boyutpedia 39. Russian e-commerce
39. Russian e-commerce
The villa in Green Mountain City has been renovated, and Li Xiang has moved to an apartment in the city center.
Standing at the door, Li Xiang could already see Galina hiding in his house through the security door.
They were not carrying any weapons.
Li Xiang took out his key, opened the door normally, and entered the house, pretending to be startled.
"Who are you trying to scare to death?"
"Didn't I want to surprise you?" Galina wiggled her hips as she returned to the living room, sat on the sofa, and drank whiskey while watching TV.
"How did you get in without a key? You even know how to pick locks?" Li Xiang took off his coat and hung it up.
"I can get someone to unlock it," Galina said shamelessly, acting as if she were one of the guests. "Give me a spare key to the house so I won't have to go through all that trouble next time I come."
Li Xiang: "What did I do to offend you? Can you please let me go?"
"No, it's your fault for owing me." Galina looked at Li Xiang with a smile and asked, "Did those two VKontakte brothers come looking for you?"
Li Xiang suddenly realized, "You're my girlfriend."
"Since you've put it that way, I'll reluctantly accept it. How did the talks with them go?"
"It's alright." Li Xiang picked up the remote and changed the channel, switching to a news program.
Galina moved to sit next to Li Xiang and asked, "If the investment in VKontakte makes money, shouldn't I get a share?"
"On what grounds?"
"Could this investment have gone through without me?" Galina pouted, a little annoyed. "At the very least, it should count as me passing the interview."
Li Xiang said with a serious expression, "Galina, I won't let you come for nothing. I'll give you a $20,000 commission, and we'll be even."
"I don't want the agency fee, I want my salary." Before Li Xiang could refuse, Galina spoke up first, "I know what you're worried about, but I have nothing to do with the Tambov Gang anymore, not now, and not ever again."
Li Xiang sighed, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said, "I'll really give you an interview this time. You've used online shopping before, right?"
"I've used it, and it's not convenient at all," Galina said.
Online shopping in Russia is like hell, mainly because of its vast territory.
A customer in Vladivostok bought a dress online, which was shipped from St. Petersburg and took at least half a month to arrive.
If the size doesn't fit, it needs to be sent back for an exchange, and that process takes a whole month.
The delivery efficiency of the Russian national postal service is appallingly low, not only slow but also plagued by unexpected situations such as lost or damaged packages.
In the early days of e-commerce, the quality of goods varied greatly, with many counterfeit and substandard products.
If you're unlucky, and after several back-and-forths, summer will be over and the dress still won't arrive.
The simplest way to improve user experience is to offer cash on delivery.
But this once again fell into the hands of the Russian State Post Bureau, the big brother.
They do offer the "cash on delivery" service, but once the money is in their hands, it takes at least six months to reimburse the merchant. How much money can be tied up after six months of sales?
The cost of cash flow can be passed on to consumers, resulting in prices that are even higher than those in physical stores.
Russian e-commerce is currently a lose-lose situation; both sellers and users are silent and unresponsive. Whoever can solve the delivery problem first will be able to carve out a bloody path through this hellish quagmire.
Li Xiang took down the St. Petersburg map hanging on the wall, rolled it up, and handed it to Galina. "The question I'm giving you is: how to set up an e-commerce delivery team in St. Petersburg with relatively low cost."
"I have to go to Japan for some business. It will take about half a month. I'll see your answer sheet when I get back."
Galina confirmed, "If my proposal is adopted, can I officially start working here?"
"Yes." Li Xiang laid it all out upfront, "But there's one thing I need to make clear: you said you have nothing to do with the Tambov Gang anymore. If I find out you're still working for them, all your promises are null and void."
"Now that you've made your demands, I have to make mine too." Galina tried to put her arm around Li Xiang's, but Li Xiang blocked her from doing so.
Li Xiang asked, "I'm hiring you but without pay. Will you do it?"
Galina was speechless for a moment.
"You're doing this without pay, what right do you have to make demands?" Li Xiang was indeed short-handed. Although Galina clearly had problems, as long as she was manageable in the short term, he could try using her for manual labor.
With Gusinsky's influence at his disposal, Li Xiang wasn't too worried about the Tambov faction. Of course, the prerequisite was that he had to be of value to Gusinsky.
-
Li Xiang and his aunt Dalia went to Japan for a "trip," and Han Jiayin was sent to the island in advance to arrange the itinerary.
Han Jiayin majored in English for International Trade in college, and Japanese was her second foreign language. She passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 3, and her daily communication skills were barely adequate.
The first stop on my trip to Japan was the island's largest eel-producing region.
Kanoya City.
A famous local eel restaurant, private room.
Li Xiang was eating eel rice for the first time. He smacked his lips and muttered, "It's not as delicious as I imagined. Fatty Tiger eats it every day and he never gets tired of it."
Dalia rolled her eyes at Li Xiang and retorted, "It's Genta who likes eel rice."
"You have quite a wide range of interests," Li Xiang said with an awkward smile.
"You brought me all the way to Sun Island just to see this fish in my bowl?" Dalia scooped up a slice of grilled eel with a spoon, staring intently at it. "Can smuggling eels really make money?"
Han Jiayin couldn't understand Russian, so she just sat next to him, eating and helping him order. She had no idea what Li Xiang and Dalia were talking about.
Li Xiang explained to Dalia, "Eels cannot be bred artificially."
"Isn't this an eel farming base? If they can't breed them, what are they raising?" Dalia asked, looking surprised.
"For fattening, all the fish fry are caught from the wild," Li Xiang further explained. "Japan's eel fry self-sufficiency rate is less than 50%, and it is mainly imported from China. In China, we call it white eel, which is also a traditional delicacy."
"There are only three main types of eels consumed globally: Japanese eel, European eel, and American eel. More than 70% of the consumer market is in Asia, dominated by China, Japan, and South Korea. The demand cannot be met by relying solely on local Asian supplies."
"I admit there's market demand and it's possible to make money, but making a lot of money is probably unlikely," Dalia said, frowning.
Li Xiang finally got to the point: "The EU is discussing the Eel Regulation, hoping to restore the eel population in Europe through legislation."
"All member states with natural eel habitats are required to develop an Eel Management Plan to reduce fishing and improve habitats."
"I have a general understanding of their plan, which mainly involves releasing fish into the wild in a value-added manner. The purchased fish fry must be released into the wild in a prescribed proportion, and the remainder can be used for commercial purposes. They also called for a ban on the export of European eels."
"Just imagine, if the EU's Eel Regulation is passed, the global eel supply will plummet, leaving Asia reliant solely on Japanese eels and American eels. How high would the price of eels there have to go?"
"When will the EU approve it?" Dalia's eyes began to light up. Arbitrage opportunities are created through regulation; the more restricted the selling, the greater the profit.
Li Xiang said, "One year, two years, three or four years? The more eels we eat, the fewer there are left. We'll pass the test sooner or later."
Dalia: "That's obvious."
"How is that nonsense? You start legally, from importing fish fry to raising and fattening them, then processing and selling them. Build the entire industrial chain. Leave the rest to time, and this windfall will eventually fall into your lap."
"Do you know how much money was spent globally on eel consumption last year? Two billion US dollars. With such a huge market, you only need to take a small slice to easily support your dozen or so people."
Li Xiang turned to Han Jiayin and said in broken Chinese, "Go and see how else you can cook eel. If you order a little bit of everything, you won't be able to afford it in a few years."