"It's both." Zhou Jiayang said: "Let Wu Sheng come and talk to you." ”

"Okay, he's outside?" Chen Zhiwen nodded and asked again.

In the whole group head office, although there are many high-level executives, the business between each other is completely different, therefore, unless there is the permission of the boss Chen Zhiwen, it is not possible to disclose their own things to each other, such as many things about the United States, it is impossible to tell the senior management of Red Bull, which is the normal state of any large company.

Watsons still belongs to Hutchison at present, so Zhou Jiayang can know everything, but Wu Weibing is only in charge of Watson, so naturally he will not know about Hutchison's other business, so he didn't come in before.

"Okay, I'll let him in." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said.

Soon, Wu Weibing walked in and said, "Chen Sheng, hello. ”

"Sit down, feel free, we're semi-tourist." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said.

This time with a group of high-level to the UK, itself is also a relaxation, paid travel, as the top of the company, to obtain a lot of income and freedom at the same time, the responsibility is naturally large, even during the tour, if there is any big thing, it should be dealt with, at most it is not a very important thing not to rush, you can leave it alone for the time being, and wait until you officially go to work.

"Okay, thanks." Wu Weibing also sat down.

"Listen to Lao Zhou, do you want to bring Watsons' cosmetics business and supermarket retail business to the UK?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Yes, but it's not just the UK, my idea is that the whole of Europe, at the moment the UK is the first stop, because it is relatively convenient for language exchanges, and in terms of culture, there are many British people in Hong Kong, so it is easier to adapt." Wu Weibing said.

Watsons' business in Hong Kong also fully takes into account many British ghost groups in Hong Kong, although this group of people cannot say that everyone has money, but basically can come to Hong Kong, at least some of them are still middle- and high-income people, so the business department will also fully study the needs of these people, and it can be regarded as experienced.

"Yes, the goal is big, I like it." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "The market potential of the whole Europe is not lower than that of the United States, and some industries are not even lower than the whole of Asia, especially the cosmetics, we Asians basically use a little occasionally, and there are more women, but European and American whites are often used, and the market has to play too much." ”

Unless it is a local industry such as real estate, the ultimate goal of other normal civilian consumer goods markets, from lighters to automobiles, is to sell to more people, so it is inevitable to expand internationally.

The cosmetics business is naturally the same, especially because Europeans generally have a heavy body odor, and most of them have the habit of applying perfume to their bodies, and even this has become a necessary daily necessities for some Europeans, as important as water, electricity, food and accommodation. The market potential here is far greater than in Asia, where perfumes are used only as cosmetics.

Although the competition in the European market must be very fierce, but in the original history, Li Jiacheng had the opportunity to succeed in Europe, then he would inevitably have it, it depends on the ability of capital operation, after all, this is not the research and development of cosmetics, but purely to control the terminal consumption place with funds, even if the competition can not compete with those old brands, you can also acquire.

Of course, there are funds to be funded, but if you want to run well, it still depends on the team's ability.

"Yes, the demand for cosmetics in the UK is very high, and I calculated that even if Hong Kong cosmetics are shipped to the UK, it will still be cheaper to include customs duties, so I am ready to set up a subsidiary in the UK, which is responsible for franchise branding, transportation control, brand building and other businesses." Wu Weibing said.

"It's good to be cheap, but perfumes and cosmetics may be more important to brands, and our Watsons main cosmetics are small brands that are partly developed and purchased by ourselves, so it is not so easy to succeed." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and smiled.

The real big brand cosmetics, in fact, do not supply to companies like Watsons Concubine, they first have their own stores, the second store also has a large number of orders with local supermarkets, third, they are not fools, see that Watsons's business model, once successful, may affect themselves.

Therefore, some of Watsons' main cosmetics are medium-sized brands purchased by themselves, or they are made by themselves, so as to minimize the cost and ensure that the quality is above the medium level.

There's no way, when the scale is not super big enough, many big brands will ignore you.

"This is true, it can only be through long-term operation, but as long as it comes on the scale of the UK, it is enough, if we open up this market, it will be of great help to our cosmetics self-research or supplier research and development." Wu Weibing said.

Watsons' cosmetics business, mainly relying on capital to open the way, the initial in Hong Kong, followed by Macau, Bay Bay and many Southeast Asian countries, unlike their own investment in the construction of large supermarkets, cosmetics business is mainly joined by locals, and transportation, relative to the value of cosmetics The cost is relatively low, when the large-scale publicity, the cosmetics business in Southeast Asia expanded very fast, together with Japan and South Korea have many branches.

