In later generations, as long as people who have been to Xiangjiang will more or less know that Octopus, this kind of electronic card is almost the same as the two major mobile payment systems in the mainland, monopolizing almost all the livelihood payment industry in the entire Xiangjiang.

In its original history, Octopus was born in 1997, when the Internet era had opened and the e-card technology was very mature, and this set of electronic money supported by the Hong Kong government soon monopolized the entire Hong Kong, from buses and subways to shops, restaurants, parking lots, and even schools and hospitals.

Although it is only the 80s, the electronic technology is naturally not as good as more than ten years later, but the current magnetic card can also record data, and can also replicate some of the convenience of the "Octopus" in some functions, although it is still impossible to do the degree of the future, but the system can be perfected first.

"Octopus. Wang Liming read it silently twice, and said with a smile: "This name is not bad, it extends in all directions!"

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "As long as the name is easy to remember, now your first task is to find a professional company to develop a hardware system that can support the use of this kind of card in the entire Xiangjiang, and this matter is the responsibility of Midea's company." ”

He Guoyuan nodded and agreed: "There should be no such technology here in Xiangjiang, I will arrange for someone to consult some companies in the United States and Japan." ”

Xu Zhi nodded and said, "Okay, this matter should be done in a hurry and strive to be completed before the end of the year." ”

"No problem. He Guoyuan nodded in agreement. This kind of deduction system is actually not complicated, some countries in Europe and the United States are already using similar equipment, most of them are also operating in urban buses, he only needs to find a professional company in this area, and then ask the other party to make appropriate adjustments according to their own requirements.

Xu Zhidao: "It's not a problem to make this kind of device, I am more concerned that we must popularize this system in the shortest possible time, so in order to popularize the Octopus card more smoothly, I decided to privatize Watsons." ”

"Privatization of Watsons?" Ma Shimin, who had not spoken, was stunned and said: "Chairman, if you need Watsons to cooperate with this plan, it is not a problem at all, there is no need to privatize Watsons. ”

Xu Zhi shook his head and smiled: "Although Octopus is important, I have other purposes for privatizing Watsons, you just do it." ”

Ma Shimin continued: "Chairman, the current Watsons Group is one of the most profitable businesses under Hutchison Whampoa, and I estimate that some of Hutchison's shareholders have opinions on privatization. ”

"Don't agree?" Xu Zhi smiled and said: "If you don't agree, they can throw away Hutchison's shares, and they can just not be Hutchison's shareholders, besides, I don't want the entire Watsons for nothing, as much as I want, according to the current price, I will pay all in cash, and Hutchison will not have any losses." ”

Ma Shimin nodded and said, "Okay, then I will arrange the documents and legal procedures needed for privatization after I go back." ”

"After privatization, Watsons only does not belong to Hutchison in terms of equity, but the future management is still up to you. Xu Zhi said with a smile. Ma Shimin is still very capable in management, in addition to the real estate business, Hutchison is also developing in an orderly manner, even if the supermarket is spun out, it will be temporarily managed by the original Hutchison management.

"Thank you, chairman. Ma Shimin nodded and smiled. As the Taipan of Hutchison, he has become the top working emperor in Xiangjiang, and Xu Zhi does not have a deep management of Hutchison, except for the strategic layout, he rarely interferes in operation and management, which is also a manifestation of his trust.

However, anyone is obsessed with power, and Watsons, as one of Hutchison's three major businesses, controls more than 30% of the retail market in Hong Kong, and the employment of thousands of people.

And now, although it will be divested, it will still be managed by him, so that in addition to the change of equity, his rights as a professional manager will still be the same as before, and even in Watsons' management, he will be more free.

Xu Zhi continued: "A.S. Watson does have a certain position in the retail market of Hong Kong, but it is not enough to promote Octopus with A.S. Watson alone, so after privatization, I will continue to inject funds until A.S. Watson monopolizes the entire retail business in Hong Kong."

