After making a round of inspection in his own supermarket, Li Huai nodded in satisfaction. Although the service aspect was somewhat lacking, the business seemed to be doing quite well. After all, the 15% discount promotion was highly attractive to customers.
Next, he sought out the store manager to inquire about the sales figures over the past few days. Learning that daily sales had consistently exceeded 900,000 yuan, even breaking a million on some days, he was fairly pleased.
Of course, after checking his own supermarket’s revenue, he didn’t forget to ask about the performance of the nearby Wanlong Supermarket.
“How were Wanlong Supermarket’s sales yesterday?” Li Huai asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs.
“About one-third of ours. Their sales yesterday were 296,531.92 yuan,” the manager replied.
Hearing that the rival supermarket’s sales were only a third of his own, Li Huai couldn’t help but feel smug. It seemed their price war strategy had worked. If they could just hold out a little longer, they could drive Wanlong Supermarket out of business and establish a monopoly in the area.
More importantly, it would be a perfect opportunity to humiliate Yang Xin.
As Li Huai was fantasizing about how to flaunt his victory in front of Yang Xin, he suddenly realized something was off.
“Wait a minute—how do you know their exact sales figure down to the decimal point?”
Could the manager have planted a spy in the rival supermarket?
Now that was talent!
Normally, estimating a competitor’s daily sales was just that—an estimate. After all, no business would willingly disclose its revenue to outsiders.
The manager explained, “Our staff saw it. They have a big screen at the checkout counter displaying their sales data in real time.”
Li Huai was stunned. “Huh? Are they really that stupid? Revealing trade secrets like that? Or have they completely lost their minds after our price war?”
“I’m going to check it out myself.”
He had no idea what Wanlong Supermarket was up to, but the manager’s report made him eager to see it with his own eyes.
In a way, financial reports were trade secrets. Even publicly listed companies didn’t disclose operational data in real time. Had Yang Xin been driven to desperation, resorting to reckless measures? Or had he simply given up?
Whatever the reason, this was a golden opportunity to mock him.
However, when Li Huai arrived at the entrance of Wanlong Supermarket, he froze in disbelief.
Was this really the same Wanlong Supermarket that supposedly had daily sales of less than 300,000 yuan?
The foot traffic here was visibly higher than at his own Mingcheng Supermarket, with customers even forming a queue at the entrance.
Glancing at the promotional board outside, Li Huai noticed there wasn’t a single discount offer. Intrigued, he stepped inside.
The moment he entered, his eyes were drawn to three large display screens mounted above the checkout counters, where a string of blue numbers flickered in real time.
The current figure read 915,600.02 yuan, and it updated every few seconds.
At this rate, Wanlong Supermarket’s sales for the day would easily surpass 1.5 million yuan.
Beneath the screens, a crowd of customers had gathered, watching the numbers with excitement. Some even cheered, “Go up! Faster, faster!”
The scene was almost like stock market traders, slightly frenzied.
Some people, perhaps dissatisfied with how slowly the numbers were rising, turned to those around them and said, "I’ll go shout around the neighborhood, see if anyone wants to shop—I’ll bring them over."
"Wait, I’ll call some friends too!"
After this suggestion, a noticeable portion of the crowd was swayed, eagerly declaring they’d go recruit more shoppers.
Li Huai was utterly baffled, his mind buzzing.
Customers helping the supermarket pull in more business? What kind of madness was this?!
He had never seen such an absurd tactic.
Could they be hired shills?
Just as Li Huai was about to investigate, to figure out what Wanlong Supermarket had done to attract so many customers, a familiar voice came from behind him:
"Director Li, what a coincidence. Any advice for us?"
Li Huai had come here intending to see Yang Xin in a state of panic and desperation—maybe even mock him a little.
But instead of getting his moment, the other man had somehow boosted the supermarket’s sales, far surpassing even their own Mingcheng Supermarket’s numbers for the day.
Li Huai forced a smile. "Advice? Hardly. I just came to check in on my old mentor."
"Business seems to be booming, Director Yang."
"Isn’t it obvious?" Yang Xin gestured at the display screen without hesitation. "Seven hours, 900,000 in sales. It’s all right there."
Li Huai’s expression stiffened slightly. "Director Yang, we’re old acquaintances. Be honest with me—are those numbers… inflated?"
Yang Xin scoffed. "Director Li, after all these years working together, you still don’t know me? I’m not like some people who enjoy cutting corners."
"Oh, that wasn’t directed at you, Director Li. Don’t take it the wrong way."
Though seething inside, Li Huai kept his smile intact. "Of course not. Director Yang, as my former superior, always had my best interests at heart. How could you possibly be targeting me?" His tone carried a sharp edge, laced with sarcasm.
Yang Xin grinned. "Glad there’s no misunderstanding. Since you’re here as a guest, Director Li, why not let me show you around Wanlong Supermarket?"
Li Huai refused without hesitation. He had come to gloat, not to subject himself to further humiliation.
"No need, no need. I’ll just look around on my own. With business this good, you must be busy—I wouldn’t want to trouble you."
Yang Xin could guess what Li Huai was thinking. The man was probably itching to uncover the secret behind Wanlong’s success.
If he pressed too hard, Li Huai might bolt—and that would ruin the plan to reel him in.
"Suit yourself. Take your time, Director Li. I’ll get back to work." With that, Yang Xin shoved his hands in his pockets and walked off, cool and composed.
For now, Li Huai set aside his desire to one-up Yang Xin. The priority was figuring out what the man had pulled off.
Soon, through customer chatter and promotional notices, he pieced together the strategy.
When he finally understood Wanlong’s tactics, his eyes lit up.
Despite his deep-seated resentment toward Yang Xin, he couldn’t help but admire the sheer brilliance of the marketing scheme.
They had directly applied discounts to the membership system, significantly amplifying each customer's sense of involvement. By displaying real-time sales figures on a large screen, customers felt as though they had personally contributed to the achievement.
No wonder customers loved watching those sales numbers on the big screen—no wonder they got so pumped up, even going out of their way to drag more people into the supermarket to shop.
"Packaging discounts as investment returns... making customers actively recruit for the supermarket... what a damn genius!"
Once Li Huai figured it all out, he couldn’t sit still any longer. He hurriedly left Wanlong Supermarket.
He needed to get back immediately and have Mingcheng Supermarket "borrow" this strategy.
