BXBX NOVEL Chapter 119 - 116: Hurry Up and Replenish Stock_i
The last night of June.
When seven hundred thousand copies of Zhu Xian were moved into Tranquility Bookstore’s warehouses and onto the shelves, the company was in turmoil!
“Pei Du, have you gone mad?”
“You ordered seven hundred thousand copies of Zhu Xian?”
“Do you know how many copies the other bookstores in Qin Continent ordered?”
“At most, less than one hundred thousand!”
“Others avoid it like the plague, yet you treat it like a treasure?”
“You didn’t take a cut from Silver Blue Books, did you?”
Pei Du took a series of phone calls from several executives, facing criticism, doubts, and worries. His response to each call was the same: “If there’s a problem, I’ll take responsibility.”
Was he regretting it?
A bit, yes.
The executives’ reaction was fiercer than Pei Du had imagined. Even his subordinates looked worried, thinking that Pei Du had been swindled by Silver Blue Books.
“The General Manager is in trouble now.”
“Silver Blue Books must not have been able to sell the books, so they sold them in bulk to us.”
“Now all we can do is pray that the readers will buy a lot tomorrow.”
“With the seventy thousand inventory, sell however much we can.”
“The more leftovers, the greater the Manager’s responsibility.”
Pei Du gritted his teeth.
Regretting it now would be useless.
He gritted his teeth again, issuing three commands in a row.
The first command, the headline on the company’s official website tomorrow must be Zhu Xian.
The second command, starting tonight, replace all the promo banners at all Tranquility Bookstores’ branches with Zhu Xian.
The third command, Zhu Xian should be the only book on the front shelves in all Tranquility Bookstores. All other books should be relegated to the secondary shelves!
Pei Du wants every person stepping into Tranquility Bookstore to see Zhu Xian first!
“Understood.”
His subordinates could only execute the commands.
The General Manager has lost his mind.
Given how much noise Tranquility Bookstore was making, the industry insiders who kept abreast of the news took notice. Their reaction to the shocking news was unanimous:
Pei Du has gone mad!
No one knew what hallucinogenic potion Silver Blue Books had given Pei Du. By taking such a risk, Pei Du was seemingly gambling with his position as General Manager.
“Way too reckless.”
“Is Pei Du a fan of Chu Kuang?”
“Other than Chu Kuang’s fans, I can’t think of anyone else who would have such high confidence in Zhu Xian.”
“He might be dismissed soon.”
“Everybody’s playing it safe, only he’s going all out.”
Just as there is competition between publishing houses, there’s also competition among the major bookstores in Qin Continent. Now that Tranquility Bookstore was making such a bold move, many people were laughing.
If the books don’t sell, of course, Tranquility Bookstore can handle it.
Even if all seven hundred thousand copies remain unsold, it’s not an issue. As one of the nationally ranked chain bookstores, Tranquility Bookstore certainly has the capacity to absorb that.
Nonetheless, it would be quite a significant loss.
If Zhu Xian flops, Tranquility Bookstore’s reputation will suffer as a result.
This was the scene that people were most happy to see.
Everybody was waiting for the next day!
That night, countless people were eagerly waiting for the dawn.
As for Pei Du, he couldn’t fall asleep that whole night, constantly feeling anxious. He ended up staying awake until the break of dawn.
“I feel terrible.”
The older generation’s ability to pull all-nighters is typically poor. Pei Du, who was forty this year, felt an overwhelming headache after staying awake the whole night.
He felt a bit better after drinking a cup of water.
Should he try to sleep some more?
Pei Du shook his head, deciding to drop by the bookstore as he was feeling too restless.
Tranquility Bookstore, ranked fifth in Qin Continent, had several branches in Su City alone. Pei Du arrived at the largest one.
This branch had three floors.
After arriving, he ordered the store to be opened, and he went in for inspection.
The individuals below did indeed leave all the banners for “Zhu Xian,” as he had requested.
The front row of bookshelves, generally reserved for the bookstore’s highly recommended books, was currently displaying “Zhu Xian”.
In the entire Su City-
No, it should be said that in the entire Qin Continent, only the Tranquity bookstore gave such high treatment to “Zhu Xian”.
“Manager, we haven’t started business yet.”
One of the bookstore’s employees carefully reminded him, clearly aware of what Pei Du would face today.
“It’s okay.”
Pei Du gave a wave of his hand, found a corner to sit down, and began to rest his eyes.
The people below didn’t dare to say much, each of them prepared to face their day’s work.
An hour later.
The bookstore officially opened.
A bustling sound aroused, jolting awake the nearly asleep Pei Du. Rubbing his eyes, he saw quite a few customers had already entered.
Hmm?
Many customers exhibited surprise upon entry.
Because within the entire Tranquility Bookstore, from the banners to the walls right down to the bookshelves, it was all “Zhu Xian”. It was hard not to notice.
Very few books get to enjoy such a pervasive promotional strategy.
Thus, in their curiosity, many customers picked up “Zhu Xian” to read.
Pei Du’s drowsiness suddenly disappeared; his reddened eyes fixated on each customer picking up “Zhu Xian”. Only two words filled his mind:
Buy it!
Buy it!
Buy it!
Pei Du was even thinking of walking up and promoting it himself, but this wasn’t a clothing store, his sudden approach would only scare customers —
Indeed, he frightened a customer.
One of the customers who had picked up “Zhu Xian” for reading suddenly noticed a man in the corner staring at him with bloodshot eyes, nearly throwing the book in his hand.
“I apologize.”
Pei Du coughed once, continuously waving his hand to express his apologies, then averted his gaze. However, the corner of his eyes was still on these customers, the little person in his mind constantly screaming:
Buy it!
Buy it!
Buy it!
Somewhat supernaturally, after the little person in Pei Du’s mind had roared for a while, the first customer who picked up “Zhu Xian” really went to the counter to pay.
Following that…
More and more customers began reading “Zhu Xian”. The grandiose recommendation by the bookstore was indeed quite effective for the customers.
The second one…
The third one…
The fourth one…
The fifth one…
More and more customers purchased “Zhu Xian” at the counter. Even the salespeople at the front desk looked at each other in bewilderment:
Looks like it’s selling well?
Is this due to the promotion?
An answer to this question was found half an hour later, as two-thirds of the copies of “Zhu Xian” on the shelves had been sold. The top shelves were already empty. The sales were happening at an alarmingly fast pace!
“Is it really that popular?”
The girls at the front desk had already widened their eyes. Their experience as front desk workers told them that this couldn’t be solely attributed to the promotional effects!
Quality determines the sales volumes of a book!
Promotion merely adds icing to the cake!
Sometime later, a customer appeared at the counter, looking quite pleased, held up a copy of “Zhu Xian” and said:
“Check out.”
“Is the book good?” One of the girls at the counter couldn’t help but ask a question. Upon asking, she realized that it seemed inappropriate given her position.
“Hehe.”
The customer paused, then laughed, “Is that a question?”
“Of course, it’s a declarative sentence.”
Pei Du appeared at the counter at some point.
He gave the customer a small smile, then turned his head and roared in a nasal voice:
“What are you standing around for, don’t you see we need to restock!”
The girls at the cash register were startled before they noticed that the shelves which used to be full of “Zhu Xian” were almost empty.