Chapter 0417: Strong-Arm Tactics

Dad Zhao's problem was actually quite simple: the supermarket had been having some trouble lately.

To be fair, Wanda Supermarket was now the only large-scale supermarket in Ninghai, with a steady stream of customers daily, so naturally many manufacturers hoped to have their products placed there.

But perhaps because they were accustomed to the sales methods of the planned economy era, these manufacturers all demanded that Wanda Mall pay for the goods upfront.

Suddenly, Dad Zhao was at his wit's end, since the supermarket simply didn't have that much money.

Zhao Fusheng quickly finished reading the documents and frowned. "Dad, don't tell me you've been settling accounts with them once a month all along."

He hadn't paid attention to this matter before, because he had told his father to let these people place their goods in the supermarket first and settle accounts after the goods were sold. He never expected his father to be so honest as to settle accounts once a month.

Dad Zhao nodded matter-of-factly. "Yeah, except for the first batch, the rest have been settled once a month."

Speechless as he looked at his father, Zhao Fusheng suddenly felt that his dad was honestly a bit endearing, completely failing to grasp the power dynamics between suppliers, channels, and distributors.

Though he had never run a supermarket, Zhao Fusheng had been in the advertising circle in his past life, so he had some understanding of this industry.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, the relationship between suppliers, channels, and distributors was essentially one of the weak versus the strong.

In plain terms, in the eyes of channels and distributors, suppliers were like grandsons, with little standing.

You see, once a product is produced in a supplier's factory, it can't just sit in the warehouse forever; it needs to be sold. That is, unless you have the ability to make your product a hot commodity, most suppliers need some channel to sell their products.

But generally, unless the supplier is very powerful, most products follow a rule: goods first, payment later.

What does 'goods first, payment later' mean?

Simply put, you have to supply the goods to the distributor first, and after they sell them, you wait for them to settle the account.

So Zhao Fusheng completely scoffed at companies that bragged about their market cap in financial reports, because he knew very well that those were just illusions and couldn't be taken seriously.

Market cap—it can go up today and down tomorrow; it's just a set of numbers.

What truly measures a company's strength isn't its market cap, but how much cash flow it has, whether its capital is solid enough to weather difficult times.

So for someone like Dad Zhao, who settled accounts once a month and still got complaints, Zhao Fusheng could only say that his father's temper was really too good.

"Dad, tell those suppliers now that from now on, accounts will be settled every three months. If they don't agree, pull their products off the shelves." Zhao Fusheng said to his father in a decisive tone.

Dad Zhao was startled and looked at his son in surprise. "You, are you kidding?"

Clearly, what Zhao Fusheng said seemed very hard for him to understand. Why would they suddenly change from monthly to quarterly settlements? Even with monthly settlements, the suppliers were already unhappy; switching to quarterly would surely cause an uproar.

Zhao Fusheng chuckled calmly and said, "Just listen to me. Our company has handled orders for some big malls before, and I've overheard them talk about it a few times. Let me put it this way: if Coca-Cola's supplier disagrees, tell them Pepsi's supplier has agreed. Got it?"

Dad Zhao blinked, not quite understanding what Zhao Fusheng meant.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and didn't explain too much. His father just lacked experience; after a few tries, he'd probably figure out what to do.

As it turned out, no one knows a son better than his father, and Zhao Fusheng's judgment of his father was quite accurate.

Though Dad Zhao didn't understand what his son meant, he knew one thing: no matter what, his son wouldn't harm him.

So Dad Zhao nodded decisively. "I understand. I'll arrange it when I get back."

Of course, by 'arrange,' he didn't mean he would follow Zhao Fusheng's words exactly; he would first do some investigation and then decide how to proceed.

The father and son chatted about other things for a while, and then Dad Zhao thought for a moment and said to Zhao Fusheng, "I've been thinking about looking at houses lately. What do you think?"

With the supermarket's business improving steadily and a large sum of money from the bank, Dad Zhao had recently considered distributing dividends to the shareholders.

The reason was simple: the mall had been open for nearly half a year, making money all along, but they had never distributed profits. They had only returned the initial pooled funds to the investors, but for the shareholders, the purpose of investing was to make money, after all.

"It's up to you. Didn't Grandpa agree that once we buy a new house, he'll move in?" Zhao Fusheng said to his father, then smiled. "Actually, I think you might want to consider that villa area near our school."

Dad Zhao was taken aback. "Villa area?"

Zhao Fusheng nodded and explained the origin of those villas, finally adding, "It seems there are four or five left. Buying them all would cost a lot, but buying one or two shouldn't be too expensive."

Dad Zhao frowned and waved his hand. "I'll think about it."

According to Zhao Fusheng, a villa costing over a hundred thousand wasn't really that expensive.

After all, it was a villa, not an ordinary commercial apartment.

Now that it was the year 2000, although most people understood the concept of commercial housing, many were still hesitant about spending a large sum of money on a house.

They didn't realize that compared to ten years later, current housing prices were practically a giveaway.

But unfortunately, not everyone could foresee the future like Zhao Fusheng. To many, a price of a few hundred yuan per square meter seemed like robbery.

Seeing his father hesitate, Zhao Fusheng shrugged and didn't say much more. After all, he couldn't spell it out—he couldn't tell his dad that in ten years, even an ordinary commercial apartment near Ninghai Normal University would cost five thousand yuan per square meter.

And now, the housing price near the school was only eight hundred yuan.