Chapter 9, Competitors

Knowing the cause and effect, Ferdinand immediately acted. Although he looked down on those flour capitalists, he released some goodwill, and Volvo added several more brands of flour.

At the same time, he also decided to teach Cote Fibre a lesson and establish a position in the industry by the way.

Ferdinand's in-depth investigation found that although Cote Fischer was a giant in the department store industry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his financial situation was not very good. The traditional operation model and family management are still used, which is becoming more and more out of sync with the times.

The current leader is Robert Held, an Austrian who is less than 30 years old. Robert has great ambitions, and he is not used to the traditional operation model of Cote Philips Department Store.

However, because it is a family-owned business, most of the senior management of Cote Philips Department Store are relatives, including his two uncles and a younger brother. They also hold a large part of the shares.

This entry into the supermarket field was only pushed by Robert in order to get rid of the control of the management. Of course, what role the flour capitalists played in it, Ferdinand didn't know.

After figuring out the opponent's situation, Ferdinand handed over the task to Ferranz. To be honest, Ferdinand didn't look down on Robert. Although his ability was good, he was obviously overjoyed.

The current situation of Cote Philips Department Store should not blindly open up new projects and disperse limited energy. The most important thing is to reform its own system.

Even if you want to enter, you should not choose to enter at this time, and even if you enter now, you should not choose Vienna. These are the most competitive times in Vienna's retail industry, and will consume Cote Phillips' now limited ammunition.

Robert not only entered the market now, but also focused on Vienna. As soon as he shot, ten supermarkets opened together, with great momentum. Two of them were reorganized from department stores. The area is so large and the decoration is luxurious that it can be called the most in Vienna.

Volvo has come to this point, and it is time to harvest. With the support of other regional markets, Ferdinand can consume it, and the first to appear will be the small capitalists.

With the large-scale entry of Cote Philips supermarkets into the market, the smell of gunpowder is getting stronger and stronger, and the first ones that can't bear it are the large supermarkets.

They have high operating costs and a lot of traffic is a good thing. Customers mean profits, but now the more you sell, the more you lose. Retail investors with weak economic strength are the first to move out.

In 1884, on May 18, the Qatar Department Store, unable to bear the long-term losses, declared bankruptcy and blew the horn of death.

The following week, another department store called Philip declared bankruptcy. Then it got out of hand, and then the supermarkets closed every three to five.

At this time, no one in Vienna can stand alone, and all supermarkets have entered a state of negative profitability, which is nothing more than a question of how much they lose.

Volvo is no exception. Even with its huge network driving down costs, several stores in Vienna are now losing money. The average monthly loss of the five stores in Vienna is as high as 300 pounds, which is a small loss compared to its peers.

The Cote Philips supermarket, which just entered the market, had a big mold, and big money meant big losses. In addition, Ketefei has learned the atmosphere of being a department store. The decoration of the store is luxurious, the layout is unreasonable, a lot of space is wasted, and operating costs are increased. Now it is terrible.

Ferdinand admits that Robert is indeed talented, and the luxurious decoration has attracted a lot of traffic, including a large number of middle-class customers, and business is booming.

It is a pity that it is 1884, not the 21st century. The middle class in Vienna is limited in number and cannot support a large department store.

In order to seize the market, Ketefei also had to cut prices, or he has been discounting since he opened the door, losing more and more every day, with no end in sight.

Ferrantz didn't give it in vain. He first mobilized the employees of Shuanghui Food Group to go shopping at the Cote Philips department store. Thousands of people poured out, instantly bringing a high popularity to Cote Philips.

Even the purchased products are pre-ordered, and then secretly transported to other cities in Vienna, sold through Volvo stores to earn the difference, and a slight profit was made for a while, making up for the loss of the Vienna store.

Robert is in a very bad mood now. In a week, the vase in his office has been changed three times.

Originally, he saw that the department store and supermarket had good prospects. With the support of Hungarian flour capitalists, he rushed into the market, and then started a loss-making road.

A loss is a loss. Anyway, Robert was prepared in advance, and he was good at attracting popularity in the current period, but he didn't expect the business to be so good, and then the loss was so big.

Of the ten stores in Vienna, the least one lost more than 800 pounds last month, and the largest flagship store suffered a record loss of 3,000 pounds. In other words, the Kurt Fei family has a great business, and if ordinary people could not stand it, they would have withdrawn from the price war.

At present, the products in department stores and supermarkets are directly discounted by 5% from the ex-factory price. This is the first to open by Volvo, and then powerful merchants have followed up.

If you add operating costs, basically the amount of loss has reached about 10% of sales. Now, the more you sell, the more you lose.

Cote Fibre Department Store can now proudly announce that it is already a giant in Vienna department store supermarkets, with the largest market share, far ahead of Volvo, which ranks second.

That's why the current atmosphere in Cote Philips department store is very wrong. Even with most of the shares, Robert's life is not easy. Last month, the Cote Philips supermarket lost as much as 15,000 pounds, and there are still signs of increase this month.

Even if the department store is still profitable, it cannot fill this bottomless pit. At this point, it is no longer possible to withdraw if one wants to quit. Before and after, Cotefrey has invested 80,000 pounds in the department store project.

Robert decided to show off to the shareholders, which is what happened anyway, and he broke the jar. Either give up the 80,000 pounds invested in the early stage, and lose all the capital, and the vitality of the Cote Philips department store will be greatly damaged; or continue to invest, first squeeze out a group of competitors, and then the market will return to normal, and the lost money will be made back.

The atmosphere in the conference room of the Cote Philips department store was very dull. More than a dozen people in the meeting were puffing up clouds of smoke, and after a while, the smoke filled the air.

Okay, everyone is here, then today's meeting begins. Robert lost his former style