88: Chapter 88 Cross-border E-commerce

In early August, the summer heat in Seoul made the entire city feel like it was in a steamer basket. In the conference room of the International Business Department at Shunyi Foods headquarters, the air conditioning was set very low, but Kim Sang-woo still took off his suit jacket and draped it over the back of his chair, rolling his shirt sleeves up to his forearms.

Spread out before him were two thick entry agreements, their covers printed with the logos of Tmall Global and JD Worldwide respectively; the corners were already frayed from his constant flipping.

"Chairman, both platforms have passed the review. Tmall was a week faster than expected, while JD was stuck for two days. We had to resubmit some qualification materials, and it was just approved yesterday afternoon."

Kim Sang-woo pushed the two agreements toward Chairman Wang Shunyi, a hint of excitement suppressed in his voice, though he didn't dare show too much.

Chairman Wang Shunyi flipped through them without looking closely at the terms. The legal department had already reviewed these three times, and Park Jeong-ho had signed the final page.

He picked up a pen and wrote his name in the signature column, stroke by stroke, with the same intensity as when he signed the 90 billion won investment agreement.

"What about the product listings?"

Kim Sang-woo opened his notebook. "The first batch consists of five products: classic fire chicken noodles, low-calorie fire noodles, Korean bibimbap in beef and kimchi flavors, ready-to-drink rice wine in original and strawberry flavors, and low-sodium and high-protein instant bibimbap."

"The Chinese copy for the product pages has been translated and polished by a native Chinese speaker; there shouldn't be any major issues."

"And the pricing?"

Kim Sang-woo swallowed hard. "Classic fire chicken noodles are fifteen RMB, which is twenty percent more expensive than in Korea. Low-calorie noodles are eighteen RMB, fifteen percent more. Rice wine is twenty RMB a can, ten percent more. Bibimbap is twenty-five RMB a box, on par with the domestic price. Low-sodium and high-protein are twenty-eight RMB, slightly higher than domestic. Our pricing strategy is a quality premium—Chinese consumers have price expectations for imported food, so it's normal for it to be more expensive than domestic brands."

Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't respond. He opened the pricing sheet, his eyes scanning back and forth between the product names and the numbers twice before asking a question.

"Have you ever considered that a fifteen-yuan pack of fire chicken noodles is three times more expensive than a Master Kong cup noodle? Why would consumers buy it?"

"Based on the taste."

Kim Sang-woo answered quickly. "Our fire chicken noodles already have a reputation in China, and their buzz on social media is higher than any other Korean brand. Once consumers buy it once, they'll make repeat purchases; that's not the kind of loyalty you can get with promotional prices."

Chairman Wang Shunyi glanced at him and closed the pricing sheet. "Then list them at this price. What about the opening promotions?"

Marketing Director Lee Jung-hoon had been waiting nearby for a long time before finally speaking up.

"Ten yuan off the first order, twenty off one hundred, and fifty off two hundred. We'll deploy KOL reviews on Xiaohongshu and Douyin simultaneously. We've selected twelve bloggers for the first batch, with followers ranging from a hundred thousand to a million. The content directions include fire chicken noodle challenges, instant bibimbap reviews, and introductions to Korean rice wine culture. The total budget is controlled within 500 million won."

August 5th, Saturday.

Chairman Wang Shunyi arrived at the company earlier than usual. He sat in his office with two laptops spread out before him: the left one showing the Tmall Global backend and the right one showing the JD Worldwide backend.

The numbers on both screens started from zero and began to tick upward after 9:00 AM. They moved slowly, but they were moving. He stared at the numbers for a while before calling Kim Young-jun. "How are the sales?"

Kim Young-jun, on the other end of the line, was likely stationed in front of another screen in his office. "Tmall broke fifty orders in the first hour of opening, and JD had thirty. Classic fire chicken noodles are selling the most, followed by the low-calorie ones."

"What about the average order value?"

"An average of about eighty RMB per order. The discount activities have pushed up the average order value; many people are buying five or six packs at once."

