The grand opening event quickly reached its third day.
The two sedans serving as the grand prizes still sat quietly in the prize area, untouched by any lucky winner.
This situation brought a sense of relief to the many executives and store managers of Wanlong Supermarket.
As the biggest highlight of the event, they naturally hoped the ultimate prize would last as long as possible.
Once the grand prize was claimed, it could very well impact subsequent sales.
Moreover, Wanlong Supermarket’s event had proven to be an absolute cash magnet.
On the first day, total sales shattered the 50-million-yuan mark, with all eleven branches setting new daily sales records—previously, the highest single-store record had barely exceeded 4 million.
By the second day, sales skyrocketed to 68 million.
Among them, the University Town branch and Wushui County branch stood out the most, with one surpassing 8 million and the other exceeding 7.5 million.
The reason was simple: aside from the year-end surge in shoppers stocking up for the holidays, both stores had awarded first prizes—legendary Wuling mini-trucks—the day before, igniting a buying frenzy.
Customers believed these two stores had lucky auras, and if they shopped there, they might just win the grand prize and drive away one of the two sedans worth over a hundred thousand yuan.
In stark contrast, Wanlong’s competitors—those who had initially banded together to suppress its rise—were now struggling with dismal business, trapped in a quagmire of bad publicity and refund controversies.
Their mere discount promotions paled in comparison to Wanlong’s high-stakes lottery with real cash prizes.
Now, their daily sales likely didn’t even match Wanlong’s spare change.
Wanlong Supermarket, despite being a relatively new player, had once again cemented its growing reputation through this strategic campaign.
Especially in the Bright Pearl City region, it had undeniably become the industry leader.
As Wanlong’s influence expanded, an audacious rumor began circulating:
"No matter how powerful a retail brand is, in Bright Pearl City, they’re just cannon fodder."
"Bright Pearl City is the graveyard of all foreign supermarkets!"
This bold claim caught the attention of top-tier supermarket chains, both domestic and international, turning their gaze toward this third-tier city.
During Wanlong’s recent siege, most competitors had only sent regional managers at most—none of their top executives had bothered with a small-city skirmish.
After all, corporate battles were everywhere; who would care about a minor market’s competition?
But once the rumor spread—that "Bright Pearl City is the graveyard of all supermarkets"—everything changed.
It sparked the competitive spirit of industry titans, each eager to uproot this stubborn nail and prove their dominance.
Little did they know, instead of pulling out the nail, they’d end up stepping on it themselves.
But that’s a story for later.
...............
These past few days, both Yao Qianshan and Yang Xin had been working nonstop.
As soon as Yao Qianshan arrived at a branch, she adjusted the winning odds for the grand prize.
On the third day, the probability stood at 0.61%—three days prior, it had been a mere 0.08%.
Displaying the odds daily served two purposes: maintaining transparency and fairness while also fueling shoppers’ enthusiasm.
Beyond updating the odds, Yao Qianshan’s main task was reviewing customer service logs at each store, checking feedback, after-sales records, complaints, and suggestions.
She then identified weak spots in service protocols and implemented improvements.
For instance, just yesterday at the South City branch, she noticed a surge in complaints about the freshness of certain products in the fresh food section.
She immediately contacted the fresh goods department head to revise restocking procedures and expiration management.
Other optimizations included reducing checkout wait times and refining countless minor operational details.
Though each tweak seemed small, they collectively elevated the shopping experience.
Unlike Yang Xin, who handled external affairs—supplier negotiations, expansion strategies, and frontline leadership—Yao Qianshan worked behind the scenes as the invisible force.
While Yang Xin charged ahead, she ensured smooth internal operations, refined services, and boosted customer retention—equally crucial to their success.
As Yao Qianshan meticulously reviewed the logs, a text from Yang Xin arrived:
"After adjusting the grand prize odds, projected sales are up 18%. Can inventory keep up?"
"Already prepped the warehouse and logistics teams. Don’t worry, Yang Xin—just focus on smashing records. I’ve got the backend covered."
"Good work!"
"You’re the one working hard. I’m looking forward to this month’s new record!"
"Hahaha, let’s make it happen together!"
After a brief text message chat, Yao Qianshan continued to check the after-sales log.
Wanlong Supermarket has been implementing the return and exchange service for a long time. It is quite normal for people to come and return or exchange goods, and the proportion has always been well - controlled, only about 0.8%.
Occasionally, due to promotional activities, the proportion may increase, but it can still be kept within 1.5%.
This figure is extremely low considering the seven - day no - reason return policy. If there were no such no - reason return policy, the proportion wouldn't even reach 0.1%.
Because they have very strict quality control. Even if there are some quality issues, they usually occur after the products have been used for a period of time.
In other supermarkets, under normal circumstances, they won't allow returns or exchanges. Instead, they'll just tell you to find a place to repair the products yourself.
Most of the time, customers just accept their bad luck and rarely take the initiative to ask the seller for an explanation. This is due to the consumer ideology. In the future, customers would file a return and refund application in a flash.
This is also one of the reasons why many people prefer online shopping. Besides the convenience, since they don't have to meet the sellers face - to - face, even those with thin skin can directly return the products if they don't like them.
I may be a social phobia offline, but I'm definitely a social butterfly online. Some people may even ask for a refund without returning the product when they're not happy. It's a common practice.
Some people say that online shopping has impacted physical stores and led to their decline. Well, different people have different views on this.
Online shopping is definitely a major trend that can't be reversed, but it won't completely replace physical stores.
What Wanlong Supermarket is doing now is, to some extent, introducing more mature future consumption concepts into physical retail in advance.
After all, currently, many consumers choose to accept their bad luck or are too embarrassed to return or exchange products when they encounter problems. This is also one of the reasons why the no - reason return and refund - only models in online shopping can develop.
The future of physical stores lies in the in - depth combination and optimization of service convenience and offline experience advantages.
After Yao Qianshan finished reading the after - sales log, although the data showed some fluctuations, they were still within a reasonable range.
However, just as she was about to close the notebook, she suddenly had a vague feeling that something seemed off.
The number of return and exchange orders for electrical appliances in the past two days seemed a bit high.
Moreover, she seemed to remember that reports from other branches also indicated a relatively high after - sales rate for electrical appliances in recent days.
Thinking of this, Yao Qianshan instantly became alert.
To verify her intuition, she flipped back to the electrical appliance after - sales page and took a quick look. Then she immediately called the managers of other branches, asking them to retrieve the specific return and exchange records and reason analyses of electrical products in the past three days and summarize the data.
Finally, they reached a conclusion: all branches reported an abnormal increase in the after - sales rate of electrical appliances!
And soon they found out what was wrong.
The returned electrical products had intact packaging, complete warranty cards, and looked normal at first glance.
However, after being disassembled and checked by professional testers, a big problem was discovered.
The internal structure and core components of the returned products were completely different from the genuine ones. They were blatant shoddy fakes!
Yao Qianshan looked solemn. First, she arranged for people to confirm whether the returned fakes had been resold and put back on the shelves. If they had been sold, they must be retrieved, and a comprehensive investigation into this incident should be launched.
Just as she had arranged everything, a waitress ran over out of breath to report.
"General Manager Yao, the... the cars have been won in the draw!"
Hearing this, although a bit surprised, Yao Qianshan didn't think much of it. "So what if they've been won? We're not going to renege on the prize."
"No... it's that two of our grand - prize cars have both been won by the same person. He said his name is Song Hui."
Yao Qianshan couldn't sit still anymore. She suddenly stood up and exclaimed, "Song Hui? Winning two grand prizes? How is that possible?!"