A large number of terminal storefronts have also led to a very high number of cosmetics purchases from Watsons headquarters, so that, like Galaxy Trading, the right to speak to suppliers has increased a lot, and Watsons has also acquired several Hong Kong cosmetics companies by the way, and has developed and produced their own, but it is only small-scale, not the main business, purely to supplement the business.

"Okay, then designate a market research first, and then specify an investment plan, let's test the water in the UK first, as a bridgehead to enter Europe, and learn a little experience first." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. It is also a matter of time before the cosmetics business enters Europe, and now Watsons has been operating very smoothly in Asia in recent years, and it is very profitable, and the United States has also developed smoothly with some of its own resources, and it is normal to continue to open the European market at this time.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Wu Weibing paused, and then said: "In the daily necessities supermarket chain business, I also think we should enter Europe, I don't know what Chen Sheng thinks?" ”

"Baixin or RT-Mart?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"I think RT-Mart may be more suitable for Europe, although the single store is a little smaller, it must be in a place with a large population, which will lead to an increase in costs." Wu Weibing said.

Chen Zhiwen nodded, and asked again: "I agree with this, Europeans and Americans have cars, and they are indeed more suitable for big supermarkets in the suburbs, but the problem is that the current European supermarket chain groups have basically completed the layout, how do you fight them?" ”

Before the 60s, supermarkets were basically mainly in the city, but with the popularity of automobiles, some smart entrepreneurs found that the supermarket moved to the suburbs, reduced a lot of rent, and then gave profits to consumers, and at the same time, consumers drove to although a little more fuel expenses, one-time shopping can also reduce a lot of time costs, a win-win move, and then Wal-Mart took advantage of this outlet plus a strong business ability to rise. As for its own Costco, it is actually a bit of a lever, but the business model is still very different.

It's the same in Europe, in the 60s, Carrefour, Auchan, Metro, etc. also rose with the help of the same outlet, although it is not enough to say that it has covered the whole of Europe, but so many supermarkets add up, but also form a first-mover advantage plus occupy high-quality cities, and others, and then enter the market, the difficulty will increase exponentially, which is not cost-effective at all.

Even Costco is a bit difficult, because METRO supermarkets in Europe actually adopt a similar model, but they are not comparable in terms of capital, and supermarkets entering other regions are definitely not able to solve the problem by relying on capital alone, and the problem of "not adapting to the water and soil" is too common in the retail industry.

Originally, the historical Wal-Mart supermarket exceeded the scale of several major supermarket chains in Europe combined, but it still did not mix well in Europe, and it was the same in Asia and even South America. In Chen Zhiwen's plan, Costco should give priority to occupying the U.S. and Canadian markets, because there will be very strong competitors there, as for retail in other places, wait until the U.S. market stabilizes and then try to invest, and if the investment fails, it will buy local brands, otherwise, develop Europe first, and the United States may be stolen by Wal-Mart.

"Chen Sheng, I have analyzed the development process of supermarkets in Europe and the United States, to put it simply, the current supermarket pattern in Europe is about 10 years later than that in the United States, that is to say, the current European supermarket pattern is similar to the United States in 1973, and at that time in the United States, Wal-Mart was only a small local supermarket chain." Wu Weibing said.

"Are you trying to replicate Walmart's growth in the U.S.? Building a supermarket in a small city? Chen Zhiwen was a little surprised and said, if you look at it this way, there is indeed some truth, the United States did not have World War II, so the supermarket industry was semi-monopolized by Celtic Sears a few decades ago, until Wal-Mart began to build supermarkets in the suburbs, and now in Europe, Carrefour and Auchan are also building supermarkets in the suburbs, but their capital power is not comparable to the United States, therefore, they are only expanding in some large and medium-sized cities, and the smaller ones are not.

"Yes, there is this idea, but there will be many differences, such as the language of each place is different, the tax rate is different, it is difficult to unify the management, and no matter how you imitate it, it is difficult to achieve Wal-Mart's results, and the market is still a little different, but it is not impossible to try." Wu Weibing said.

"This may indeed be the last chance, don't try it, just buy a suitable brand locally, and then expand in this model." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.

(End of chapter)