The entire month of March was spent in the midst of the princess incident. After a ten-day decline, the sales of blind boxes from Jiangnan Group began to rise rapidly. Especially for clothing and leather goods blind boxes, sales more than tripled. Everyone wanted to open the deluxe reward in the second set of Hanfu blind boxes, a Hanfu named "Shui Tian Yi Se" (Water and Sky One Hue), which featured blue and white color-blocking in the Ming Dynasty style. Unlike the previous magnificent "Long Feng Cheng Xiang" (Dragon and Phoenix Present Auspiciousness), this "Shui Tian Yi Se" was closer to casual wear, clothing that could be worn on normal occasions.
Naturally, this significantly reduced the cost of "Shui Tian Yi Se," so the deluxe version was not as extravagant as the previous "Long Feng Cheng Xiang," with a national limited edition of only 100 sets.
"Shui Tian Yi Se" had a limited edition of 100,000 sets, with a total of 10 million boxes released, meaning a 1% chance of winning. This was much higher than the 0.01% chance of "Long Feng Cheng Xiang."
And very conscientiously, this "Shui Tian Yi Se" also offered selectable sizes. Thus, the box contained only an exchange voucher, which buyers could use to claim their preferred size of "Shui Tian Yi Se."
However, the physical stores did not have "Shui Tian Yi Se" in stock, as they didn't have that many sizes. So, buyers were pleasantly surprised to find that Jiangnan Group had launched a brand-new home delivery service.
Based on the address and size information filled in on the exchange voucher, buyers could have the items delivered directly to their homes. Jiangnan Group promised that for normal sizes, delivery would typically be within 24 hours, and for rare sizes, delivery would be guaranteed within 5 days. This essentially solved the users' concerns.
Despite this, the sales of "Shui Tian Yi Se" were not initially very good. After all, in terms of visual appeal and magnificence, "Shui Tian Yi Se" was still far inferior to "Long Feng Cheng Xiang."
Moreover, judging by the production volume, it was evident that it was not purely handmade but manufactured on an assembly line. Adding to this was the inability to collect items on the spot, requiring a wait of about 24 hours or even longer.
In an era without online shopping, the inability to obtain one's purchase immediately was a significant blow to consumer desire. It would take more than a decade before online shopping habits were cultivated, and more people became accustomed to waiting around three days for logistics delivery, before such designs would no longer have a greater impact on consumer desire.
Therefore, out of a total of 100 million "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind boxes, fewer than 1 million boxes were sold in over a month, which could be considered rather sluggish sales.
However, as a result of the princess incident's impact, all 2 million "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind boxes in all cities and stores were sold out within a day, catching Jiangnan Group completely off guard.
Concurrently, many people began reporting to Jiangnan Group that many blind boxes had been hoarded by scalpers. These scalpers hired people to queue up. Even though each person was only allowed to buy 10 boxes at a time, scalpers could still acquire hundreds of boxes in one go, and then resell them at an increased price of 20 yuan.
Even with the increased price, the "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind boxes in the hands of scalpers were still selling out, with no shortage of buyers. This led to constant complaints from all customers and users, and a surge in complaints.
Although there were scalpers before, at that time, scalpers were more focused on acquiring the items that were opened. Their impact on users was not significant, and they could even indirectly boost the market. Therefore, scalpers were beneficial to Jiangnan.
However, the situation this time was different. Scalpers began directly purchasing the blind boxes themselves and then reselling them at a higher price. This directly increased the purchase cost for a large number of users.
More importantly, "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind boxes were not like most of the blind boxes sold before; there was no upper limit to the quantity. As long as Jiangnan Group did not play the "monkey game," they could sell as many as they wanted, rendering scalpers worthless.
But "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind boxes were different. This blind box had a national limit of 10 million boxes, and the "Shui Tian Yi Se" sets were also limited to 100,000 sets nationwide. This gave scalpers significant room for maneuver.
After all, with a fixed total quantity, once Jiangnan Group sold out, the blind boxes in the hands of scalpers would become rare collectibles, allowing them to resell them at any price they pleased.
This, in turn, became extremely detrimental to Jiangnan Group, as the extra profit went to the scalpers, while the buyers' resentment fell upon Huang He.
Therefore, after such a large number of complaints emerged, Leng Zhiruo immediately approached Huang He to discuss the escalating problem of scalpers.
"Brother-in-law, I suggest that firstly, we impose stricter purchasing qualifications. Buyers must link their purchase qualifications with their ID cards, allowing only 10 boxes per ID card."
"Secondly, I think we can announce that we will increase the sales volume of 'Shui Tian Yi Se' blind boxes from 10 million to 20 million boxes, or perhaps even announce that it will become a regular product instead of a limited edition. I believe that as soon as these two policies are announced, all the scalpers will instantly disappear!" Leng Zhiruo suggested.
"Indeed, excellent suggestions. Once this policy is announced, I guarantee that all scalpers will disappear instantly!" Huang He nodded, but after some thought, he still shook his head and said, "But this policy won't work. I cannot agree to it!"
