boyutpedia Chapter 42: Casually Buy a Beta Test Item
Chapter 42: Casually Buy a Beta Test Item
After Gu Ming vomited up all the acid in his stomach, Factory Director Mao gave him some warm honey water to drink to help him recover. Only then did the group set off for the food warehouse.
Inside the warehouse, piles of cardboard boxes were stacked high. Gu Ming then revealed his predicament: "Brother Lin, there are hardly any offline channels willing to buy these honey breads anymore. People only buy them occasionally when they're feeling nostalgic; they won't eat these old-fashioned breads as their staple food anymore. Actually, I knew this day would come, but I didn't expect it to come so soon."
"These 10,000 boxes of bread are all unsold, piling up in the warehouse and costing me monthly storage fees. Plus, they'll all expire in two months. Brother Lin, do you see if there's any way you can help me sell some? Even just a little bit of cash back would be enough for me."
Lin Mu frowned – it only has two months left before it expires?
He opened a cardboard box and took out a loaf of bread to examine it: the bread was packaged in a plastic bag, inside was a large, thick loaf of honey bread, with a little butter spread around the edges. This was the kind of sandwich bread that he often bought at the school store when he was a child.
Nowadays, people's demand for food has shifted from "eating enough" to "eating well." As Gu Ming said, it's okay to buy bread that carries childhood memories occasionally for nostalgia, but it's not suitable as a daily staple.
Lin Mu asked, "Didn't you open an online store? Let me see how your online store is doing."
Gu Ming led Lin Mu to the computer room and turned on the computer to show him. To be fair, Gu Ming's online store was quite well organized, with product images and product detail pages executed quite effectively.
Gu Ming explained, "I found an e-commerce expert on a Taobao seller forum, gave him a few thousand yuan, and then followed his instructions. It's somewhat effective; I can now sell 300 orders a month. But given my inventory size, 300 orders a month is practically useless."
"I sell 30 packs of bread for 30 yuan each, which works out to only 1 yuan per pack. I don't make a single penny profit; it's purely to break even and improve my shop's rating. Even so, the shop still received several negative reviews, saying I was dishonest, selling near-expiry bread, and calling me a 'heartless' seller. But what can I do? If it's not near-expiry, why would I sell it so cheaply?"
Lin Mu stroked his chin, quickly coming up with a marketing idea—around 2020, near-expiry food products were quite popular. He asked, "Boss Hu, your core objective right now is to clear out this batch of near-expiry bread as soon as possible, right? There shouldn't be any special requirements regarding profit margins, right?"
Gu Ming quickly said, "No, no! I really can't find anyone to take over these breads. If I don't sell them soon, they'll all be stuck with me. I just want to minimize my losses."
Lin Mu said, "Okay, I'll give you an idea. Do as I say. First, change the main image of the product."
"Find some brightly colored large leafy greens, and place a bunch of bread upright on top of them. This way, the first thing users will notice is that it's a healthy bread."
"Then, take a picture of the cardboard box directly into the background, and Photoshop a line of text onto the cardboard box: '30 yuan for the whole box, near-expiry food, half price'."
Gu Ming was taken aback. If they sold them at half price, 30 packs would cost 15 yuan, which meant each pack would only sell for 5 cents. He would lose 5 cents on every sale. But he quickly resigned himself to it: "Never mind, if they all rot in my hands, I won't get a single cent back."
He took out his notebook, wrote it down, and said, "Okay! I'll change the main product image tomorrow."
Lin Mu continued, "If the main image is changed, the product details page also needs to be changed. Don't worry, let me check with our competitors first."
Lin Mu quickly browsed the product detail pages of other bakeries on Taobao and soon had an idea: "Right now, our competitors either take product detail pages based on GG's logic or just snap a quick photo. Nobody's making pure real-life photos yet. I think this is an opportunity. Boss Gu, tomorrow you find a camera, break open the bread yourself, take a close-up of the inside, and then take a few pictures of actual eating scenes, like with milk or eight-treasure porridge. What we want is a down-to-earth, relatable feel."
"Okay, I understand!" Gu Ming quickly wrote it down.
Lin Mu then instructed, "By the way, don't change the price directly yourself for the 50% off discount. Once you've finished setting up the main image and product details page, come to me, and I'll get you a spot for a 'Super Discount' promotion. This promotion has a dedicated section where users will find all the discounted items. Each store has 240 hours of discount time per month, and I suggest you run the discount from 8 PM to 11 PM every night, for 3 hours each day."
Gu Ming excitedly grabbed Lin Mu's arm: "Thank you for your guidance, Brother Lin!"
Lin Mu said politely, "It's nothing, just a small favor. If you do a good job with the shop, my sales will improve, which will benefit me too."
After exchanging a few more polite words, Lin Mu hailed a taxi to go home and rest.
After Lin Mu left, Gu Ming asked Factory Director Mao, "Sister Mao, does General Manager Lin like to eat hairy crabs? I have a friend who raises hairy crabs and sends me a batch of premium crabs every year, all full of roe. I get gout easily if I eat too many by myself, so I've been wanting to find some friends to share them with."
Factory Director Mao said sarcastically, "Why haven't I seen you share this with me, your friend?"
Gu Ming laughed heartily, "Together, together! I forgot before."
……
The next day, Lin Mu went to Alibaba headquarters to work.
Around noon, the tech department sent him an email stating that after a month of overtime work, the "Buy One Item Now" feature had been completed and was currently in internal testing. Since Lin Mu was the proposer of this feature module, his colleagues in the tech department granted him testing privileges, allowing him to select a few products to participate in the first batch of testing.
"Huh? They actually developed it?" Lin Mu was somewhat surprised. He originally thought that it would be difficult to achieve this function with the current technology.
He logged into the work backend and carefully studied the function descriptions. He found that the search and matching function could not be automatically matched by AI like in later times; all associations required manual operation.
According to the existing functional modules, he must first find a merchant to register; after the merchant registers and is reviewed to confirm that there are no problems with the store and products, the two individual items can be linked.
Furthermore, unlike later versions, payment cannot be made directly through the system. You must add both items to your shopping cart and pay together, and shipping is not included.
"This..." Lin Mu was somewhat speechless. This function was much more troublesome than he had expected. But for now, he could only make do with it.
Gu Ming had just contacted him yesterday, so it's possible to have Gu Ming sign up for the first batch of tests. Bread is a very versatile product; it can be paired not only with milk but also with products like jam, eight-treasure porridge, and sausages.
Just as Lin Mu was thinking about Gu Ming, the other party sent him a website link in the backend, with the message: "Brother Lin, I've changed the main product image and details page. Do you think it looks better after the changes?"