[Anti-Contrarian Shield: 99 for a kilogram? I’m out!]
[Aode Transport Company: At this price, wouldn’t it be better to just buy Dandong Strawberries? This isn’t how you do a sponsored post.]
[Falling Sakura Divine Axe: The price is moving...ly high. But with a coupon and a discount, buying half a kilogram to try is okay. Order placed!]
[Universe-minded Sun Liancheng: Hailufeng Company? Don’t they sell eel fry? Why are they selling strawberries now? Or is it just a company with the same name?]
[ILoveEelRice: Girls, go for it! They’re really delicious! I had them at their physical store in Shanmei, and all three varieties are amazing! I have pictures to prove it!]
[Abnormal Human Research Institute: Bought! If they’re not good, I’m unfollowing instantly!]
[Boston Garden Sword: The content creator has to make a living, after all. Everyone be considerate. Even if you don’t support it, there’s no need for sarcastic remarks.]
[HiHiLife: Damn! It really is the Hailufeng Company that sells eel fry. They sell strawberries too?]
[ZhangErCantGetFull: Hailufeng’s canned eel is pretty good. Goes great with rice. I feel like it’s just as good as the grilled eel from a Japanese restaurant.]
[Becherov In The Arctic: @ZhangErCantGetFull, Bro, has it ever occurred to you that the grilled eel you ate at the Japanese restaurant was just Hailufeng Company’s canned eel?]
The comment section was in chaos.
Some were cynical and sarcastic.
Some were indifferent.
Some placed orders directly.
Some were starting fights and flaming others.
Some kept derailing the thread.
...
On the third floor of the Hailufeng Company Headquarters.
Zhang Xinyi and a few of her subordinates were looking at the data on the store’s backend. In less than two hours, they had accumulated over three hundred pre-orders. freewēbnoveℓ.com
Looking at the order sources from the backend data, two-thirds came from the Fruit Hunter’s account recommendation, while the rest were directed from Hailufeng Company’s own social media accounts.
This was the internet age; the traffic brought in by major online influencers could sometimes be truly substantial.
The two customer service reps were already swamped. Zhang Xinyi had to temporarily pull people from the marketing and planning office, and even jumped in herself, to barely handle the flood of inquiries from this wave of orders.
Seeing the customer service notifications on the backend gradually decrease, Zhang Xinyi knew the customer traffic from the initial wave was starting to decline. She breathed a sigh of relief and picked up her cup to take a sip of coffee.
Putting down her cup, she picked up the phone and dialed the number for the farm manager, Lü Weibin.
BEEP BEEP BEEP...
"Hello, Manager Zhang. What’s up?"
"Manager Lü, we’re currently at 376 total orders. I’ve already synced the orders with you guys. You can start scheduling the shipments."
"I’m looking at it now. No problem. We’ll start loading the trucks on the 19th. However, I suggest we cap the pre-orders at one thousand. We won’t hit the peak harvest season until next month. Right now, we’re only getting a little over 50 kilograms of fruit per day, which isn’t quite enough for sales."
"Understood. I’ll pause the pre-sale once we hit one thousand orders."
...
Lü Weibin hung up the phone and turned to the order processor. "Ah Xin, keep an eye on the shipment scheduling. Starting from the 19th, schedule 100 units per day. Next month, increase it to 200 units per day."
"Okay."
Lü Weibin then went to check on the logistics warehouse.
He instructed the warehouse keeper to keep a close watch on the inventory of consumables like corrugated cardboard boxes and foam inserts.
Next, Lü Weibin headed to the farm’s product warehouse to check on the condition of the cold storage.
Meanwhile, in the packaging workshop, one sorter and two packers were already busy at work.
However, the products they were currently packaging weren’t for the online store orders, but were destined for the physical retail store.
The packaging for the retail store and the online store was different.
Lü Weibin picked up a packaged box of ’Vanilla’ strawberries. Six strawberries were arranged neatly, all of nearly identical size. There were no bruises from handling on their surfaces, nor were there any green spots.
He placed it on the electronic scale nearby after taring it.
[153g]
The standard weight for a ’Vanilla’ strawberry is typically between 20 and 30 grams. They are divided into two grades based on size: A-grade and B-grade.
A-grade fruit weighs around 25 to 30 grams.
