All the higher-ups nodded. Although this was a good suggestion, it was not feasible.
Leng Qirui was very patient with the higher-ups who gave suggestions out of their genuine concern for the company. He continued to say, “Although logistics are more well-developed overseas than our country, they haven’t perfected it yet. Since our Leng Group has chosen to venture into this field, we must ensure that our ‘logistics’ become as convenient and fast as possible. Other than choosing not to set up stations in certain extremely remote villages and towns temporarily, I request that the stations that are set up by our logistics company reach far and wide into every district and village in the country. There must also be at least three people manning each station.
“Think about it. If there’s an employee from Leng Group’s logistics company to every village in the country, they can be in charge of collecting goods or delivering them. Other workers at the stations will be in charge of the flow of transportation—put those that are allowed to fly on a plane while putting those that can’t be flown in through the high-speed rail or train. We will then purchase our own transport vehicles dedicated only to the transportation of goods. Doing all these will allow us to control the speed at which the goods reach our clients, no matter where they shop from. Everyone will be able to get their hands on the goods within 3-5 days.
“If you’re a buyer, you can buy anything you like online without stepping out of the confines of your home. Not only will it be cheap, but the shop will also deliver it to your doorstep. Will you choose to buy the items from a physical store or will you prefer to shop for them online? There were all kinds of taxes in physical stores. Physical stores will have to pay their rental too, along with the employees who have to look after the store. There are all the hidden costs behind businesses that often lead to the price increase of the same item several times higher. However, this won’t exist in online shopping. If you were a customer, would you be willing to buy things in a physical store in the future, or would you be willing to shop online for something cheap and convenient?
“As for the transportation fee you mentioned, it does require users to pay for it themselves, but it isn’t much. I think the transportation fee for each buyer shouldn’t be more than 15 yuan. The best price is between 10 to 12 yuan.”
“However, if I’m from the south, and I want to buy something from a remote area in the north, the transportation cost will cost more than 15 yuan! Then, what are we going to do with the difference in transportation fees? Furthermore, we’ve been going on and on about transportation fees, but what about labor? Don’t tell me the workers’ salaries are not included in our transportation costs? If we follow your plan and station employees specializing in logistics in every village, the labor costs will be huge, Chairman!” Another executive voiced her doubts.
Leng Qirui shook his head. “You should attempt to think out of the box. If we only transport one pomelo from one place to another, the transportation cost is 100 yuan. What if 10 people from the same place have taken a fancy to these pomelos through our platform? At the very least, the initial cost of the 100 yuan transportation fee, which is the transportation cost from the village to the town, will be split among the 10 registered buyers along with the primary cost of the pomelos. Meanwhile, the remaining cost of their pomelos will arise from transporting the pomelos from town to the consumers. However, once we reach the town, there must be other people who buy various things other than the 10 pomelos. If there are 30 buyers, we can just split the cost of the transportation from the town to the city among the buyers, right? Once we’re in the city, if 100 people from various villages purchase various things from each town, there must be packages that are heading to the same city, right? If many packages head to a different city at the same time, isn’t the transportation cost divided again?”
