stjorthotic Chapter 101 The Strictest Father
Chapter 101 The Strictest Father
Chapter 101 The Strictest Father
Let's rewind to March 1st.
Shortly after Lin Mu finished negotiating the cooperation with the QQ Farm team, Sheng Mingyue also approached Lin Mu.
She got straight to the point: "Mr. Lin, I own several offline stores, mainly selling mid-to-high-end stockings. I believe China's economy will continue to improve, there will be more and more wealthy people in China, and girls will be more willing to spend money to please themselves."
"The shop is currently under renovation. It's located in the heart of Wulin Square, covering an area of 500 square meters, and the monthly rent alone is 10 yuan. I'd like to hire you as the chief brand designer, offering you 20% of the shares. What do you think?"
Lin Mu's eyes lit up: the core business district of Wulin Square, the resources here are truly impressive. However, considering Sheng Mingyue's past profession, it wasn't surprising.
He said, "Let me go take a look first."
Soon, the two arrived at Wulin Square by car. Lin Mu also saw the location of Sheng Mingyue's shop, which was actually right across from Louis Vuitton.
Wow, this store has a really good location.
At this moment, the store is undergoing renovations, which are mostly completed.
The interior is furnished in the style of a high-end boutique, with bright windows, warm lighting, and polished marble floors, exuding sophistication.
Lin Mu then looked at the items Sheng Mingyue had selected. To be honest, she had a good eye for choosing items; those stockings looked high-end at first glance.
Sheng Mingyue chimed in, "These are niche designer brands I selected from Japan, the UK, and France. I think niche brands are more personalized, and they'll be easier to sell at a higher premium in the future. My eye for choosing brands is pretty good, right?"
Lin Mu glanced at the LV store diagonally opposite. It was situated like an English manor, and many people were taking photos around the building.
A bold idea suddenly popped into Lin Mu's mind.
In his previous life, Lin Mu had never operated a high-end luxury goods business. Now that he's been given a second chance, he's very interested in giving it a try.
Lin Mu said, "Sister Mingyue, there's nothing wrong with your store's operating strategy. If nothing unexpected happens, making a small profit shouldn't be a problem, but making a big profit depends more on luck."
"If I were to be a brand operations manager, at most I could only increase the chances of making a fortune by helping you attract traffic online and build your brand image."
Sheng Mingyue understood his subtext and said, "Lin Mu, do you have other ideas?" Her way of addressing Lin Mu also became much more intimate.
Lin Mu nodded and said, "Mingyue, are you interested in having a fight with Louis Vuitton?"
"Huh?" Sheng Mingyue pointed at herself, her face full of surprise. "Me?"
In 2009, the Chinese people still viewed these high-end luxury goods with a strong filter, unlike in later generations when they were less fascinated.
Sheng Mingyue really couldn't understand how her newly established shop dared to "fight" with a multinational behemoth like Louis Vuitton, a long-established brand with hundreds of years of history.
Lin Mu explained, "Just like McDonald's and KFC, where there's a dragon, there must be a phoenix. And what I mean by 'fighting' isn't about declaring war on the behemoth that is Louis Vuitton. We just need to ride on the coattails of the Louis Vuitton flagship store across the street and have a showdown with them."
"The real goal is not to beat the other party, but to make a lot of money, and if possible, to set a benchmark in the fast fashion industry."
Sheng Mingyue asked, "Lin Mu, may I hear your specific thoughts? I'll think about it some more."
"I've already invested over 300 million yuan in this shop, and I still have over 200 million yuan in reserve funds. If your plan is particularly reliable, I can invest the reserve funds as well."
Lin Mu was very surprised and said, "Are celebrities this rich? They actually have 500 million in cash on hand."
Sheng Mingyue smiled and said, "No, that's not it. My father is in the real estate business, and he is a small shareholder in this Wulin Plaza, owning a small portion of the shares."
Wow, good heavens, she's actually a rich woman.
Lin Mu said, "First, all the merchandise in this shop needs to be replaced. Don't try to find niche designers abroad; we need to find niche designers in China. Second, we need to create a blockbuster product. Give me a pen and paper, and I'll draw a design for a blockbuster stocking item."
Lin Mu had never had a chance to use the Paris letter socks. He had originally intended to give the design to Factory Director Mao when he had some free time, but various reasons always delayed it. Now, with Sheng Mingyue by his side, they could be put to good use.
Sheng Mingyue immediately found a pen and paper for Lin Mu. Because Lin Mu had designed many best-selling items before, she had great faith in his design abilities.
On an A4 sheet of paper, Lin Mu drew a complete sketch of the Balenciaga letter socks. Although the design was inspired by later works, that didn't matter; at this moment in 2009, it was his original creation.
Sheng Mingyue glanced at the design and nodded repeatedly, saying, "It definitely has the potential to be a hit. Lin Mu, I never knew you knew so much about stockings."
She thought for a moment and then said, "I do believe this style can become a hit fashion item, but is it a bit ill-considered to support niche domestic designers? The market doesn't accept this approach right now; people generally believe that foreign brands are more high-end than domestic ones."
Lin Mu said, "You're right, so we need to let the outside world prove to us that this is a super brand that can stand on equal footing with high-end international brands, that can make people line up like scalpers and set up tents outside the store to snap up the products."
"LV's headquarters are in France. We can fly to France, find a fashion store that's about to close down, and slightly renovate it into a pop-up store for our brand. Then we can hire some young people as actors to form a long queue outside the store, and spend a little money to have some photos taken and articles written by French tabloids to promote the brand."
"After that, we used these tabloid reports as authoritative evidence" and sent them back to China, creating the impression that our Chinese brands are very popular abroad and that foreigners are willing to stay up all night to buy them.
Wouldn't that elevate the brand's image?
Sheng Mingyue's eyes lit up instantly. Whether it would succeed or not was another matter, but the plan sounded very challenging and interesting, and it could at least cause a stir in the industry.
She thought about it and realized that if France created a fake marketing event and then spread it back to China, and even hired scalpers to pretend to queue up in China, this store could easily become a temporary internet sensation.
However, Sheng Mingyue still asked, "Lin Mu, you said you want to challenge Louis Vuitton, how exactly will you do it?"
This kind of marketing strategy has nothing to do with Louis Vuitton, does it?
Lin Mu chuckled and said, "Our marketing headline in China is: 'A Chinese-owned fashion store has foreigners lining up overnight; Louis Vuitton's strictest father.'"
Sheng Mingyue's eyes widened: "The strictest father? Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? Louis Vuitton won't just sit idly by, will they?"
Lin Mu said, "It would be better if he responded. If the authorities really intervene to suppress us, we'll say that Louis Vuitton is scared and is in a hurry to suppress us; if they ignore us, we'll say that they are guilty and dare not respond."
Sheng Mingyue covered her forehead; it was the first time she had ever seen Lin Mu be so shameless and "rogue."
Lin Mu continued, firing off a string of words: "Once we've established an image where our brand is popular with foreigners, then promoting our support for niche domestic designers will immediately create that brand image for our users."
"This is a domestic, high-end fashion brand that conquers foreigners with its aesthetics, has celebrity designers, and is also tied to national sentiment."