African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 438: Chapter 115 Expanding the Market

”It seems we need to hire more workers! Our sales staff is clearly insufficient; I didn’t expect we would encounter this situation after the economic crisis hit.” said the Human Resources Manager of the Heixinggen Tobacco Company in Austria.

As a tobacco giant that has just risen in recent years, Heixinggen Tobacco Company is experiencing its first economic crisis, so it lacks some experience.

”That’s right, market research shows that after the economic crisis hit, the pressure of unemployment and living costs for workers has significantly increased, and the social environment has become increasingly gloomy. The uncertainty of future expectations has greatly boosted the demand for tobacco and alcohol, especially the sales of cheap tobacco and alcohol products, have surged. Now, as long as we have enough cheap raw materials to produce enough low-priced products, we can make more profits.”

”However, we should set up more sales points, especially mobile stalls on the streets, rather than hiring professional salespeople. Smokers don’t want people buzzing around their ears like flies at this time.”

”That’s right, the current social atmosphere isn’t very good; hiring professional salespeople might achieve the opposite result.”

Salespeople are definitely a job that easily causes annoyance. In times of good economic conditions, people are more tolerant, but now the social mood is quite unstable, and those with average charisma among the sales staff will only cause conflicts.

After the economic crisis, the days for the Heixinggen Tobacco Company in Austria have been quite comfortable. The demand for cigarettes among the mentally vacant unemployed people in Austria has significantly increased, similar to their brewery, especially the cheapest vodka, which has seen a surge in sales.

Before the economic crisis struck, employees of Heixinggen Tobacco Company were rather panicked because layoffs and salary cuts were happening across industries, cries were heard everywhere, and they were afraid that their company would follow suit.

Indeed, there was an impact; the appearance of a large number of unemployed people did lower labor costs, especially for positions without technical content, where competition was very fierce. This means that company employees are forced to put in more effort than usual and work wholeheartedly to avoid losing their jobs. Now, having a stable job is more important than anything.

Of course, the company won’t lay off employees casually since experienced employees generally have more experience. However, the company also welcomes the competition. Even the veteran employees who were skilled at ”slacking off” have started to actively engage in work, greatly improving the efficiency of Heixinggen Tobacco Company.

”Since we have our tobacco-growing regions, we realized just how profitable tobacco can be; the prices that foreigners sold us raw materials for were way too high.”

”It’s not entirely accurate to say that; tobacco-growing regions are concentrated in tropical and subtropical areas which require significant investment. However, many tobacco-producing areas are colonies, where labor costs can be nearly negligible. Without these colonies, the price of tobacco leaves in the market would have been fairly reasonable.”

”We don’t care about colonies or no colonies; whoever has cheaper raw materials and better quality, that’s where we’ll buy from.”

”That’s not entirely true; now our raw materials are actually shipped for free from East Africa. There’s no need to compare prices like before.”

”Heh heh, this is precisely our advantage. The company is expanding in Africa, and in a few years, we might really lead our peers by a large margin. However, it’s unfortunate that our tobacco growers in East Africa lack the experience in tobacco cultivation compared to other traditional tobacco-producing areas, so the flavor of the tobacco is relatively inferior.”

”No need to worry about this; East Africa is large enough, and the scale of tobacco fields is also substantial. We have been cultivating tobacco for a while, and both flavor and yield have greatly improved. Moreover, ordinary people generally lack understanding of flavor; they only feel that Heixinggen’s cigarette brands are improving in taste, which is a great thing for us.”

”With the launch of East African tobacco in recent years, we have completely freed ourselves from the restraints of tobacco giants in Britain and America in terms of raw materials. Once the Matebel Highland tobacco leaves officially enter the market next year, I believe our enterprise will reach new heights.”

”Hmm, these are samples of Golden Leaf from the Matebel Highland, take a look.” said the manager as he distributed a pack of Golden Leaf.

The sample packaging was an enticing yellow, extremely eye-catching, with the golden Golden Leaf trademark leaving a deep impression.

As the manager distributed the cigarettes from the pack, everyone began carefully inspecting the so-called ’high-end goods.’

”Manager, may I open it and take a look?”

”Of course, even testing them is fine; you can describe the taste in detail.”

The company’s old smokers were not polite; they casually pulled out a lighter, lit up, and the entire conference room was quickly filled with smoke.

Typically, smoking is prohibited in the company for safety reasons, mainly due to the risk of fire. As for the health hazards of smoking, sorry, people at that time didn’t have this concept.

”The taste feels very soft, with a strong aftertaste, and the aroma seems overly intense. I think such tobacco should be mixed with other tobacco for a better effect.”

”With this taste, I feel we could use it specifically to produce cigars! In fact, the taste is just like that of cigars, which could greatly enhance the competitiveness of our high-end products.”

”Cigars are a field we’ve never ventured into, and I’ve heard that the manufacturing process of cigars is very complex, and they cannot be mass-produced by machines like cigarettes, making them much more expensive than cigarettes.”

”Actually, we don’t have to. People in the market only recognize Cuban cigars, and while the Matebel Highland tobacco leaves are of excellent quality, they are not well-known. Our company should focus on packaging the brand, like Golden Leaf, making it a perfect high-end product so that ordinary people become familiar with the Golden Leaf brand.”

”The essence is still to use high-end products to drive the sales of low-end products. Ordinary people, having little exposure to high-end products, will have the illusion that this must be good stuff, and we can use the brand effect from high-end products to boost the sales of low-end products.”

Ordinary people naturally trust large manufacturers and famous brands for products of similar quality and price.

”So should we increase advertising investment?”

”Of course, we should, but not now; at least not until the economic crisis is over. Currently, consumers don’t have the mind to pay attention to advertisements. For now, we need to strengthen market sales efforts, especially by offering even lower prices.”

Even though the tobacco industry shows unprecedented hot sales due to the economic crisis, other than Heixinggen Tobacco Company, other companies aren’t too happy.

The main reason is that Heixinggen Tobacco Company has captured a large market share by relying on independent sources and low-cost raw materials. Originally, everyone didn’t have to compete so fiercely, but now they have no choice but to engage in intense competition.