In the next few years, Watsons only wants to expand the market and not make short-term profits, which may affect the development of Hutchison, so I need to privatize the entire Watsons. ”

"Monopolizing the retail business?" Wang Liming said, "It is estimated that it will require a huge amount of capital investment, but it is good that if it can really succeed, our group will also make more profits." ”

Xu Zhi shook his head and smiled: "Yes, the promotion of Octopus is only a layout at the same time, and the retail business is more important, although the profit margin is not high, but the cash flow is full."

And the fact that the retail business can connect almost all the people in Hong Kong is very important for us to promote any product in the future.

After monopolizing Heung Kong Retail, with this piece of stable income, I will also let the entire Watsons go to the international market. ”

"A.S. Watson's main business is cosmetics, PARKnSHOP supermarket, airport retail and two shopping malls.

Although the cosmetics business is the most profitable, it is actually not close to the people. The one that really meets the chairman's plan should be PARKnSHOP.

PARKnSHOP currently has 142 supermarket chains in Hong Kong, second only to Wellcome in terms of market share, and if we want to monopolize the retail market in Hong Kong, we have to buy Wellcome, so that we can control more than half of the supermarkets in Hong Kong. Ma Shimin briefly introduced Watson's business, and he was very interested in monopolizing the entire Xiangjiang market.

"The current Wellcome supermarket belongs to the Jardine Group, do you think Wellcome will be sold?" Xu Zhi asked with a smile.

Ma Shimin shook his head and said, "It's unlikely." ”

Founded in 1945 as part of the Dairy Farm International Group, Wellcome opened its first supermarket in Heung Kong Central in 1960 and now has 163 outlets in Heung Kong.

In 1974, following Hongkong Land's acquisition of the Dairy Farm Company, Wellcome was also incorporated into the Jardine Matheson Group.

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "The people of Jardine Group, this time is very high, and they are eager to buy all the companies in Xiangjiang, and if you want to buy his supermarket in turn, it is estimated that it will be difficult."

Moreover, as far as supermarkets are concerned, PARKnSHOP and Wellcome do control more than half of the market, but in Hong Kong, a large part of the entire retail industry is made up of thousands of ordinary convenience stores throughout Hong Kong, although these convenience stores are small, but they are related to most of the citizens of Hong Kong, and we must pay attention to this part if we want to successfully launch Octopus and monopolize the retail market. ”

Ma Shimin frowned and asked, "Chairman, do you want to copy the business model of 7-11?"

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "Yes, although the 7-11 model is not well run in the United States, it is very successful in Japan, and we can completely replicate this model in Xiangjiang." ”

"I have also studied the business model of 7-11, and its main feature is to reduce procurement costs by unified procurement, and if we also build such chain stores, we can merge the purchasing department into PARKnSHOP supermarket, so that the cost will be further reduced. Ma Shimin suggested.

Xu Zhixiao asked, "Since you have considered this business model before, why didn't you pass it?" ”

Ma Shimin said: "That's because this model can indeed make money, but in terms of profit margin, it is still not comparable to Watson's other businesses, and the management cost is too high, and the investment is very large." ”

"I see. Xu Zhi nodded and said: "In the past, you were thinking about profit margins, but now what I care about is scale, you don't have to worry about capital, after Watsons is privatized, I will inject another 100 million Hong Kong dollars for the development of convenience store business." ”

"So are we going to do it directly or do we have a franchise model?" asked Ma Shimin.

"Let's join, we just need to control the procurement. Xu Zhi thought for a while and replied, 100 million Hong Kong dollars seems like a lot, but if they all carry out direct sales by themselves, it will consume up the funds just by renting and decorating them in the early stage, and the cost of management of the direct store is too high.

Ma Shimin nodded and agreed: "Okay, then I'll go back and make preparations for this immediately." ”

Xu Zhi said again: "Then let's do this first, you are responsible for these things according to your own tasks, and strive to make all the initial preparations before the end of the year." ”