Chapter 76: High-Profit Strategy
"Free?" Su Yiyi, quick as always, immediately understood and asked, "Dong-ge, you mean just like we did with the glue boards a few months ago, giving them out for free to the people near Kowloon Wharf?"
"Exactly. That's why I say you're smart." Yang Wendong smiled. "Our product is a brand-new thing — it doesn't exist yet in this world. If we want to promote it, the only way is to let people use it first. Otherwise, it's extremely hard to market."
"Alright, then let's make some sticky notes right away!" Su Yiyi said enthusiastically.
Yang added, "Let's do it together. And since glue board business is in the slow season now, Liming, have the workshop people help out — cutting paper, applying glue — whatever they can do. There's no need to go on long leave unless they can find better part-time work elsewhere."
Having grown up in the squatter huts, Yang understood deeply how terrifying job insecurity was for the working class. He and his close friends had been young — pressure was manageable. But those with families and children? They worked themselves to the bone just so their families could eat. Even a few unpaid days off could be a major blow.
Zhao Liming nodded with a grin. "Got it. I'll get on it right away."
"Good. Let's all push hard. Once sticky notes become well-known, all of our lives will get better," Yang said firmly.
He had always known pest control was a seasonal business. If they didn't perform well during the summer boom, winter would be hell.
Fortunately, he'd made good money in the summer thanks to the Japanese and British markets. And now, with that capital, he could develop the sticky note business and seamlessly bridge the seasonal gap.
"Understood," Zhao Liming said and headed to the workshop.
Lin Haoyu also brought over a box of yellow paper — the color Yang had specially ordered.
Yellow was known to be the most soothing and eye-catching color. Almost no one disliked it. And in the future, yellow sticky notes would also become the mainstream best-seller.
Yang asked, "This paper's not cheap, is it?"
Lin Haoyu said, "Yeah. This box alone cost more than ten bucks. Paper's really expensive in Hong Kong because it's all imported. Transported by sea, it gets crushed easily, and if it absorbs moisture, it's ruined."
Su Yiyi nodded. "True. I'm super stingy with office paper — I squeeze every bit of space on the page before tossing it."
Yang added, "There's no paper industry in Hong Kong. Paper's heavy, high in volume, and with no container shipping yet, bulk freight is expensive — ten, even dozens of times higher than it will be in the future."
Su Yiyi tilted her head. "Why doesn't Hong Kong have a paper factory? Every company needs paper, and there are so many newspapers too."
Yang chuckled. "Paper-making is a heavy-pollution industry. It needs wood — which Hong Kong doesn't have — and chemical processing, which Hong Kong also lacks. So there's no way to produce it locally. It has to be imported."
Back in mainland China, people born in the '70s and '80s would remember how precious paper used to be — scrap paper was reused to the last corner. The reason? There just weren't enough paper factories.
In 1950s Hong Kong, there were none. And with sea freight still relying on loose cargo, the cost of transporting heavy paper was astronomical.
"Oh, I see," Su Yiyi nodded. "That's too bad. If we could source paper locally, our costs would be so much lower."
"Doesn't matter," Yang said with a casual smile. "For sticky notes, we're going high-margin."
"High margin?" Su Yiyi asked, a bit puzzled.
"Exactly," Yang nodded.
Until now, he hadn't shared his long-term plan with anyone — mostly because they didn't even have the equipment yet. But now that everything was falling into place, there was no harm in laying it out.
He continued, "My goal was always to run a high-margin business. Sure, a lot of people in Hong Kong say you have to go with low margin, high volume. And that's not wrong — but only when you have competition.
If there's no one else making what we're making, why would we undercut ourselves? If we have the market to ourselves, we set the price. That's how you make real money."
Su Yiyi thought for a moment and nodded. "Right, you said before the glue board price was limited by competition from rat poison and traps. But with sticky notes — there's no alternative."
"Exactly." Yang grinned. "And we'll mostly be selling to Westerners anyway. The more money we make off the Westerners, the better it is for all of us Chinese."
He'd need a lot of capital to grow. Even with brilliant ideas, he wouldn't be able to develop or mass-produce anything without money. Not everything could be as simple to make as glue boards or sticky notes.
Take the Rubik's Cube, for instance. He couldn't remember the internal structure clearly, and without mechanical engineering expertise, he was stuck. Eventually, he'd have to hire a team of top engineers to develop it.
Same with purchasing equipment — it would always require huge amounts of cash. Without enough economic and political influence, even holding a patent might not help. Legal battles were expensive.
One week later, after much hard work by dozens of workers, several thousand sticky notes were produced. Due to the limitations of manual labor, each sticky note pad only had about 20 sheets, but that was more than enough for sampling.
Sticky notes, despite being a consumable, weren't used at a fast rate. For many users, 20 notes could last weeks or even a month depending on habits.
Yang asked, "Yiyi, have you finished collecting the info on major companies in Hong Kong?"
Su Yiyi nodded. "Yep! I went to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, found a scalper, and bought contact info for procurement departments of many major companies."
"Great." Yang nodded, then said, "Here's the plan: have someone write hundreds of usage instructions, and pack about 10 sticky notes with each sheet, then send them to the procurement or admin departments of those big companies."
Su Yiyi had already anticipated this and responded immediately. "Got it, I'll get started right away!"
A few days later, many major companies across Hong Kong received odd little parcels.
Inside were strange, yellow pieces of paper, along with a brief but clear instruction sheet:
"These are called Sticky Notes. Tear one off and stick it anywhere to write down important reminders or tasks. You can remove and re-stick them easily. Try it — free for internal use."
Some staff were puzzled. Some curious.
But more than a few administrative workers and secretaries gave them a try — and found them incredibly handy.
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