Chen Feng handed over the initial franchise consultation work for the Gold Store to Jin Xinyan. The main tasks involved acquiring information from the brand companies and then filling out the application forms.
After that, it was ti to visit the headquarters of the brand companies for an on-site inspection, engage in face-to-face communication with their staff, and if suitable, officially sign the franchise agreent.
Although Chen Feng currently favors Zhao Shengsheng's jewelry brand, to be safe, he still let Jin Xinyan consult a couple more brand companies.
They are all top dostic brands.
As his personal assistant, Jin Xinyan was finally able to do so actual work for her boss Chen Feng. Her work enthusiasm was quite high, and she imdiately busied herself.
Currently, Lin Yujiao had no more comrcial performances, leaving Jin Xinyan with plenty of free ti.
However, to avoid feeling like she was earning tens of thousands a month from Chen Feng for nothing, she essentially went "to work" daily, either at Dianchuang Culture or at Fengmang Film and Television.
But to be honest, in both companies, she was just looking around, at most sitting down to check the company reports, not really doing any substantial work—a classic case of slacking off.
Now that her boss Chen Feng finally gave her so actual work, she was of course very attentive to it.
Chen Feng told her in the morning, and by the afternoon, she had feedback, having consulted three companies and gathered so information from each, which she then packaged and sent to Chen Feng.
Chen Feng stayed at ho all day today, and nobody contacted him. His parents, for whom he had specifically taken a half-day off, went to work at a small supermarket in Yuelou Town after having lunch together as a family.
After reviewing the materials sent by Jin Xinyan, Chen Feng, after so consideration, still favored Zhao Shengsheng a bit more, despite its franchise conditions being the strictest among the three top brands. The biggest difference with other brands is the binding agreent, where you must keep the store open for at least two years, regardless of losses.
Another major difference is that while other top jewelry brands have far more franchise stores than direct-operated stores, with even the conservative ones having a 30/70 ratio (30% being direct-operated and 70% being franchised), so even having a 10/90 ratio with just 10% direct-operated, letting anyone who pays to franchise.
However, until three years ago, Zhao Shengsheng adhered to a policy of operating only direct-operated stores, refusing franchises. Even if its profits were not as high as other top brands, the control over product quality, service, and brand operation was excellent, and it's had no negative news over the years.
In contrast, brands with nurous franchise stores have more or less encountered so negative news, mainly arising from these franchise stores. So excessive shops have been reported for selling rusted gold jewelry, which wasn't just an isolated case.
For a jewelry brand, having more franchisees not only ans increased profits but also potentially increased brand risk.
The capability of brand headquarters to supervise is generally less comprehensive than it would be for direct-operated stores, given the diverse nature of franchisees.
So franchisees bypass the brand headquarters while procuring goods, sourcing cheap products on their own and selling them as branded items. The privately sourced jewelry obviously cannot be well-regulated in terms of quality, and in serious cases, incidents like the rusting of gold jewelry happen, greatly damaging the brand's image.
Therefore, Zhao Shengsheng probably considered this and always insisted on a direct-operated store strategy.
Three years ago, as top dostic jewelry brands rapidly expanded their market and presence dostically, enlarging their scale of franchise stores, Zhao Shengsheng, succumbing to market pressure, finally opened up to allow franchisees.
However, compared to other top brands, Zhao Shengsheng's franchise conditions are much stricter. Firstly, there's the aforentioned binding agreent, and secondly, it doesn't allow anyone to join just by paying; a strict vetting process must be passed. This procedure is much more formal than others' nominal audits.
For this reason, Zhao Shengsheng's market share dostically isn't very high, consistently ranking in the bottom two or three among the top ten brands.
Besides being slightly more expensive than other brands, it's also because the number of its stores is far fewer than other brands dostically.
For example, in their Lu City, which is still among the top-ranked third-tier cities in the country with many wealthy individuals, the store opened a few years back eventually closed down.
The average person looking to buy gold or jewelry would obviously choose the cheaper options; furthermore, in terms of brand promotion, Zhao Shengsheng is much more low-key than others in terms of advertising investnt.
However, anyone familiar with the gold and jewelry industry or who has compared the quality among different jewelry brands would know that Zhao Shengsheng's jewelry is slightly better than others.
In short, you get what you pay for; it is expensive for a reason.
As a woman, Jin Xinyan is certainly very interested in jewelry. Plus, her family has always been well-off, so she was in contact with these items from a young age and continued buying them as she grew up.
Of course, she primarily buys international brands, like Cartier and Tiffany.
However, in recent years, with the rise of dostic Jewelry craftsmanship, she has also started purchasing dostic brands, having experience with various brands.
After a comprehensive comparison, she also believes that among these top dostic brands, Zhao Shengsheng's product quality is slightly better overall than others.
Soone like her, who knows a bit about it and isn't short of money, would definitely choose Zhao Shengsheng when picking among dostic brands.
However, the majority of the truly wealthy in the country would still go for international brands like Cartier and Tiffany, which is unavoidable. It's not just a matter of blind admiration for foreign products; it also involves these brands' century-old heritage and genuinely superior craftsmanship and reputation, which indeed feel more prestigious than dostic brands.
Thus, in Jin Xinyan's view, if Chen Feng chooses to franchise with Zhao Shengsheng, it might not necessarily be the best choice. Primarily because, in terms of pricing, Zhao Shengsheng offers little advantage when faced with cheaper competition from other brands.
Additionally, there is brand recognition; currently, among dostic jewelry brands, those at the top in terms of recognition are all the ones with "Fu" in their na, and the public recognizes these brands far more than Zhao Shengsheng.
Jin Xinyan suggests that if Chen Feng's primary goal in opening the jewelry store is to make money, it would be better to choose the other two brands.
Otherwise, this business might be quite difficult.
Especially as Chen Feng plans to open such a top-brand franchise store in a rural area, the business will be even harder to run.
Previously, a Zhao Shengsheng store opened in Lu City's downtown but closed down within two years, let alone now, when Chen Feng intends to open it in the countryside. But ultimately, Chen Feng decided to franchise with Zhao Shengsheng because he feels a personal connection to the brand, and secondly, because he's financially carefree.
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