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Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Removing the Firewood from Under the Pot
Lang Junfeng excitedly said, "Now that we’ve figured out what’s inside, let’s make it ourselves! Zhang Yang used this to snag a lot of my premium customers; we should make some and sell it in our store too!"
"Mixing it is easy, just find the approximate ratio and fine-tune it a bit, and it will be almost identical. But are you sure you want to do this?" Li Chunsheng frowned slightly when he heard his junior say this.
"Hmm? Is there something inappropriate about it?"
"Do you think Zhang Yang stole your clients just by relying on this bag of fish bait?" Li Chunsheng didn’t answer but responded with a question.
"Isn’t that the case? A lot of people are attracted by this so-called Divine Bait to buy it!
In terms of store reputation and influence, compared to my Junfeng Fishing Gear, his Mingyang Fishing Gear is definitely not in the same league!" Old Lang said with confidence.
Li Chunsheng shook his head after listening: "You’re already at this age, yet your view is still too shallow!"
"What do you mean?"
"Then let me ask you a question, why do many fishing enthusiasts from far away from W City follow you to fish at reservoirs, or even though there’s a fishing gear shop near their homes, they insist on buying equipment for reservoir fishing from you?"
"Because I’ve been leading fishing at reservoirs for years, I understand the water and fish conditions better, and the equipment I use has been tested through more practical experience. They trust me more, and feel more assured buying what I recommend!" Lang Junfeng answered.
"Exactly! Customers follow you ostensibly for pursuing what you promote as so-called hot-selling products! In essence, it’s a behavior of trusting you and relying on you to reduce their risk of going fishing!
From the situation you described on the phone yesterday, the main reason why Zhang Yang could steal so many clients is his understanding of the paid rod pond plays, that’s the core! As for what he’s selling, that’s just the result!
Do you believe that even if he just openly uses Marukyu’s eclectic bait, constantly active in wild fishing ponds and occasionally having a great catch, there would still be customers gathering around him?
It’s just that using eclectic bait reduces the mystery of Divine Bait, and the process of developing customer accumulation would be a little longer, that’s all!"
Li Chunsheng’s insight was indeed spot-on, and after speaking, Lang Junfeng fell into a brief contemplation.
"I understand, then what do you think we should do?"
"In my opinion, if you want to transform the direction of your store’s operation, what you need to do is form a wild fishing team, expand the store’s reputation, and increase personal influence!
If you’re not optimistic about the wild fishing market and don’t want to invest efforts in it, I’d say, just undermine the foundation, and ruin the persona he’s just established!"
"Undermine the foundation?"
"Yes! For instance, deliberately leak his bait formula strategically!
With costs and profits laid bare, the mystery veil lifted, anglers will naturally have their considerations.
Based on our analysis of these ingredients, a package of fish bait only needs ten yuan in cost!
With a 50% price difference, most customers will care, and when no one buys his stuff, a large portion of customers will naturally flow back to your store!
After all, your store scale and product line overshadow his. Unless he comes up with a higher-grade new product, without uniqueness and persona, his store is doomed!"
"All right! I’ll follow your lead! A kid whose teeth aren’t fully grown yet, dares to compete with me! I’ll ruin him!"
...
With the direction decided, Lang Junfeng and his senior conducted several experimental mixtures, and after a few adjustments, they quickly found a similar formula ratio, achieving a counterfeit with at least a 90% resemblance.
As the formula was almost perfected, the sinister side of Lang Junfeng emerged as he fiddled with his phone, ultimately selecting a group of fishing enthusiasts he knew well, including Qian Wenbo and Hou Xiaojun, who liked to have "their own ideas".
That afternoon, several people from Qian Wenbo’s small team received a phone call from Old Lang inviting them for tea. Only when they arrived at the store did Old Lang propose that he wanted to research the bait formula, having already achieved some results, and wanted their help to join the discussion.
Qian Wenbo had long coveted the bait formula Zhang Yang was selling, and seeing Old Lang had already researched it to a significant extent, he immediately got intrigued.
After a few hours of tea-drinking, chatting, and deliberation, they clearly remembered the ingredients and rough proportions in the formula.
When they left in the evening, Qian Wenbo didn’t hesitate to buy a set of mixed bait to get to work back at his place.
Upon initial comparison, the ingredients in the formula and the bait bought for twenty-one catties were highly similar; it was hard to distinguish between the genuine and the fake.
The next day, Qian Wenbo took his self-mixed bait to the fishing ground for a trial, and after a conscious comparison, the fishing results were roughly the same.
With this, Zhang Yang’s exclusive fish bait was directly exposed!
As mentioned earlier, the anglers in the circle actually keep in touch quite frequently in private. Even though Qian Wenbo wanted to keep it a secret, the guys he always hangs out with would casually let it slip. Who doesn’t have a few sworn brothers who are "tight-lipped"?
Under the "I only told you, don’t tell anyone else," the secret of the mixed bait spread gradually among the familiar circles in less than a week.
Initially, Zhang Yang didn’t notice until it was opening day at Oil House Fishing Ground again, and several regular returning customers didn’t come to buy bait at the store. However, when he reached the fishing ground, he found they had all prepared their bait, which instantly made Zhang Yang wary.
"What’s going on? Why do you look so upset?" Zhao Bingguang, noticing the change in Zhang Yang’s expression, asked quietly.
Zhang Yang pondered for a moment and said, "Zhao, could you do me a favor and find out whether the black pit bait we’re selling in the store has been leaked? Today, Qian Wenbo and his group didn’t come to the store to buy bait, yet they now have a similar product!"
"No way? Perhaps you remembered it wrongly!"
"Impossible! Last time, when leaving, he mentioned they ran out of bait and would come to the store to get some. Moreover, I noticed he’s not the only one!"
"Let me see if I can find someone to ask about it!" Zhao Bingguang nodded and took out his phone to call a friend.
Now the circle knows that Old Zhao is close with Zhang Yang. Directly calling might not yield results, so Old Zhao found a friend he could rely on to help inquire, and soon he got the results.
"I found out! Qian Wenbo and his group went for tea with Old Lang and worked out the formula together!
If this isn’t handled well, it could significantly impact you. The person who gave me this news even cursed you behind your back, advising me to stay away from you!"
Understanding the connotation in the message, Zhang Yang instantly figured out what was going on!
He sold the fish bait with a profit margin of about 50%. Now that the formula has been figured out, the difference between raw materials and finished products is like an open secret, and indeed some buyers might feel disgruntled knowing this.
But only a small portion of clients would be affected by this, for sure the relationship between Zhang Yang and Old Zhao wouldn’t be impacted.
Recently, every fishing trip was with Old Zhao driving Zhang Yang, and as a reciprocal gesture, the bait used by Old Zhao has always been provided for free by Zhang Yang, or at most he just took a symbolic ten yuan cost from Wang Jun only.
These are all obvious things on the surface, as Zhang Yang always deals openly and honestly with friends, never liking to keep things hidden.
"Alright, I get it!" Zhang Yang nodded, secretly calculating in his heart.