B-grade fruit weighs around 20 to 24 grams.
The box Lü Weibin had just weighed was A-grade. The price tag was already affixed: 14 yuan per box.
Next, he picked up two boxes of B-grade fruit and placed them on the electronic scale.
[134g]
[138g]
The price for a box of B-grade was 10 yuan.
The strawberries picked over the last few days hadn’t been put into cold storage at the warehouse; instead, they were all sent to the physical store on Erma Road for sale.
Lü Weibin placed great importance on every stage of strawberry production. After all, this business was directly tied to Nanhu Farm’s standing within the company.
Compared to the Salt Town Eel Base, Nanhu Farm’s status was indeed lower.
If Nanhu Farm couldn’t turn a profit, the company might just shut down the department. Lü Weibin didn’t want to be unemployed again; his age was just too awkward.
After inspecting a few boxes of strawberries, he reminded the sorter to pay close attention to quality control, emphasizing that it was better to accept some product loss than to pass off inferior goods as high-quality.
This was also a requirement Jiang Miao had repeatedly stressed.
If they wanted to maintain the reputation of the Hailufeng Company brand, guaranteeing product quality was of the utmost importance.
This was also why Lü Weibin frequently came by to conduct spot checks. He was worried the employees might be careless and mix in bad strawberries, ruining the company’s reputation.
Leaving the packaging workshop, Lü Weibin rode his electric tricycle toward the farm’s greenhouses.
He happened to run into Jiang Miao, who was just coming out of the experimental greenhouse.
"Boss."
"Old Lü, how have things been the last few days?" Jiang Miao asked while washing his hands.
Lü Weibin locked up his tricycle. "The e-commerce department is getting a lot of orders, and the farm’s production capacity can’t quite keep up. I’ve asked them to control the volume of pre-orders."
"Mm, true. Even though they’re pre-orders, we can’t let the customers wait too long, or they might lose patience," Jiang Miao nodded. "I have to make a trip to the aquaculture base. You carry on!"
"Alright, Boss. Take care."
Lü Weibin didn’t linger at the entrance for long, heading straight into the roughly half-acre greenhouse where the strawberries were already flowering and bearing fruit.
Three pickers were using miniature electric shears to harvest strawberries.
He glanced at the plastic crates that had already been filled. There were four of them in total. This type of crate held about 10 kilograms when full.
In other words, they had only harvested a total of 40 kilograms of strawberries this morning.
Lü Weibin looked at the remaining area yet to be picked. About two-thirds was left, so he estimated they could harvest 120 kilograms of strawberries today.
Yesterday’s harvest was 115 kilograms.
Clearly, as the weather gradually warmed up and the strawberries entered their peak season, the farm’s daily strawberry yield would continue to increase.
After observing the harvesting progress, he called over one of the agricultural technicians, Old Zhou. The two of them went into the greenhouses where the strawberries had not yet begun to flower and bear fruit.
"Old Zhou, when will these strawberries start to flower and fruit?"
Old Zhou looked at the condition of the seedlings. "I estimate that greenhouses 4, 5, and 6 will start in late April. Greenhouses 7 through 12 will start in mid-May, and the rest won’t start until June."
Lü Weibin asked again, "How many vacant greenhouses are left now?"
"About eight acres’ worth."
"When can it all be planted?"
"Soon. The nursery greenhouse has already raised a large batch of seedlings from seed. We estimate they’ll all be planted before the end of April and will start flowering and fruiting around mid-to-late July."
"How many more people do we need?"
"We’ll need about 15 more people."
"Fifteen? Okay, I’ll notify the HR department to start recruiting."
Old Zhou said in a low voice, "Manager, we could just hire some of the women from the nearby villages. There’s no need to go through the HR department, is there?"
"What do you know? This is a matter of principle," Lü Weibin quickly reminded him. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Old Zhou froze for a second, then felt a mix of embarrassment and fear.
Lü Weibin reminded him again, "I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that this time. Don’t ever bring up this kind of thing again."
"Got it, got it." Old Zhou nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice.
Lü Weibin had been a project lead at a major internet company before; he knew very well that a company’s core power lies in HR and finance.
And their boss, Jiang Miao, always handled HR matters personally. Other department heads and business managers had absolutely no authority over hiring or promotions.
He had no desire to get on his boss’s bad side over something like this.
