Chapter 337 Time for Development

In order to deliver books, Pacific Book Network has established a very detailed logistics and delivery network, with major warehouses as the center, cooperating with local postal companies, and then recruiting some people to make up for the omissions of the postal companies.

The express delivery fee is very cheap, only two or three dollars. However, for the buyers, this has become another burden.

Fortunately, without the bookstore sales link, Pacific Book Network can reduce the price of books. For low-priced books, the room for price reduction is relatively small, and it may only be reduced by less than one dollar. For high-priced books, the room for price reduction is relatively large, and it may be as much as five or six dollars. In summary, these price reductions are enough to cover the express delivery fee.

Therefore, Pacific Book Network has two choices: one is to reduce the price according to the actual situation and let the buyers bear the express delivery fee, that is, the shipping is not included in the price reduction; the other is to include the shipping without reducing the price.

According to Liu Hongmin’s opinion, Pacific chose to offer free shipping without reducing prices.

Reducing the price to exclude free shipping can indeed make book buyers spend less money, but book buyers will not think so. They will only feel sorry for spending the postage, which is the cost of a meal after all.

If the price is not reduced but the shipping is free, the book buyers will spend more money, but they will feel it is cheap. After all, they don’t have to pay for the shipping, and the money saved on a meal is real.

This is the psychological impact of implicit and explicit price cuts on consumers. The price of books is an implicit price cut, and free shipping is an explicit price cut. The price of books is definitely reduced more than free shipping, but free shipping is definitely more in line with consumers’ psychological expectations than reducing the price of books.

For Pacific Book Network, free shipping is more suitable. As a newly established company, of course, we should pursue more profits. Especially when a large amount of money is invested in the early stage and a large amount of money is needed every month to maintain the operation of the company. At this time, every penny of profit is precious.

And if the financial situation is good, it will also be beneficial to raise funds in the future. The Internet industry is still in the blue ocean stage, and its future prospects remain to be evaluated. However, investors with vision are already studying the Internet industry, but they have not entered the market because of many uncertainties.

Therefore, if you want to raise funds, you must let investors see profits.

It was not like when the Internet bubble emerged later, when any Internet company could get investment, investors were throwing money away with their eyes closed.

After the Internet bubble burst, everyone regretted their decision.

The reason why Liu Hongmin wanted to set up Pacific Book Network was that he wanted to take the first step in the field of e-commerce and prepare for selling other products in the future.

The rise of e-commerce heralds the decline of physical stores. The decline of physical stores will affect the decline of many industries, and the most affected are commercial streets, supermarkets, and real estate industries. Everyone buys things online, and there will be fewer people in supermarkets and commercial streets. With fewer locals, commercial streets and supermarkets will not transform, and will turn their attention to outsiders, which will increase the tourism industry in major cities.

In order to retain tourists, tourism services in major cities have become better and better, and preferential treatment for tourists has been formed from top to bottom.

If Liu Hongmin were to be elected, he would prefer no e-commerce. E-commerce will cause many people to lose their jobs, forming a vicious cycle and ultimately causing a drop in tax revenue.

But this is the general trend, and no one can change the historical process. Therefore, Liu Hongmin wants to establish an e-commerce system in the United States first, and while making money, he also uses the United States to conduct experiments.

Crossing the river by feeling the way for the Americans is not just a slogan.

Liu Hongmin also has a third intention, which is to make things difficult for the Americans. Once Pacific Books succeeds, it will accelerate the rise of the American Internet industry, and the Internet bubble will come earlier. When an economic crisis occurs, the Americans will choose a way to make money quickly, either by starting a war or disrupting the economies of other countries.

At this time, the Americans can no longer care about us.

The Soviet Union had bought us almost a year, and it finally disintegrated at the end of November 92. In the extra year, the traders in the Northeast made a fortune and obtained a large number of civilian and military goods from the Soviet Union.

With the technology Liu Hongmin got from the Japanese, the factories in the Northeast were revitalized. By studying the Soviet Union’s products and the Japanese technology, they launched new projects one after another, and the business was thriving.

Liu Hongmin also invested part of the funds in the Northeast region to help some factories solve their financial crisis. With money, people and products, the factories in the Northeast immediately started working at full capacity, and many of their products became the most popular best-selling products.

However, this was not enough, so Liu Hongmin had to think of other ways.

If we want to divert the attention of the Americans, we can only do it in two ways. One is to make changes in ourselves, but this is impossible.

Therefore, we can only start from the Americans.

The Internet bubble is just a short-term bomb that will explode in a few years. By then, it will definitely divert the attention of the Americans. When the Americans recover, the Twin Towers incident will happen, which can delay the Americans for a few more years. After that, the big bomb of e-commerce will also explode.

By then, when the unemployment rate in the US increases, they will have to shift their focus again. Either they will cause economic crises in other countries and rob their wealth, or they will start wars again and plunder their resources.

If another economic crisis occurs, it is not impossible to use both measures together.

As long as we keep the Americans busy, we can develop secretly. When we have a strong financial foundation, we don’t need to care about the attitude of the Americans.

Since these things cannot be done openly, Liu Hongmin uses business practices to do them. After all, businessmen only care about making money, even if their business practices will harm the whole world.

Partners such as Random House and Hasbro did not know Liu Hongmin’s “evil intentions.” Even if they knew, they would not care, because Liu Hongmin was able to keep them making money.
If Liu Hongmin’s e-commerce plan is successful, both Random House and Hasbro will become business giants. Such huge profits will affect the tax revenue of the United States. Even if they are asked to sell the United States, they are willing to do so.

It is because of this that Liu Hongmin has been protected by these partners over the years, even though they know that these things will have a negative impact on the Americans.

Rescuing Wang Qingyang meant they helped Liu Hongmin. They had done more than a dozen things similar to rescuing Wang Qingyang.

They would even take the initiative to help Liu Hongmin. Every year on Liu Hongmin’s birthday or wedding anniversary, or even on Liu Hongmin’s family’s birthdays, the partners would send him many gifts, including many ancient books that had been lost overseas.

Foreigners also know this simple principle of catering to people’s preferences.

(End of this chapter)