Chairman Wang Shunyi hung up, picked up the glass on his desk, and took a sip of water; it had gone cold. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the two computer screens. The numbers were rising, from 100 orders to 150, and from 150 to 200.

It wasn't explosive growth, but it was steady. It was just like when he used to run a night market stall; he only sold a few packs the first night, a few more the second, and a few more the third.

Accumulation, then explosion.

He stood up and walked to the window. Outside was the gray sky of Seongdong-gu, no different from the rest of Seoul.

The tower on Namsan was faintly visible in the mist. He watched it for a few seconds, then turned back to the computer and clicked into the buyer review section of the Tmall backend. There were already a few; the latest one was from fifteen minutes ago.

"The fire chicken noodles are delicious! They taste just like the ones from the Korean supermarket! The delivery was very fast!" Five stars.

The next one was a complaint.

"The price is too high. How much do they even cost in Korea?" Three stars.

The next one had no text, just five stars.

At 3:00 PM, Kim Young-jun pushed open the office door, holding a freshly printed sales brief.

"Chairman, Tmall's sales on the first day reached 320,000 RMB, and JD's were 180,000, totaling 500,000—equivalent to 80 million Korean won. Classic fire chicken noodles and low-calorie noodles accounted for sixty percent."

Chairman Wang Shunyi took the brief and glanced at it. The numbers weren't huge, but the arrows were pointing up. He wrote a line in the blank space of the brief:

"Confirm replenishment cycles. Optimize logistics efficiency."

Then he handed the brief back to Kim Young-jun. "You keep an eye on logistics. The first order experience is very important; we can't make people wait too long."

That evening, Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't work overtime. He changed into a thin jacket and drove halfway across the city to Park Min-ji's apartment.

She didn't let him come upstairs today; she came down herself, wearing a deep blue dress with her hair down and light makeup on her face.

She opened the passenger door and sat inside without asking where they were going. After ten minutes of driving, the car stopped in front of a Hanjeongsik restaurant by the Han River.

She had reserved a window seat. Outside was the Jamsil Bridge, its lights reflecting in the river water and broken by the wind like a handful of crushed gold.

Hanwoo beef BBQ, seafood pancakes, kimchi soup, and a bottle of red wine were set on the table. She poured him a glass, bubbles gathering around the rim.

"Minji, the business in China opened today."

"I know. I saw the brief Kim Young-jun sent this afternoon."

"What do you think?"

She picked up her wine glass, swirled it, and watched the legs the wine left on the glass. "Eighty million won isn't much. But an opening isn't a sprint; it's the start of a race. If you start too fast, it's easy to trip. Stability is more important than speed."

He looked at her.

"When did you learn to say things like that?"

"I learned it from you." She put down her glass, picked up her chopsticks, and placed a piece of grilled meat on his plate. "Haven't you always said that slow is fast?"

"I was talking about product development."

"It's all the same."

Neither of them mentioned work again. After dinner, he didn't take her home immediately; instead, they walked along the path by the Han River for a while.

The river breeze blew over, carrying the moisture and the scent of her hair. She walked on his left, her high heels clicking on the wooden path with a steady rhythm.

He reached out and took her hand. She didn't pull away, nor did she grip it tightly. They just walked like that. In the distance was a bridge, the traffic on it looking like a river of light.

He thought back to those nights three years ago when he was running a night market stall, packing up alone and dragging his cart down the empty streets by himself.

Back then, he never would have imagined that on a night three years later, he would be holding someone's hand and walking along the Han River.

She stopped and turned to look at him. "What are you thinking about?"

"Thinking about the past. When I had the stall."

"What were you like back then?"

"Dark. Skinny. So tired I didn't want to talk."

"And now?"

"I'm still tired now. But it's different."

She smiled slightly. "How is it different?"

He didn't answer. The light from the streetlamp fell on her face, softening her features.

He wanted to say, "Before, when I was tired, I had to carry it alone; now when I'm tired, there's someone to talk to," but he thought it was too cheesy and didn't say it. She didn't press him further.

When he dropped her off downstairs and she unbuckled her seatbelt, she suddenly said, "Don't be too impatient about the business in China. Take it slow, stabilize it, and then push forward."

"I know."