Chapter 36: Hot Sales and Shifting Costs

“Uh, yes, yes, yes, yes…”

Faced with the first customer to inquire, the burly Ishiwatari Takashi actually acted like a pure and innocent college graduate, stammering “yes” for a long time without managing to say what he meant.

Seiko was helpless.
She looked at Saori beside her.

Saori smiled, took the initiative to step forward, nudged Ishiwatari Takashi half a body length aside, and asked the customer with a gentle, smiling voice, “Hello, is there anything I can help you with?”

“I’d like to ask, is what’s written on this flyer true?”

Compared to Ishiwatari Takashi, who looked too much like a Yakuza, the customer was clearly more willing to communicate with the beautiful girl with long, straight black hair.

“Yes, it’s true.
As long as you sign a long-term rental contract for video cassettes, you can get a free Sharp video recorder…”

Saori began to explain to the customer.

“You should find an underling who’s good at talking to replace you as the store manager,” Seiko glanced at the abashedly retreating Ishiwatari Takashi and commented.
“If you really can’t find a suitable person, then post a recruitment ad and hire one.”

“Actually, I used to be quite good at talking…” Ishiwatari Takashi rubbed his head in embarrassment.

“Good at saying what?
‘Bakayaro,’ ‘kora yaro,’ those things?” Seiko retorted.
“The customers are here to shop, not to be scolded.
And with your image, standing here is a bottleneck that affects sales.
It’s better if you show your face in the store less in the future.”

Ishiwatari Takashi opened his mouth, but in the end, he could only say helplessly, “Alright.”

Saori quickly finished talking with the first customer.
The promotion of getting a free video recorder worth one hundred and fifty thousand yen by renting fifteen video cassettes a month was indeed tempting enough.
In the end, the customer couldn’t resist and signed the first free rental agreement.

This wasn’t the internet age where you could easily find film and television resources online, nor was it the short video era where you could swipe your phone a couple of times and listen to “Dazhuang and Xiaomei” binge-watch dozens of movies in a day.
Renting video cassettes was the most convenient and flexible way for ordinary citizens of this era to obtain entertainment resources.
Fifteen video cassettes a month—many people would feel they could definitely finish watching them, that it would absolutely not be a waste, and that it might even not be enough.

With the first person, there was soon a second, and a third…

Before long, Saori couldn’t handle it by herself at the front desk anymore.
Ishiwatari Takashi quickly arranged for another employee to help at the front desk.
Soon, two people weren’t enough, so Ishiwatari Takashi added two more.

But even so, as the peak passenger flow of Urawa Station arrived, a long queue began to form in the store.
Most of the people in the queue were attracted by the flyers and advertisements for the “free video recorder.”

After repeatedly confirming that there were indeed no extra charges, most of them would sign the long-term rental contract and then wait contentedly for the video recorder to be delivered to their homes.

After being busy for more than two hours, the exhausted Saori finally switched shifts with another employee.
She held out her hand for Seiko to rub her sore wrist and said, looking at the bustling crowd in the store, “Most of the people who didn’t sign the contract were because they couldn’t get the video recorder right away.
If we allowed them to take the video recorder on the spot, the number of people willing to sign would definitely be higher.”

“That’s not an option,” Seiko said, massaging Saori’s hand and shaking her head without a second thought.
“In that case, at least eighty percent of the customers would be at risk of defaulting.
You should know, you can’t overestimate the moral character of the Japanese.”

Hearing this, Saori puffed out her cheeks, then nodded in agreement with Seiko’s words.

Ishiwatari Takashi, who was listening on the side, felt his mouth twitch slightly.
He really wanted to interject with “don’t talk as if you’re not Japanese!”, but since he was the one who first disbelieved in the integrity of the Japanese people and brought up the “risk of default,” Ishiwatari Takashi had no grounds to complain about Seiko and the other girl.

After another hour or so, a store employee trotted into the manager’s office in a hurry, his face both excited and anxious.
“Boss! Boss!”

“How many times have I told you, you have to call me ‘Store Manager’ in the store!”

Ishiwatari Takashi scolded.

“Yes! Store Manager!”

The employee quickly corrected himself.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Store Manager, we’ve already signed over a hundred orders, but we only pre-ordered one hundred video recorders.
It’s not enough for delivery.”

The employee quickly explained.

“Already over a hundred orders?!”

“Yes!”

Hearing this news, Ishiwatari Takashi was both surprised and delighted.
He quickly said, “You guys continue to serve the customers.
I’ll find the distributor and order more goods right away.”

After the employee left the office, Ishiwatari Takashi immediately wanted to pick up the phone on his desk, but Seiko stopped him with her hand.

“Who are you planning to call?” Seiko asked.

“The Sharp distributor, of course?” Ishiwatari Takashi said, puzzled.

“What’s your hurry?” Seiko said.
“We’re doing home delivery, not letting the customers take the video recorders right away.
It doesn’t matter if the delivery is a day or two late.
What’s there to be anxious about?
You can completely wait until all of today’s orders are signed before going to the distributor to order the goods.”

“This… what’s the difference?” Ishiwatari Takashi was even more confused.

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t order the goods, but your current ordering cost is too high,” Seiko explained.
“I looked at the contract for your first order of one hundred video recorders.
The Sharp distributor actually required you to prepay seventy-five percent of the payment.
It’s absolutely impossible for their contracts with those department stores and supermarkets to be this outrageous.
You sign more orders today, and then take these orders to the Sharp distributor to talk about ordering again.
Try your best to get them to lower the prepayment ratio to below fifty percent.
If they’re not willing, then go talk to other brands.”

“If the purchase price of one video recorder is one hundred and twenty thousand yen, lowering the prepayment by twenty percent can free up twenty-four thousand yen in working capital for us.
For one hundred units, that’s two million four hundred thousand yen.
I think even fifty percent is too high.
It would be best to lower it to thirty percent in the future.”

Seiko paused for a moment and added:

“Our funds are limited.
We have to shift as much of the cost pressure as possible to the upstream of the supply chain.”

Ishiwatari Takashi’s mouth was slightly agape, clearly not having followed the logic.
In a Yakuza’s way of thinking, the one hundred and twenty thousand yen payment had to be paid in full anyway.
It was probably hard for him to understand how paying earlier was more costly than paying later.

On the contrary, Saori nodded thoughtfully, as if she had understood something.

“Forget it,” Seiko waved her hand casually.
“Just do as I say.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Ishiwatari Takashi immediately put down the phone and continued to supervise the contract signing in the store.
“Do as I say” was a phrase he could indeed understand.