"Why?" Leng Zhiruo asked, puzzled.
"Because there is no luxury item that can be supplied indefinitely!" Huang He stated calmly. "The current success of 'Shui Tian Yi Se' is partly due to Vivian, and the other half is because it is a limited edition. Once we open up the supply, 'Shui Tian Yi Se' will instantly lose half its value."
"At the same time, 'Shui Tian Yi Se' will lose the slightest mark of a luxury product that it has finally acquired!" Huang He said. "As you know, I have already set the company's future luxury strategy, and 'Shui Tian Yi Se' will be the first stone for us to enter the commercial luxury market. Its luxury label absolutely cannot falter. On the contrary, I need this label to continuously increase its presence."
"To some extent, these scalpers are also a good thing for us. Their emergence is equivalent to helping us further enhance the value of the 'Shui Tian Yi Se' Hanfu!" Huang He said, gently tapping the table.
"Brother-in-law, you're not planning to just sit by and watch the scalpers keep hoarding, are you? If that's the case, our reputation will also be tarnished bit by bit, and the buyers' resentment towards us will accumulate. In the long run, we will gradually lose our customers' hearts!" Leng Zhiruo said excitedly.
"Of course not!" Huang He smiled and shook his head. "The scalpers must be dealt with this time, but we absolutely cannot lift the limit rule. So, for now, let's do this. You first issue an announcement externally, stating that we have received a large amount of feedback from users, and our company also detests scalpers."
"To ensure that all blind boxes are delivered into the hands of genuine consumers, we have decided to temporarily suspend the sale of 'Shui Tian Yi Se' blind boxes. We will resume sales of 'Shui Tian Yi Se' blind boxes only after we find better strategies to deal with scalpers!" Huang He said.
"That's no problem. But brother-in-law, do you have any better methods to restrict scalpers?" Leng Zhiruo asked curiously.
"No!" Huang He shook his head. "Scalpers will never disappear. All we can do is to appease the feelings of angry buyers! By the way, we can use this matter to achieve my other plans!"
"It is already 2003, and there are only two months left until May. I have been held back by various matters, causing me to postpone an important task. Now is the time to accelerate this matter!" Huang He said with a smile.
"What matter?" Leng Zhiruo subconsciously asked.
"Of course, it's our Three Realms plan!" Huang He grinned. "The two realms within the world, the Human Realm and the Heavenly Realm, have already appeared. Then it is time for the remaining last realm, the Underworld, to surface."
Jiangnan Group's announcement of the suspension of "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind box sales instantly caused a sensation in the entire market, even to the point where various media outlets would proactively mention it in their news.
There was no other way, given how popular Vivian and "Liu Shang Qu Shui Cai Wei Shi" (Flowing Stream, Curved Water, Picking Herbs) were recently.
First, Vivian and her "Long Feng Cheng Xiang" Hanfu became popular. Then, "Liu Shang Qu Shui Cai Wei Shi," the maker of the "Long Feng Cheng Xiang" Hanfu, quickly became another focal point of attention.
First of all, the name itself was distinctive enough to be memorable for many. Combined with the "Long Feng Cheng Xiang" Hanfu they produced, it truly astonished all Chinese people. xxs壹贰
Not to mention that a custom version of the "Long Feng Cheng Xiang" Hanfu had already reached an astonishing price of 200,000 yuan per set, which was considered one of the highest luxury prices even in Europe.
However, Vivian was a princess, and apart from CCTV, no other television station could interview her to obtain more news resources.
But it was different for "Liu Shang Qu Shui Cai Wei Shi" and Qu Wei. Suddenly, many domestic media outlets swarmed to conduct interviews.
And Qu Wei, having received instructions from Huang He, was almost never refusing interviews. At the busiest times, she was being interviewed for 20 hours a day, and all interviewing reporters also received a considerable travel allowance.
Thus, just like Jiangnan Group, which was immensely popular nationwide last year, the company "Liu Shang Qu Shui Cai Wei Shi" also became a national sensation. Qu Wei's name was also firmly remembered by many.
Naturally, everyone knew that the next blind box product launched by "Liu Shang Qu Shui Cai Wei Shi" was bound to be a huge hit. This was the reason for the immense popularity and scalper attention garnered by the "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind boxes.
Now, on the flea market, an exchange voucher for a "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind box had been priced at 2,400 yuan. With a 1% drop rate, it typically only cost 1,000 yuan to buy 100 boxes to get one exchange voucher.
So, even if the scalper didn't sell the blind boxes to users, they could make a fortune by opening them themselves.
Therefore, at this moment, everyone was focused on the "Shui Tian Yi Se" blind boxes. Now, to be told that sales were suspended, how many buyers who had prepared their money were anxiously scratching their ears and cheeks, unable to stop themselves, and in great pain.
I had already topped up ten 648s, and you closed the gacha pool and wouldn't let me draw cards. This is outrageous.